A new semester at university has started, which I celebrated by going to Finland, because traditions have to be kept in order! Although this time I did a little differently. I did not tell anyone, except for my host siblings Emilia and Oskari, that I was coming. I flew to Helsinki, where Emilia lives, on a Sunday and then we traveled together for 5 hours to our home near Tampere on Monday. To the person responsible of public transport in Tampere, please make the connections a little better! My host family had no idea of what was about to happen. Their faces were just priceless! Best idea ever!
On Tuesday, Emilia and I went to the city centre in Tampere to treat ourselves. Emilia had a haircut, we went to a little cafe for some coffee and a pastry, and then we went shopping! In the afternoon, I went to walk the dogs with Pablo, the Spanish exchange student my family is hosting at the moment. It was nice to get to know him and talk about the things we had both noticed about the Finns and their habits.
Wednesday, I again went to the city to meet my friend Samuli. I had also surprised him on Monday by sending him a message to ask if he wanted to go eat a waffle with me. He admitted that he first thought that he would be kidnapped by the Belgian mafia. Thank you, Samuli, for making me laugh so much! Later that day, I surprised my second host family with the help of my host brother Oskari. I do not regret anything! That was also the day I decided to make a video of my trip, with the help of Samuli of course. You can watch the result by clicking here!
For the rest of the week, I just hung out with my host families, and friends. I visited my favourite places, walked in the forest with the dogs and also went to say hi to the teachers at my Finnish school. During the weekend, I decided to "take it easy", which apparently means "help your family build a wanna-be-beach". The view of the frozen lake and the sound of the snow under my shoes made it quite worth it though!
On Monday, I took the bus back to Helsinki where I stayed with Emilia for a couple of days. I wanted to take a few days to visit the capital because I thought it was a bit of a shame that I didn't know the city that much even though I've been coming to Finland regularly for the pas 3,5 years. Emilia did a great job at showing the nicest places: the white cathedral, the Russian church, Suomenlinna (a beautiful island), a church which was built in a rock (I don't remember the name, sorry!), Hietalahden Kauppahalli (a covered market place), Tornihotelli (a hotel where you can just go to the top floor and enjoy the wonderful view), the Sibelius monument, and of course Löyly (the most famous public sauna in Helsinki).
All in all, it was a wonderful trip and I enjoyed it very much! It was great to notice that after all this time, I am still welcome and people really do appreciate that I come by once in a while. It is very motivating and encouraging!
Thanks Milla for this pic!
View of the lake at my host family's mökki
Yes, everything is frozen and you can walk on it!
The White Cathedral in Helsinki
The library at Helsinki University
The ceiling of the Russian Church in Helsinki
Ceiling of the Church in a rock
The church in a rock as seen from the balcony
The Sibelius monument
View from under the Sibelius monument
On our way to Suomenlinna
The White Cathedral and Russian church
