Extended Weekend in Germany

After our trip to the States in December I didn't really feel relaxed at all, and was in desperate need of another vacation. ASAP. Do I sound vain or something? Oh well… I needed to reset and have fun and so I started making plans with my friend S, whom I met in Portland in the fall of 2012. She and I had such a great time there, and after Portland I visited S in Germany and she visited me in Finland. 

I was so excited to have the chance to visit her again this year :) 

I flew to Bremen on Friday the 28th and S picked me up from the airport. After not seeing each other for… 10 months, it was a very happy reunion. We do actually see each other almost every week through Skype, but of course it's not the same. 

We had a pretty relaxed day, and had a great dinner at an American restaurant with a bunch of friends. I can't remember the last time I spent three or four hours at a restaurant, it was so nice and relaxed; just what I needed. 

A friend of mine, with whom I'd grown up together, surprisingly moved to Germany in December, and only an hour away from S, so on Saturday we headed to his place and ended up exploring Osnabrück. 

It was a rainy day and the carnival was in town, so it was busy and a lot of commotion pretty much everywhere. After walking around downtown for a while we headed to IKEA to get some stuff for M's new apartment, and afterwards had a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant. All in all we had a very good day and it was great seeing my friend after two months. 

On Sunday S took me to a lovely town called Bad Zwischenahn. The day was sunny and the shops were open, so the place was buzzing with people. The town is located by a lake and looked like a postcard, so pretty :) 

These aren't sold in Finland, which, come to think of it, is probably a good thing. 

We went to a grocery store to pick up some goodies for the night, because we planned on staying up all night and watch the Oscars! And that we did :) Only, we didn't eat anything we bought. Seriously, I had like three pieces of chocolate throughout the entire night. Just didn't feel like eating, which is weiiiird.

After the Oscars (by the way, how awesome was Ellen DeGeneres??? She deserves an Oscar for best host!) S took me to the airport. My visit was short but wonderful, and even though I was half dead having not slept at all, I was happy I'd gotten to spend time with my friends. Even short vacations can make you feel so much better and this one certainly did. Yay :) I'm so lucky to have such great friends!

<3

And now I'll just wait until I can put in a request for my summer vacation. Then I'll start looking into flights a little further away. 

It's always nice to have something to look forward to!

Thanks for reading!

Internet Down!

Hey guys!

I am so sorry for the lack of posts within the last week or so; now the reason is not my motivation (or the lack of it) but my stupid internet!! Or my laptop.. the thing is, my wifi works on my ipad and phone just well, but not on my laptop, and I don't know what's wrong with it. Sometimes I get a connection and then it gets cut off again. I don't like blogging with my ipad, so now I'm at my brother's and taking advantage of his wifi. I was supposed to bring my own laptop along, but forgot about it... so I can't even add any cool pics for this post now. Sorry!! :( 

I don't remember if I've told you guys, but I'm leaving for Germany on Friday and staying there until Monday. I'm staying with a close friend of mine and I can't wait to go; my life has been pretty stressful lately and I really need a few days to just calm down. Work has caused some anxiety along with other stuff, I feel like when one thing goes wrong, everything goes wrong. Damn snowball-effect. 

But I don't want to complain, I just wanted to let you guys know that I haven't forgotten about you and that I will get back to regular blogging asap! :) I will try to squeeze in at least one more post before I head out to Germany. So I will get back to you soon, hope you are all having a good week so far! :) 

<3

Out with the old, in with the new!

Hiiiiiiiiii!

Peeps, it's January 1st, 2014. For an hour and a half more at least, here in Finland. I feel sort of disoriented and confused at the moment; I returned from my vacation yesterday, and am jet lagged + I caught a flu on our way back. It's surreal to think that two days ago I was in Miami, and now I'm here. Two days ago I was in warm and humid Florida, and now I'm in cold and dark Finland. Well, at least there's zero snow here, which was a pleasant welcoming gift :)

I will do a separate post about my vacation in the near future, once I get my head straight and pics uploaded. Now, since every other blogger in the world is doing so, I want to talk about 2013. I won't make an extensive post about every single detail of the past year, but will share some highlights with you! With that being said, let's get started!

2013:

*My dear friend from Germany visited me in Finland
*I visited her in Germany

*After promoting my blog on Instagram, I was invited to join Glipho and blog there, too. This was a major turning point and gave me a whole new perspective! Thank you, Glipho Team!

*I worked through the entire summer, which wasn't exactly ideal, but for a good cause ;)

*Despite working a lot, I got to spend a lot of time with friends

*I became more and more passionate about writing and working on my novel

*I made some new friends

*Some of my best friends moved abroad; again, not a highlight, but they're happy and that's what matters!

*I traveled to Florida. Here's a little sneak peek:

I managed to snap this awesome photo while in downtown Tampa. The lighting was just perfect!

Now I'm starting a new year. I never make any resolutions. I just hope things will look up and something exciting will happen. I'm fortunate to have experienced a lot in my life, but it has left me thirsting for more. So, I hope 2014 will bring something amazing to me, and to all of you. Make it your year<3

Here's an inspirational song I wanted to share before signing off. I will get back to you guys later! :)

Germany

Last Saturday I traveled to Germany to visit my friend, S. We met last fall in Portland, Oregon, where I was volunteering at the Children's Museum and S was doing an internship. We clicked instantly and became great friends. S visited me in Finland a couple months ago, and now I had the chance to visit her. 

Bremen City Hall

I love windmills!

Brunch at Alex, in Hamburg.

Hamburg City Hall

I had a great time in Germany. This was actually the first time that I went to Germany just to go to Germany. Once I got stuck there due to problems with flight schedules and ended up driving from Frankfurt to Amsterdam for another flight with my family. It's funny how after years of only traveling to the USA, traveling to Germany didn't even feel like I was abroad. There are so many similarities all over Europe, I guess that was it. But I loved it :) I don't speak German, even though I studied it for three years once. S was an excellent translator, though! 

I flew to Bremen, then went to Cloppenburg, Hamburg and Vechta. I was excited to drive 200km/hr (125miles/hr) and just have a break from everything at home. Sometimes it's good to have a little getaway and remind yourself there's so much more to life than just work and everyday routines. 

Having five days off from work has its toll, too... I will be working for the next four weekends. Maybe even a couple more after that, who knows? It was totally worth it, though. 

TGIF, right? Not for me ;)

xoxo

Iira