Monday, March 29, 2010

Harvinaisuus!



Oh my gosh!
This evening we bumped into a VERY rare car. The Morgan AeroMax was parked near the old Rathaus in the old town and it caught our eyes immediately! Of course cameras were flashing in the next second and here you have the evidence of seeing this car for real.

Teemu, please add a comment or send an email after reading and seeing the pictures! ;)

Monday, 29. March 2010


Dear blog,
tonight I'll tell you a bedtime story about the nickname of the city of Esslingen. Auf Deutsch the nickname is Zwiebel, which means onion, lök, sipuli.

According to the legend, the devil himself visited the market in Esslingen in the Middle Ages. He demanded an apple from a market lady, but she recognized him as a devil even though he was disguised and the clever lady gave him an onion instead of an apple. The devil took a bite and was so disgusted by the flavour that he got really angry and screamed that Esslingen should be called Zwieblinger from now on! The devil never returned to Esslingen and still, every year people have an onion festival in the city of Esslingen.

So, here's a picture I took today when I was walking to the center. There are onions all over the city and they even sell some onion shaped candies!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Excursion to Stuttgart




Yesterday we had an excursion to Stuttgart with our German History class. It was pretty interesting with many different point of views I hadn't thought about while visiting Stuttgart earlier just for shopping. We also saw for example architecture I wouldn't have seen if I was traveling as a tourist by my self.

The excursion went well even though the weather was changing from sun shine to rain in just few minutes! In the evening I was so exhausted that I was happy to be home and just go to sleep early. Today my feet are still hurting from all the walking around and all the stairs we took yesterday.. So Sunday was only about relaxing at home to me. :)

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Wandering..


Dear blog,
today was all about wandering around first at the campus and then in the old town.
Our lectures were not in the laboratory they should have been according to our timetable and all the exchange students in our group were totally lost! :D We finally found the right classroom but before that we wandered around campus for 40 minutes, in the rain!

In the evening we went to the old part of the city with Teddy to buy some food. The buildings and all the statues and the windows of the small stores in the old town were so beautiful and cute in the moonlight that we had to take some pictures! Here is one artistic photo Eetu took of me and the moon. :)

Friday, March 26, 2010

25. Day in Esslingen


Yesterday we did some baking with Cristina because it was Pei's birthday. We made chocolate muffins and some chocolate- and cheesecake. They all were sooo yummy.

We also had a huge Wohnheim party next door yesterday and the party went on through the night! Luckily I had earplugs so the few hours I had left in the night, I slept very well. :)

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Today at 1:00pm on BBC's Nature and Science: Squirrels in suburban environment.

13/14. Squirrels and humans; how do they get along? Are squirrels too dangerous to have near playgrounds and schools where they might attack children or even University of Applied Sciences students? How aggressive squirrels may get when defending their homes? Episode includes exclusive interview of Finnish exchange student attacked by a squirrel in Esslingen, Germany. (60 minutes)
(Last broadcast on Fri, 25 Mar 2010, 01:00 on BBC One)

:D

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Kiireetön päivä

Dear blog,
today I had no hurry to anywhere after school. My evening classes were canceled so I spend time at home. It was relaxing!

Aurinko paistoi jälleen koko päivän och det var varmt och skönt. :) Tomorrow will be another warm day, hopefully. Nu är det dags mennä nukkumaan. Auf Wiederhören!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Day 23.


This morning I finally did it and took a picture of the smiley antenna on the roof on our way to school! It caught my eye right in the beginning, on the first morning.
So, the school started today at 7:30 am but it was surprisingly easy to wake up. No grumpy-cereals (in Finnish: ärrimurrimuroja) today!

In the evening I and a group of my friends went to our campus to have a free salsa course for students. It was really fun! Even the guys were excited about dancing! That is something you don't see in Finland that often.. :)

Monday, March 22, 2010

SUN!



Oh, the sun was shining all day!
I just love the sun! In the afternoon we went to the roof of another student dormitory and had a barbecue! BARBECUE, in March! On the roof! In the open air!

The view from the top of the building was amazing! Wine growing on the other side and the Esslingen city on the other.

It was so warm that I could have had only my bikinis on! :D haha! But even with my shirt on, I still almost burned my skin..

21. Day


Dear blog,
yesterday we went to the movies, again, and saw A Serious Man by the Coen brothers. It was a little bit different kind of movie, but I like black humor. =)

In the evening I made a Welcome-decoration for my door. On Saturday I finally found some 3D-crafts stuff. Yay!
The sign says: "Laura's Jungle, WILLKOMMEN".

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Some SERIOUS shopping!



OOH, my feet are screaming Hosanna!! What a day! We left home at 10:30 and came back home at 00:10. All day just walking and walking.. oh, my feet, my poor feet. :)

First we wanted to see the Marktplatz here in Esslingen because every Saturday there is a little food market. From there we took the train to Stuttgart to continue shopping where we had left last Saturday! haha! The city was full of people and we even saw a pianist playing outside in the warm weather.

After 8 HOURS shoppingmarathon, we gathered quite a group of our friends and had dinner in a nice restaurant called Tauberquelle Stuttgart. The food was really good, again. And we had a good time! =D After the dinner me, Cristina and Eetu went for one drink here in Esslingen, and now, here I am, finally, going bed.

Friday, March 19, 2010

19. Day in Esslingen



Dear blog,
this week has been only studying, some more studying and partying almost every evening! On Monday evening I was out with Lukas and his friends. On Tuesday we had classes until 20:15 pm. Wednesday was St. Patrick's Day and we went to an Irish pub after German classes, which lasted until 20:30pm.. Well, yesterday there were two Welcoming Spring parties and we went to the other party, but I, and some others, left home early, onneksi!

So today I am very, very happy to just relax at home! I didn't have classes this morning, so I slept long and then visited Cristina to have Italian coffee and some biscuits. =) Yummy! Italialais-suomalaiset iltapäiväkahvit! haha!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Day 16 in Germany

Dear blog,
today we had our first real course, if you don't count the intensive German course we had last week. Sustainable Energy Systems sounds really interesting topic and actually the professor was really nice, too!

In the evening we had our German History and Culture -course until 20:15 o'clock and even though I was very tired in the end of the lectures, I was also excited about the upcoming excursions we are going to make during the course.

So, tomorrow we'll see what do I think about the other courses and professors and hopefully I'll stick to my learning agreement and will participate on all courses I have already chosen.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Germany: Day 14



Aah, Johnny Depp! I mean, Alice in Wonderland! :D We went to the movies to see a 3D version of it in an international cinema in Stuttgart. I really liked the movie.

In the afternoon we baked a cheesecake and Lukas let us to use the oven in his kitchen, again. Even though he had just arrived to Esslingen! Everyone who got to taste the cake said it was delicious! And I agree. :P

Shopping!



Oh! What a perfect day! We spend eight hours just walking and shopping in Stuttgart with Eetu and Cristina! Wonderful! I bought a lot of clothes and a book and some cards and other stuff and then we bought the necessary supplies for cheesecake. We are going to bake it tomorrow with Cristina in the evening after we have been to movies.

We had a dinner this evening with Cristina and the Finnish guys here in Esslingen in a place called Weinkeller Einhorn, which means "Winecellar Unicorn". It was such a lovely restaurant!! It really was in the cellar and it was 700 years old restaurant in the old city of Esslingen. The food was really good and the service very friendly! Even the cook came to our table and asked if everything had been good. Such a lovely place. =)

Friday, March 12, 2010

12. Day in Esslingen


Dear blog,
today was the last day of our intensive German courses and we celebrated the event by visiting the local sparkling wine producer, Kessler. We had a guided tour in the wine cellars and then we even got to taste three different kind of sekt! I really liked the tour even though I was really, really tired after last nights partying.. But hey, that's Erasmus! =D

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Snow, snow, snow..


Dear blog,
this morning when I looked out of the window, all I could see was white, again. It has been snowing all day long and the weather is just like in Finland in this time of the year. Huokaus. Kengät märkinä kouluun ja nenä vuotamaan, som vanligt. Men annars är det bara bra! =)
In the picture we are on our way to school, there is Eetu from Finland and Cristina from Italy. :D

Day 10 in Germany


On Wednesday we had a school trip to Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. It was awesome! The cars were in chronological order in the Museum's seven different floors and there were some special rooms, too. For instance there was a room of Mercedes-Benz cars owned by celebrities. Lady Diana, the pope, Frank Sinatra, Ringo Starr.. They all had a Mercedes!

Action!


So today, at last, I found time to sit down to my computer and update my blog. On the other hand it is really a good thing that I don't just spend all my time on the internet! The whole idea in coming to Germany was to meet new people and make new friends and ehkä oppia vähän saksaa siinä sivussa.

Tiistaina leivotut korvapuustit olivat menneet Eetun SuomiFinland-esitelmän aikana kuin kuumille kiville! Myös muut suomalaiset vaihto-oppilaat tykkäsivät. =)

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Busy day..

Dear blog,

Today I had a hard day at school, from 8:30 to 17:30. Well, ofcourse that wasn't enough for me but I had to bake some Finnish buns in the evening with Eetu's help and that took until ten o'clock to finish up. But the result was satisfying! Korvapuusteista tuli oikein makoisia, ihan kuin äitin tekemiä!

Now I am totally exhausted. But happy. =) Baking makes me always happy. The other Finnish exchange students here were even happier when they got to taste something Finnish!

Unfortunately I didn't have time to take any pictures about my baking this time.. Ehkä sitten pakkasesta sulatettuna niistä voi ottaa kuvia ja lisätä blogiin! haha! :D

Monday, March 8, 2010

Day 8 in Esslingen


Today was Monday again. It was only last Monday when we arrived here, but it feels like months ago!

At school we have our intensive German courses and the so called real courses begins next week. Studying German language in German is quite.. interesting. Finally, today during the lessons, I got to the point when I wasn't panicking every other second about opening my mouth and trying to say something in German but instead talking Swedish! haha!

We actually even had some fun today! In the afternoon we had this "cityrally" where the teacher made us in four different groups and gave us a list of questions about Esslingen and we had two hours time to search the right answers by walking around the city of Esslingen and asking help from the people on the streets.

Kiitoksin



Dear blog,

I must add a picture from yesterdays birthday party! I have never gotten that much balloons and that much attention from a such a big group of new friends! I was so surprised but so happy the whole day. Thank you again and again. Juhlien eteen oli nähty niin paljon vaivaa, että mykistyin. Kiitos, Danke, Thank you.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Birthday


Oh my gosh. What a day! I was surprised by all the other exchange students with a birthday cake with candles on it, they gave me a present including some local alcohol and chocolate, and so many balloons that I could fly up in the air with them if they were full of helium! haha!

In the afternoon we took the train to Stuttgart and found a nice restaurant where the others sang me the Happy Birthday -song as we were waiting for the food. =) The food was delicious! After the meal I wanted to have some coffee and the time went so fast; it was suddenly seven pm!

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Guten Morgen!


This morning I woke up early because of the construction noises from next door. When I turned my heavy head to the window, I was amazed.
SNOW?! Whole view was all white and I had to blink twice before I remembered that we're not in Finland anymore. :)

By the way the building up on the hill in the picture is my school. I can see it from my apartment!

Friday, March 5, 2010

Germany: Day 5


Yay!! Yesterday evening we got internet connection to our apartments! At last!
But poor Eetu, it didn't work at his computer! :( Luckily our flats are so near each other that he can come to use my internet at any time.

Today begun our intensive German courses and next week we are going to study only German. Toivottavasti kielitaito tästä pikku hiljaa kehittyisi.. hyvin hitaasti muistuu saksa mieleen.

This evening we are going to have a welcoming party in Stuttgart! Nice! We'll take the bus to the city and now with the studentcards we got yesterday, we can travel between Esslingen and Stuttgart for free in the evenings! Cool, isn't it?

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Day 3 in Esslingen


Dear blog,

this morning we had some fog, but now it is nice and sunny again. Today we have had some orientation with other exchange students, we got registered to Esslingen and got the German bank account. Still looking forward to the own internet! Hopefully we will get it tomorrow!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

2. Day in Esslingen


Today we had our first orientation day at school and as soon as we got out of filling in the needed forms, Lukas picked me and Eetu and another Finnish guy up and we headed to Ikea! It was heaven to me!

Eetu and I wrote a shopping list for Ikea on Monday evening on the restaurant's tablecloth (haha!!), so it was basically just walking through the aisles and grabbing all the stuff we wanted.

Huokaus. I'm so happy. The only problem is not having the internet yet.. But on the meanwhile the other Finnish guys let me use their computers. As I said: People are nice!

Over and out.

We made it! Perillä Esslingenissä!


OH-MY-GOSH!! It's unbelievable in here! The city is so beautiful and people are überfriendly! Maisemat ovat ihan kuin suoraan yläasteen saksan kirjan kuvista; vuorten ympäröimä vanha kaupunki ristikkotaloineen, upeine kirkkoineen ja linnoineen ja viiniviljelmineen, joiden lisäksi Neckar-joki pujottelee laakson pohjalla halkoen keskustan pienet mukulakivikujat.

=I love it!

Our flights and arrival to Esslingen went really well, was it really just yesterday? What a long day it was. We got our apartments (kalustettu huone+keittoliesi+wc=yksiö! Yay!) and settled down, met some other Finnish exchange students, bought some food from a market nearby and even went to the the city center for döner and some beer with our local friend Lukas and his friends.  It was such a lovely evening. =)