12 Spaghetti? Again? (EN)

 Contrary to stereotype, I'm not a pasta pesto student when it comes to cooking, but this caption is one (of many) inside jokes that matured last weekend in a small, fine wooden cabin somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Explaining jokes is boring, especially when they are inside jokes, so I won't elaborate here. Just wanted to find a creative headline for this 12th blog post. In fact, it's pretty much half-time in Finland by now: I've been there for 2.5 months, and in about 2.5 months I'll be going back. So it's high time for a little check, what made this first half of the semester in Tampere so special for me, what's currently on my mind, and what's coming up soon. Let's go!

Last weekend's view

Quite obviously: Life in Winter Wonderland

For the first time in ten years, I'm experiencing a real winter. Not two days of wet, depressing, fluffy-fluffy sleet, but closed blankets of snow, frozen lakes, eternally long dressing and undressing procedures thanks to onion-layer principle. Even if it thaws now and then briefly, the climate change does not stop in Finland. Meanwhile, my friends here and I have had enough of winter. The days here are already relatively long, you can hear more birdsong, but the weather can not quite decide whether now still low temperatures or spring sunshine should prevail. Mood swings like I do when I have PMS. I can't imagine right now, with the best will in the world, that I'll ever be able to sit in the sun with an ice cream before I leave here, without having to spend two hours warming up my feet again afterwards. But every now and then the Finnish winter still enchants, at the latest with the next sauna visit ;) 

Waste of Make-Up

The WhatsApp group that currently pops up most often in my notifications is called "Waste of Make-Up" and consists of select fellows from my dorm. In said group, beautiful get-togethers of all kinds are arranged. Be it for study sessions in the university library, canteen meals, excursions, cottage weekends, party escalations, or to talk some nonsense: Waste of Make Up has your back. Whether make-up on us is a waste because we are already so beautiful and don't need any, or because we are so ugly that it doesn't help anymore, is a matter of opinion. The fact is: without these darlings, my time in Tampere and in the Pinja dormitory would definitely not be the same. Bisou, bisou! <3

Waste of Make-Up goes cottage weekend!

End-of-term feelings

My master's degree is coming to an end, and I realize that more and more every day. I'm currently looking for a topic for my master's thesis, and in the fall I'm going to turn the thing in and get the hell out of being a student, because it's just enough now. I feel over-ready for work life, and am looking forward to creating a nice home base for myself (Don't worry, I still won't get rid of the travel bug). A good reason to enjoy the great student life I have here all the more! I sometimes feel like I'm back in my first bachelor's semester, except that I've gotten older since then, frailer when it comes to partying, but more productive when it comes to studying. Somehow I feel very present and rooted in the moment right now, despite all the important decisions that await me in 2023. Since I'm not traveling much at the moment and have a normal daily life in Tampere, I also have enough time to reflect on the four months I spent in Asia. And indeed: I miss Cambodia, my work at KAS, my colleagues, Phnom Penh, Cambodian delicacies, the unpredictability. And I miss Nepal. Although I spent so much less time in Nepal than in Cambodia, this country and especially Niraj and his family have left their mark on me. In a very positive sense. A lot of love goes out! At the same time there is this very big longing for Latin America in me. For almost four years, since my return from Mexico. Every. Single. Day. It's stupid that you can't apparate, like in Harry Potter. Sometimes I'd like to be on three continents at once. Well, that's the struggle when you feel at home everywhere in the world. You just can't beat the travel junkie out of me. That also leads me to the next point.

Spirit animal!

Travel anticipation

Travel-wise, there's still a lot to do in the next few months: visits of Jill, Mathilde, Steffi and Kristina, a weekend trip to Tallinn, plans for a few days of long-distance hiking in Norway, and of course many more activities to come with Waste of Make-Up. I also want to travel back to Germany and Italy without a plane and buy an Interrail pass instead. This will allow me to travel slowly, relatively cheaply and in an environmentally friendly way, and at the same time make a few stops in Hamburg, Bonn, Bavaria and northern Italy. I love to travel by train. As bad as it will be to say goodbye to my friends here, taking time for the return trip is a nice way to review the past months. 

Now this was a relatively short article, but somehow it was important to me to write it all down and share it as well. Of course the article is not as deep as my diary notes, but I still want to share a bit of my current emotional state with you. Enjoy the spring and go collect some delicious wild garlic! 

Bacioni,

Vroni