Summer in Paradise ~ Part 1

I honestly do not even know where to begin.  But I need to start somewhere, so let's start with Saturday 29th June 2013...

I woke up really early to get to the airport on time because it was finally the day I got to fly to FINLAND!!  I could not believe that the day had actually arrived that I got to see the evil sister again after six months.  I was literally bouncing in my seat by the time we landed in Helsinki and it seemed to take the luggage forever before it came around on that little conveyor belt.  I walked through those arrival gates straight into the waiting arms of Cherine and I swear we didn't let go for ages.  When we finally did, we picked up conversation like we hadn't seen each other for two minutes, not six months.  When you have that kind of relationship with someone, the feeling of it is unexplainable.  Together, we headed off to start my Finland adventure by navigating our way to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner.  Eventually we headed back to her sister's place where we would spend the night before going to her place the next day.  Chilling at Amira's, I showed Cherine all of my pictures from the year so far and we just talked about the second half of her exchange and how my exchange was going because we both understand perfectly what the other is on about; the good times, the bad, the friends, and the memories.

Together at last <3

I think she likes Apples

The next morning it was around 11am before we got up and had breakfast with Amira.  We were just talking about random things when the topic of deadly animals in Australia came up.  For anyone who doesn't know, that is one hell of a big topic because there are soooo many animals at home that can kill you.  The sub-category of snakes came up (not my favourite conversation to have at all) and we were talking about the venom of brown snakes.

Cherine: there is enough venom in one snake bite to kill fifty people

Amira: *looking very confused* but if the snake only bites one person, how can fifty people die?

Cherine: *slowly shaking her head* the amount of venom that is in one snake bite, is enough to kill fifty people.  That doesn't mean that fifty people will die from one person being bitten.  It isn't like a chain reaction where the closest 49 people will also drop dead

Amira: ohhhh

Meanwhile, I am killing myself laughing at the idea of one person being bitten by a snake and the closest 49 unfortunate people will also die.  They say I'm blonde ;)  We explored a small amount of Helsinki for the afternoon before catching the train to Seinäjoki!

This next thing creeped me out the first couple of nights, but now I think it is just really cool, but during summer, it doesn't ever get fully dark.  It was midnight and we were walking around able to see perfectly clearly.  It is so cool!

Midnight!

The next couple of days were just relaxing.  I was mind blown by the fact that the TV was in English.  "What do you mean you were surprised the TV was in English, Tyarna? You're a native English speaker, you should be use to it!".  That's what you're all thinking, I know.  Buuut, in Austria, everything is in German; so after six months, it was actually a little bit of a shock.  Grey's Anatomy Season 9 was calling us.  As both of us had not seen the end of the season, we decided that it was a good idea to watch all of it together.  Good choice, good choice.  

I may or may not have got Cherine addicted to Candy Crush.  Whoops.

We went out and met some of her friends one night and there were also some Rotary exchange students from America who are close to finishing their exchange in Finland.

Thursday I saw my first squirrel!!

Friday brought around Ruisrock Music Festival!!  Nora, Cherine and I headed off to start our long weekend camping and partying in Turku.  We set up the tent when we got there and just chilled out for a little bit in the afternoon before it turned to classic music festival during the night!  The bands on Friday that we saw were Hurts and Knife Party.  Saturday was basically a repeat of Friday, only with a little bit more partying.  The bands for the night included Dizzee Rascal and a Finnish band called PMMP.  On Sunday when we got up, we packed everything up and put it in the car before catching the first bus to the festival so that we could wait all day to see Macklemore and Ryan Lewis in the first row.  During the day, we saw a lot of Finnish bands that were playing on the same stage and Cheek was actually really good.  And the main singer was hot.  Cherine and I were standing for about 9 hours straight before we saw an absolutely amazing performance!!  It was definitely worth the wait.  There was so much energy in the performance and it was so, so great!!  One of Nora's favourite bands is Biffy Clyro, so she stood in the first row all day waiting for their performance, which happened to be the last performance of the festival.  Cherine and I went straight there after Macklemore finished and I was lucky enough to catch one of the drumsticks after the show ended.  When we eventually met up with Nora at our meeting point, I gave it to her and she was in shock I think from actually holding the bands drumstick and knowing that it was now hers.  

The three of us arrived in Helsinki at about 3am where we were spending the night at Amira's.  When we pulled up, we decided it was probably a good idea to call Amira, as entering a police officers home at 3am while they are asleep is probably not the best idea.

Cherine: we should call Amira now and tell her we're coming in, cause I'm in no mood to be punched by a cop tonight

Me: that's why we send you in first 

It was so nice to sleep on something other than the hard ground and when it came time to shower in the morning, it was the best feeling ever to get rid of all of the dust.

The afternoon came around when it was time to go to my 'surprise'.  Earlier in the week, Cherine had almost ruined it and mentioned a boat; so she decided to tell me that it was a boat tour around Helsinki and the tiny islands there.  Boat tour my arse guys.  Turns out, it was actually a cruise to Sweden!  We walked in to the check in area and I was a little bit suspicious because there were signs for travel agents and check in's and things about Stockholm everywhere; then all of a sudden, Cherine was like, "how cool would it be if we went to Sweden?"  I was in total disbelief and was actually wondering if it was all a prank.  But, it wasn't.  We got on the cruise ship and I was just bubbling with excitement.  After taking our stuff to our cabin, it was time to explore the rest of the ship!

At one floor, Cherine and I found a random trolley just sitting around, so we decided that I would sit in it, and she would push me around and spin me around it.  Of course we're mature 18 year olds.  We were walking along the main deck at one point, and Nora went to walk past one of the workers and he stepped in front of her, so she went to the other side and he stepped in front of her again.  They kept doing this for a little bit and he just would not let her pass; it was so funny to watch.

Trolley!!

Nora and her friend

<3

Looking at the ceiling

Casually sitting in the window

After dinner that night, we dressed up a little bit and went to one of the bars on the ship where they did a night show and had a couple of drinks and relaxed.  Before we went to the bar, Cherine and I went up to the sun deck to take some pictures; only we didn't realise how incredibly windy it was.  Suffice to say, it was really interesting trying to see with my hair flying around like crazy and to walk while holding down my dress.  I think all we did was laugh the whole time; that is without choking on our hair.

In the end, we gave up

The next morning, we arrived in Stockholm, Sweden!  After breakfast, we went back up to the sun deck to take some pictures as we came into the city.

Photo bombing bird

Once we arrived in Stockholm, we actually did take a boat tour this time and it was really nice to see parts of the city from the water.  It was then time to go shopping!!  I now understand why Cherine kept telling Nora during the week to save her money for "when we go shopping in Helsinki", because we were actually going shopping in Stockholm.  I finally found a nice jacket that I have been looking for for ages.  During the day and also on the cruise, Nora took some great photos for me.  I love it when other people take photos on my camera.  After spending the day in Stockholm, we got back onto the cruise ship and just relaxed for a while after the long day.

Big cruise ship, small tour boat

Love these people <3

Definitely sisters...

That night on the boat, we went back to the same bar for a few more drinks and some more relaxing and watching the night show.  By the time we got up the next morning, we were only an hour out of Helsinki, so we had breakfast and collected all of our stuff.  The trip was so amazing and it was definitely the best surprise ever!  Thank you everyone; it will be a trip that I will never, ever forget <3

Today marks only one week left in Finland, and right now that is something that I do not want to think about at all.  I am having way too much fun and when I say goodbye this time, I don't know when I'll be able to say hello again.  I don't want to think about the fact that I may not see this incredible family again for a year or even longer.

Let's finish up with some more photos of the incredible trip I have had so far =D

Until Next Post.

Adios Amigos

Tyarna x

"We're going on a school trip to Germany"

Yep, you read the title right, we went on a school trip to Germany.  I guess Europeans would be like, yeah, cool, let's go.  It's just another trip for them; but for an Australian, that is pretty bloody awesome.

On Sunday June 23rd, the class of 4PB boarded the train excitedly awaiting the beginning of the journey to Hamburg, Germany.  The train trip would take roughly 12 to 13 hours during the night.  You could say that the train wasn't the most ideal of nights that you could have; we scored some pretty bad luck with the fact that we didn't get sleeping cabins, just normal sitting ones and the air-conditioner in our whole carriage wasn't working.  In spite of this though, we kept up high spirits, because, well, we were going to another country instead of going to school for the next three days.

Train journey

We arrived in Hamburg around 9.30 on Monday morning.  Our first job was to find our hostel and leave our luggage there.  After quite a bit of walking, and taking the wrong exit from the subway station, we found our hostel; or what we thought was our hostel.  Turns out that we were at the wrong one and we had to go to the opposite end of the street we were on.  Off we set again until we finally came across the correct hostel.  I wasn't complaining, the second one looked a lot nicer than the first one.  Leaving our luggage in the storage room, we all headed off for our walking tour around part of the city.  This is where our mini photo war started between me, Sassy and Milli.  What it was, was whenever someone went to take a photo of you, you put your camera up and took a photo of them instead.  I got some pretty hilarious photo's from doing that.

Photo war!!

Afterwards we had free time, so we split off into smaller groups and went and had lunch before doing some shopping.  Meeting back with the whole class, we went back to the hostel (after taking the wrong exit out of the subway station) and went to our rooms.  It took us forever to find our rooms as, the easiest way to explain this, the hostel was like a maze with heaps of different turns and levels and twists and passages.  It was interesting anyway.  That night we were allowed some more free time, so Sassy, Michelle and I went to a bar after walking around for a while.  It was finally time to lie down and get some rest at about midnight.

Tuesday started with breakfast at the hostel and then a visit to a small museum and looking at some buildings and a church before being allowed more free time.  There was a group of about nine of us who went to Hard Rock Cafe (I bought a shirt) and then souvenir shop hopping down one of the main tourist areas of Hamburg.  This is where I got my flag from Germany! (I collect flags from the countries that I visit).  Meeting up with the rest of the class again, we did a boat tour around part of the city and the harbour.  It was so nice to be able to sit and still see a lot of things.

Boat Tour

When the boat ride was finished, everyone except five of us went off to get ready for the musical.  Alissa, Johanna, Linda, Isabella and I went to Maccas for coffee and then walked down the famous 'whore' street in Hamburg.  When they explained to me where we were going, they were like, 'it's a street where all the whores go'; it was so funny.  Heading back to the hostel, we showered before upstairs to the bar; we were right in time for happy hour.  Here we toasted to our last night in Hamburg and having a great summer break.  It was a really nice night spending time with those girls.  Once again it was a late night in bed and my body clock is now officially screwed up.  It doesn't help that it is still light at around 10.30 at night!!  What is this Europe?

Friends and good times

Waking up on Wednesday, a sadness hit us because we knew it was our last day before going home to Austria.  As our school is a design and product management sort of school, so we visited one while we were in Hamburg.  It was so cool to see some of the things that these people do at school.  Afterwards we looked at some other buildings as well as an art museum and then had our last bit of free time before meeting back at the hostel where we picked up our stuff and went back to the train station.  I know that I really shouldn't have, but when your classmates ask you to teach them some Australian slang, you really can't resist teaching them 'wanker' and 'tosser'.  That's what we did while waiting for the train.  Oh and I also threw in 'platypus' and 'bugger'.  We also had a debate about the names of the star signs in English and the pictures that went with them.  I now know that 'the water man' is Aquarius and 'the bow and arrow man' is Sagittarius and 'the little crab' is Cancer.  Our conversation took many strange and different turns while we waited for that train.

Time to go home =(

It is safe to say that we got even less sleep on the way back than what we did on our way to Germany.  There was a lot of laughter in our cabin and it was a really good way to end such a great trip.  Thank you 4PB for another very memorable moment of my exchange year =D

Tomorrow another adventure starts when I head to Finland for almost three weeks to be finally reunited with my evil sister!!!!  Words cannot explain how excited I am.  You will surely hear all about my time there; well, maybe not all about it ;)

I would also like to say Happy Birthday to my Dad for today (Australian time) and tomorrow (my time).  Hope you have a good one.

Until Next Post.

Adios Amigos.

Tyarna xx

Believe you can and you're halfway there

May was a busy month and this also meant that it was great; full of laughter and smiles.  Lots of things happened and one of the events that had the most impact was the German course that Elliott and I attended.  It may have had the biggest impact because it took up the whole month, but it was still really good.

Basically we were in a class of ten people and we were the only Australians, and the youngest.  The other members of the group were from South Korea, Serbia, Japan, China and Iran.  The course was a lot of hard work, and I am sure we laughed a hell of a lot more than what we should have; but it was really fun.  We had a lot of 'blonde' moments when we didn't know the words for things, so we created our own.  The most memorable one was talking about a broken foot and we didn't know the German word, so we used 'kranken fuß', which would literally translate to 'sick foot'.  Or another one was when I had a headache one day and we didn't know the word, so we said that 'mein kopf ist kaputt', which is 'my head is broken'.  The whole course was in German, so explaining words was sometimes a little difficult; we always managed though.  One of the best explanations was for the word 'Unfall', which means 'accident'.  The only student in the class who knew the meaning of the word picked up a pen in each hand and went 'auto, auto, booooossssshhhhh' and crashed them together.  It was a pretty good explanation.  If exchange has taught me anything, it's how to play charades really well.

One of the best classes was when we were in our food unit and Elliott and I decided to introduce our class to Vegemite.  The reactions never get old; they're funny every single time.  Although one of my favourite is still my host mum's ;) and then when she told her friend that 'it tastes like nutella' (I know, evil right?  Not even I did that this time!); but that was another brilliant reaction.  Anyway, we had mixed reactions this time.  Some liked it, and then others clearly did not.

The course seemed to go very quickly and I am a little bit sad that I most likely won't see those people again.  I have great memories from there though and I wouldn't go back and change anything about the past four weeks.

Working hard, or hardly working?

Another memorable event in May was when Sarah and I went to Madame Tussauds.  It is a wax museum at Prater and it was a lot of fun.  You go in and see all of the figures and they have costumes that you can dress up in and take pictures with the 'celebrities'.  There was a lot of laughter that day and we got some pretty hilarious pictures.  A very short list of the 'people' that we saw include Nicole Kidman, Sissy, Elvis Presley, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Barack Obama, Albert Einstein, Gustav Klimt, James Bond, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Katy Perry, Audrey Hepburn, Pope Benedict, Angelina Jolie, George Clooney; the list goes on and on.

We danced 'Thriller' with Michael Jackson; Sarah got a kiss with James Bond; as did I with Elvis Presley and Leonardo DiCaprio; we read scripts with Brad Pitt and sat down and had a talk over coffee with George Clooney.  As it was absolutely pouring down rain, it was the perfect indoor activity.  The saddest part of the day was when Sarah told me that she had started her last month in Austria countdown before she goes back to America.  Everyone is leaving =(  I am so happy to have made these memories with people though.  This, is living the exchange life.

Until Next Post.

Adios Amigos.

Tyarna xx

Vienna Weekend

The first weekend in May saw the STS Vienna Weekend take place; in Vienna obviously.  Majo and I decided to go together and she told me that we had to be there by 12, I told her, no, we have to be there by 1.  In the end, we went with her time and what do you know, we were the first ones there.  No one ever listens to Tyarna.  Basically we just chilled on the really comfy lounges until the others started arriving.  Soon Katrin and both mine and Majo's area reps arrived, followed by the rest of the students.  We were assigned our rooms before heading off to Schönbrunn castle.

Schloss Schönbrunn is one of the many major attractions that Vienna has to offer.  It dates well back into the 16th century and was home to the Emperor and Empress.  It is really interesting to go through and find out about the everyday life of the people who lived there.  The gardens around the Palace are also so amazing to walk through.

After Schönbrunn, we all went to an Austria restaurant for dinner before going to Siebenhirten for a traditional yodelling course.  It was a very interesting and fun filled night and it was nice to be exposed to more traditional Austrian culture.  Once we got back to the hostel, a big group of us decided to chill out on this massive couch slash bed thingy and just talk.  The area reps came around at midnight and told us to go to bed, so Eve and I went up to our room; there was just one problem, we couldn't get our key to work.  We tried for about ten minutes until one of the area reps, who was staying across the hall, came in.  At first she just laughed at us and then she tried to help as well.  She couldn't get in either though.  In the end, we ended up knocking and getting someone from the inside to let us in.

Giant Bed

Saturday morning saw us head into the centre of Vienna for a sightseeing tour and to look in St. Stephans Cathedral.  After the tour, Jarrad, Eve and I did a little bit of shopping before having pizza for lunch at an Italian restaurant.  It was really good pizza.

He's got the look

 After lunch, the group headed to Prater where we all went off in our own groups to enjoy the afternoon.  Eve, Jarrad, Elliott, Sarah and I all headed to this massive, how do I explain it? Um, it was basically a merry-go-round in the sky.  You had two people per seat thingy and I got stuck with Jarrad.  Anyway the views over Vienna were really, really nice.  While we were still on the ground though, Jarrad decided to make the seat 'swing' and the whole ride we were still swaying around like crazy while everyone else was just going around normally.  Basically he screwed us up for the whole ride; even when we got back down and were waiting to get off, our seat was still swinging around like mad.

Sunnies selfies with Jarrad

How's that for a view?

Saturday night saw our group head off to the theatre to see 'Elisabeth'.  It was a really nice musical, even though it was in German.  There were English subtitles on a screen, but they didn't really make that much sense and they were actually quite difficult to follow.  After the musical, we had a little bit of free time, so Jarrad and I went for a walk to get ice-cream before heading back to the hostel to chill out on the big bed thing again.

On Sunday, the group split up to either go to the Technical museum, or the House of Music.  I chose the House of Music and our group only had five people plus the awesome area reps who came with us. It was a lot of fun doing things around the museum and I only wish that we had of had more time.

Cool carpet

GLOW!!!!

All too soon the weekend came to an end and once again it was time to say goodbye to everyone.  The next time we will all meet is at Farewell Party in June; I am looking forward to going back to the Bad Ischl area for that.

I would also like to say Happy late Birthday to my cousin Balun and my Aunty Nic, hope you had a great day guys!!

Annnnnd, I would like to wish all of my exchange student friends who are currently in Australia a safe trip home next week and hope that you all enjoyed your time in the Land Down Under!

Until Next Post.

Adios Amigos.

Tyarna xx

Things & People - Two Different Things

People have been asking me about the things that I miss in or from Australia, so I thought that I would do a small post about those =D

The things that I miss are really quite small and insignificant when you think about them, but maybe that's only because we have them all the time in Australia, so we don't think about it.  In one of my first couple of blog posts as well, I said that I would tell everyone the things I missed once I was actually on exchange, so here goes =)

Aussie Slang -
I never realised until I left home how much Aussie slang I actually used.  I guess because everyone always used it and understood what you were saying, that you don't really think twice about it.  Over here though, I sometimes have to stop myself from using some words because people just stare at you blankly; and trust me, the hardest thing is trying to explain the meaning to phrases like "fair dinkum"or something along those lines.  There is nothing like hearing a true Aussie say G'day to you!

Target -
Yep, I miss a department store.  I never realised how much easier it was to run into Target to pick something up, whether it be a new shirt, pair of slippers, a DVD; and they were always fairly accessible, which is always a plus.

Tim Tams -
These biscuits in the forms of chocolatey goodness.  Yummmmm

Dolly Magazine -
Yep.  Very teenager-y, but I miss it.

Australian Money -
I don't even know why, but there is something about our Aussie currency that I miss.  Can't explain it.

The Beach -
I didn't really spend that much time at the beach, but the thought of knowing it was only two hours away was pretty cool and if I wanted to go for just a day, it was no problem.

My Job -
My job was really fun and I worked with some pretty awesome people as well!

Hair Straightener -
It was ditched from my suitcase on the morning I left home because "there just isn't enough room" - Mum, there is always enough room for a hair straightener.

MY Ballet Flats -
It has almost been four months and I am still not over the fact that my pair of black, pure leather, very expensive ballet flats did not get to come with me.  "They're just a pair of shoes Tyarna, buy a new pair".  Easier said than done.  Do you know how long it takes to wear in a new pair of flats?  The pain you have to go through before you can actually wear them for a significant amount of time?  I have a problem with shoes.  Cherine, please, no comment.

Shorts - 

I left soooooo many pairs of shorts at home and it has only been in the past week that it has been warm enough for shorts to be an acceptable item of clothing here.  I look forward to seeing all of my shorts again when I get home at the end of December.

Well there we go everyone, those are the things that I currently miss from home.  None of these are enough to stop me from enjoying my time here though!!  The way I see it, these are just things that I can look forward to getting home too.

Until Next Post.

Adios Amigos.

Tyarna xx

Brilliant Times & A Farewell

Wow, so today was my 18th birthday and I could not have thought of better people to spend it with.  I want to start with saying a big, big thank you to my host family for everything!!

The celebrations started yesterday when Jarrad, Patrick and I went to lunch together at this amazing Italian restaurant in Vienna.  The food was great and the company was pretty damn good as well.

The first time I woke up on my birthday was 12.33am when Majo decided to call me.  Granted, I ignored her calls, as I was in no way able to function at that hour of the morning.  This did not put her off though as the next calls started coming through at 5.50am, followed by 7.17am, 9.19am and 9.20am when I finally gave in and answered and got "TY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!" shouted at me.  Thank you, Majo =D

My call list from Majo

When I got downstairs I got the biggest hug from my host mum which was so great.  My little host sisters then came in and said "Happy Birthday" and "Alles gute zum Geburtstag" and I got to drink my morning tea from the special 'birthday cup'; a cup in the family that you only get to use on your birthday.

Even though she is on the other side of the world, I got a message from my Mum that made me cry; tears of happiness of course.  It said, "I've been thinking of you all day and we even had birthday cake and sang 'happy birthday' to you".  I miss her so much, but hey, how many Australian's can say they spent their 18th birthday in Austria with the best host family ever?  It's pretty damn cool.  I wouldn't go back and change anything.

Around lunch time, Majo and various other members of my extended host family came around and we sat down and had a big lunch.  After, there were some interesting and slightly embarrassing (for Majo) conversations between me, Majo and my host parents before they brought out the cake and the birthday presents.

This next part almost had me in tears for the second time today when my host parents told me that they had spoken to my Mum and got the recipe for my favourite cake from her, had it translated, and made it for me as my birthday cake.  I cannot describe how that made me feel as I was so happy that they had gone to so much effort for me!!  Sneaky parents going behind my back from two different sides of the world!

Through friends and family, both in Austria and from home, I got so many more presents than I ever thought I would and they are all so great.  So thank you everyone!!!

Es dauerte 18 Jahre um so gut auszusehen!

I cannot express how thankful I am to everyone!  It has definitely been one of the best birthday's ever.

Going back to Thursday now, we said goodbye to one of our own when she flew back to Australia after three months in this wonderful country.  Jarrad, Patrick and I made the decision to surprise Chelci at the airport for one last time before she went home.  Spending those last few hours with her was so good; with Jarrad playing any sad song he could think of, and Patrick constantly reminding Chelci that he wouldn't miss her at all ~ he's such a liar.  That last hug before she walked through security was one of the hardest that I have done since I left home.  It's hard saying goodbye to a best friend; however, we'll see you next year Chelci!!!

Surprise!!

Best Friends <3

These past few days have been so great and so sad all at the same time, but there are so many great things coming up in the next few months!

Until Next Post.

Adios Amigos.

Tyarna xx