maple leaves :-)

Even though I love summer&sun and hate coldness, I've found the beauty of the fall again. But I know it doesn't last long, it's not more than a few weeks when the colors are numerous and the fall is at its best. Rain is not always so bad either (except for yesterday, or if it lasts many days in a row..). After those weeks the weather just gets too cold, trees loose their leaves and it's not beautiful anymore.

Maple leaves - one of my favorite things during the fall!

My life is filled with school work and work right now. I've also had a few health problems to worry about - teeth and skin - but I hope it's gonna be okay as I got my teeth fixed (at least for now..) and I got antibiotics for my skin.

And of course I have to mention one big thing - I'm getting older in a few days! My birthday is on Sunday, and I'm turning 21 then. 21 long years since I was born! I'm probably gonna celebrate a bit tomorrow with friends, and on Sunday with my relatives. By chance I got a free weekend from work (well, "free" or "a day-off" doesn't mean anything nowadays as all the extra time has to be spent for school reports and projects etc..) so I have time to enjoy my birthday at least a bit. AND I already got a present from J - here you can see it:

So, as you can see, I finally got my One Piece! I'm completely in love with it, it's so comfortable. Happy me!

Next week is going to be busy busy busy! A lot of stuff to do and stress to deal with, but first I'm going to enjoy this weekend and my birthday. Have a nice weekend! :-)

Why is it never this beautiful later in the fall??

PS! On Tuesday E took me to the stable with her! She has found a gorgeous, big horse called Faros, to lease. They were a very nice couple and worked well together :)

All the pictures (except for One Piece and the horse) are from weheartit.com!

after a long time......

i can tell you it wasn't easy to get up there :D

  ... I had a riding lesson! I got to ride my cousin's lesson because she has missed a few lessons and she hasn't got time to go and ride those missed lessons. I can't believe that even though it's been quite a long time since my last lesson, it always feels so familiar! and I always get a good feeling. The only sport I actually like. I almost put on a jacket but thank god I didn't, I was sweating already after 30minutes.. I had a big horse, even though I'm used to ponies. And I should have started with a bit easier lesson but... whatever :D now my legs hurt, my butt hurts, my back hurts and my arms hurt...... let's see how I'm gonna get up from bed tomorrow! (ps. friends, don't be surprised if you don't see me at school tomorrow).
But after all, despite my tortured body, I feel GOOD!

finally i did it!

(written on Thursday, just pictures added today)

Okay, here we go... finally!

So, on Saturday 14th (almost two weeks ago.. woops) we got in a car with 4 friends of mine and headed towards a rented cottage situated in MeriTeijo, quite near to Salo. It took less than 2 hours to drive there. My friend and her friend had rented the cottage for a little cottage party! They both had invited their own friends so eventually there were quite many of us. Luckily it was a two-storey cottage so we didn't run out of room. There was also a terrace, three (?) bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, a sauna, a hot-tub (:D), two bathrooms and... well that's about it! and the sea was very near so the craziest ones were able to go for a swim (why just the craziest ones? sea water here.... COLD). a few photos:

living room, isn't it a bit risky to put white carpet and white sofas there? :D

going to the beach! the journey back to the cottage wasn't so nice - uphill all the way

we had a grill and we grilled sausages and meat and corn!

drinking game with hunks-cards!

So we had a nice Saturday night there, I love my friends! On Sunday we all had a small hangover so we stopped in a pizzeria-restaurant in Salo to have some hangover-fastfood to deal with it. Then we came home.

Last week was quite tough for me when it comes to working. I had only one day off, Friday. On Friday, as I told in my previous (short) post, 4 friends of mine had their farewell party. Three of them are going to Peru for exchange and one is going to Spain to do an internship (I may be a bit jealous..). This fall will be strange for me as my best school mates are not there! :( I will miss you guys! Well I couldn't party much then because I had to go to work on Saturday morning but at least I was able to participate. It was great to see all the people, some of whom I haven't seen after my own farewell party.

I was at work on Saturday and Sunday, but on Sunday after work I took a bus to Helsinki where I met J and then we took a train to Hämeenlinna, to our summer cottage. You see I'm trying to catch every chance to go and "relax" in the countryside.. We spent a few days there and on Tuesday we came back. The weather wasn't good at all, but well, at least we got some things-to-do-at-the-summer-cottage done; we went to sauna, we went fishing, we took a countryside walk and saw lambs! It wasn't as relaxing as I had hoped but I'm still happy we went there instead of sitting here at home and just waiting for the next working shift.

fishing! all the foreigners, welcome to our lovely, sunny summer!

i caught a shellfish??

we saw lambs! there was also an angry rooster that kept on crowing..

countryside (what a sunny summer, right?)

So we came back on Tuesday and in the same evening I went to the stable with my friend and the horse girl inside me was very content! I was there with her also a week before, and my I can tell you that my desire for riding lessons has just strengthened...

Now I'm having four working days in a row and on Saturday I have an intention to go to another summer cottage after work. Our plans still haven't clarified totally but I hope everything goes as planned and I would be able to be there from Sat to Tuesday with my relatives that I haven't seen since Christmas! Then I have four working days in a row again, one day off, three days of work and then we are off to Oulu with J!

oldies but goldies

I've slept last two nights at my uncle and aunt's place (from where I moved away in March 2010). I've used their computer instead of my own laptop and I've found a lot of old pictures from my own profile in this computer! I decided to share some of them, I would share many many more but as I've said, I don't have a right to publish photos of my friends without their permission and as it would take so much time to ask everyone, I've just decided not to publish those photos. So these random photos are mainly of me and horses!

let's start with the oldest one! maybe in 1996 or something?

confirmation camp 2006

then I dyed my hair dark, summer 2007, winter 2008 ("tutoring" in a confirmation camp)

i guess in 2007, not sure if it's late fall or early spring..

Calabria, Italy, summer 2007

Calabria, Italy

Madeira, spring 2009

summer night, coming from a bar, summer 2009

our cat <3

apparently I've visited a zoo! little bears there:)

And now, horses....

My first riding competition... maybe in 2004-2005 or something?

hahah what a style! my favorite pony!

1st of May costume-competition 2006. poor pony...

one of the last lessons i rode that pony, spring 2006

whiii spring 2006

my own care horse (rent/leasing horse?) in fall 2006 & my friend's one in 2009

spring/fall 2009 when I went back to the lessons after a riding break

After that photo I consider photos as "newer" ones. Maybe I will upload some of them also, now I just had to catch the chance to upload these from this computer :-)

mi último día en Valencia

...was yesterday.

I woke up before 9am, got ready, got finally make up stuff etc packed also, and then it was time to leave for the riding trip! The trip was called "ruta/excursión a caballo". We were about 50 persons participating. We left from Valencia at 10am by bus and it took about 40minutes to get to the stable. It was hot already then. We got to the stable - it was a biiig place with many buildings. Some horses were living in a big, cowshed-like building while others had their own, open-air boxes. There were also noisy roosters, hens and some weird birds. I guess we were all a bit confused when the stable staff people led some big, massive horses (that looked like draft horses) to the arena. I didn't believe we would ride those.

After all, we were so many persons that we had to go in three groups. For every group, there was a trail ride of approx. one hour. Sun was shining from the clear sky and there were more than 30 degrees, I guess many of us got a bit sunburned.. My friends went with the first group, I waited an hour and went with the second one. While the first group was riding, I went around the stable area (there were also cute donkeys!!) taking pictures, seeing places and hanging around with some other people. 

first group leaving

aww! how cute is that.

 It was boring to wait so I decided to be ready when the first group arrived so that I could get into the second group. Also, I didn't want to have a massive draft horse (because there were also "normal ones" haha) so I was one of the first ones in the line waiting for my turn. I chose one of the most beautiful ones from the horses. We went for a trail in a natural park, the landscapes were amazing. I enjoyed a lot. I could have stayed there longer! Btw, I almost forgot, I was surprised they didn't give us helmets at all. For the most of the people it was the first time riding, so I think it was a bit strange not to give helmets.. In Finland you wouldn't be allowed to get up in the saddle without a helmet.

After the trail we stayed there in the picnic area to eat while we waited for the third group. After the third group we left the place and we were back in Valencia at 4pm.

Then I had some time at home before leaving for the bus. I left at 5.30pm (my bus was about to leave at 6pm) and the goodbyes with my flatmates.. it wasn't easy. I just couldn't realize that I was leaving and not coming back any more. After all, it was my home for the last 5 months, and those were the people I was living (I think I still haven't completely understood that I'm not going back there..). We sat down for a moment and then I seriously had to rush. I had two suitcases to drag and one to carry. People were looking at me quite weirdly, because already the big, red suitcase is almost bigger than me! I went to a nearby taxi stop and there was NO taxes (usually there's always a line of them..) and I started to panic. It was already 17.35 and I was supposed to be at the bus station 10minutes before bus departure. I was waving there on the street for taxes but they all were occupied. I seriously got a bit panicked. But then, I was soooo relieved when one taxi drove around the circle and stopped in front of me. I said to the driver that we have to hurry and he drove quickly to the station - after all I was just on time. I got my suitcases in to the hold (without any complaints - each passenger was allowed to have one big piece/30kgs of stuff, I had a bit more.....). The bus was a "premium bus" (called supra economy), so we got free bottles of water, salty nuts, candies, headphones... there was also a wi-fi connection and small tv screens :-) nice! luxury bus!

last views from Valencia

The 4-hour trip went quite quickly. It felt sad to leave Valencia, and I started to realize the situation in the bus. It felt so.... weird. But as I said, I guess I still haven't totally realized that this is not just a vacation, I've actually started my journey back to Finland and I'm not going back to Valencia anymore. Maybe it hits me when I get to the airport on Tuesday morning.. I'm sure I will miss Valencia A LOT. I couldn't have chosen a better city for my exchange period. Valencia will always have a special meaning for me, as another home city. Even if I go there for a vacation, it will never be the same again, but still, it will always be in my heart. I <3 VLC.

VLC <3

So, now I'm in a hotel in Barcelona. This is called Hotel Catalonia Aragón and I have a very good impression already. I arrived here at 11pm (I can tell you it wasn't easy to get my stuff here by metro.... thank god there was a very helpful girl who helped me to get the other suitcase up the stairs from the metro station! btw, in those situations, I'm somehow able to speak Spanish, that's weird because otherwise I think I get nothing out of my mouth when I have to speak it..).

Barcelona, I'm here again <3

Today, I have quite a many things planned (as well as for tomorrow) so, I'm gonna go now! Have a great day, at least I'm gonna enjoy my last days in Spain, in my favorite city - Barcelona!