Outlandish

Lately Estonia has been covered under a thick layer of depressing gray clouds day and night. Darkness arrives earlier every night and it is already really cold for October, it even snowed yesterday morning! Since there are only couple days a week when I am required to be in the office I have started taking a lot of home office to be able to sleep longer. And I also want to avoid going out into the coldness as far as I can. This means that my weekends have sort of stretched to three days long and all of those three days I just lie on the couch either staring at my laptop or TV... I can't remember when I have felt so useless and as if there is absolutely no point to my life anymore. Even if somebody asks me for a drink or whatever I take one look out of the window, see the depressing clouds and people walking with thick hoods drawn over their faces and I return to the sofa... But I am not yet completely defeated! There are still some things that brighten my days in addition...

It's May!! Summer is sooo close! May 1st, also known as May Day is a festive day all over the world. But nowhere do people appreciate this day as Finns do! And as always we celebrate the eve of the big day and it's traditional to go for a picnic on the actual 1st May. This great event is called Vappu and I really recommend you visit Helsinki or Turku during this festival of Spring! (Unless you're a really uptight person who cannot bare seeing people consuming too much alcohol in a public place and being very loud.)  Vappu, like most our festivities probably originate from Sweden and it was firstly seen as a celebration for Spring. Then the industrialization came along and today the day is seen more as a working class's holiday around the world. In Finland the day has been taken over by university students. They roam the cities in their colourful overalls and at 6pm on the Eve of May 1st they are allowed to put on the white caps that we receive when we gradu...

How perfect it is that I still had time to go check out the Budapest Christmas Market before moving away from Slovakia. And to check it out with the company that I had... I am just so fortunate when it comes to friends. When traveling, the company you have is a very important factor in how successful the trip will in the end be. The worst trip I ever had was unfortunately a long weekend in Paris - as gorgeous as the city always is - because schedules do not belong to a holiday. In my opinion the best thing in Paris, or any destination, would be to get a bottle of wine, some brie cheese and relax. This trip to Budapest was exactly that; complete relaxation, no schedules, no plans (except going to the Christmas market) and in the end we did see a lot of Budapest, mostly places I haven't even seen yet, like the Basilica. I had been quite sick for two days and was really afraid that I wouldn't be well enough to go. But working from home turned out a very good idea and o...

Sometimes life throws you against the wall and causes bruises that take years to heal. Some people succumb under the pressure, I decided I've had enough, I'll run away. They say that you can't run away from your troubles, you'll always bump into them on the way but I did exactly that and it was the best decision I ever made . When moving to Slovakia I didn't have any expectations, I didn't know where I was going. And during the one and a half years I have realized what makes me happy:  I've always enjoyed being in a big group, I love having a lot of people around me. Important people that is. I don't know where this comes from because my family hasn't been exactly keen on having huge gatherings more than what has been an absolute necessity. Here in Slovakia I've met such amazing people who have become veery important to me as friends but also as a sort of family. We are all so different, we all have a "role" in the group...

Stara Trznica is a beautiful building used only for special occasions. Like Beer or Food Festivals. Last weekend was dedicated for International Foods. I wanted to go there already on Saturday but because the weather was still a nightmare I saved it for Sunday when I would also have company there.  They had countries from all over the world but not all of them served food, which was a little disappointing. For example Portugal and Germany were only serving wine tasters (which we tasted of course, Vinho Verde was a new and very pleasant acquaintance) and India's table consisted only of books and leaflets. I love Indian food and, as far as I know, there is only one Indian restaurant in the whole Bratislava and it's very expensive and not worth the money, so that was a shame. From Nordic countries only Norway was represented. Their stall was our favourite, they had gotten the correct idea: instead of huge portions they had small tasters of bread with sa...

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...