No, I don’t care if you’ve been to Sweden

January 16, 2012 by Mari in Thoughts and stories | Leave a comment / Kommentoi  

When you are traveling and staying in hostels, one of the nicest things is to meet new people and make new friends. Friendships grow so much faster and so much stronger while you are traveling – I’ve always thought that that’s because people give more of themselves, are more comfortable with who they are and are more open and more themselves while traveling. I guess one also meets more a-like-minded people on one’s travels than in the normal day-to-day life. 

City girl

January 10, 2012 by Mari in Thoughts and stories | Leave a comment / Kommentoi  

I am a city person. What that means is not that I’d hate nature or even dislike it, not that I wouldn’t love to go for a hike, to see mountains, swim in lakes nor that I wouldn’t feel comfortable staying in a cottage in the woods without electricity or running water. After all I am a Finn and we are born to love our forests and lakes. What it means though is

It’s not jealousy

January 6, 2012 by Mari in Thoughts and stories | Leave a comment / Kommentoi  

Two of my very good friends went traveling last fall. One to Australia and New Zealand for two and a half months, the other one to spend seven months in NZ before continuing her way around the world. I guess I could say that I was jealous. I was and I am in a way.

Speaking languages, part I

January 5, 2012 by Mari in Thoughts and stories | Leave a comment / Kommentoi  

In Finland we get one of the best language educations in the world I dare say. At school we are taught at least two foreign languages (English and Swedish) before the age of 14 and in most schools you can make it three (add German) if you want. And after 14 there is almost no limit – in free public school one can study usually up to at least seven different languages

Is Helsinki IN?

January 4, 2012 by Mari in Destinations | Leave a comment / Kommentoi  

When you live in a country as small, as isolated and with as unfriendly people as Finland, it can come as a surprise to realize that some people actually come here as tourists. Yes, I know we are not the smallest country around if you measure it by square meters (Finland is about 338 km2, around the same as Italy or Poland), not even close, but when you count in also the amount of population

Starting something new – so scary and so exciting

January 2, 2012 by Mari in Thoughts and stories | Leave a comment / Kommentoi  

“This is the moment” I thought to myself “There couldn’t be a better moment to start my blog”. It was a Saturday evening in Finland, late July, about six o’clock and it was a evening of a gorgeous, sunny, hot summer day, one of the last days of my summer holiday 2011. The sun was shining still high up but there were signs of approaching storm in the air: wind was blowing hard and bending the trees, curtains inside my Read More

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