My bags are packed and I am ready to go

Sooo last night there was a bit of a storm going around at Korno.. Or at least it influenced my room quite a bit!

We went from this...

To this..

It wasn't an easy process and took like 3 hours! But I would say 3 hours for packing all my stuff (to 4 IKEA boxes, 2 luggages, and a carry-on weekender) is quite good. I however could not fit al my stuff, for example my tableware is of course still in use and not included. A few pair of shoes are also lacking space. So I might still need to go for an additional box. Also, because I have my longboard to carry with me, I wouldn't want to fill my luggage too heavy. Basically I am now ready to leave. This was kind of a trial round of packing up, as today I needed to know how many boxes has to be picked up. I also just realized that of course it will take a few days before the boxes arrive to Pirkkala, and I won't be having them at the same time as I arrive, even though they are being picked up one day before I leave. So I need to actually in that sense too re-pack to really think what I need at home for the couple of days. I will be attending a birthday party etc. so need to plan my outfits well before! Sadly I also have to throw some things away as Korno has distroyed them, such as my favorite Paul Frank slippers :-( and no way I'm carrying all the half-empty shampoo bottles back but rudely they will be thrown away.  

Weekend full of happenings

I still wanted to write about my weekend, as I had no time to share some pics and thoughts on what happened before. But the weekend was so full of happenings and fun times, so I wanted to share them here too :-)

There was a big music festival going on in Groningen last week/weekend called Eurosonic. I heard about it a bit too late to be able to buy tickets before selling out. There were a lot of many mainly smaller indie bands playing but also a few bigger once such as Kodaline, so there was something for everyone. Anyways even though we didn't manage to get tickets for the actual festival, we got to enjoy some bits of it. Some smaller places organized music events that were part of another festival, Freesonic during this time. As you can guess from the name, all the shows that were part of this were free and by that the artist not so known. But still, all that I saw were amazing! The whole city kind of came alive during the few days and the vibe was awesome. We spent hours just listening to music and going to random places.

First on wednesday we went to a Jazz bar called Peter Pan and enjoyed some pretty talented musicians.

The cutest audience seating ever

On saturday then again, we hung out at a cool vintage/young designers store called Flat Iron and at the Saus-cafe in there. Its such a cute place, they sell second-hand clothing and accessories but also some pieces which they make themselves. For example laptop covers, jewelry and so on. During the whole time we saw three different sets.

The first one was by a dutch girl called Eva Waterbolk. Her voice was so amazing and she was super cute anyways. Loved her hair especially!

Next there was supposed to perform a guy, but lucky for us he had overslept and this one girl from Australia kindly did a little extempore show for us. And oh my, I could have listened to her forever, she was so good!!

On saturday we also had a pretty eventful night out and as a result from that the whole sunday was kind of over before I even knew it haha. But we still managed to have a Domino's moment, success! Next friday we are having a bigger party and we even have guests from Germany - can't wait!

Lazy monday afternoon

To benefit from the brisk winter weather we had today here in Groningen, I went for a little stroll around the city. Even though I had no plans or aim what to do, for the sake of the last few days here I decided to really enjoy and do/see something new everyday. On mondays all shops are not open here and the city is a little more quiet than usually, so perfect for a lazy monday. And to be honest, I also wanted to go and finally get one thing I had been lusting for... :-) Besides that, I just walked around and really enjoyed all the beautiful buildings by the canals, and popped in to a cute little store whenever one came across. To top it off, a warm up moment with a double cappuccino and banana bread at a super cute cafe.

Today I would say was the first day it actually felt like winter. That feeling when the winter air and wind makes your cheeks blush and tingle a bit, I love it! But still, I must say that that -20C weather waiting for me in Finland does not sound very appealing. At least there is snow, and hopefully I finally get to go skiing!

Its funny how you see and appreciate the surroundings a lot more when you know in a little over a week its all just a memory. There is so much to see still, I am not ready to leave. But on the other hand, I am so so excited to go back home.


Okay, as there is seems to be no point in this post whatsoever maybe I will just go back to packing and stressing about all this stuff I have here and how on earth I will move them to Finland!!

Free as a bird

Today was the last school day of my exchange when I actually have to attend a class and do something in there. And even today, my job was to listen for four presentations and maybe ask some questions. I don't know if I should be feeling sad or something, but I am just excited and kind of ready for my next step in life. Even though, it feels weird to know I don't have to come back to the campus any longer. Today there was a trade fair happening at the Atrium, and a guitarist playing live music. I love the campus, there is always so much going on and people making it more lively. As compared to Vaasa, after three o'clock you shouldn't expect to see anyone around the school area. Of course here there is a lot more students too, so libraries are always full of people and there is a line to the cafeteria. Next week I still want to come here to take some pictures and maybe finish off my reports(as being productive at home never works out as planned...)

So, for the next week and a half there will be some report writing(about my exchange) and I have to figure out all the paperwork so that there is no need to stress about it in Finland anymore. On top of that, I really want to just enjoy the last bits of Groningen, visit places that before I have just passed by and never went in. For example the Groningen Museum would be one of those things... :-D Otherwise, just do a lot of extempore random stuff and spent as little time as possible at Korno. And yeah, go and get those moving boxes from IKEA and start packing!!

Other than that my goal is to:

• Go to Amsterdam at least once and finally visit the Van Gogh Museum
• Go for a coffee at Black&Bloom (and other local coffee places)
• Maybe do some cheeky little shopping at Lily&Rose
• Visit Lelystad & Almere
• Execute our very secret to do-list
• Go running and enjoy the neighborhood and the dutch nature

For next week, we already made plans to visit Antwerp in Belgium, as its only an 4 hour ride away, and costs us under 12€ (plus 17,5€ for the day ticket bought earlier).I already googled what to do in the Diamond city of the world, and one thing I found is this gorgeous castle! A must see for sure. I also wanted to go to the zoo, but it costs 17,5€ so well have to think about that a little more. I mean, when was the last time you went to the zoo? I don't even remember my last time, and I love zoos!

That's What's up

Tomorrow starts practically the last week of my exchange semester. After that I don't have anything to do with regards to school, except a lot of paper work regarding the actual exchange process. The courses I am taking for this period don't include an exam, so for the last two weeks I am free as a bird. Well, not quite but pretty much.

Just so you don't forget this is how I look like(sometimes)

Tomorrow we are ending a course called Planning and control, which has been  a lot of work. The hardest course I have ever taken probably. We have been basically managing a company manufacturing and distributing copy machines, with four other groups and together we constituted the market. So the final part is a shareholders meeting, where we all have a role in the board of managing directors and basically have to convince the shareholders of keep on investing. Pretty nerve-wrecking but also interesting to see the other groups work. The whole course was basically a game/competition and the main point was to reach the highest share price on the market. We had eight periods in total and they all represented one year. The program for this is TopSim and apparently it is popularly used at Universities in Germany.

The program is very good I think. Because we make the decisions ourselves, and everything we decide has an affect on how well we function. There are so many factors impacting all kind of ratios, financial information and things you did not even realize to have a connection to each other. So very thorough introduction to the actual practise of managing a company and using the information taught during the last few years of studying. Of course, we could only influence so much and some information was out of our hands. But more decisions to be made in such a short time while actually just learning the same things would have been way too much. My group for this project was really good too, so the journey was enjoyable.

And this is also me with Kitty

After this week, its almost time to pack my bags and start getting ready for the trip home. Kind of sad but at the same time exciting to get back to Finland and to the projects going on in there. Even though there is this thing called Bachelor's Thesis waiting for me to kick off.

That's why I also want to take the absolute full advantage of the remaining couple of weeks. I still have 5 day tickets to be used for the train, so five days of going around the Netherlands. Just have to figure out what days and where to go. Then there is packing. Lots of packing. For some of my stuff I need to pick up four of those cardboard moving boxes from IKEA, as we managed to arrange a pickup by DHL and they will then ship it to Finland. Thats perfect as there is no chance that I could get everything carried by myself to Bremen and from there to Tampere by plain.

Anyways, that's what's up at this moment in my glorious old mind. Now its time for my beauty sleep to avoid those puffy eyes(which can almost be already recognized as my identification - "Laura, you look tired"...) Good Night!

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

"Beautiful things don't ask for attention"

For the second time during one week, I went to the movies. I didn't even remember how fun and somehow just nice it is to go to the movies and enjoy a few hours in a dark room full of strangers. This time I wanted to enjoy a bit of relaxation before the last few stressful days as we have two final reports and presentation to make for monday.

One of my uni friends mentioned about a new movie that came out a while ago, that it was really good. Aside from that, I had also seen the trailer for the movie a few times. Even though I wasn't highly tempted to go and see this particular movie, it fit my schedule the best and also my curiosity led me to buy that ticket.

During the day time on weekdays the tickets are only 7 euros, so even cheaper than with the student discount. So if you don't have school, as I didn't on thursday, day is the perfect time to go. The theater is also super quite and the seats more than half empty, so you can just lay back and even take the whole row just for yourself.

So on Thursday, I chilled out for a couple of hours and enjoyed the entertainment of The Secret life of Walter Mitty. As I mentioned, I had seen the trailer a few times before, but wasn't too tempted to go and actually see it in the movies. Anyways in the end that was my choice, and I am glad it was. In the beginning the movie wasn't that marvelous, kind of took its time to actually get going and get the idea from it. But when it got going, it was full on action! Walter Mitty made me want to visit Iceland even more than before, go longboarding more often and also, still avoid swimming in the ocean, hah :-D

The scenes from Greenland, Iceland and Himalayas were just so beautiful and somehow the story was kind of touching, even though such a cliché. Not to forget, the music was just to the point. Perfect and I also discovered new artists, thats always good!

Really recommend watching this, it kind of reminds you to step out of your comfort zone and explore all the possibilities out there; Not sticking to your routines every day, but give in on those foolish extempore ideas; not just dream of doing things but executing them and just see what will come out of it. The world won't stop spinning if you ease a little from work and enjoy more of the finer things in life. 

"To see things thousands of miles away, things hidden behind walls and within rooms, things dangerous to come to, to draw closer, to see and be amazed and to feel, that is the purpose of life"

Next time I really want to see the Wolf of Wall Street, of which we actually set a date for the upcoming Sunday.  Then some day I have to finally check out About time, but that is not going on the movies anymore so have to watch it online I guess.

An interesting day of a lot of things

Today happened so much. I mean, I wasn't expecting practically anythings as I kind of had a day off, or I decided to keep a day off(cause I still can, hah). Well the exciting happenings started during the night already. At three o'clock suddenly I heard this horrible noise from the hall way, and I remember thinking its probably one of my hall mates just with his friends, as they tend to stay up pretty late. But then after a while, someone knocked on my door and after that tried the handle as trying to open the door. I was so freaking scared, but still decided to open up the door. There has been some stories about robbers coming in the house, but luckily this time it was just a boy from our hall who enjoyed his night out a little too much, and his spanish friends were trying to figure out which was his room, as he couldn't even walk himself... Sometimes I have even left my door unlocked for the night, but from now on I definitely won't be doing that no matter how tired I am to go and lock the door. Horrible to have to be scared at your own apartment. I don't like that feeling of being scared.

Then on the way to the city, I almost got hit by a car. On top of that it was raining, gladly I had my new super cute beanie on so I was kind of dry when I got there. I bought a movie ticket, and went to the grocery store to get some chocolate and (literally)pumped into this amazingly cute guy! We exchanged some smiles and haha sounds so weird, but that was so cute. Then it was time for the movie (of which I will post more later on). There was only like five other people watching it, so I got to relax full on I had my own row and everything. 

After that I wanted to check out this super cute looking store that I had located on the way. The store is called Lily&Rose, and let me tell ya; the cutest store literally ever! They had so much cute stuff in there. If I had more room in my suitcase, I would probably go back and go absolutely nuts. But now, I know that I have no room left and I just can not shop anything anymore, I controlled myself and just bought some postcards and a scented candle. On Youtube every girl doing hauls seem to be really into these Yankee Candles, but I personally have never seen them at a store, but they had them so of course I had to buy one to test it out. I bought just a small one, but I know they sell those candles in huge jars. wonder how long it takes to burn it to the end..

While I was checking out the postcards, suddenly a police car curved in front of the store and this huge hustle started. Apparently they just caught some thieves or something, and after a loong talk they arrested them. But it was kind of scary and good thing it took me such a long time to go around the store, as I didn't have to go out while the police was still there.

After finishing my lusting over all those cute kitchen decorations and tableware, I headed over to Zara. To be honest, I was so disappointed to Zara and their "sale" this year. The stuff in there is just horrible, the prices aren't really even discounted and still feel like normal high street prices and, I don't know, I usually find at least something but this year I wasn't even tempted to try anything on. I guess thats a good thing for me. I also popped in to Men at Work, they have so cute workers there that I have to visit there every once in a while, lol! And also to one shoe store, checking if they had some vans or Nike shoes on sale, but they didn't. 

In the evening, I booked my flight back to Finland for the end of January, so on the 29th of January I will be flying from Bremen to Tampere. I was checking out the flights yesterday, and from Amsterdam the connections were so bad. One way flight with Finnair would have been over 400 euros, with Norwegian I would have had an overlay at Arlanda and the whole trip would have been like 10 hours, and with SAS the connection would have been 6 hours, trough Oslo. But today I remembered that there is a connection from Bremen straight to Tre-Pirkkala airport, which is actually perfect as my parents live quite near the airport, so no need for them to come and pick me up from Helsinki, or me to try to survive the train ride. The problem with Ryanair is that I am only allowed to take 2 check-in bags all together 35 kilos and carry-on of 10kg of course. So hopefully I will be able to fit all my stuff. I have arranged a shipping of few moving boxes via UPS so that will help quite a lot. And also, I have my longboard to ship so have to figure that one out too.

Luckily, Kitty is back in Groningen also and she even brought me some souvenirs from the great land of England. I got this super duper delicious chocolate honeycomb bar named Crunchie, so we had a little catch up while enjoying those yummy treats. You have to freeze it first and then eat it so its even more crunchy, and boy it was good! Never had anything like that before. I also gave her my pressies from Finland, so Jim and Daim chocolate. Later on we will have another candy party when Amyrat is also back. 

Really tempted to get this guy (teapot cover-to keep it warm) - should I?

Now I will honestly have to go to bed, finally. For the whole night I have been just burning candles and watching documents as well the fourth season of Big Bang Theory. Tomorrow I will have a long day at uni ahead, time to be productive again. Good night!