Hey there! ⛵👣🌤🎶

I'm sitting here among the echoes of building sounds and people having lunch, waiting for my train back home. It kind of feels good to travel home and kind of not. The past 5 days the road has been my home again and now I wish that I could buy a plane ticket anywhere because I constantly watch trains heading towards the airport pass me by. My body is all like please rest now and after that head to the gym after all that sitting! But my mind is all like "Would not hurt to travel a few more days!". I'll have like 2 weeks of normal life ahead of me (= work, courses, BA writing..) and then I'll come back to Helsinki because I got my student pass for SLUSH 2019. SLUSH makes me both nervous and happy because it could very well be the opportunity of a lifetime and I'm willing to get ahead with that part of my life but also it puts a lot of pressure on me to be the best possible version of me, which of course is what everyone should strive for because life does happen outside of your comfortzone, I know that for a fact!

Another interesting thing I've noticed during my travel is how well I get along with my close friend Maria. I mean of course I knew that but traveling together unfortunately sometimes brings out the worst in us due to a lack of sleep, being hungry and other factors. But we didn't fight at all! Instead we had this wonderful mutual aspect of understanding and respecting eachothers needs between us. So if you don't know we went on a cruise to Stockholm together and it was our first time traveling together. We did the entire experience with karaoke, dancing, fancy drinks, great food, watching the sea.. But being in Stockholm was of course the best part of the trip. Stockholm must be my favorite city in the world. Anywhere you look you find beauty and new experiences. I don't know how and when to turn my life around so that I could move there. I seriously feel more at home there than in my actual home. Must be related to the fact that I visited Stockholm 2-3/year ever since I was like 5, must give me somekind of sense of security and childhood nostalgia. We also found an amazing cafe! (random side note, ignore it my brain is tired) But yeah if you are in Stockholm then visit Downtown Camper Cafe. Gamla stan was also like a dream like always, filled with Swedish culture and most importantly Christmas things.

Now I've also traveled all most any hour of the day experiencing both sunsets and sunrises and now I'm contemplating if I should sleep on this bench before my train leaves or perhaps striking up a conversation with some interesting stranger in order to top of my vacation.

Have a great week!

❤: Rebecka

Hello! I feel like it has been ages since I had the time to actually sit down somewhere else than a moving vehicle and gather my thoughts. Right now I'm at the family home in my old room thinking of how many great things I've experienced these past couple of days. It all begun on Friday. I was so tired that I almost fell asleep at work but I got through it thinking I was going to see a good friend of mine after work. She and I ended up at her place drinking loads of coffee and eating salad. Then we started to talk about all kinds of topics and I feel kinda sad that nobody heard us discuss because I felt like that discussion was a world changer! It mostly touched the subject of education and how the educational system of Finland makes most students feel lazy and useless. We didn't really filter our opinions but I think the discussion stayed on an objective and practical level nevertheless. Those of you that haven't gone through with the university experience in Finland might not share our perspective on things but we discussed the fact that universities don't really trust their students enough. We aren't given much freedom within our studies in order to "make them into our own". Instead we are left with way too many courses forced upon us which leads to us not learning anything else than how to send in 20+ papers before the deadline. And on top of this if the individual does not claim this overachievement centered lifestyle he/she/they are accused of being lazy. Correct me if I'm wrong but learning should be the main focus not achievement per se. Anyways the discussion inspired us both. Late at night I walked home thinking about how limited our time here on Earth is and how my destiny seems to evolve changing the educational system because I seem to be so obsessed with it. The city was sleeping but my mind was not.

Saturday morning I was sitting in the train watching Tom Hanks movies on Netflix without really paying close attention until I reached my destination, Helsinki. I felt at home here again I wondered. Googling if a person really can have multiple homes on a mental level. The sun was shining and it was a little bit warmer than in Vaasa. I was about to have a "trendy" staycation here in the South going to see some friends and work a little bit on my art.

Since Yesterday my phone has kept me busy answering job and school related emails and messages, only to be reminded of the fact how bad I actually am at this whole relaxing thing. It's like no matter how hard I try my entire life keeps living a life of its own in the back of my mind all of the time. Thankfully each person has there own activities that make them relax. I just knew again that I needed to rewire my brain and take the brain and the body that is used to carry the brain into the nature. Me and my friend ate a ridiculous amount of sushi (someone should write a lovestory about me and salmon especially sashimi) and went on a walk after that and on that walk we decided to drive to see a famous oak tree in the region. That was the best idea we've had together in quite some time! Because it was raining and the weather was something that Tove Jansson's dad would have enjoyed (he loved wind and storms) nobody was out there. It was just us and the oak. Just what we both needed I think.

Tomorrow I will take my staycation that isn't really a staycation to the city! Let's see what me and Maria will think of and what the streets will tell me.

Thanks for reading this little update,

Hope you guys are doing well and that life treats you with kindness 💚👩🏼‍💻

PS. If you guys are from a different country and wish to connect with me then try out the Slowly app! My name is the same as my Instagram.

//Rebecka

You know how I've told you guys that I listen to my feelings a lot? This also happens to be the case with small not so meaningful things. This friday the 4th of October most people stood at home baking or at some cafeteria in order to get hold of a cinnamon bun but I didn't feel like it. Then I ended up waking up way too early on a Sunday realising the first thing on my mind is how much I crave one (cinnamon bun). So I head out on a walk into the cold autumn air and listen to The Beatles because a Sunday is the perfect day for The Beatles. I get through the produce section and buy my breakfast fruit and then big news.. no cinnamon buns in the entire store.. But I see a little piece of heaven in front of me! What is this delight to the human eye you may ask yourself, well it was a perfectly shaped blueberry muffin that reminded me how I actually prefer those over a cinnamon bun any day. I read way too much into these things I know but my life is never boring.

As I got home I was very pleased that I had scheduled cleaning my apartment and doing laundry for today. I blasted Kokomo by The Beach Boys because that is the best cleaning song. It has that happy and peaceful melody but also a great rythm which makes me slide across my floors when I wash them.

I got my alarm to say the time in a British accent and now I laugh every morning, sounds mean but I don't laugh in a mean way I laugh in a "that is so cute" kind of way. Also I've gotten more into reading lately. Ever since I started high school (upper secondary school) the assignments involving litteature have been many, so I wasn't really keen to pick up a book of my own choice during my free time. During the summer I might have read a few books that caught my interest but that was about it. Still I collected all these books that I wanted to read like a crazy person and I didn't exactly understand why. But now good folks,I do! Yesterday I somehow started reading one of those books in my endless collection and I ended up reading 100 pages in like 1 hour or something. I felt great, ecstatic even. You see when I was around the ages of 8-13 I did almost nothing but read. I brought books with me everywhere and I was never bored. My mom would find me countless times at 2 am in the morning reading even if I should have been sleeping. My argument was "I must be a great kid if this is the way I rebel, on an intellectual level". In fact everytime I felt like getting into a conflict with someone I avoided the situation by escaping into a book. That is why I got kind of emotional when I was brought back to an activity that caused me such great joy in the past. I sounds obvious but as joy grow up you forget some of those things you did as a kid and then when you do remember you feel more like yourself again? Especially me handling the aftermath of this denying my really identity phase I went through recently with trying to force myself into being something I'm not ending up being the same loner who loves being a loner that I've always been.

/Rebecka