Now you may have noticed my radio silence for a while, but it is purely for reasons that have nothing do with my actual desire to take pictures and post them here. So it happened that my Photoshop Lightroom's free trial has ended, and I can't afford to buy the real thing before December. At least I'll have LOT of material when I'll be able to edit them, because this hasn't stopped me from taking pictures! And the winter here is so beautiful.
Now that I have no pictures, I could write about what has been going on with my life for this while. I am so relieved that I got a part-time job where they pay me well, and so there should be no such stress about money anymore. It's not like we would have been living like kings and queens without being able to afford it, but it's nice to actually do something every now and then, and not eat porridge or pasta every day...
I'm also very excited about the starting application period for an exchange abroad in my university. I have been looking for information about these couple of places I'd like to go, and I was positively surprised that they all have something to offer that interests me really much. My dream since forever is to live in Australia for a while, but I know it is one of the hardest places to get to go as an exchange student because of their strict exchange policy. There I'd like to enter a university called "University of the Sunshine Coast" (which doesn't sound attractive at all), not Sydney or Melbourne or Canberra where most of the people seem to go. So my goal is to get to study something I find interesting in someplace warm. In this university it would be sustainability. More about sustainability later, because I have a lot to write about it due to my current sustainable tourism -course.
My second option is Brazil, because it's another place I've wanted to visit and know better for a couple of years now. I fell in love with its culture while we were in our school trip there while my stay in Chile, and in Brazil I'd study Portuguese and Brazilian culture. I just want to learn Portuguese so bad, and it's not possible in my current home town :<
Of both of my study interests abroad there's a good chance I'd get study credits in Finland also, as it's not obvious that the studies abroad count in your current career.
Then the third, but more of a plan B -like, option is Portugal or Spain, I haven't fully decided yet. There I'd study tourism, but I'm much more interested in going to Australia or Brazil to study something that isn't available in my university.
I think everyone should live in a different culture surrounded by different language, because that's a way of seeing your own life and problems from another point of view. It is good to anyone to open their mind even just a little bit, and learn new things about themselves. There has been lot of talk about racism in Finland recently, and I'll get to that later also because it wouldn't fit in this post anymore. Just... travel.
(I'll add a picture here later to make the post look more interesting :D)
