Påsk i Stockholm

Jag har precis tillbringat en underbar påsk här i Stockholm tillsammans med Winter C! Jag gillar staden väldigt mycket, den är så jättefin, särskilt "gamla stan" ! Första dagen var jag ensamt eftersom Catherine kom fram på fredagen och så jag gick och gick och gick vidare genom staden och de olika ön. Det gör lite ont på benen nu ;) men det lonar sig iaf! Jag besökte Sveriges Riksdag i fredagen, vilken var jätteinteressant faktiskt, och fint också! Det var en tysk kvinna som tar oss runt, konstigt men bra eftersom nästan alla andra besöker var också tysk...I lördagen gjorde vi Vasa museet och Skansen, på Djurgården, båda var väldigt bra! Igår var det då mer tid i gamla stan, vi ville göra en båttur men fick inte eftersom det var utsåld :( (men det har jag gjort idag i snön, kunde inte se så mycket...!) Så gick vi till Södermalm och vi har fikat två gånger, jättemysigt som alltid! I kvällen var cocktails och gott mat på menyn :D Som sagt var jag på båten idag, också på Mynt museet och igen i gamla stan och i centrum! Nu sitter jag på Arlanda och väntar på planet tillbaka till Finland...det tar två timmar fortfarande, typ tråkigt men...sånt är livet när man reser så mycket!

NICE adventures

I have some peculiar desire to sing my heart out just now...I might just do that ;)

Music is my soul. You have probably noticed that i'm always plugged into my ipod. I'm totally and utterly lost without it, i kid you not.

Well, I'm back in snowy Finland now. Got back late on Friday night from my trip to Ostrava, Czech Republic, where they have delicious, cheap beer! love it! hmm, one could say that alcohol featured quite substantially on this trip, lol. The social sides of these NICE project meetings are always great. The other partners are just lovely, great banter is guaranteed! On the Wed night after an interesting visit to the Landek Mining Museum and a yummy traditional Czech meal (also at the museum restaurant), our hosts drove home and the bus took us to Stodolnie (an (in)famous street in Ostrava with the highest density of bars and pubs per sq m in the Czech Rep!) where we continued the party in the "Dublin Pub", obviously! At this point (I realised the next day when trying to understand my hangover) it was only "me and the boys" and being bought drinks, it was rude to refuse and thus I was drinking the same as them....oj, oj, oj! Later on we were joined by Judith and Dieter who had both flown into Ostrava from Germany in the evening.

I was very impressed with the Czech organisation of their workshop. There was a nice mixture of company presentations, a run-down of the actual project in the beginning and then 2 presentations from the partners, from Timo and Christoph. It was all very professional and the hotel was lovely. Thumbs up!

The only downside was the last stretch of the journey to Ostrava from Prague...we flew in a small, propeller jet aircraft and the turbulence was horrendous, I felt soooo sick! It's like being on a bad rollercoaster but you can't get off for 1 hour...I thought I might have died by the time we eventually landed in Ostrava. So, as you can imagine, I was particularly looking forward to the return leg of that part of the journey but it turned out to be fine! Judith, Dieter and I even got to fly business class for some reason, don't know how that happened really...also with an invitiation to the business lounge in the airport which, quite frankly, was a bit of a joke: there weren't enough seats for everyone who was invited there, it was way too hot, the only member of staff there was a Czech girl who couldn't speak any English (much to the annoyance of a Swedish woman who wanted some wine!) and we only had half an hour to sit there anyway...

Well, now i'm looking forward to my next trip abroad and it's this Thursday to Stockholm! woo hoo! Winter C and I will spend Easter weekend there, cannot wait, so much to see and I get to practice my Swedish, hurra!

40 miles from the sun

I'm feeling quite chuffed after doing my first OC duty...for those of you who don't know, OC is not Orange County or whatever else, but Organising Comittee! Yesterday, Noora, Jani and I were the OC for the elections and the founding meeting of Aiesec Tampere; the unification of Aiesec TUT and Aiesec University of Tampere (TAY). Now were are one.

It was tiring but great fun, we made 2 big salads, had crisps and carrots etc with dips and we made a delicious chocolate and fruit cake!! credit goes to Noora for that, I must admit, great job! The event was in Juvenes Sauna in the city centre which is a really smart place, small and cosy, although the actual sauna is very big. There is a rooftop terrace with views of the Tampere sky-line, not bad at all!

Today has been very chilled so far...slept long and made my first freshly brewed coffee at home in my coffee machine: skånerost, yummy! Actually I'm going to go swimming soon...just letting lunch digest first. This coming week is gonna be a bit hectic I imagine, lots to do in the office on Mon/Tues and then literally at the crack of dawn on Wed, I'm off to Ostrava in the Czech Republic for our final business networking workshop for the NICE project. It will be a good trip I think, looking forward to it!

In the meantime, I'm trying to plan some sort of short holiday for April time, I'm now thinking about a long weekend in Riga, since the flights are costing next to nothing right now...I hate Ryanair but for 20euros return, all taxes included, you can't really complain. We'll see...it's definitely cheaper than going to Lapland, I could save that for summer time...can't believe I've not been able to go skiing for more than 1 day this year, it sucks. I really miss it and feel like I need to go, otherwise I'll just get worse and worse...

I've also been thinking about trying to drive over here on the wrong side of the road...! It's a bit daunting and I'll probably wait til there's no ice/snow, i.e. summer time too...I mean the roads between cities are pretty simple I'd say, mostly just straight, but driving in the city centres would be another kettle of fish...perhaps a summer road trip, if anyone comes to visit me anytime soon!? would be nice!

knackered but ultimately having a crackin' time!

After the weekend in Ruovesi for the Aiesec regional seminar, I still can't seem to shake this fatigue...Ok, I did only get 2.5hrs sleep on Sat (and I was good, only had 3 ciders!) but still, at my age, I should be able to deal with that but yesterday and today at work have been a bit "dur" !

Nonetheless, the wknd was very entertaining indeed. I got to meet lots of new folk, especially since the crew from Jyväskylä were also there with us Tampere dudes and dudettes! I was mistaken for a Finn on a couple of occasions which is always funny because it makes me feel really daft since they look at me like "why don't you understand what we're saying to you!?"...the joys. I must admit though, that my comprehension of Finnish is really improving. I surprise myself sometimes with how much of conversations I can actually follow and then at other times I take a break at work, try to read the newspaper (Amulehti and Helsingin Sanomat) and understand pretty much nothing...now that is demoralising!

There were some cool, different sessions for us "oldies" at the weekend, e.g. on improvisation, I was crap at it but I found it a lot of fun anyway! You just have to be stupid, open-minded and willing to laugh at yourself. I can do that.

Winter seems to have re-arrived in Finland, it's now about -5 with lots of snow, a bit bizarre and equally frustrating because I reaaaaaly want to go skiing and still haven't sorted out my lapland trip. Watch this space.

Apropos travelling, I'm off to the Czech Rep next week (got a jag today against Hep A. in preparation, hopefully it's not that risky there...i doubt it!) for a work trip and Stockholm the week after for Easter, so I can't complain that I've not been going anywhere recently. I've just been hearing lots about peoples' holidays and it's making the evil green-eyed monster rear its ugly head!

Ok, gonna go and get some grub, chat to my folks and sleep. It is the ultimate remedy.

Photos are from RAS at the wknd in Ruovesi.