Back home!

Six countries, 125 days and a ton of laughs and memories later: back home!

Finland taught me so much, showed me amazing things, let me see a whole different world, but most of all it gave me memories that I will never forget. 

I had the most amazing four months and wouldn't trade this for anything and I'm so glad that I took the chance to study abroad! I could never imagine that I would visit all of the countries we've been to, would meet the most sweet people and learn so much about myself, my knowledge of nursing and about the world. It gave me so much and made me grow as a person and made me so much richer (not in money as you can guess.. ;))

Emma, thank you so much for going on this adventure with me, thank you for laughing with me, sheering me up when I needed it, made this memories with me, but most of all thank you for being one of my best friends now, I love you loads. 

So if I can give one advice to you who is reading this, if you ever get the chance to go abroad, GO! Just go, pack your stuff and go. It will not disappointed you, it will make you richer in every single way.

Saved the best for last - Lapland part two

It's over.... Our trip to Lapland finally happened!! From the beginning we arrived to Finland, we were looking forward for this trip, so when the time had finally come, we were so freaking excited to go!

Our journey would take us to Vasatokka Youth Center in Inari, Lapland, Finland. A journey from around 1200 km via Rovaniemi and other stops and with a program full with activities to experience real Arctic life.

Let's continue with part two of our Lapland trip, much more to come!!

Saved the best for last - Lapland part one

It's over.... Our trip to Lapland finally happened!! From the beginning we arrived to Finland, we were looking forward for this trip, so when the time had finally come, we were so freaking excited to go!

Our journey would take us to Vasatokka Youth Center in Inari, Lapland, Finland. A journey from around 1200 km via Rovaniemi and other stops and with a program full with activities to experience real Arctic life.

Lithuania

How to spend our last days in Finland? Right, with travelling. This time we made a trip to Lithuania.

From Turku we flew to Kaunas, which is the second city of Lithuania. 

After a flight from an hour and a little more, we landed in the city that seemed cold and dreary.. 

Not really what we expected. The pictures on the internet showed us a colorful city, in summer, so full with light. Now it looked black and white to us. But we tried to explore the city without prejudices and headed to our hotel. It was close to New Town and next to a bus station, so the perfect location. After we relaxed for a little time, we dragged ourselves out of the room and got ready for some exploring. We didn't do any research, so we just walked in a direction. We ended op in Old Town and bumped into a little Christmas market. Full of little stalls, with Lithuanian food, Christmas decorations and hot chocolate. There was also this big Christmas tree with all sorts of lights. 

After strolling around we got hungry, of course, and ended up in a sushi place where we ate the most delicious sushi ever, so good!

Six more nights and a few more days

Six more nights to sleep in my bed here in our apartment in Iltakajo in Varissuo, Turku. 

Fifteen more days before Emma and I are heading back home. HOW?????

The months here in Finland flew by. Some days seemed longer than other days, but when I think about the time that we first set foot here in Finland, it seems not possible that it's almost four months ago, but on the other hand it feels like forever.

Yesterday we finished our last day at school and luckily I passed all of my courses. And with passing the courses, my school time here in Finland is done and we can enjoy our free time again and  the date we're going home comes a little bit closer. 

It feels so weird thinking about going home again. For these past months this was our home and I learned so much here in Finland, not only school stuff, but most importantly, a lot about myself. 

But before getting to sentimental, we have a 15 days left here in Finland. 15 days full of nice trips and fun times. Let's make these last days unforgettable!

Go TPS!!

It was time to attend a game of this popular sport here in Finland, ice hockey!

Emma and I went to the game TPS vs. Kalpa. TPS is the team from Turku, so that was the one that we were cheering for.

We both never attended an ice hockey game before, so we didn't really knew what to expect. But it was really fun to watch!

The players can all skate so so good, I was so impressed. They are really confident on the skates and go for- and backwards, making twists and pushing each other, bump into the wall of the ring and trying to make a goal. They made a big show of it.

Unfortunately TPS lost with 1 against 3.. Emma and I really enjoyed watching the game and see how competitive the supporters are and how they cheer for their favorite team.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

While our time here is coming closer to the end, also the days here in Finland are getting shorter and shorter... 

By the time that the sun decides to show herself, it's almost 9.30 in the morning, and still, it will stay a little dark. We can only enjoy the light for a few hours a day because the sunset will start around 15.30 already. So the days are short and it looks a little sad.. 

I'm really wondering how the days will be in Lapland, where we are way more north than here in Turku. But I can imagine that we will only see a few hours of daylight. 

But with the days becoming shorter, we also welcomed some snow here in Turku! For me it is a long time ago that I saw snow this early in the year (we had the first snow here in Turku at the end of November). While I'm writing this the snow is falling from the sky, and I really hope that we can enjoy it for a few days. 

It really feels like winter here and with all the Christmas lights in town, we are totally in the Christmas vibe because of that. Emma and I are spending Christmas here in Finland, so I hope we will experience a real Finnish Christmas. But to be honest, it's bittersweet. Spending Christmas here is a nice experience and a good ending of our time here. But with all the other exchange students going home to their family already, it makes me miss home a little bit more.. 

Luckily I'm not alone, I have Emma by my side, so we're going to make the best of it and we will make it a Christmas we will never forget. 

Nähdään!

Aniek 

Itsenäisyyspäivä

Today, 6th of December, it's itsenäisyyspäivä or Independence Day!

On this day the Finnish people celebrate Finland's declaration of independence from Russia in 1917. 

What I've read on the internet is the following:

Official Independence Day festivities usually commence with the raising of the Finnish flag on Tähtitorninmäki ("Observatory Hill") in Helsinki. A religious service is held at Helsinki Cathedral, and official visits are made to the war memorials of World War II.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Day_(Finland)

Last year it was a really special Independence Day, the 100th, so our tutor told us that this year it would be less spectacular. She said that it's kind of a day when you come together with your family and have a nice dinner. But the night before a lot of people go out and party to celebrate their independence. 

I hope to see some of the celebration of the Independence Day here in Turku, to see the differences with our Liberation Day. When I listened to my tutor I already noticed some differences. For us it's not really a day where we get together with family to enjoy some food. In our country there are a lot of festivals where you go with friends and celebrate the freedom of our country. It's mostly a day where the younger people party and just have a good time. 

Nähdään!

Aniek 

International Food Party

Tonight our tutor group met for an international foodparty! The group consists of a Finnish/Vietnamese girl, she is our tutor, a Spanish girl and Emma and me, from the Netherlands. So kind of a variation of cultures, really fun!

Emma and I decided to make 'pepernoten', because it was the 5th of December, so that means it was the day of Sinterklaas in the Netherlands! We missed out bacause we're here, but by making this we brought a little bit of home to Finland. Luckily the girls liked them really much and even I must admit they turned out really good. 

We also made a not really Dutch dish, but a delicious one, pizza-nachos, 'cause who doesn't like pizza? Next to our dishes we had the Spanish frittata, an omelette with potato. It tasted really good! 

And of course, a dessert had to be there to finish the dinner party, some Finnish pie! Our tutor made us Mustikkakukko. It's a Finnish blueberry pie with a rye crust. It was really good!! 

And all fun things have to come to an end, we drank some glögi to get into the Christmas vibe, and then it was time to say goodbye.. 

I really enjoyed this night and to taste the different things from their countries. And who knows, maybe we will meet again someday.

Nähdään!

Aniek 

Pre-Christmas Sauna

Ispoisten uimarannan sauna.
http://www.turunavantouimarit.fi/ 

Finally the time had come.... I would go to sauna in Finland. Maybe your wondering why that's something memorable. Well Finland is the country of the saunas, and in my whole four months here, I've never been to one. Stupid me.

So as I mentioned above, Finland is the country of the sauna. Sauna is a big part of the Finnish culture. For them it's a place to relax, meet friends and family and it's also an important place for physical and mental relaxation. I like their thinking about saunas: Finns think of saunas not as a luxury but as a necessity. Maybe we can bring this thinking to the Netherlands? No problem for me to go to sauna once a week.

So why is Finland the country of the sauna? Well, Finland might be a big country when you look at the surface, but it has only five million inhabitants. When you look at how many saunas there are, you can count to almost three million! So basically every household has one sauna, and that's a really common thing, to own a sauna. There are also a lot of little public saunas, for example by the lakes.

A little bit of Amsterdam in Gdańsk - part two

Part two - This week it was time to scratch an other country off of my map, a country that I never thought I would visit, we went to Poland!

A classmate of Emma and me gave us the tip to look at the website Wizzair, so we did, and we could not believe our eyes.... Tickets from 30 euros?! So we quickly booked a flight to Poland, Gdańsk to see some more of Europe. 

A little bit of Amsterdam in Gdańsk - part one

This week it was time to scratch an other country off of my map, a country that I never thought I would visit, we went to Poland!

A classmate of Emma and me gave us the tip to look at the website Wizzair, so we did, and we could not believe our eyes.... Tickets started at a price less than 30 euros?! So we quickly booked a flight to Poland, Gdańsk to see some more of Europe.