Thursday, March 31, 2016

Visitor!

I couldn’t be happier, my sister just arrived to Wroclaw! Can’t wait to spend time with her, walk in the city, talk, show my favorite places and restaurants. I feel so proud about the city that most likely I will be walking and showing off like I would own the whole city. I bet all my friends have heard at least 10 times that MY SISTER is coming! :)

Last Saturdays football game Poland-Finland 5-0 was masakra (disaster) from Finnish perspective but at the same time it was nice to see all the Poles so happy. I was hoping for a draw as I felt that my feelings are divided. After the third goal I was hoping that Poland wouldn’t score anymore. Everybody else was singing one more, one more (I did the same after first goal) but no more after the third :D I had painted Finnish flag to my cheek and Polish flag to the other side. I was thinking should I take my Finnish scarf and eventually I decided to take it. It felt good standing with the scarf and singing while Finnish national anthem was playing. Polish national anthem was one of the best parts of the game, 40 000 Poles singing proudly. 



After the game we went to see if could see the players when they are going back to their busses. I was hoping to see my favorite Finnish player but instead we saw Lewandowski, Blaszczykowski, Krychowiak, Grosicki, Sczesny and Tyton. Even got some poor fuzzy selfie with Lewandowski :D

Football cultures are different in Poland and in Finland. In Finland people may just sit, watch the game and clap their hands if somebody scores (lame reactions) :D Just in past few years the Finnish fans in Helsinki have woken up, specially in Helsinki derby the fans are going crazy. It is still nothing compared to Poland. Few years ago when Polish team Lech Poznan came to play to Finland, the security failed badly. In Poland it is great to go to see a football game live as it really feels you are in the game with your full emotions. Most people are singing and showing their emotions. True fans have prepared some torches and huge sheets. Football culture in Poland has two sides, great atmosphere during the games but after.... hooligans are set free. 

-Camilla

Friday, March 25, 2016

Easter!

This year my Easter will be a bit different and not "traditional" in Finnish nor Polish sense. Finland national football team is playing against Poland here in Wroclaw this Saturday. Football game is not the most traditional way to spend Easter, but I can't wait to cheer for both teams (maybe more for Finland :D) I don't know how loudly I'm actually able to cheer for Finland as I don't want any Polish football hooligans against me.
I would like to introduce traditions from Finland and from Poland related to Easter. I want to concentrate to traditions that were new for me in Poland and traditions from Finland that I believe are weird for foreigners.

Finland

  1. Virpominen: In Palm Sunday kids dress up like witches and they go from door to door in their neighborhood with decorated pussy willows wishing happiness and health. Normally kids will get chocolate eggs in exchange. These children dress up like witches are using a lot of different colors in their outfit (so not like in Halloween!)
    Me and my sister as witches :P
  2. Mämmi: traditional Finnish Easter dessert that it made of  water, rye flour, and powdered malted rye, seasoned with dark molasses, salt, and dried powdered Seville orangezest. It is normally eaten with sugar and milk or cream. My personal favorite is to eat it with vanilla souse. :P Mämmi doesn't look so delicious and that is why it is weird.
Mämmi. Photo from https://www.flickr.com/photos/stello74/

Poland
  1.  Blessing of the Easter basket: Baskets containing a sampling of Easter foods are brought to church to be blessed on Holy Saturday. Foods in the basket have a symbolic meaning, normally it contains eggs, bread, lamb, salt and some ham (last year I also saw some chocolate eggs).
    Photo from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/zakwitnij/
  2. Wet Monday: Huge water war :D You can't feel safe anywhere (specially if you are a girl). Boys can have water guns on the streets or somebody may pour water from the window when you are walking by.
    Photo from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ridg/
In my opinion these are the most interesting traditions from both countries. Now I'm just dreaming about some mämmi... ;)

-Camilla


Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Spring is coming!

This week I finally feel that the spring is coming. Till now it felt more like a winter and just awful rain and wind. And now what I mean by winter is something completely else than winter in Finland. For most of the time it has been warmer than 0 degrees (not counting some nights or couple of days). I have been wearing my warmest winter coat for the whole time, even when it has been +7. Probably I lost the Finn inside of me and I get cold more easily :D It is true that I get cold easier but it could be also because of the fashion and fitting to the city view. When everybody else is wearing the warmest coat they own, I'm not even thinking about other options. It has been winter for me, even when the snow was really just wet slush. 
I missed real snow for some time but the best option would be no snow at all. I got used to having snow every year but now I feel that enough is enough. I don't miss it when I'm in Poland, for some reason I feel that it doesn't belong to Poland. Even when I know that couple of years ago all the winters were still full of snow. Maybe it is wrong to talk about the Poland as a whole cause now I mean Wroclaw. Wroclaw is the warmest city in Poland, but of course there is snow for example in the mountains. 
When I went to Finland for Christmas I was hoping there would be cold and snow but I don't miss it to be here. 2 weeks of "real" winter in one year is enough for me. Just waiting for the spring, wearing just light jacket, seeing more sun, flowers coming up and more people in the city. 



Last Wednesday was my spring day. Seeing flowers in the ground for the first time, these beautiful yellow crocuses in many parks felt amazing, spring is really here! I was meeting my friends and just enjoying coffee and our talks. Long walks in the city were nice as the sun was shining and it was even warm in the sun. Still I was most exited about ice cream in Polish lody naturalne (the queue was maybe for 20 mins, best ice cream in the city! During summer you could wait more than hour for this perfection). I haven't been there since the last summer and now finally the weather is so nice that I feel like eating ice cream :P Perfect start for the spring, next time I just need to remember to take my sunglasses! (all my days are not like this, Wednesday just happens to be free from the Uni :D)

-Camilla

Start!

Finally got enough courage to start a public blog! I have been thinking about starting a blog since I moved to Poland (autumn 2014). I should have started this blog a long time ago when I first came to Poland, but I wasn't brave enough. Now I would like to get a new start with more experience and with more to say. My goal is to write about Poland and my life here, how I see the country and the city from eyes of a Finnish girl.

I moved to Wroclaw (Poland) autumn 2014 to study LLB International and European law. Now my bachelors are already in the half way of the studies, yay! My stay in Poland  will be longer than just for my bachelors as I'm planning to do my masters here. And who knows from where I will find myself after that, only the earth is the limit. So far my studies have been great, I'm not sure what I was expecting from the University but my studies in general will be topic for another post ;)

So why I decided to move to Poland?!? This is also a question that almost all the professors are asking during the first meeting, somehow questioning why somebody from abroad would be interested about Poland :D My boyfriend moved here about 9 months before me. This is the main reason why I got interested about Poland and the opportunities it had to offer to me. When I found my study program LLB I was sold! This program was just what I was looking for: international and related to law. I came to visit my boyfriend for couple of times before I actually moved here and I just fall in love with Wroclaw, such a beautiful city! I'm very proud to live in this city, I have almost every week a moment when I'm just thinking and wondering out loud how beautiful and great city this is. 


For the beginning I would like to ask what kind of texts would interest YOU! :)

-Camilla