Autumn greetings

The weather keeps getting rainier and colder here, but I guess that's why they call it the autumn.  

I have to make an excuse that I hardly write anymore, but that's because I'm lacking time!  I have long school days and something happening every weekday.  On Monday I do ballet, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights I spend at the driving school and on Thursday I also do modern dance and on Friday I have another ballet class.  And if have I happen to have some 'free time' at the end of the day, I have to use it to do my homework.  See, not much time to do anything else!  :D

So my life is quite filled with things at the moment, but it's not bad.  I rather do something all the time than just sit around.  Therefore I filled up most of my frees in school, so I'm now a happy girl studying German! :DD  It's actually fun, and better than doing nothing for hours.

As I already told earlier, the autumn is coming to Finland.  It's a bit different here than in Australia, it does get colder and it does rain.  All the time.  Today I finally had a time for a run, and half way through it, it started raining.  Not like one drop here and another one there, I mean properly.  Nice season, got to like it.  Full of surprises!  

As busy as an exchange student,

Liisa

Sport day

Today I went to see the athletics they just organized here.  Some of the athletes were the same we sent to the Olympics, and for some reason they did way better now than they did there.  It was good to see some enthusiastic people doing something they love.  

The whole day was good, and unexpectedly  the weather has been great, keeping in mind what part of the year it is now.  Usually it would be way colder and rainy, but I'm not complaining, this is fine to me!  :D

Had a fun day,

Liisa

Autumn's here

Hello there!  You can most likely tell that I'm not posting as many things I used to, but I'm honestly so so busy!  Probably didn't help to ask for more courses, but seriously, I had over three-hour free periods twice a week.  So now I'm a happy girl studying the German basics!  How random is that, but it's actually a fun course, even though I never ever thought of doing it.  Good fun, and fills up some of the free time where needed.  Handy! (:

I just got a message from one of my Aussie friends saying, that it's about +30 degrees there.  I can only be slightly jealous as it's getting quite cool here, especially the nights.  It's hard to get used the seasons here, September means autumn again, not spring.  Upside down and from back to forth.  That's Finland and Australia, my two homes.  (:

I wish I had more time to write here,

Liisa

One week done

Phew, what a week, and it wasn't even a full one as we started on Tuesday.  It's going to be a big change compared to Australia. But to be honest, this is the school I've been missing for a year.  I like it here.

I'll write more about the school a bit later on when I've survived a week or too, because now I have to keep going.  Tonight is actually a really special night; the first sleep over at my little brother's place.  He moved out in the beginning of this week, and I can't wait to hear how he's settled in.  Good night coming after a good week, sounds good good good!

Happy student,

Liisa

Back to school

Today was my first day back in Finnish school!!!

This is our back yard, not the school.  Do not get concerned.

Last night I was freaking out, and this morning I was more nervous than when I started school in Australia.  Despite of all that, today was fine.  I was lost in my own school and knew nobody from my class, but it was fine.  I still have no courses in my time table, so that's my job for tomorrow.  I like being lazy, but that's a bit too lazy, even for me!  :P  

But listen to this; no restrictions about my hair, makeup, nails or jewelry AND no school uniform!  Mmmm I like this school.

I think I forgot to tell you last week, but I also started lessons for my driving license.  It'll take a while to finish, but I'm looking forward being on the road before Christmas.  Exiting!

Going to bed now because I'm a good student,

Liisa

Madrid part 2

I had never visited Madrid before, even though we've been going to Spain for 12 years.  What a capital, that's what I can say.  It is so beautiful out there, all the architecture and history, it is unbelievable. When you see a violin from 500 years before you were even born, and a building that has history of a thousand years, what else can you feel that admiration.  World has changed a heap since those days, but oh so many things have stayed the same for hundreds of years.

Mum and I had a lot of fun and spend some great times back together. The only downside is that we walked everyday, whole day, so my feet were literally dying.  But what is that kind of pain when you see something as wonderful as we did.

We went to many great museums with hundreds of famous pieces of art:

Saw some normal people...

...and some normal cars. :P

Got to see the life in Madrid.  This was a night during the week, got to love the place and the culture!

Oh and some more people, better not forget the spider-man.  I think this one had retired couple of years ago! 

Used a lot of metros, got around as much as possible, and spend a heap of quality time with mum. (:

Saw sooo many police cars because of the big demonstration they just had.

What a lovely trip, was good to see a different part of Spain.  

Back to school tomorrow,

Liisa

Madrid part 1

Better late than never, here comes the post about Madrid!

Mum and I had a little trip in a trip; during our time in Spain we took a train to Madrid to spend couple of days there.  We saw a heap of art, famous statues, fountains, buildings, parks, and the list goes on.    In this post you can see many sights, and in the part 2, I'll be telling more about my thoughts and how I liked Madrid.  Enough said, here come the photos!

Bear and the Madrono tree, the symbol of Madrid:

Puerta del Sol, the heart of Madrid.  This is where out hotel was located, also the home of the statue you saw above:

Metropolis Building, one of the landmarks with great architecture from the beginning of the 20th century:

Plaza Mayor, a huge (129 x 94m) area, which origins go all the way back to 1576 (bronze statue from 1616).  It's surrounded by three-story high buildings, having 9 entrance-ways and 237 balconies facing the plaza:

Monument of Cervantes, the Spanish novelist, playwright and poet who created Don Quixote:

Plaza de Cibeles, a big landmark and an iconic symbol of Madrid:

The Royal Palace of Madrid, this is where the king used to live:

The Almudena Cathedral, right opposite to the palace,

Parque de buen retiro, a park where lots of people go to spend time and relax:

This glass palace is located in the same park:

 

Stay tuned for the part two,

Liisa

Alicante

This post includes photos from our trip to Alicante.

We never even planned a trip like this, but so it happened that we didn't get the train tickets we wanted, as the train was already fully booked.  Therefore we ended up with eight hours to kill.  :D  

We went to the harbor, up to the Castle of St. Barbara with the whole family, and the rest of the time mum and I spent at the train station.  Actually a really good day.

Next time about Madrid,

Liisa

Quickly

Got back from Madrid safely after a wonderful trip.  Three days running around trying to see everything worth of seeing; hard task but I think we did quite well.  I'll make complete posts about that trip when I get home, so couple more days before that update.

Yesterday was my brothers birthday and today is my dads, so we've been busy.  If not otherwise, at least eating the cake :D  

So once again, I'll keep going, I'll make a proper post when I get home!

Couple more days before a proper update,

Liisa