Outlandish

Arriving to the Budapest bus station for the first time can be a bit confusing. The bus from Bratislava leaves you outside the station area and there are no signs to anything, ATM, taxis, anything. I remember the desperation, the following of random people to an underground tunnel, of trying to locate someone, ANYONE with even little English. Nowadays I'm a professional bus station goer there but I noticed a woman of about 50 years of age asking different people something. She didn't seem to be getting anywhere so I went to ask if maybe she was looking for an ATM, which there is located to a place that cannot be found except by those who already know where it is (note the clever Pirates of the Caribbean reference). So, I took her to the ATM and then back up to where the taxi stop was and I called her a taxi. She wasn't very impressed with Hungarian people for starters but at least I could sleep in peace knowing that she at least found her hotel. I was very much blessed by ...

I've been rafting altogether once in my life and despite the rafting itself being very enjoyable the experience as a whole was traumatic. Mainly because the Finnish summer decided to show it's full wrath to us all day long with literally pouring  rain on our necks. On top of that, because of a storm couple days previously, there were fallen tree trunks lying across the river and we had to carry the boats over them. What made bad even worse was the day's meal of mac and cheese, which is one food that I truly hate!  This time I felt confident in the fact that the trip would be much more successful an experience than that time 10 years ago. 36 degrees, sunshine and such a wide river that no tree would ever reach from one shore to the other.  A bus took us over the border to Hainburg, Austria. Behind the castle there we found canoes ready and waiting. A quick safety reminder (in Slovak of course....), life vests on and boats in the water! I was a bit ...

Danube is a big river and it runs through several countries, including Slovakia and Austria. Ever since moving to Bratislava I've wanted to go on a cruise from here to Vienna or Budapest, but haven't found the time or the company to go with. So, now that my parents were coming to Vienna I decided to book a cruise as a late Mothers' Day gift. I booked the tickets beforehand since it is summer and Vienna is a popular tourist attraction. So, on Saturday we ordered a taxi to the harbour an hour before but didn't take into account the traffic. By the time we arrived to the ticket office I had already almost given up hope of catching the boat on time. Eventually we got to the counter where people were being told that the boat was already full-booked. When it was my turn the guy behind the counter was clearly prepared to sell me a don't-have. So, when I put the reservation paper in front of him his face made it clear that he was disappointed. It's "lovely...

Now, in the middle of November, I can admit that yes, autumn has arrived. This Monday was the first morning that I had to turn on the lights when waking up at 7:30. It's rainy and it's gloomy, but I can't be affected by that here. There's so much going on, so many things to do and always something to look forward to; like my housewarming party, the Christmas market in Vienna or the Christmas holidays. Lately I've come across many Austrian people. It's funny how people from one country always have some things that tell you where they are from. Russians, Brits, Swedes and French I can pretty much recognize by looks and gestures. Austrians I didn't know much about but I am starting to think that they are very well-behaved, well-informed, just plain simple nice people. Every time I tell someone that I'm from Finland they are impressed by it. Austrians weren't.  And I love the fact that I didn't have to explain myself to any of them.  Obv...

  Big changes here and there but still life just goes on. My team was transferred under another company the previous Monday. Luckily my parents were visiting so I deliberately took the Monday off. Turns out that despite the huge change, the work, the systems, everything still stays the same. I also had a job interview, which I have decided to decline (never imagined that a day would come when I would say 'no' to a new job). After a long and hard deliberation I decided that giving up the team that I have now is just not worth it. There were other reasons as well, obviously, but the truth is that my current team is a brilliant one and it means a lot to me. The weather here is still hovering around 15 degrees (except during the weekend when my parents were here, of course...) but still I managed to catch a flu, probably from one of my colleagues. It's been going on for a week now. Every morning my throat feels like there's someone going around with a chainsaw and ...

When reading Finnish newspapers I couldn't be happier that I do not live there. Not only because they've dug themselves into a ditch from which they will not get up for many years, but also because for the past week all headlines have been about the weather getting rather wintry. Whereas here in Bratislava it couldn't be much more summer-like! On Saturday I thought I'd go to Ikea to get some things for my new home, but instead I got stuck on a terrace by the river with lunch and cocktails.  But anyway, last Wednesday I finally moved to a place that I can actually call home! Thanks to my wonderful colleagues the move went super smoothly. Moving isn't one of my favourite things in life, especially when in only 4 months I've managed to gather so much stuff that even 4 suitcases could not take it all. Packing everything was easy enough, but the unpacking... well, it sort of took me 4 days. It was a busy week so Saturday was the first day that ...