Exploring the beauty of Scandinavia

If your are in Turku after quarantine time and it is good weather I would suggest you going to Walo. It is a really fancy rooftop bar where you can look down onto Turkus city center while enjoying a cocktail or a wine. The design and furniture is cozy - modern and has a very comfortable atmosphere. The entrance its through coffee house with a lift. There are two levels one is the rooftop bar on top the other is inside with the bar and comfortable sofas. The drinks and snacks are a bit on the pricier side but it is a really fancy place. Other places I would suggest: sushi: Itsudemo (buffet is amazing); Luckyfun, sushi panda icecream: spice ice! (Skanssi shoppingcenter) Taco bell Hesburger el nam Crystal for big portion of kebab Indian food: Dehli Darbar burgers: Hook 

This was a challenge for me at first because how much can you possibly fit into a luggage for 9 months? What do you pack thick pullovers, t-shirts? pullovers  but not too thick - my problem was I could not wear my thick pullovers as it was too warm in the bus and in school especially if you have a good winter jacket  good shoes - me and my friend wore sneakers for the most part but shoes with a good profile and waterproof are important as the streets are not salted like in Germany (we slipt a lot) a good winter jacket - especially when you are planning to go to Lapland and one that is water-resistant  cozy socks  gloves and a beanie  umbrella  Thermounderwear T-Shirt (of course it depends on the time you are in Finland) but I would still recommend packing t-shirts as I wore them underneath my thin pullovers and if It gets too warm u can take it off  good camera - the nature is stunning out here and phone cameras have a hard time catching t...

Further activity that can be done at the moment is going Go-Kart driving. We were around 8 people and it was a lot of fun. We payed 20€ each. The place provides you overalls and helmets. There is a given route outside where we drove along. A lot of us spun in the track curve or crashed into each other. One of our friends got hit while spinning and ended up in the grass. The race was about 10-15 minutes in my opinion pretty short for the price but as the route is not too big it would have been boring otherwise. At the end they gave us our results as they tracked everyones time.

This place is the Disneyland of Finland created after a children cartoon show. Moomin is really big in Finland toys, t-shirts and bags with moomin is available everywhere. Unfortunately Moominworld is closed at the moment due to corona but we still went there to watch the sunrise as it is close to the ocean. Moominworld is located in Oldtown Naantali or close to it. Usually there are theater acts, snacks and the characters walking around. Eventhough the pictures of Moominworld underneath seem a bit sad I think it’s definitely worth coming back in the summer one day and experiencing it. But the sunrise was luckily very very beautiful.

The model created by Richard Lewis, divides human behavior patterns in three main groups: linear-active, multi-active and reactive. He visited 135 countries and worked in more than 20 of them, which helped im to come to the conclusion that humans can be divided in categories, based on behavior. Characteristics: Linear-Active: task-oriented  Polite but direct  highly organized  doing one thing at a time  rarely interrupts  sticking to facts  result oriented and like to move quickly forward Multi-Active: talkative, impulsive relationship and people oriented doing many things at the same time  interruptions uncomfortable with silence  Flexible truth impatient Reactive: listeners - reacts to partners action no interruptions  do not voice strong opinion easily  never confronts  very people oriented  patient conceals feelings  Finland is placed between linear-active and reacti...

stereotypes are basic processes for categorization. A stereotype simplifies the view and thus enables quick decisions. It is easier for us humans to assess the first contact with a foreign person if we can put them in a category. For example, southerners (Italians) are hearty, open-minded people and usually less punctual. But this is not always true because every person is different and especially nowadays many things are very international. I was allowed to test this experiment myself in the 2 semesters and I have to admit that some of the stereotypes are true and some are not. We had a course GetFinternational in which we had a lot of contact with exchange students from different cultures and talked about different customs and stereotypes and behaviors. It was very interesting to see the partly huge differences between the cultures. Nevertheless we are all international students and usually a little bit more open especially here in Turku the students were all open and helpful until n...

This post is about how we spent our days during "Quarantine". As we are still allowed to meet up with our friends up to 10 people we may have a few more options than other countries at the moment. This post could maybe inspire you and your friends with new ideas to utilize this time. The weather unfortunately has been fluctuating a lot the last few weeks. We have a few days really nice weather and then followed by rainy days. If the weather is good we spent the whole day outside. We go on to walks for e.g. in Ruissalo at the beach or do sports outside as we are a pretty big group of friends. Most of the time it is basketball in Varissou we do not have a hard time finding a court but we also have played tennis in Kaarina or Volleyball. Other activities we did were going outside and barbecuing at a lake and enjoying the weather. Also just grabbing a popsicle from a store or going to Hesburger, Burgerking getting food/ Ice cream and sitting in a park and talking. And most imp...

The corona pandemic was at the beginning just a big fun until it got serious. In the beginning many people made fun and the internet was booming about jokes and memes related to corona but meanwhile it is quite serious. Especially in countries like Italy, France, Sweden and Germany the whole thing has degenerated. Exit bans and mask duties were issued. The stand here in Finland/Turku it is luckily not so serious yet. Safety precautions have been taken like schools and universities have been closed and many are working from home. In supermarkets there are hand sanitizers at entrances and exits and a safe distance is maintained. Restaurants now only offer food for pick up or delivery. Bars, cinema and crowded places are closed, events are cancelled. Meetings with more than 10 people are prohibited. The boarders to Helsinki were closed for a while too. Many Exchange students have decided to fly home and even some have been obliged to leave. My roommate and I have decided to stay because t...