how to begin?

Hello. Hei. Hej. Ciao. Hola.

The beginning is always the hardest part, they say, right?

I hope that's true, because I'm having a lot of problems with this beginning. Okay, let's see.

Barcelona - fall 2009

The purpose of this blog is to follow my way to more international life; yes, that's what I want from my future. After high school I applied to study tourism in English, but I didn't quite make it into the University of Applied Sciences that I applied into. So now I'm studying something else that can also mean an international career for me: hotel and restaurant management. And since I live in Finland, this degree programme is in Finnish. Personally I'm more into the hotel management -part.

I've always been interested in foreign countries and cultures, and also studying other languages. I don't know yet exactly what I want to do or what kind of career I want after all, but one thing was sure when thinking about options; at least tourism business and international things interest me, so I considered it as the best option for me at this point of my life. After all, it's important to do something you like, right?

Riga - spring 2011 (transferring flights on the way to Holland)

When it comes to studying other languages, the theory part is the easy part for me - I just should speak more and get used to speaking other languages, otherwise it doesn't feel natural at all. Here's an example: I've been studying French like 11 years now. I can write quite fluently and I know the theory rules quite well, but speaking - big NO. I can hardly form a sentence, because I haven't get used to the speaking part and inside my head I think too much. And it's the same with other languages. Well surprise surprise Finnish is the one I speak fluently as a mother tongue, but so far I've also studied Swedish (as it's obligatory in Finland), English, French, a bit of Italian and Spanish. In the matriculation exams (final tests of Finnish high school) I took the English, Swedish and French tests and passed them all well (speaking part is not a part of these tests!).

Madeira - spring 2009

Okay then I go on with something about the international parts of my life so far. After all I haven't travelled much in my life. Okay, in Sweden I've visited several times by cruises, but other than that I've just been in Lisboa, Portugal (okay I was like 4 years old then.. I don't remember almost anything except seeing giraffes in the zoo); Eilat, Israel (about 8 years old, I don't have many memories from that place either); Tropea, Italy (loved that place, one perfect beach vacation!); Madeira, Portugal (very beautiful place, good memories); Barcelona, Spain (when turning 18, my first trip with my friend, meaning no parents or other adults, it was AWESOME) and the Hague, Holland/Netherlands (with my friend, very nice trip!). And that's about it. I think as a place I loved Barcelona the most (I could go back there anytime!) but when it comes to people I liked the Hague, because there we were mostly with exchange students from all over the world since we were staying at my friend's (who were there also as an exchange student) place. But the best is yet to come - I'm going for an exchange period to Valencia, Spain for next spring (2012)! I'm so looking forward to that - even though I don't know Spanish very well yet. I'm going to study in English (Tourism degree, Faculty of economics) but of course knowing Spanish makes it easier to cope with the everyday life there.

Well that's about all for now. To be continued some other day, hahah.

Madeira - spring 2009