Saturday, July 28, 2012

Another home

I'm here in my second home.  Or I'm not quite sure about the number, there are so many that I get confused.  One of the homes anyway. :D

One full day in Spain and I remember again why I like it here.  I'm going to make a post with photos soon, it's just a bit harder here because I have no internet.  But at least you know it's coming...

So far the weather has been really nice, hot and sunny.  Actually so far it has been warmer than the Australian summer most of the times haha :DD

On Monday we're going to Madrid with my mum.  A trip in a trip, can't wait.  I'll tell more about that later on too.  (:

From here..

Enjoying the holidays,

Liisa

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Off again

Just quickly letting you know I'm off to Spain today.  I'll try to update from there as well, but might be that I won't be able to as often as I normally would.  But I apologize, I'm in hurry so I really need to keep going!  You'll hear about me sooner or later!  :D

Hurryyyyy,

Liisa

Monday, July 23, 2012

Waffles


We often used to have waffles when I was a kid, so I thought I would find a nice recipe and put it here.  Quick and easy and hard to mess up.  :D

3 eggs
0,5 l milk
400 g of flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla sugar
3 tbsp sugar
50-100 g cream / butter
(Some oats)
(Some lemon juice)

Whip the eggs slightly and add milk.


Add all dry ingredients:  flour and baking powder...


...and sugar and vanilla sugar.


Also mix in cream or melted butter.  I chose cream, only reason being that we didn't have enough butter.  :P


This is just my own additional step, I some times mix in oats.  I just like it better like that, you can decide to try it too, or just skip the whole thing and move to the next step. 


At this point you can leave the mixture to rest for a bit.  I left it for about 15 minutes still time, sometimes in hurry I don't, but pretty much every recipe tells to do it.  

Now is also a good time to check the texture and flavors.  If after resting the mixture is super thick, just add some milk to make it slightly runny again, if not thick enough add flour.  I added some lemon juice and bit of sugar and salt because I thought it tasted like nothing.  It all depends what you like and what you're going to serve them with.  But don't stress it won't taste like much even if it was correctly done, but at least you'll see if you added salt instead of sugar... :D

Heat up the waffle iron.


Add a little touch of butter so your waffles will come off easily when they're ready.


Add a layer of your waffle mixture


Wait till golden brown.


Lift off, add a tiny bit of butter and add some mixture again.  Repeat till none is left.

Serve waffles with pretty much whatever you feel like.  My pick was blueberries, some milk chocolate and sweet whipped cream.  Also jam, ice cream, banana and other berries work well.  Let your imagination fly!  (:


Yum,

Liisa

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Decisions

Hello there!  I've been thinking about my blog lately; I want to keep writing, but most likely there's not enough to talk about 365 days a year, maybe not even half of that.  And as unfortunate as it is, some of the contents of my blog will change.  I'm not an exchange student anymore.  This blog will still be about my life, but as I can't deny that being an exchange student is not an ongoing part of my life anymore, I have to focus writing more about the other topics.  I will still be talking about my year overseas; even though it's over, it left a life-long impact on me.  My picture of world, future, people, or even myself are not the same they were before.  So yes, exchange is a part of my past now, but I'm left with something to carry with me forever.  

And also the people reading this are not the same anymore.  It's not only my mum reading what has been happening to me, now I have many people overseas reading too.  Some of them, who know what Australia is like, who would like to know more about where I come from and what are the things that made me like I'm now.  Feels hard to comprehend that some of my closest friends have never seen where I live, don't know Finland, have never met my family, and a year ago didn't even know that I exist.  :D

So in the future my intention is to write about my life after exchange; about many different kind of things, the impact of an exchange being the thing linking them all up.  Maybe stories about travelling, sharing Finnish and Australian recipes, or sometimes just catching up in my life.  So new contents, though never forgetting the year of my life, my biggest and greatest adventure. 

Honestly wish this caters as many as possible,

Liisa

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Anniversary

Exactly one year ago was the biggest day of my life.  It was the day I was to leave behind my home, family and everything I comprehended as my life.  Becoming an exchange student was the biggest and most definitely the greatest decision I've ever made.  It is a big thing to do as a young person, but definitely worth it all.  I can promise, there will be bad days, but I can also tell that the wonderful times will be what you remember at the end.  I think spending a year, and more importantly getting a life on the other side of the world is one of those things you just simply cannot put into words.  It's too amazing.

See what it was like 365 days ago from here.

So happy I got to do it,

Liisa

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Sky

Wow.  The sunset tonight was a bit extraordinary.  I've seen Australia been beautiful for so many times that I was close to starting to forget how beautiful Finland is.  Seems like there's no problem remembering if this is what it looks like!  :D




Still stunned,

Liisa

Monday, July 16, 2012

Summer

I got home exactly one week ago, been busy since.  Many people want to see me and of course I want to catch up with them too.   My friends visited earlier, one of them stayed the night, my uncle came to see me, two of my cousins stayed two nights, and now I got two more families staying.  Thought it  was going to be quiet and boring when I got home; seems to be a fully wrong thought!  :D

Many people have asked about the future of my blog - I'm not an exchange student anymore.  I haven't made any long-time-plans yet, but so far I'm thinking of keeping it going.  I know there are Australian people who are interested in my life back on the other side of the world, and it'll be good to see the impact of the exchange later on my life.  Maybe soon I'll get fed up and stop, who knows.  I think I should put labels on these posts so it would be easier to recognize what time period they are from.  So many ideas... :D

But just few photos from my summer:



Smiling,

Liisa

Friday, July 13, 2012

Surprises

There has been surprises one after another since I got home.  The night of my arrival my brother played a song on his guitar to me.  Doesn't sound like a great big deal, but if I tell you that I've never ever seen him play guitar before, it is a pretty unexpected thing to see.  He has taken lessons for half a year, and somehow blocked my every single way of finding out.  Clever, surprise number one completed. 

On my first day back in Finland I didn't get up to much, just a quiet day with my family in my home.  It was funny to rediscover everything again, just little things that are different in Australia; driving side, light switches, rye bread...you name it!

On Wednesday night my friends surprised me by coming to my place.  I had absolutely no idea this time either.  We had a lovely night chatting away eating heaps of unhealthy things.  Ah, I almost forgot, I really do have amazing friends here too.  Super duper awesome ones.  (:

And just if this wasn't enough, my uncle and two lovely cousins came yesterday.  And as you can guess; no idea once again.  :D  

I actually don't like surprises because you always have to wait for so long for them to reveal, but I had no idea about these ones and therefore wasn't waiting for them.  So they were really really good, no long painful waiting.  What a lovely people I have around me, on the two sides of the world.  I'm so lucky.

Loving home,

Liisa

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Home sweet home

Just got up in my own bed.  Ahh what a feeling after not much sleep in a long while.  :P

This post is to let everyone know that I'm home safe and sound, though after an unforgettable trip.  My visa had expired (I got it for a year but it wasn't quite a full year which I never noticed before) and our last plane got delayed heaps so we ended up spending 12 quality hours in Frankfurt and got home soooo much later than we were supposed to.  40 hour trip, niceeee.  

And the visa, that was the biggest shock.  I just assumed it would be fine till the 19th or something, because that's what I got it for.  Turns out it had expired on the 6th, which LUCKILY was only two days before I traveled.  It still gives me chills when I think about it.  Because if I had flown 24 hours later (which would have been three days after the visa finished) my trip back to Australia would have become extremely hard if not impossible.  Now I have a little note there saying that I've been a tiny bit of trouble, but it should still be possible for me to go back.  Phew.  It seriously freaks me out; I got a second home but I wouldn't have been allowed to go back ever in my life.  I don't even want to think about it!  :/

So the final conclusion: I got home safely, all my luggage did too, and I'm now with my own family in my own home.  Life couldn't be much better.  (:

Happy happy happy,

Liisa

Sunday, July 8, 2012

350 days ago

350 days ago I arrived to Australia.  Phew, sounds like a long time but feels like yesterday.  

I don't have much to say, I'm just trying to make myself realize that in couple of hours time I'll be sitting in the plane heading off from here.  Do I want to? Well yes and not at all.  If only Finland and Australia were closer!  :/

I just wanted to thank everyone who has been a part of my year, I couldn't have wished a better experience.  Not everything went like planned and not everyday was perfect, but in total this year has been the best one in my life and I wouldn't change it to anything.  I love this country and everyone who has been there helping to make it my second home.  Your effort is much appreciated, thank you thank you thank you, I'm going to miss you so bad. Whenever you happen to be in Finland (happens all the time, I know) let me know!  (:

Happy and sad, but mostly thankful,

Liisa

Saturday, July 7, 2012

No joke

Ok.  Today was my last day in Australia and I'll fly out tomorrow.  

I just feel like adding "haha jokes", but then I realize that what I just wrote is true.  That's how unreal it feels.  I'm leaving tomorrow.  

I've had the most amazing year, and what makes this really hard is that I've actually started feeling home even though I'm so far from everything that used to be all I had in my life.  New families, new friends, new country; and I feel like I belong here.  

It honestly makes me so unbelievably sad that I'm leaving, mostly because Finland and Australia are quite far apart (in other words, on the other sides of the world).  When I left home I knew I would be back in a year, now I can't make any promises.  I wish I could be back in about three years time, but seriously, who knows.

Earlier tonight I got home from spending the night with my Australian family.  We had a great night, though it ended up in tears.  But no surprise there, I'm starting to get used to it.  Fun and tears and fun again.  I guess that's life.

One more sleep, and next time I'll wake up from my own bed,

Liisa

Friday, July 6, 2012

Roller coaster

Ok this year is not even fun anymore, I HATE good-byes!  Last night was my last Rotary meeting, after which I left to go and have a sleep over with couple of my friends.  This morning I got home after a night which actually was one of the funniest nights I've had in the whole year.  Then I started getting ready for our lunch where I caught up with couple of the closest friends I've gotten during this year.  

But just to keep the balance, all of the fun ended up in tears.  It's actually not nice to leave people you've gotten really close to, not fun at all.  You say bye and see you, even though you have no idea when that reunion will be. 

Gosh.  Now I'll leave to go to Maitland where I'll go out for dinner with my first family, after which we'll have a nice girly movie night. My life is like a roller coaster at the moment; tears, heaps of fun, crying, fun and tears again.  Phew. 

Leaving to spend a last night with my sisters, 

Liisa

Thursday, July 5, 2012

The time of my life

Last night I had dinner with my closest Aussie friends which was really nice.  




We actually also made some last minute plans, and we're going to have a sleep over tonight!  :P  We realized that we have not even had one movie night or anything, and whenever I'll get back to Australia people will be too grown-up for a sleep over.  So why not do it now?

I was told that I will be really tired when I'm heading home (two of my last three nights are sleep overs), but seriously.  Would I rather be tired and happy that I saw everyone and got up to something nice, or fully relaxed but regretting how I sat home alone for my last days without doing anything.  The answer is quite obvious...

So in a minute we'll leave to go to Rotary, which will be my last Rotary meeting in a while.  After that my friends will pick me up and we'll spend a nice night watching movies and talking and stuff. Tomorrow I will have a lunch date with people from school, after which I'll hopefully have time to bake a cheese cake to take with me for when I see my first family.  They'll pick me up in the afternoon and we'll have dinner out, and a nice girly movie night and sleep over after that.  On Saturday they'll drop me back, and I will have my last night in Australia.  My plans for that night are not quite finished yet, because at the moment looks like I'll be alone at home which is really sad... :D   

Two days left after this,

Liisa

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

WINNING

The weight limits for the luggage to take home with me are 30 kilos for a suitcase (usually 20kg but we got it up 10 kilos which is great) and 7 kilos for a hand luggage.  We are allowed to have that 30 kilos in two separate suitcases if that's what we wish though.

So 30kg and 7kg

I just finished my packing and guess what I have.......?

10kg + 17kg and 1kg

YAYAYAYYAYAY!

I couldn't be happier.  :)  I decided to put all of my clothes into the safari bag which is kind of like a big sporting bag.  I also have a really small suitcase, but because I've got heaps of school notes, shoes and other heavy things it's heavy enough as it is.  And my cabin bag?  Still about empty.  A hand bag?  I don't even have one yet!  :D

But of course I still have some things out; didn't quite feel like going out naked for a week etc.  

Ahh this makes my last couple of days so much nicer.  No stress or worrying.  (Or maybe a bit, but at least not because of my luggage, just the leaving in general).  Now I can just purely enjoy this place and the company of all the amazing people that have become a part of my life. 

Lunch AND dinner date tomorrow, 

Liisa

Monday, July 2, 2012

Busy

Just a little update of my last weeks continents.

Tonight I will be having a farewell dinner with my second family.  

Tomorrow night I was supposed to have dinner with couple of people from school, but at the moment seems like that one has been cancelled and I'll see them on Wednesday for lunch.  So it ends up being the only dinner I'm having home this week, last dinner with this family.

So on Wednesday I might catch up with people from school, and for dinner I will see my group from school.

On Thursday I'll go and do a big shopping of things I want to take home.  Or, I mean, can't really be that big considering my suitcase, though at the moment I'm doing well with the packing.  On Thursday night will be my last rotary meeting! :/

On Friday I'll have lunch with my group, same people I'll have dinner with on Wednesday.  After that I'll go and see my first family who with I'll have dinner and stay the night.

Saturday will be my last day in Australia, so I don't have any plans other than having breakfast with my family.  My current host family's going out so maybe I just end up having something by myself.  How sad...  :D 

On Sunday I'll be flying out, and we'll need to leave Singleton in the morning even though the flight leaves in the afternoon.  Us exchange students are going to catch up before checking in, so we'll go to the airport a bit earlier than usual.  We also need to sort out our luggage, because we get to carry 10 extra kilos even though our tickets don't say so.

MON: family 5, family 2
TUE: --------, family 5
WED: friends 1, friends 2
THU: shops, Rotary
FRI: friends 2, family 1
SAT: family 1, -------

Not much free there! :D

I'll tell you how to pack your life in 30 kilos later, easy as! :P

6 sleeps to go,

Liisa

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Farewell


I had my Australian-themed farewell party last night.  The people invited were mainly from my year in school, so it was nice and everyone knew each other. So the whole night was really good, though at times I got really sad when I realized that I only have seven whole days before leaving this country and all the friends I've made.  

But about my costume, I was so proud of myself!  :D  When thinking of Australia, I can not exclude the thought of Vegemite.  For non-Australians: it's concentrated yeast extract, smells bad, tastes gross when on toast and even worse when drinking with warm water (I got the "privilege" to try this amazing drink earlier this week as my school friends wanted me to get the whole Australian experience...oh gosh) 

So this is how it looks like...

From here
...and this is my costume.  Pretty good effort, right!



By Bec Muller

Thank you for everyone for coming, thank you for the pressies, thank you for always being there for me during the year.  Thank you for accepting me as to a part of your group, I wouldn't change you to any other bunch of people.  You'll always have a special place in my heart! Lots of love. X

7 days left in Aus,

Liisa

Friday, June 29, 2012

Last times

Today is my last day in school, and this is my last free period here.  Last time in the school library, last time opening a school computer.  Started my morning by getting ready for the last day of school, followed by cycling to the school for the last time.  Last mathematics, last PE, last English, last Biology.  I'm wearing my school uniform for the last time, and today's the last time for me to enter this building as a student.  I just had my last school lunch, last ever lunch order.  Today's the last time to see some people, the last time in my whole entire life.  Last time this and last time that.  Last, last, LAST, sounds so final.

Can you see why this is getting a bit sad,

Liisa

P.S.  Ten days and I'll be in Finland.  Unbelievable.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Opera House

We went on a tour to the Opera House, and this is a bit more detailed post about it.  It was just the basic tour, but it ended up being better than I ever imagined.  We went to three of the different venues they have; the Playhouse, the Concert Hall and the Opera Theatre.  I didn't know much about the Opera House to start with, so it was great to get to see the different venues and learn about the history a bit better.  The best part of the entire tour and my whole day actually, was definitely the visit to the Cencert Hall, because the Sydney Symphony Orchestra was rehearsing and we were allowed to listen for them to play for a while.  The acoustics are just amazing, unlike anywhere I've been before.  The tour was amazing, and the only down side was that it just made me more sad in front of the fact that I won't get to see a performance there.  

Couple of photos from inside.  We weren't allowed to photograph during most of the tour, so I only have couple of shots, and therefore added those links to different venues so you could take a better look.  (:




After that we walked to the Hyde Park.


And then drove to the Northern Beaches, here's the Palm Beach.



Busy, busy day,

Liisa

Monday, June 25, 2012

Sydney once again

Today we went to Sydney too see the Opera House and couple of other things.  We left early from Singleton so we would have a lot of time when we got there.  I will be making another post just about, the Opera House later, as it is late already and I have to be going to school tomorrow.  Three more days to go!!! :/




And our views during lunch, not bad aye! 



Wait for the next post to see more of the Opera House,

Liisa

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Club opening

Last night there was a new Rotary club opening not too far from where I live, and therefore I was asked to go.  Good that I did, it was a really nice night, and also a good chance to catch up with Rebecca, not too many chances left!  :/ 





Lazy day today and Sydney tomorrow,

Liisa

Friday, June 22, 2012

Midsummer

Midsummer during winter.  That's how logical my life is at the moment. This time of the year everyone is celebrating midsummer, the longest day during the whole year.  That's when the sun doesn't go down at all, and it's warm the whole day round.  

But obviously not in Australia.

The day has been rainy and windy and cold, and I was so freezing in school that I thought 'what a perfect day to get a hot bath'.  That was a great idea, and I had a nice and warm, relaxing afternoon.  :P  The forecast for tonight is -1, so unlike all the rest of the Finnish people, I'll go to bed...  



Happy "midsummer"

Liisa

PS. F-I-F-T-E-E-N-! days left :O

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Second life

I'm still not quite sure if I've realized that I will soon be leaving this country to go to home. 

Lately I've come to notice that I seriously have two homes now.  I was talking to my friends in Facebook, and half of the people can't wait for the 8th of July, while the other half hopes that THE day would be further away.  That's why it feels bad to leave, though on the other hand I can't wait to get home. 

Mixed feelings, that's what this is.  It's actually worse than when I was leaving home; then I didn't know where I was going to, but I knew I would be back in a year.  Now I know what I'm leaving behind, and also the fact that I don't know when I get to come back.

The first ones from our exchange group have already left to fly home, but still, as weird as it sounds, I feel like it won't be my destiny.  But it will.  It's just unbelievably hard to think of leaving.  I mean if you decide to move and start life somewhere else, you move your life there.  Simple.  But what if you moved and left your first life, then went and created another one.  That equals two lives, the point when it all gets complicated.  Oh, I so wish one morning I wake up and Australia has moved next to Finland.  Would seriously make my life so much easier!

Waiting for that morning,

Liisa

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Lists

About a year ago, I made lists about all the things I needed to do before I left the country.  History's repeting itself, I'm doing the same now.

In Rotary, they have a rule that as you arrive to a country they'll take your passport, and when it's time for you to leave you'll get it back.  I can't say that's the right way to function in my opinion, but I can see the reasons behind it so fare enough.  I asked to get my passport back already because I thought there might have been some problems with it.  That's because the person who took it from me was my first councellor who passed away during the year.  Luckily it was all pretty well organized, and I got my passport back the beginning of this week.  At the same time I also got all my important papers: visa, banking papers and the first flying tickets. 

I thought I'd organize all of this now, and therefore went to the bank to make some changes to my accounts.  That's because another rule Rotary has, is that when you arrive to the country, you have to open a bank account with $400 in it.  It's supposed to be an emergency account, meaning if something goes wrong that's the first place the money will be used from.  Luckily enough that account has been untouched, so now I'll get my money back.  I wanted to get it a bit earlier as well, partly because of the same problems as described above, but also because now I can do my last purchases with that money, and also use it in case I have something I need to send home separately (very likely option).

We also organized a day for me to have a dinner with my second host family, because I thought would be nice to catch up with everyone before I go.  Many exchange students have big BBQs for all the families, but as I've had so many of them it's easier to meet everyone separately.  Try to go and find a day that would be fine for five different groups of people, especially when some of them are reallly busy.  As easy as it sounds, didn't work.  :P  I will hopefully see my first family couple of times before I go, but the third one is hard (the one I moved out from early) as they are not in Singleton anymore.  And the fourth one I'll see a lot too, actually we'll be going to Sydney next week! (:

I should start thinking of what to buy to take home.  I haven't even given it a thought yet, though would be incredible useful as my time is running out... :/

There is no hurry with it yet, but I should also print my ticket back.

And what else, should do a test packing.  Easy as...

It has started to feel like there's not much time left.  But I'm not stressing too much yet, still quite a few days before I'll have to say good-byes!

Planning, thinking, listing,

Liisa

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

11 / 12

As unbelievable as it is, I've spend 11 months away from home today. Eleven.  Sounds crazy.  Haven't seen my friends, haven't been at home, haven't slept in my bed, haven't gotten Finnish food and haven't been to sauna in 11 months.

But oh so many things I HAVE done!

Eleven months is such a long time, but it has gone quickly.  I thinks it's partly because back home days, weeks and months wouldn't matter so much.  I would just go to school come home, go to school, come home and go to school again.  Here my life has been full of interesting things to experience one after another.  And another main thing is the fact that I have just one year. Sounds long, but it's still a limited time.  So managing time has definitely become a big part of my life.

Time flies.  Extremely fast.  Sometimes faster than I wish it did.  Less than three weeks and I'll be home, I'll be in Finland.  Crazy thought.

Time passes by,

Liisa

Monday, June 18, 2012

Snail mail

Just like many people these days,  I wouldn't normally send letters, not even to the people who are most important to me.  Surprisingly enough, this year I've found myself from the post office quite a few times, with always many things to be sent.  I've started feeling that a nice post card or a well-thought letter is worth so much more than a "hi, how you going" in Facebook. 

So for probably the last time, I sent letters to home today.  It's actually not as expensive as you might think, and if there's a possibility that it'll make someone's day it's definitely worth it.  (:



Being so old school,

Liisa