I’m back home now since over one week and it still feels strange. Everybody here is in his/her daily routine and it seems that I’ve never been away for four months… very strange… Here are some things I definitely miss about Helsinki and people that became important to me during my four month long stay abroad. No particular order.

- My flatemate Marielle from The Netherlands with whom I had great conversations and did many activities so that it became never boring.

- My flatemate Betti from Hungary with whom it was a pleasure to share the appartment and who opened a few times my eyes for prejustices.

- Alessandra from Carinthia, Austria, with whom it was a great honour to work in a project group and to keep up Austria’s christmas folkway of baking cookies.

- Melina from France who is the nicest French I’ve ever met and with whom I speeded down on Lapland’s ski slopes.

- All the people from all over the world I’ve met in Helsinki.

- Helsinki’s public transportation system which saves a lot of precious time.

- Living only two minutes away from university which extended my sleeping time.

- Drinking dry cider when going out.

- Trips to St. Petersburg, Tallinn, Lapland, national parks, Porvoo, Lahti etc.

- Hours- and kilometers-long hikes in Finland’s national parks.

- The Finnish language although I didn’t learn it to full extent.

- My small and more or less tidy room at Junailijankuja 5A.

- Tuesday morning’s swimming and sauna session together with Marielle.

- Simply Finnish Sauna which helps me to stay healthy against the Swine Flu.

- The shopping possibilities in Helsinki – when growing up in the countryside this is special for you!

- People’s habit of staying on the right side of the escalator so that others can pass them easily.

- That Finns try to keep distance most of the time, except they are drunk.

- The huge number of women in high positions and the pronounced equal rights in general here in Finland.

- That Finns drink milk when eating lunch.

- Fazer chocolate, especially the Geisha edition.

- The possibility to see a lot of great music bands playing – btw Sunrise Avenue was amazing!

- That Finns get crazy on Stockmann’s Hullut päivät (“crazy days”)

- That 90 percent of all people in Helsinki have a small reflector for safety on their jackets or bags.

- The friendly voice in the train that always says “Hyvää matkaa” (finn. “Have a nice trip”).

to be continued…

And here those things I do not miss, but not many ;)

- Drunken Korean girls trying to bawl a Spanish song when you want to sleep in the room next to it.

- Our messy kitchen

- Our messy flat