2013 ( and all that jazz)

Well, hello there! I was checking out my blog the other day and realized that I haven’t updated it since the spring of 2011. Wow, I mean that’s a long time, it’s Jan of 2013 now, so about 1,5 years of my excited travels and awesome new friends are not recorded here :P. 

Well, one of the reasons I should get myself back in the blogger mood, is that 2013 is going to be an awesome year (can’t reveal all the coolness yet). Second of all, I had the best time of my life since I started my uni in Sweden in the fall of 2011, so I am kind of obligated to post a short summary of the places and faces I met and saw from mid 2011- late 2012. Bear with me, it won’t be long, I promise. Little notes here, some pictures there, and voila J

“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.“ T. Cahill

My second school year

As hard as it always is, to leave the States, I actually really missed Malmö and Sweden this time. I had a new awesome semester coming with great new classes, plus I couldn’t wait to see my friends. The whole semester went so fast! I had lot of homework and we had to decide our exchange semester’s plans. Me and about 6 other students applied for an exchange semester abroad. To my surprise, I got a scholarship!!! Yeah, son, the University of Western Sydney is expecting me in February, so God’s willing, I will be studying a semester in Down Under J

in IKEA

In December I also made my first visit to IKEA, one of the biggest ones in Sweden( if not the biggest). I know, I know, how come I had never been there before, you ask...well, I just hadn’t, ok. It was really fun though, I love IKEA!

December was also the last month for me to be part of our amazing worship team at MIC. So, for the Christmas party, I decide to do an African dance I had partly learned in Kenya and partly from Youtube. I taught it to my African friends and the result was this...(hope the video works).

All in all, 2012 was great! I travelled to 6 different countries, spent time with my family and friends, and spent my Christmas in Estonia after 4 years. In a matter of fact, I am still here, just getting ready for my next adventures.

USA 2012

Purple Stride DC

Broadway

The whole summer of 2012 was spent in America. I was blessed enough to get a job as a babysitter, but also to see all my dear friends. I was there for 2,5 months and to be honest lot of things had changed within a year. Some new bars and restaurants had opened in DC, there was this car-to-go system where you could rent a car for very cheap( how freaking cool), and my bff had a boyfriend :P I had a blast though, we played golf, went kayaking, went to the movies( a lot), did some shopping, went to see “The Sister Act“ on Broadway and chilled in Manhattan with Juju like we used to. I also spent a week in the Adirondack mountains, couple days in Boston and two weekends in NYC.

Sister Act

view to Central Park

in the Bronx

Adirondack mountains, Mt. Placid

And people ask why I love the States, smh :P

 " The whole object of travel is not to set foot on a foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land." G.K. Chesterton

Estoniaaa

“Home, sweet home“- I can usually say that about twice a year, usually some time in the summer and recently also during the Christmas time. As you can imagine, it’s very exciting to me, and I love to take everything in with the 2 weeks I usually spend here. From the fall of 2011 it’s even more more exciting, as I have a little niece now...awww. So yeah, I’m an auntie who is horrible missing her little munchkin pie while away at school or travelling. This time, I had just about 7 days before I went to the States to see all my peeps and earn these shekels.

"A wise traveler never despises his own country." C. Goldoni

Spring in Malmö

Spring in Malmö is so nice. It gets warmer and warmer every day from the late April. People ride their bikes wearing T-shirts, some crazy ones take their first tip in the ocean, white people get their first sunburn, and it’s time for Volber. Volber is a holiday celebrated in all the Scandinavian countries and also in Estonia (probably somewhere else too, though). It’s basically a whole day of drinking in the sun and spending time with your friends. It can be very fun if you know your limits. I spent the day in the university town of Lund with my peeps and about million other people. Most importantly, I remember the whole day ;)

B in Malmö and Copenhagen

The Little Mermaid

Copenhagen, Denmark

Once again, B was faster to come and visit me yet in another country. She is just so much fun and we had a blast. It was during the Easter break, so I was off from school as well. We explored the whole city of Malmö, visited the beautiful Copenhagen, went to a local club, and witnessed duck’s having an intercourse ( lol, the weirdest thing ever!). I also had dress rehearsals for my play “The Chocolate Affair“ that time, so poor B was almost forced to remember half of my lines haha.

Downtown Malmö

Finland

In March I had already made my plans for the summer holiday. Thanks to my bff Juju, I got a babysitting job in DC for the whole summer. As I knew that I won’t be going to Fin until after I have come back from the States, I decided to go and see my brothers during March. It was kind of a spontaneous decision, but I also had an easy week at school, so I just booked my flight and flew to Finland for a week. To my delight, my friend Kate was coming to visit our mutual friend in Helsinki, so we all met. She came over to my place in Porvoo and later we went to Helsinki to meet our friend. It was so much fun! We explored the forest, rocks, old town, and cross-fit in Porvoo. In Helsinki we took a ferry to an island. There we planked and had a snow-fight. You gotta love Finland!

Helsinki Cathedral

Poland

Zakopane

2012 really started off with the word of “travel“. I had barely got back from Norway, when my dear sis asked me to come and babysit my lovely niece during their skiing holiday in Zakopane, Poland. I had finished most of my papers at school and also managed to get a week long break from work, so packed my things and headed to the mountains.

How cute!

 The best part was of course to be able to chill with my lil 4-month old niece. I strolled around the mountain town with her and met lot of tourists from places like Hawaii, LA but also bunch of Russians and Europeans. The town was magically snowy and the mountains were just beautiful, there was something special about it. My first visit to Poland was total success.

"Tourists don't know where they've been, travelers don't know where they're going." P. Theroux

Norway

After awesome time at home, I headed back to Sweden to start my second semester. I had quite a good job that time and had saved up some money, so I decided to go and see little bit of the neighbor country, Norway. Also, my childhood friend had lived in a beautiful mountain area in western Norway for about a year now, plus she had her birthday coming, so I decide to go and see her in the end of January, 2012.

The place I was is called Alesund. It’s a sweet little city with the sea and mountains surrounding it from every corner. It was especially beautifull at that time of the year, but I definitely want to go back in the summer time one day.

Michelle in Estonia

My dear friend Michelle from DC, decided to come and spend her New Year’s Eve in Estonia. It also happened to be my first Christmas at home after 3 years, so I was very excited to be back at home. I spent the Christmas in Finland with my dad’s family and went to Estonia for the New Year’s. Michelle arrived on the 27th, so did my two friends from Fin who came to visit for a day. Luigi and Laura, Laura had her friends visiting from Australia, who also came to check out the winter in Est, so by the end of the day, there were 6 of us all heading to my home-town. We didn’t have any snow by then, so it wasn’t typical winter, but nevertheless, they really liked it. We went to see the famous castle of Rakvere and the bull that is also one of the must-see tourist spots.

Michelle stayed for 2 weeks, so my first days of 2012 were spent with her J

Malmö, Sweden 2011

Our library Orkanen

Turning Torso

In the fall of 2011, I decided to do something useful with my excellent knowledge of English, lol, and enrolled in a university in southern Sweden,  majoring in the English linguistics. Fyi, and I bet most of you don’t know that about me, but I am super scared and nervous every time I move to another country because I have to make new friends. I know it’s kind of pathetic, but hey, that’s me :P So anyhow, that’s what happened also when I arrived to Malmö. I didn’t want to go at all, especially as I went straight after DC, leaving all my awesome peeps there. But to my surprise it wasn’t that bad. Most of the students were International and by the end of the first day I had bunch of new friends. By the end of the first month, I found my people and after that, the whole school year was just a blast. Thinking about that know, Woogie, I miss you!!!!

"He who does not travel, does not know the value of men." A Moorish proverb

USA 2011

M. Luther King Jr. Memorial

It’s often too hard to believe how blessed I am to be able to visit the country close to my heart. I freaking LOVE the USA!!! Well the summer of 2011 was actually the first time I went back after I had moved away from DC. It was a visit full of excitement, to see my friends, host family, church- just too overwhelming. Nevertheless, I loved every bit of the 3 weeks I had left before my school started in Sweden, and visited places like DC, Boston, Newton, Martha’s Vineyard and New York City. Sorry haters, but east coast rules!

Martha's Vineyard

Manhattan

Boston

"The world is a book and those who do not travel, read only one page." St. Augustine

Austria

Shortly after my lovely friend B visited me in the land of Swiss army knife, I had the opportunity to go and visit her beautiful face in her lovely home town of Salzburg. It was time to say bye to grüezi ( at least for some days), and welcome hallo. People, if you have never been to Salzburg...I mean, you have missed out one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It’s just out of the world how freaking BE-A-UTIFUL one place can be. And most importantly, the hills are alive with the sound of music... ;)

"To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries"  A. Huxley