People
Memories
Thursday, June 9th, 2011 at 12:53 | categories: People
It’s time for my last post in this blog. The exchange is officially over as I’ve been on Finnish soil for a couple of days now. Thank you to everyone who made the time awesome and thank you to all of my readers! The blog was a lot more successful than I ever thought it would be: I’ve been updating it and people have been reading it. I don’t think my mom’s been the only reader as there’s been over 4,500 visits from all over the world.
The experience was something I’m not even going to try to put into words, so I decided to tell it with pictures. Looking over all the pics brought up a lot of great memories, and I’m sure not everyone is in these pics, but there’s too many to choose from. If anyone of the exchange people feel like commenting for the final time, here’s your chance! Thank you again to everyone! Enjoy the final set of pics!
Aga and Alex, when you still needed a coat in Cannes
One of too few dinner parties
The American dude and Lindsay in St. Paul de Vence
How we opened a wine bottle in the train
Sometimes even strangling people was fun
Sophie didn't like waiting in Brussels
Experiencing Heineken
The scarf that got lost and was found again
When I taught Julian how to open a bottle with an umbrella-ella-aa-aaa
Sometimes people played the piano outside
When it rained in Monaco
People doing funny faces
Wessel pulling off his moves. I don't think they worked.
The American dude doing what the American dudes do, I guess?
Hilary calling a random person
Swedes being Swedish
When we got backstage
Arzu and Jakob. They're German so no funny jokes here.
The night I don't really remember
Miro pulling off his moves. I'm not sure they worked either.
Just chillin'
Warren explaining how it is
The Asian people are short
Not totally sure what's going on here
Girls, girls, girls
A Swede and a Finn in total harmony
The time my cellphone still worked
I forced my way into playing a piano in a restaurant in Cinque Terre, slightly under the influence. Well, I say slightly..
School's out
And that's how it was
A movie festival, absinthe and on a boat–again
Saturday, May 21st, 2011 at 20:25 | categories: Antibes, Beer, Cannes, Juan-les-Pins, People
This time it was one of my hometown friend’s time to visit me in the Riviera, and the timing couldn’t have been much better. The weather was great and with the Cannes film festival going on, all the other towns close by weren’t so packed with tourists–just how I like it.
We strolled around Antibes and Juan-les-Pins as well as visited Cannes to see what the fuzz was all about. We also went to one of my favorite places here, Villefranche, to chillax and see the sun go down. The days have been pretty warm here for a couple of months now, but the nights are turning pretty warm as well and you can see couples and groups hanging out on the beach well after sunset.
I finally got to visit the famous absinthe bar in Antibes, where they have a wide selection of different kinds of the traditional artsy people’s liquor. The owner is happy to tell you everything about the drink in question, but he’ll require you to wear a silly hat.
We also rented a boat for 4 hours and drove around the coast. This time I knew better and left my valuables at home instead of dipping them in the ocean. Our oceanic picnic consisted of some champagne, foie gras and baguettes. Not a bad way to spend the last weeks here, eh?
The red carpet. No celebs at that point.
So you buy a yacht for 20M euros and choose Comic Sans for the logo? My soul is crying.
Absinthe bar. Apparently my silly hat is in the background.
Hello, goodbye
Saturday, April 23rd, 2011 at 16:32 | categories: People, Travel
While everyone’s saying their goodbyes in the exchange bunch, I say hello to my family who’s visiting the Riviera for a week. Many people seem to be leaving this week and the next, and I’ve apparently missed out on a couple of cool parties due to various reasons. But on the other hand I’ve had the chance to experience the French motorways and see places I haven’t seen before.
Yesterday we drove down to Marseille and some of the scenery on the way was almost like in Arizona, albeit a bit more cloudy. The city itself is what you’d expect from the oldest and the second largest town in the country with its old stained buildings and narrow streets. With all the history, however, they’ve still had to steal the Finnish flag.
Sadly the weather’s turning worse and rain is expected for the days to come. I guess the plans for a nice holiday on the sunny coast aren’t probably going to work out for the fam.
On the road again
Marseille harbor
Coast of Marseille and Château d'If on the background
On the buses
Sometimes the narrow streets provided a challenge
P.S. To everyone who has left or is leaving Antibes in the near future and I haven’t had the chance to say proper goodbyes: thanks for everything and have a safe trip home! I’ll leave it at that ’cause everything else would be clichéd mush.
1 comment »The beginning of the end
Thursday, April 14th, 2011 at 10:26 | categories: People, School
For most of the exchange students this is the last week of school. I had my final exam yesterday, some still have exams on Friday and Monday. The 3,5 months of school seem to have gone by in a breeze and it’s strange that it’s over so soon.
In the evening we had a goodbye party at the beach, one with many to follow, and it’s slowly starting to strike everyone–most of us are probably never going to see each other again. People are hoarding memories as much as they can by asking people to fill in their scrap books and by taking ridiculous amounts of photos.
The life of an exchange student is actually pretty miserable. First you’re sad because you don’t know anyone, and in the end you’re sad because you know everyone and have to leave. It’s the time in between, though, that matters. And that has been pretty awesome.
Taking an Asian picture of the ones leaving
The Yes Men
Girls playing with the sand
Writing on the scrap books
Who is this dude and why is he always making that random face?
Girls and the beach
Group photo
P.S. Since some of my friends are playing war with the Finnish army somewhere in a forest, for solidarity’s sake I’m also going to spend time in the nature. Sure, it’s mostly going to be on the beach, but hey, it’s the thought that counts, right?
3 comments »
