First few of Dubai

So I never really planned this trip, my dad just called me when we were on holiday with Linnea if I want to go on holiday with him since he is on leave for a few weeks and doesn't have much to do. First he made some suggestions like Tokyo or the Philippines but a few days later he settled down with Dubai. He choose Dubai (I was happy to go anywhere so I just said yes to any suggestion) since the time difference is not big and he only had a week to spare so the flight isn't that long.

So we were gonna fly to Dubai from Brussels, since he lives in Belgium so first I had to fly to Belgium. There was a little bit of trouble with that since I was gonna fly there on Friday and to Dubai on Saturday but my flight to Brussels was cancelled, what a good start for the trip. Normally it would be no problem but I fly on stand-by tickets which I get from my dad because he works for Qatar Airways. I ended up buying a ticket HEL-BRU through London for Saturday which made me a bit nervous cause I only had two hours to change planes in Brussels and recheck-in. No problem here, all the flights were on time. Dubai here I come!

We arrived pretty late in the evening, around 10 pm. The airport in Dubai was something crazy with it's immensely high ceilings and bling all around. We went through the passport control, picked up our bags and went to grab a taxi. The first thing we noticed while going outside was the immense heat that hits you like crazy coming from +15°C to +30°C at night. We went to the taxi line and the guy guided us to another line we didn't want to go to since it was more expensive so we wandered off. We asked a lady for this taxi but she said this taxi is for women (minimum one per taxi) so finally we found a normal taxi that took us to town.

The drive to our hotel didn't take too long, only around 10 to 15 minutes. Taxi's in Dubai are really cheap, we ended up taking loads of them during our trip. We arrived at the hotel after midnight, feeling really tired but too hungry to go to bed. Luckily our hotel had a 24 hr restaurant so we could right away get some food. I took a burger and my dad took a pizza. Good enough to make it till tomorrow.

I woke up feeling pretty good, we both had our own rooms since my dad snores so bad (like a bear) I can't sleep in the same room with him so he took two rooms. The hotel was pretty cheap so it wasn't too bad to pay for two rooms. Well, at least not for me since my dad pays. Haha. I did my normal morning activities and we headed out to town. There was a free shuttle that took us to a mall from where we could take a metro downtown. Dubai is a really odd place when it comes to air conditioning. You can't avoid it anywhere. I mean it's a good thing since it was everyday over 40 degrees, sunny and totally no wind. But every single place is air conditioned, even 1/3 of all the bus stops! How ridiculous is that?! Also we took the metro to Dubai mall, a huuuge mall located about a kilometer from the metro station. You didn't have to go outside since there was a tunnel (obviously with aircon) that took you all the way from the station to the mall, how convenient is that!

It was also Ramadan (the holy month in Islam in which they fast from sunrise to sunset) so it was really difficult to find place to eat. At first we thought we could make it until sunset but nope. It was so difficult to find a place to eat I had to Google where to get some food. You could get some food at the mall but not eat in so it made it kinda difficult. Eventually we ended up in Nando's, a famous chain for chicken. It was located inside an international hotel and totally covered so you couldn't see people eating before you went inside. We had a nice meal and probably a million cokes to get us pumped full of liquid until sunset.

After eating we decided to head out and check out the Dubai Marina, a luxurious district full of skyscrapers located on the south side of the city. The metro got us there easily, but the ride was rather long. Dubai isn't built too smartly, since there are districts located a bit here and there because the city is just being built and built apparently without any further planning. But back to the point, the Marina is a rather beautiful place but you can't do shit there. I mean you can walk around the water and see some skyscrapers but that's it and they dare to call it a tourist attraction. Haha. By accident we found a nice 51st floor bar by accident since my dad had to go to the restroom and everything was closed we ended up inside the Marriot hotel and the views from up high were rather nice, but Dubai is crazy polluted. Up there we should have normally been able to see the Palm but we could barely see it. What a shame. The other shame was that a beer cost 10€ during happy hour and a soda 5€?! We also stayed to see the sunset, we thought is was gonna be pretty from up there but it's probably THE worst I've ever seen. The sun was just going down and in a flash it just disappeared behind a huge cloud of smog.

We left after sunset to get some food. By this time all the restaurants were open and serving so we had plenty of choice. Dubai is a paradise for food (except during ramadan hours) you can find just anything from anywhere around the world. We decided to go to a Korean restaurant close to our hotel. We just ordered half the menu and everything that the waitress recommended since we didn't really know what to order. We had shrimp, meat, veggies, rice and just about everything that exists. The food was really good and not even too expensive on Dubai standards. We were so exhausted from the heat we decided to call it a day even though it wasn't even too late yet, but the next day new adventures await us!

I did this trip already a little while ago, but as Linnea has said already I'm doing my military service at the moment so I don't have too much spare time to write or if I have a little time I'm often really exhausted. The army has been pretty cool until now, of course it's a huge change in our lives but we'll manage just fine. 139 days to go and then I'm free. Enjoy the summer, greetings from the barracks. We'll keep you up to date!

Cheers,
Arno

Hiking the highest

How did I end up hiking the highest mountain in Andorra?

As we were leaving from our apartment to do our second hike, mom told us to take a lot of clothes with us. From that I figured we'd climb high today. It's always cooler on top. So I wrapped myself under a top, sweatshirt, hoodie and scarf.

We drove to the side of the country that was close to the French boarder – again it's not too big of a country. We stopped to ask for advise on which rote to take and this guy behind the information desk told us to climb up 3 hours to this little base where we could either rest or keep climbing even to the highest mountain in the whole country. To my ear that sounded like a challenge and I immediatly told that yes I am going to do that. The info man looked at me, my short legs and very girly being and laughed a little. ”Oh I don't know about that. Let's see how tired you are once you reach the refuge” he said. But he didn't know that he'd sold the idea to me for good.

So we left for our climb. Through a tunnel, left after the curve and to the bridge that goes over the waterfall. We drank the water from this streaming river and kept walking uphill, through the woods. Pretty soon I realized how overdressed I was and started ripping off the layers. We passed bunch of horses coming down, walked over few mountain streams and few waterfalls. Then came the hill. And it went up. Quite straight. Me and my short legs got to work a lot to reach over every stone to be able to take every step. But I was so determined to make it all the way up that the idea itself kept me going. Often I had to slide down from big rocks or climb with all the four limbs. It was some heavy climbing. Going up the mountains. I was getting tired and stopped for 10 seconds after every few minutes to take few breaths. But I was climbing fast, right behind my dad who was leading. Mom and Luukas where a little behind because my brother wasn't feeling too well.

After maybe 1,5 hours we stopped for sunscreen and bananas. I had packed some blueberries and macarons to my bag in the morning so that I'd have something good to snack along the way. Again we notised how important it was to eat. In this point we had burned over 1000 kcalories and my body was craving for some energy to keep me on the narrow path.

As we were getting higher I started feeling my legs get heavier again from yesterdays walk. But I kept going. It was quite an extreme incline but we kept on a good speed. And soon we were at the resting area. We sat down on a bench with a view and ate some sausages, boiled eggs and other protein food (like macaroons). My parents in this point were about to head down after our snack and my brother was having headache from the thin air at 2000 meters. I on the other side was about to go up. My parents thought it would not be a good idea, it's not an easy climb. But I don't need easy, I need possible.

So we filled our water bottles and kept hiking towards the hill that would take me up to my climb. I was walking so fast that all the others were left behind. And that for me seemed to be a good thing, now no one could tell me not to climb. So I started going up the mountain. The narrow path went up zic zacing. Above I saw how my dad and brother tuner around to go back and my mom seemed to deside that she would go up some more. In this point the climb was still semi easy. But after maybe 20 minutes of climbing I had reached the point where there are no more trees nor grass. The path became rocky and bumpy. Then it curved up. I kept up my speed. I stopped to wave to my mom. Then I kept going. Zic zac up the mountain. Behind a corner. And soon I could not see my mom anymore. Nor the cottage we had rested our legs. I put the plugs to my ears and started to listen to music to keep my focus away from how tired I was becoming.

Soon the air became thinner. I'd never experienced anything like that. I don't have asthma, nut allergies or anything that could harm you breathing so not getting enough air to my lungs was kind of scary. I had to stop to breath and to get used to the altitude. For a moment I really thought that I would die but then I just started to breath slower and that made it easier. So for that I had to walk slower too. Which wasn't a bad idea, the path was so narrow that one misstep would take me down for hundreds of meters. The mountains don't really have anything where you can hold on if you wobble so I needed to focus on my every step. In one point I had to crawl over a high rock and hold on with all my strength because the dropdown was right there on my right side, just few inches away. That took my breath away for a moment.

Soon my mom called me that she wasn't gonna climb any higher and I should start coming down too. She asked if I had reached the lake at 2600 something meters and I hadn't. She told me to turn around at the lake and call her - and I promised to do so. But as we kept talking of should I come down or not I saw the lake. I realized I could keep walking for some more time, I had bought myself time ”until I would get to the lake”. So I climbed. The path disappeared. There was only some tiny flat stones that run from under my steps. It was hard to keep balance, the little stones just ran down the hill as I tried to walk up. But I got up, slowly, twice slower than 20 minutes ago. I was reaching 2700 meters and the air was getting so thing I had hard time climbing an breathing at the same time. But I was so determined to do it that I didn't let it stop me. And everyone who knows me knows that if I decide on something, I will go through with it.

And so was I gonna do now. After the stones ended I saw the very top of the mountain, the peak. Had maybe 100 meters left. I felt like screaming but didn't have enough air in my lungs for that and didn't want to create a landslide. And soon it occurred to me that the top was frozen. Snowy and icy. I didn't think it was a problem until I tried to go up almost a straight, icy side of the mountain. I was sliding down faster than going up. I couldn't hold on to anything and my Timberland boots couldn't hold on the icy surface. I would have needed ice spikes or snow shoes or both. My lungs hurt from pushing through. I realized I could not make it. I felt so bad. Like giving up. Like not being good enough. I just felt terrible as I started to walk/slide back the way I had come.

It occured to me that the flat stones where even harder to go down than up. I sat on my butt and started sliding down. I almost slipped a few times and fell all the way to the lake but managed to keep some balance. In this point my mom called me. ”Yes yes I just reached the lake, I'm coming down”. Which wasn't even a lie. Because I just reached the lake again. And continued down this decline.

I got to my mom after some time. And well I was pretty mad at myself for not being able to do what I had decided to do so that equaled that I was mad at her too, not talking for a long time. But as we were getting closer to where we started we had picked up a fun and nice conversation and I had almost forgotten how I failed to climb the last maybe 100 meters. In that point it didn't matter anymore. Hiking was fun again.

Passing the last waterfall we saw that the boys had driven the car there to pick us up. And I was so happy to sit down again. My feet hurt so bad. I had bruises in my toes and one of them was bleeding a little but at least I still had all ten that I had left with 8 hours before.

The hike for me ended up being probably somewhere around 23-25 kilometers, I got up to something like 2750-2780 meters and had burned over 3000 calories so yes, I was happy to eat a sausage, some chicken and fruits when we finally got back to the village where we stayed.

But all in all, now I can say that I have climbed the highest mountain in Andorra. Almost reached the top. Next time I know to pack a shovel (or ice spikes). 

Now to up date I will say that I am back home in Finland. We hiked one more time on Saturday. Sunday we spent shopping in an outlet in Spain and made our way back to Barca where I went to the beach with my mom and dad to suck in all the last vibes during my sunset swim before flying away to Helsinki. There my army green boyfriend waited for me at the airport to spend an evening together. Then I drove my sweetheart back to the military base for the week and watched him walk inside the gates as the sun slowly dropped down from the sky. AND BACK TO WORK TOMORROW MORNING! Hold your thumbs up that Friday would come faster.

Kisses,

Linnea

Falling for Andorra

This place topped all my nonexistent expectations. I completely and fully fell in love with this tiny tiny country. No kidding. I've traveled a lot and seen mountains in different continents – have hiked the Alps in Germany, Austria and Italy, snowboarded down the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, rode a horse at the region of Grand Canyon in Arizona, gone up the Tatras with Arno, even flew to Mount Everest while hiking the Himalayas in Nepal – but let me tell you, there is nothing quite like Andorra. I love how the mountains are so so close and the country itself is so tiny. People are friendly, food is awesome, prices cheap, air fresh and the view something breathtaking. The houses are mostly made out of dark wood or big stones, there are tavernas everywhere, so many stores for y kind of shopaholics and the prices – as said – something crazy. No taxes here so I have bought a truck load of clothes and will stuff my suitcase as full of champagne as I can.. I mean a bottle of Moët costs like 26 euros (in Finland I would pay double, so there's some perspective). So I am not bumped to spend 4 nights here, in this mountain village that looks like straight out of Lord of the rings. Just waiting for the moment when I will bump into Frodo and friends in the supermarket.

So yeah embarrassing enough but the first thing me and my super shopper family did was going around the fashion stores. I wasn't too excited until I checked the price for one random piece of clothing and realized that I'm in a heaven of cheap clothes. So that woke up my endless need for new clothing. But when we finally felt hungry enough, my dad took me and my brother down to the supermarket to buy breakfast for the next day (while my mom was still fitting dresses and blazers upstairs). And we got even more amazed when we realized that the food was cheap, and there was everything – let me underline, everything. I mean no normal person (Arno in this case doesn't count) would eat 3 kilograms of Nutella but here they sell it, yeah it's a big bucket, answer to all of the prayers. And for some other prayers we found a 5 liter container of Vodka – that you could just pour into a swimming pool, mix in some juice and bath in it with a huge straw.

So the next morning we woke up and headed to the mountains, twice, because once we got to the supermarket we needed to use the bathroom again so back to where we stayed - which was a huge apartment owned by a very kind British couple who had come here originally to ski 15 years ago, and never returned from that trip I guess. But so yeah, off we went sometime around 11 and headed to the mountains. Hiking is something we have always loved as a family. I often get asked "who the heck wants to hike mountains on their summer vacation, laying on a beach getting tanned is real holiday relaxation". And I remember for some time during my worst teenage years I had those moments when I felt bad that everyone else goes to the beach for two weeks. But as I grew older and we did few beach days, I got pretty bored pretty fast and was craving for some more action. And of course telling your child that 'today we will be laying on a beach swimming' is an easier bite to swallow than 'hey, let's hike up and down that mountain you see over there'. So no, the mountains boots never really flew to my feet as a kid. It was all good during those years I sat in my dad's backpack but oh boy when I needed to walk with my short legs.. My parents got to come up with all kinds of ways to get us there, was it a stuffed animal, chocolate bar, new CD, laptop or I-don't-even-know, I guess I've seen it all. But for a computer I did hike 16 km when I was 9 years old! We were always kept busy by telling stories, jokes or playing all these word games (no wonder I became a writer at 11 years old) to get us thinking something else than the ache in our feet or the kilometers left. Our favorite was the CCC = Cow Counting Competition. The rules are that before a hike everyone bets how many cows we are gonna see during the hike and the one that guesses close enough gets to pick the dessert (now that non of us really eats sugar we have come up with different prizes). The cows need to be alive (no hamburgers count) and on the same mountain (just reminding you mom that using binoculars to find them from other mountains is not allowed), the same cow can not be count more than once (and Luke you are not allowed to discount because you voted a too small number, we all know you are not that bad in math) and they need to be cows (not horses dad..).

So we made this joke about my dad who looked like Indiana Jones
(when I was a kid I think he used to look a lot like young Leonardo DiCaprio)
with that hat he was got from Athens this spring. It escalated to the idea of
making this film that should be called Indiana Jones - The Cow Hunt.

As we had made our hike to the valley we bumped into a cow fencing. And there was 32 cows, dad's lucky number 32, the only cows we saw that day.. But if not cows we saw a lot of other cool stuff. It was quite chilly up there and I was shivering as I always am, bad circulation. But as we got up our pace my bones warmed up and soon I was sweating. I mean the hike up was also pretty extreme. We had to climb sometimes using both hands and feet going so straight up. But the view from the top was breathtaking. I felt like I saw all the way to Spain and France from up there - which I probably did considering how small Andorra is. We hiked only 6 hours, up and down to a 2,5 km mountains, which made an 18 km walk overall and 2800 kcals burned. Up we stopped for a sow fight with my brother and snacked some ham and fruits by the biggest lake in Andorra (okay, it is pretty tiny to be hones). On the way down the cream cheese container opened in my bag - I hope our waterproof GoPro is also cream cheese proof.

Once we got down and back to our place we cleaned up and headed down to the center city Andorra la Vella to do some shopping. I skipped the new  Guess shop opening where me and my mom had been invited to the night before and headed to Mango. And here is something to think for you Finland, the kingdom of taxes: I bought a dress and two shirts from Mango with 25 euros.. And as told, my dad was lucky enough to win the CCC so he got to decide the restaurant for the night. I was just happy he had picked it because I was missing my boyfriend so much that I had lost my appetite (pathetic I know, but that's what happens to me when I miss people) and really wished someone else could pick the meal for me too. Too much thinking for me. I asked the non-English speaking servant which pizza he would recommend (pizza happens to be bread which makes my tummy go all around but I had decided to order myself one since we had had such a long walk and forcing myself to eat anything was a battle hard enough so the more comforting for my heartache the better). He was a funny guy talking a lot with his hands and trying to explain me how awesome this goat cheese honey nut pizza was, but sadly I don't speak any Catalan so I just had to order it - and a warm tea. Even tho it might sound pretty yucky it was actually the best pizza I have ever eaten (okay to be fair maybe the pizza in Albania was a tiny bit better). And again I have had many tasty pizzas. Even my brother who doesn't like nuts, goat cheese or honey loved it and snacked the parts that I was too full for. I will definitely try to make something like that back home and when I succeed I will share my recipe here! It really was a pizza everyone should get to try! If you ever find yourself from here I think the restaurant was called 120 Restaurant, give it a go (not even sponsored to tell you this)!

So yeah! I am in love with this country (and it's not just due the lack of my boyfriend's presence). A+ for Andorra. I will come back here for sure - no doubts -, hopefully with my sweetheart and snowboard. And I am so happy to have still few days to roam around this place everyone should get to visit!

Hugs,
Linnea

Montserrat Shrine

On our way from Barcelona to Andorra we decided to stop in this monastery up on the mountains. I had no clue of this place, something my parents had googled. Through out my childhood it was quite common for them to drag us to monasteries, churches, crosses, cathedrals, synagogues, temples, mosques etc.. And it was all cool and fun until you saw like a dozen of them on the same trip, all of them look the same an require you to wear long sleeves when it's like 40+ degrees outside and take a lot of lining to get in. And that's why I usually don't do them a lot when travelling on my own. With Arno we have done it a few times now and it has been fine. One or two is a good amount for me so I wasn't complaining this time. 

So we parked our car on the hill and were stunned by the views of course. I figured it would be a skirtable (skirt walkable) walk so I kept my dress on and just picked a sun hat to cover my head since we were quite high and it was around noon. And up we went. It was a beautiful place, I have to admit. Lots of towers and statues. I loved the color of the stone. It definitely was a good pic from my parents, a place where I could have gone myself too.

But of course we had to go inside even tho it looked quite nice from the outside. And that took us like 40 minutes of lining up. And 20 more minutes lining up inside to see the Black Madonna. She was beautiful! But I am not Catholic so for me it didn't quite have the same meaning than for the people around me. But the cathedral was stunning and there was a talented choir singing. And once I got out the walk down to the yard was lined with hundreds of candles. I didn't light up one. We usually do it together with Arno when we go in to a church or so. This time I just reached my hand behind my back automatically. It's something I always do when we are together in a supermarket, party or just walking. And every time I can trust that he finds my hand and takes it into his warm grip.

Byeee,
Linnea

Beloved Barcelona

In my case leaving from home happened sometime around 11 am. I walked all my luggage down to my mom's Mini that I was borrowing in order to visit Arno in the Army before heading to the world. So after I'd packed the car down the road I drove. 45 minutes to get to the base. We had visitation rights only that Sunday for 4 hours. And I was standing there 10 minutes before they even opened the gates because I knew I had to leave earlier to catch my plane. We drove in, parked and I got to go say hi to my sweetheart who was so overdressed for the summer heat but not allowed to take off even the hat. I on the other side wasn't allowed to kiss him, hold hands or touch him in general. So hard, considering we had last seen a week ago and there was gonna be another week to go before he would get his weekend off. I gave him this quick hug when no one was looking and then we went off to have some snacks in the cafeteria and hang out his best friends who arrived a little after me.

From the military base I left after 2pm and drove to my parents' where I left the car and all four of us – me, my little brother and my mom and dad - took a taxi to the airport. I got a nice reminder what it is to travel with my folks who travel a lot for work and hobby - and because of that get all kinds of bonuses. On that busy airport we first got to go past the lanes to the priority check-in and after that throught these priority gates to the security check. Then we headed to the lounge and got to eat and drink as much as we could. The wines weren't too tasty tho...

I fell asleep even before the plane took off – must have been pretty exhausted – and woke up when they served drinks. Got myself a big cup of coffee to make it through the 4 hours fligt to Spain!

We landed to Barcelona and took a taxi to the hotel. I headed out to a restaurant with my parents to eat some serrano ham and goat cheese salad while my brother settled down for the final game of the Euro champ football next to a pizza.

The following morning I woke up around 9 o'clock, still pretty tired but headed to get some stuff from the store with my mom. (We are a family full of people who are either allergic or special diets so finding a place that would serve us breakfast would be a mission impossible, that's why we rather buy the food ourselves) Just to inform you, me and my mom are a trouble double and have this tendency to.. well... So we had bought some fruits, oats, ham and yogurt, went by this cute little bakery that sold us fresh croissants and then headed back to our condo. In this point my mom fitted the key to the main door and it didn't turn in the lock. So we stated pulling and pushing and turning and kicking and leaning but the door didn't open. So we tried to memorize which was the number of our apartment and rang the door bell. No one answered. So we did it again. Still nothing. We rang another one. Nothing. We rang again. Some lady answered us and tried to help us by telling how to push and pull and something. Nothing. Then I went to the street and started jumping and waving to get my father's attentions like 3 balconies up. Until I realized that our balcony had a cover and these balconies were different. Then I looked to my left and saw that there was another door – the door to get to our stairway. I told my mom who didn't believe me until the key fit the lock, the door opened and finally – 15 minutes later – we got in.

So after breakfast we left to walk around. Bought some pick and mix candy with my brother and headed to the big church. Sagrada Família - you know – the one they will probably never finish, maybe cause it's such a tourist attraction unfinished. Then we went off shopping. Zara, all of us love it. And some other shops. But the heath got us to stop in a restaurant where I ordered a strawberry-goat cheese salad and a tapas piece of bread (I usually don't eat bread so my tummy was a little mad at me for this decision). After our lunch we hang around these fountains, walked, shopped, were stunned by the beautiful architecture and stopped to eat some fruits. We made it to La Rambla and saw the human statues that the street is famous for. Walked around a food market and bought some more fruits before heading to the hotel. I have taken this siesta thing very serious and every afternoon slept for and hour even tho I am such an anti napper. And after my siesta we headed off to dinner.

The following morning I woke up when it was still cool enough to do some running so I went for a half an hour run around the streets. Back in the condo I showered and got breakfast before jumping into my shoes to go to see the FCB football stadion (you can guess this was my brother's idea). I mean I am a FC Barcelona fan if I need to make my pick but not really interested in football. Hockey is a fast enough sport for me, football gets a little slow with people running and the arena being so big. But it was a cool arena and we got to go in to all the press rooms and showers and everything. But still, not a football person.

Then we took a taxi (where I had my siesta sleep) to the Güelli park that had all the cool mosaics. We tho had lunch before getting in. But oh boy it was pretty. All the statues, houses, mosaics, shapes, flowers. Also walking around the park is free so it's a fun thing to do even with a tight budget :) From the park you can see over the city of Barcelona, also pretty cool!

After that we walked 4,5 km to the Gothic township. There we had some afternoon tea (*holding up my pinky*) and walked around. Pretty cool shops and people singing opera on the streets. But really, if you want to go shopping for anything fun, do it there. I didn't buy anything tho, really more just amazed by the stuff they were selling. And when our feet were asking for a stop, we sat down for churros and hot chocolate! Yummy! Then we made it through the store and bought ourselves some small snacks that we had during the night, like ham, wine, fruits and so on. So the last night we hang out at our apartment because the next day we had planed to take the car to Andorra so I guess some rest for our poor feet didn't make any harm.

Till the next time,
Linnea

Busy being back

Spending and afternoon in a cafeteria writing is so inspiring..

So what has happened or what have we done since returning from Europe (okay yes I know, we live in Europe..)? And everyone's favorite: what's gonna happen now? I'm sorry not to have a short answer for that since there is always a lot happening in our lives. Sorry for all the phone and instagram pictures.. I'll try to do better next time! 

Us on our way to St. Petersburg. Me holding my passport upside down..

During the time in Europe we had a lot of time to think and talk. And one day I had been really loosing my hope about my future. I had been studying for a test to get into a university but small hope was I holding since there was over 700 applicants and they were gonna take in 20. I knew I wasn't gonna get in and didn't just want to have another gap year, I wanted something to do since Arno was told to serve the Army for 6-12 months from the beginning of July. I had made a plan B (and C, D, E, F, G...) for what to do if studying wasn't gonna be an option. And believe me I was making my peace with it. But as I walked back to my apartment that bloody Monday at 2 o'clock in the middle of the night - after being away for two weeks, so ready for bed – I noticed something on my table. An envelope. And that just changed everything.

I had totally forgotten that I had applied to Helsinki Design school for the filming program – never have consider myself to be good in filming, more like okay, so I didn't believe I had any chances. And there it was, this fat envelope, my acceptance letter. I was just standing there a little shocked and trying to figure it out. Arno on the other side was hugging me like crazy, congratulating and asking why am I not happier. That night I didn't sleep. Not even as I was supposed to wake up at 6 am for work. I was just rolling around and trying to figure out what it all meant. Staying in Finland, travelling less, studying and working more – and the money. Film school isn't free... But everything has a way to turn alright so this Autumn I am going to start my studies in Helsinki Design school!

What about my other half? His dad called him when we were still travelling and asked to travel with him to Dubai. So yeah. That's where he left 5 days after that epic Monday night. I - of course – wasn't sour or jealous at all. Just so happy to be back in the rainy and cold Finland, working from 8 to 4... He will tell you every fun detail and show all the amazing pictures later...

BUT! I was performing on this culture festival (and it was raining) and in between the gigs got to visit the national radio station. Just to be clear I wasn't there to speak but to just follow how they were recording a program, drinking coffee and just chilling. Had so much fun! And almost got late for the next show, heh.

I have also enjoyed couple of girls' nights. With my roommates, eating, playing Trivial Pursuit and hanging out on our balcony through the night. Me and Veronika (my roommate and best friend) visited also Särkänniemi – an amusement park in a city few ours away. We didn't spend there more than few hours since both of us got a little sick from all the swinging and twisting. Veronika has a theory that we are too old for such things now. My theory is that we just got sick because we ate our empty stomachs full of licorice that they sold right next to the gates and we were both super hungry.. On the way home stopped to see my sweet grandparents. Then we had to rush home to pick up this Arno person from the airport. I had made this sign that said ”Welcome back my love” and it totally made it clear that I had not missed him one bit. Veronika was embarrassed to stand near me. I found out that if I would ever be single again going to the airport with that kind of sign would be the best way to get some company. Arno was like the 8^th guy that was going to tag along. A lot of people were pointing at me and smiling. One random British guy ran to me like ”oh my sweetheart, finally!”

But yeshh.. As said my dear boyfriend was kind of stolen from me, not by choice but by the Finnish army. No he is not in the war. In Finland all the guys around 18-25 years are required to attend the army or alternative civilian service if not released due a sickness or such. And he needs to go to the army for at least half a year in order to become a pilot. So there he is. Stuck in the closed soldier areas, not allowed to have cellphone around. We will write posts about this new army life of ours later and explain it all better, telling how it actually feels like. But as I have been far from our usual active and tight relationship life I figured out I should hang out with other friends too. So I have spent time with Linda – you may remember her from the Linda and Lilli videos on my channel – my ”almost a sister -person” and her horse Lilli. And as Linda left on a holiday I've been riding Lilli after work and it has been so super fun just being back on a horse back. Best therapy! I also have had girls' nights with other people than my roomies! Spending nights with my longtime friends, two of them are in the same army wife situation too. I've seen my relatives, even from America! Spent a lot of time with my brother shopping for stuff and eating out (I got a longboard!) Tomorrow we will have a huge BBQ night at Veronika's parents house on the country side. On Saturday I will meet up with my friend from high school and catch up about all the wedding prep they are having. Also I have made time for myself to do some painting, reading, cleaning my closets, color my hair and of course work work work work work.

Yesterday we had quite an extempore meet up with my Thai friend from the time we both lived in America. That was so much fun! While sitting down for lunch at work I saw that she posted on Facebook that she had a long stopover in Helsinki on her way to Germany and I told her to hit me up! So we ended up meeting that night in a pizzeria, walked around the city, talked with some random people, went to have drinks in a tower bar in the middle of the city so she could see the whole Helsinki in short time. It was so random and weird to see her since it has been over a year we sat in the same classroom and traveled together to Washington DC fort the weekend! And we had so much to talk about that the 1,5 hours we had to spear wasn't enough at all. It was so so so nice to see someone who had shared the same kind of lifestyle in America that people here don't really get or even care to hear about if you tell them. It was non stop talking, laughing and catching up. I came straight from my relatives and had also few rhubarbs in my bag so I probably looked like a retard carrying my plants around the city!

And hey not to forgot the last weekend before Arno's military service we bought extempore cruise tickets very cheap to Saint Petersburg in Russia and had an awesome weekend. Post about that coming up too! Also not to run out of travelling stories (like we could even keep up with the once we have collected) I am travelling to Spain and Andorra with my family this Sunday. So the busy craziness keeps going around in here. It won't be quiet on the blog side. Hope I will get enough time to actually write the posts! But hey, I will get in between the sheets when I'm done packing for our summerhouse sleepover here so see ya soon folks!

Xoxo,
Linnea