Already Christmas?

Here in Finland there is already a lot of christmas decorations to find. The shop windows are decorated and the streets are decorated. And you can also already find some christmas trees.
Ofcourse in Holland we also have a lot of Christmas decorations, but now we are celebrating 'Sinterklaas'. A Dutch tradition where children get gifts, a bit like they do here with Christmas. So I'm not really used to so much christmas decorations in November. But I have to say, it is really nice. As the days are shorter and darker it makes the city look light and cosy. I'm also curious how they celebrate Christmas here. We spend the Christmas here so we will get to see that.

Puhua Myöhemmin
Emma

Hesburger

Something you will see all over in Finland is Hesburger. It is like the mc donalds but than the Finnish version. There are a lot of Hesburgers here you can spot them almost everywhere. Ofcourse we needed to try it, so we did. But I have to admit I didn't really like it. It tasted exactly the same for me as mc donalds. So it is not really special, but it was nice to try it once.


Puhua myöhemmin
Emma

Roadtrip part 2

After one amazing day of roadtripping it was time for the second day. We decided to go to Tampere, a city a bit more northern than Turku. We had still amazing weather so we were happy about that. But it was a long way to get there. It was just one straight way for 2 hours, so kind of boring. But with the right music on we made it a lot more fun.

Finally after two hours we arrived in Tampere, we didn't really know anything about the city, but a lot of people were really enthousiast about it and told us we really should go there. The city had a lot of beautiful buildings and everything was already in Christmas spheres. Unfortunately the Christmas market was closed, so we couldn't go there. But we went to a Bunny café, I had never heard of something like that before. There were different rooms in the café where they had bunnies and you just could sit there, drink your hot chocolate and cuddle with the bunnies. We didn't do much in Tampere, just a little bit of sightseeing.

After a few hours we were cold and a bit tired so we decided to go home. We went out for dinner at a nice Italian restaurant in Turku and returned the car.

I had a really nice weekend roadtripping.

Puhua myöhemmin
Emma

First snow

Yesterday the first snow fall here in Turku. It snowed all morning and now we have a winter wonderland. The sun is still shining so it looks amazing here. yesterday I went to the lake and that was also really beautiful.
Now one day later it is still really beautifull but also very slippery, so ofcourse, clumsy as I am I fell.
Also fun fact in The Netherlands they strew salt on the roads to make it less slippery, here they use little stones/rocks.

Puhua myöhemmin
Emma

Road trip part 1

Last weekend Aniek and I rented a car to do a little roadtrip. We wanted to go to a national park cause we never been to one before and Finland has so much beautiful national parks that we had to go to a least one in the time that we are here.

So we got on the road and we drove to Nuuksio National park close to Espoo. It was a 2 hour drive to get there and we had beautiful views. The weathers this weekend was also really beautiful, the sun was shining, blue skies and it was a little bit cold but not too cold, just perfect.

We chose to do a route that was about, we thought, about 8 kilometers, but on the way we changed our route cause we didn't have a good feeling about it. Cause it seemed like a one way route to an other city. Good for us we changed our route cause we looked it up and the route we were walking was a 20 kilometers one way route. So we changed and we direction and did a route that was about 7-8 kilometers. The route was a bit though with some high climbs but it was really worth it.



We came across beautiful lakes and because it has been freezing for a while, the whole lake was frozen. It gives a beautifull view with the bleu sky, the sun shining and the frozen lake. Also in the forest it was really beautifull and there were a lot of fire places where you can barbecue. Or just sit around the fire. That is the nice thing about Finland. They have a thing called 'everyman's right' it means that everyone has the rights to use those fireplaces, but also to walk and bike in the woods, pick berries and mushrooms in the woods and to camp in the outdoor.

If you are thinking about going to Finland, or if you go. The national parks are worth a visit.

The first day of our roadtrip was really fun, we did a lot of karaoke in the car, our voices sounded like crap in the evening, but we had fun.

Puhua myöhemmin
Emma

Public transport

In the Netherlands we have pretty good public transport, but most of the time we use our bike to get to our destination.
Here in Turku a lot of people use the bike but also a lot use the bus. I have a bike here but most of the time I go with the bus. I go to school with the bus, go to the citycentre with the bus, go to the store with the bus, go the gym with the bus. I just go everywhere with the bus. It is pretty good arranged here with the busses, you almost can get everywhere with the bus, so it is really easy. And if you go for a longer journey you can also take the train. Last weekend I took the train for the first time here to get from Helsinki to Turku. It was a little bit different than back home. We just get in the train and sit wherever we want, but here you get a seat. So the first time going with the train it was hard to find the right place. But I did and it was actually quite comfortable.

So traveling isn't really hard and there are a lot of options to travel from place to place.

Puhua myöhemmin
Emma

My favourite place

I think we all have a favourite place to be. For some it is at home on the couch, for some it is their bed and for some it is outside. Back home I have a favourite place, it's at the riverside, most of the time I go there when I take a walk with my dog. I just sit there and watch the river and the nature and just enjoy being outside. Here in Finland I also found my favorite place. It's a rock by the Littoinen lake. If you go really early in the morning on a sunny day, you can enjoy sitting in the sun there and just relax. It is a silent place and the lake is beautiful in the sunlight, a perfect place to relax and enjoy the beautiful nature of Finland.

It is also a perfect place to spot the aurora, but unfortunately I haven't seen it from there.





Puhua myöhemmin
Emma