Hello everyone,

I'm posting from Serbia, I came home because I don't have many lectures in March (the regular semester in Germany hasn't started yet). The weather here is beautiful, I'm enjoying my mum's cuisine and looking forward to going to Belgrade on Friday, where I'll see my friends... the ones that haven't moved to other countries. (Yet?)

Here are the Instagram photos from January and February - another reminder of dear and beautiful Finland. It's been almost three weeks in Germany now, but I still listen to Finnish radio. I love hearing Finnish... even hough most of the time I have no idea what they're talking about. I hope my German skills will be better in six months' time!

Talvi Joensuussa

I actually took these photos months ago, because I wanted to show you how beautiful winter (talvi) in Joensuu (Joensuussa) can be. Since I have already showed autumn on this blog, it might be interesting to compare and contrast. One of my biggest regrets about Finland is that I only got to live there in the bad part of the year - since autumn colors were that amazing, I bet spring is equally wonderful, if not even more!

Anyway, this really isn't Joensuu now, as it was really warm there 10 days ago, when I left. As I mentioned before, warm in this sense means around 2 degrees. :) Actually, this February was the second warmest in Finland since 1900 - earlier I would have said that I got lucky, but having survived Finnish January, I kinda feel bad - it's like seeing and experiencing global warming at its worst, and Finnish winter is really not impossible to endure, not even for me. It's also not nearly as beautiful now in Joensuu as it was some time ago, because the snow is melting and it's ugly and dirty. So here are the oldies, but goldies! :)

Five Months in a Nutshell

A stranger on the bike stopped on the crossing because it was red for him. It was green for me. As I was crossing the road, he gave me a big bright smile. I smiled back, so he nodded and then we simultaneously said “Hei”, still smiling, both of us. It could have probably happened anywhere and anytime in the world, but it happened on a February morning at the corner of Suvantokatu and Torikatu, in Joensuu, Finland, and that is just one of the reasons why I love Joensuu so much and why I felt my heart was breaking because I leave.

(via)

A Very Late Instagram Post

I was really surprised to realize that I haven't posted Instagram posts for quite a while now. So here's a very late Instagram post, from November and December last year. I look at these pictures and see how I fell in love with Finland. It took me a while, but then it struck me as a lightning and it's gonna last forever.

Clockwise: wool hats displayed in Joensuu Arts & Crafts market; learning colors in Finnish; beautiful autumn
landscape in Joensuu; vitamin D pills called Aurinko - "The Sun"

Hyvää Ystävänpäivää!

I know I’m late!

I also know I am probably becoming boring by constantly emphasizing things I love about Finland, and luckily for me, the list seems to be expanding all the time. (But then again, not so luckily when I remember that I am actually leaving the country quite soon.) One of the things I liked not long ago was realizing how Finns perceive Valentine’s Day. I am one of those people who don’t really appreciate the date. I strongly believe it is a holiday invented to make malls happy, as well as candy and silly teddy bears manufacturers. I also believe that love should be cherished and praised every day, not once a year. And last but not least, I have been single for so long that I am a bit sceptical towards a holiday that celebrates love. Not my cup of tea, definitely.

(via)

Where Magic Happens: Lapland, Part 2

Maybe I sounded too excited in my previous post (check it out if you haven't). Maybe you thought there is not much magic around a zoo, Santa's Village and a lot of snow? Well, you might be right. I wouldn't agree, though. I'm easy to please. Recently a friend asked me if there was a place I didn't want to visit. Amongst those I hadn't visited so far? No, absolutely not. I want to see it all and experience it all. Life is short, I probably won't make it. But let's take one step at a time.

One of the things on my bucket list was seeing the northern lights. Aurora Borealis. It was something I wanted to see someday in my life, but up to few months ago I probably thought that would actually never happen to me.

But it did.

Where Magic Happens: Lapland, Part 1

The winter really has come since my last blog post. And can you imagine welcoming winter in a better place than Finnish Lapland?

I mentioned the trip of the year in some of my previous posts. This was it! It lasted less than a week, but I can certainly say it was the best trip of my life! I did some things I have never ever imagined I would do. And for the most of the time it really did feel like magic. Like living in a fairytale. Considering the fact that it is the very home of Santa and his little helpers – that's not strange at all!

30 Days, 4 Countries, 6 Cities

The title sounds as if it's some kind of a competition or a mission; but it has been pretty much my life from the end of September till the end of October. And I loved it!

I love Instagram. It captures all the lovely moments that make life. Friends, destinations, coffee. It captures joy.

That's why I love finding new inspiring people to follow. If you do know some cool Instagram profiles, please let me know. I'll gladly share my favorites with you in some of the following posts.

Clokwise: a book about shoes in German. Had to buy this at the Mauerpark market, even though I cannot read it!
Hope I would in spring; eating sandwich without a plate... so internationalstudent-ish; hipster panties!;
water for free in DM.

SPB, Day 1: Wires And More Wires

Sorry for so many photos and sorry for the extended use of words "beauty" and "beautiful"!

It's been more than a week since I'm back from this trip, and I finally stole some time from myself to publish a new post.

Living in the Land of Santa

If you know me personally and after I had told you I was moving to Finland you didn't ask "Oh, you're going to Santa's, aren't you?", then what's wrong with you?

Just joking, but this was basically everyone's reaction. And that's what most people from Serbia know about Finland: cold. North. Far away. Santa. Reindeer.

Helsinki, Finland: Moving to Another Country Can Be Fun!

I've never thought I would have said the thing from the title, but it can! Luckily for me, I didn't go from Berlin to Joensuu (my current home in Finland) directly, but had a layover in Helsinki at a friend's. As one of my fellow EMCL students said: "You have friends everywhere!" Yes I do, and I am most likely to write a post once on this wonderful science center in Serbia where I met most of them, and most of my bestest friends in the world!