5 reasons why I fell in love with Sarajevo!

This years holiday brought us to beautiful Sarajevo, the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I had never before visited Bosnia and Herzegovina, but I must say I fell in love with the whole country. The picture perfect views started already before crossing the boarder from Serbia, the boarder river between these two countries in the mountains was amazing. The trip from the boarder to Sarajevo took a long time as the bus was driving small mountain roads, it was a perfect opportunity to see the countryside of Bosnia and Herzegovina as it differs a lot from the capital. Here are 5 reasons why I fell in love with Sarajevo!

1. Diversity
It has been said that Sarajevo is like European Jerusalem because of the city's diverse ethnic and religious makeup. By diversity I also mean many different kind of places to visit and see as a tourist. First walking in the old town bazaar, visiting mosque and ending up to Franz Ferdinand museum.

The Sebilj is a pseudo-Ottoman-style wooden fountain (sebil) in the centre of Baščaršija square in Sarajevo built by Mehmed Pasha Kukavica in 1753.

2. Bosnian coffee
We both fell in love with Bosnian coffee! We found a nice small coffee shop just next to the  Gazi Husrev-beg mosque. We were citing outside in the sun enjoying the coffee and seeing how the locals were spending their time, how the owner of the coffee shop was running orders to the mosque yard and the nearby inhabitants. We found a Bosnian coffee set to take home as a souvenir, now I'm able to have the great taste at home, only the atmosphere is missing.

Bosnian coffee

3. History
Sarajevo's history is diverse and bloody. From Ottoman city to assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria starting the first World War to the  longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare, during the Bosnian War as part of the breakup of Yugoslavia. The history of Sarajevo and of Bosnia and Herzegovina is visible in the city by the architecture, the city is a mosaic of different times. Gallery 11/07/95 was breath taking experience, I truly recommend visiting and taking the audio guide!

Gallery 11/07/95

4. Food
Wondering on the old town bazaar area and having so many possible places you would like to eat in. Cevapi is my new love! I think that in the end I had already eaten so much that it was enough for the rest of the week. Cevapi is meat formed into finger size sausages served with somun bread, oninon and kaymak.  All prices in the Bosnia and Herzegovina were very low, one cevapi costed around 5 euros for a portion. 

First night eating cevapi

5. Atmosphere
I enjoyed the atmosphere cause I felt I am not in hurry to go anywhere, I was able to sit down, enjoy the coffee, cevapi and relax. The coffee shops and restaurants were full of locals enjoying their life. The locals were staying up late drinking coffee and smoking shisha, nobody was in the hurry to bed. 

-Camilla

Budapest!

A while ago, me and my boyfriend decided to have a last minute trip to Budapest for a weekend. We booked the tickets on Thursday evening/night and the bus left already on Friday evening. We just really wanted to go somewhere and see new things and enjoy the summer. I think almost everyone has felt the urge just to travel and explore something new, to have a break from the everyday life. Even when the travel was quite long and exhausting by bus, it was totally worth it! 

We arrived to Budapest in Saturday morning ready to explore the city. We started our sightseeing from the Hősök tere (Heroes' Square) and continued walking in the city park crossing Vajdahunyad Castle with many different kind of architecture styles. After a while in the park we decided to continue to the center of the city for breakfast. On the way we saw the Hungarian Parliament Building. Our breakfast place was unbelievable, the atmosphere was so great!  The place was called Liberte Budapest Restaurant & Grand Cafe, we were sitting in the terrace drinking cafe and listening to live music they played by a guitar and a violin. 

After the breakfast we walked in the center in the Liberty Square and to the St. Stephen's Basilica. Soon after that it started raining a bit even when the morning had been really beautiful. We decided to visit a museum while it was raining, we took the old metro line and came to the House of Terror museum. The museum shows the fascist and communist regimes in Hungary. After the museum visit the rain was gone and as we were close to our hotel we decided to refresh a bit.

We had dinner in this Hungarian restaurant called Tüköry Étterem that my boyfriend found before from TripAdvisor. The restaurant was recommended mostly by the locals and the prices were quite cheap. We ordered traditional Hungarian food, as a plate for 2. The plate was so huge that we probably ate half of it in reality. Place to recommend!

In the evening we went to see the Buda castle on the other side of Tonava. We climbed to the castle and enjoyed the view to the city. From the other side of the castle hill we were able to see the beautiful sunset. It started to be late and we were tired of walking for the whole day, it was time to check out this bar that my boyfriend found online before. The place is called Szimpla, the setting of the bar is very unique and we wanted to visit it as we hadn't seen anything like that before. The place was quite crowded so we stayed there only for a while to look around and see all the weird rooms. Afterwords we ended up in car themed pub, there were quite many pubs that had a special theme that was visible in the decor.

Normally I'm very good with directions and maps. This time when we were trying to find a way from the center to our hotel, we took a wrong bus that went to completely wrong direction. We ended up walking to our hotel, that was our adventure!

The next day was reserved for relaxing. We went to the Széchenyi thermal bath in the city park and enjoyed the baths and the good weather. Széchenyi is the largest medicinal bath in Europe and the temperatures of the baths went up to 38°C. Sunday was also the the day our bus was leaving back to Wroclaw. Even when our holiday was very short, I enjoyed every minute of it and would do it again anytime. Maybe I fell in love with Budapest!

-Camilla

Graduation!

I graduated last week as Bachelor of Laws! In Poland the process for Bachelors is a bit different than for example in Finland. Apart from my thesis I also needed to have final exam (defence) and answer to some question about my thesis as well as a general question in relation to the department I wrote my thesis to. 3 years of hard work behind but for me these three years mean so much more than just Bachelor degree. These studies were the final reason why I decided to move abroad to Poland.

If I look 3 years back, I was just selling some of my furniture as I already knew I will be moving to Poland. I showed my apartment for the new tenants and packed my stuff to be stored at my parents place. I was excited about moving, but at the same time I had no idea how it would go in reality. Afterwords I have wondered how I had so much courage to change my life so dramatically, but I'm more than happy that I took this opportunity and learned something new also about myself. I'm not sure what were my expectations about Poland and about the studies, but as I look back I was just so excited and maybe also a bit stressed about everything new. When I left Finland I did not know when I would come back, that feeling is even more stronger now. I do not see myself living in Finland at least in the near future. Poland is my home for now, but I could see myself in other countries too. I think that once I left from Finland and survived so well, it is now easier to think that I could live almost anywhere.

These three years have passed so fast and now it is already the time to start something new. I'm so happy that my family has supported me in my decisions, even when I know they would like to see me more often. During these years I have built new friendships, another safety-net apart from the one I have in Finland. What really makes living in Poland so good, are these people. At the same time I feel guilt that I haven't been able to spend that much time with my friends in Finland. Maybe this quote shows my feelings towards these friends: "Good friends are like stars, you don't always see them but you know they're always there."

Having coffee with my Erasmus friend during the first semester in Poland. The first semester was about getting to know new people, learning polish and discovering the new city. We had a nice girls trip to Berlin and I made the first contact to Finnish community in Wroclaw.

The second semester my family came to visit Wroclaw, I was so proud to show them around the city. For the first time I experienced the early spring (at least compared to Finland) and the warm weather. The first year of studies was done and I was happy to go to Finland for the summer.

The third semester was studying in cafes and meeting with friends every Wednesday in a jazz bar. Our friend from Finland came to visit us here in Wroclaw and I met many new people.

The forth semester was great! We had a nice weekend in Prague, my sister came to Wroclaw, I met with my brother in Gdansk.... So many great things! I also came more involved with the Finnish community as I became a teacher in the Finnish School in Wroclaw.

The fifth semester started the final year of  LLB. I met with my family in Stockholm, I continued teaching at the Finnish school and I got involved with the Telders moot court. I also started to write my thesis.

The last semester was probably the most stressful and eventful. We had a trip to Ukraine, I visited Finland as a surprise, Telders competition in Warsaw and in the Hague, thesis and finally graduation! 

-Camilla

It is still holiday!

It feels weird that the summer is almost gone. I should get ready for the next school year and that starts with shopping! The feeling when you have a new wonderful notebook and you feel happy to use it. I haven't found that yet. I don't want to find that yet as then the next semester starts to feel more real. I don't want to start stressing about my Bachelor thesis (even that I'm stressing about it now)....











I will allow myself one more week without thinking anything related to the uni! (That is about the time that we still have summer holiday :D) Last summer days without work or uni, just relaxing and taking some time for myself. I hope my last holiday week will be full of great days, warm weather and no stress! Now I want to buy strawberries and raspberries to get the last taste of summer 2016!

-Camilla

Pictures!

Hey, I have been extremely busy during the summer. Work, celebrations, friends, small trips... I thought that the best way to share something (as so much has happen) is trough pictures. I don't have pictures about all the important dates for the summer but here comes a peek for Finnish summer and nature ;)

Last Friday we had a nice picnic together in a local park Arboretum in Tampere. 

Korvapuusti as our picnic sweet!

The park is just next to a lake and the view is great!

We saw many floating saunas! That is something I wish I could experience :D 

Trip to Korsnäs

For the summer my grandparents live in a small coastal town in Finland.

In this town everybody are speaking Swedish (more or less). In reality the slang is so strong that it is hard for swedes to understand.

Boat ride in the Baltic sea. 

The weather was great and it was even too hot to be outside. We went to the marine not to feel the hot weather but to feel the wind. It was so much better!

We even went for a swim to Baltic sea, this time it was so much more warmer than last time in Pori! :D

A lot of things has happened, my mom had her Birthday party, we were on a wedding and we have met so many friends! But now all I need is to sleep, I have been working crazy hours recently. I hope everybody is enjoying their summer! :)

-Camilla

Pori Jazz!

This Friday we had a road trip to Pori (coastal city in Finland) as there was Pori Jazz, International festival that is every year during July. We were not going to the festival concerts but enjoyed the Jazz street and a free concert and the atmosphere. The weather was not so nice, and it started raining while our visit to the street. Luckily we got these nice pink raincoats for free!

A bit later we went to the Yyteri beach. Yyteri is famous for its beach as it is big and the dune area is unique because of its size (even in Europe scale). It was almost freezing (+16? maybe)but of course we needed to go for a swim while we were there! Crazy Finns! We were almost the only ones swimming, only couple of people were as brave as we were.

I just really like the place as it is so beautiful and something you don't see every day! I hope that next week the weather would be better! I miss Poland and the warm weather...

-Camilla