Outlandish

Reality starting to set in. Last week I handed in my resignation, for the first time with trepidation. I'm utterly aware that most people would never do what I'm about to do: leave a job they like in a company they like and move away from a country that they absolutely love. Yes, I'm completely nuts! We have this saying in Finland that rolling rocks don't get mossy and I think that's the story of my life in a nutshell. I get bored easily and boredom is my worst nightmare. I need new experiences and excitement in my life all the time and even though I am completely happy here in Bratislava, if I let this opportunity of discovering a new country slip away I would never  forgive myself! And as a single, childless, independent person, why wouldn't I go and be nuts :D I'm an experience-addict! But, I still have a lot of time left here and thankfully it's one of my favourite times of the year: Christmas. The markets are lit up and there's ...

Panic is rising when the time to fly home draws near... But before I completely break down lying on my suitcase screaming "I'm not going, I'm not going!!!" I can make a trip down memory-lane to the previous week. At work Christmas was all around: Santa came to visit the customer care departments with gifts and my team had a Christmas party. There was also a movie night where we watched the Finnish Christmas story of the original Santa Claus: Rare Exports. I was positively surprised, the movie was quite good for a Finnish one! On Saturday me and couple colleagues took the train to Vienna to see how the Christmas markets there were. I had been recommended to go see them by pretty much everyone. Arriving in Vienna and walking around the streets, which are already quite familiar to me, I have to say I fall more and more in love with the city every time I visit there. I'm not saying that I would still want to live there, but it's great that it'...

I looove Christmas Markets! In my home town in Finland the Christmas market is rather small and it's only open on few weekends before Christmas. But the Christmas markets in Central Europe are world-famous.  First up we visited the old Bratislava Market Hall, which is only open for special occasions, such as Christmas Market. There you can find all kinds of gorgeous hand-made foods and handicrafts. Pastries, chocolate, wine, vegetables, you name it, they had it. The building itself is a beautiful stone edifice built in 1910. Through the Market Hall you come out into a square where the Christmas Market starts snaking through the Old Town to the Main Square and down to the river.We bought some pancakes (filled with local cheese bryndza, yamm!) and some hot wine. They even have glögi here! Except the range of different glögis here is huge compared to what we have on offer in Finland. If you really want to infuriate a Finn tell them that they shouldn't be col...