Discovering Finland, Discovering Myself

 (c) Miss Reads

As far as life-changing experiences go, studying abroad for a year is probably one of the things that will change your life and especially your outlook on life the most.

It certainly was for me.

My decision to go to Finland was not necessarily rational. It just felt like the right thing to do, and I figured following my gut couldn’t be such a bad idea.

It wasn’t.

We had joy, we had fun, we’ll have seasons in the sun!

Image: animalswithsunglasses

After four months of extensive blogging about cats and their crazy owners, now would be the perfect moment to clarify something in this, my final, blog post: I am not, nor have I ever been, a crazy cat lady. 

Itty Bitty Kitty Residency, or, Where Your Heart Resides

Image: catversushuman

In everyone’s circle of acquaintances there’s at least one person who’s a proud mother or father to a furry friend. You might know that person very well because it’s one of your closest (and probably weirdest) friends, or you might just know the person from talking to them every once in a while at a friend’s house. It doesn’t matter how you know them. What does matter, however, is how you remember that person. Once that person reveals their passion to you, you can never unsee certain aspects and unthink certain thoughts.

Ahoy, me mateys

Walking through the city on a warm day, you´ll receive lots and lots of flyers for events of all kinds. Mostly it´s going to be for parties and such but sometimes, if you are lucky, you´ll get a flyer for some really fun things – like the Red Bull Can Boat Race we attended in June.

At first we weren´t quite sure what to think of it, or rather, what to do, the instructions weren´t too specific. The only thing we knew was that the task would be to build a boat – as the name o the event suggest, and that it would have something to do with cans. Nevertheless, it sounded like a boatload of fun, so our decision to take part in the competition was easy.

Guitar teaching: Not as easy, as imagined

I've never believed in fortune telling because I believe your tomorrow depends on the choices you make today. But then again, everyone knows that fortune tellers tell you what you want to hear by observing your facial expressions.

When I was 15, I met one of them. I'll always remember her because of what she said to me. She told me that the guitar would always be an important part of my life. Well, this wasn’t exactly what my ears wanted to hear at the time, but it still struck me as somewhat strange. How could she know that I played the guitar back then?  Even today, it's a mystery to me, but she must have talked to someone who was close to me. Back then I didn't want to teach the guitar, but today, I couldn't imagine not doing it.

Desert rose meets Edelweiss

The average tourist comes to the Austrian province of Salzburg for one of two reasons: Mozart or mountains. In recent times, however, there's been an ever-expanding number of vacationers who are allured neither by music and culture nor by hiking and skiing, but--unbelievable as it is--by rain. With their notorious bad-weather summers, the mountain valleys of Salzburg have become a popular destination for wealthy visitors from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, who are seeking refuge from the broiling desert sun in the midst of rain-soaked lederhosen and edelweiss. Funnily enough, these Arabian tourists have picked my home town of Zell am See as their number-one vacation resort. Here's an eyewitness account of a comical clash of cultures. 

Learning with the OeBB and WESTbahn: How to Survive in Trains in Summer

Learning with the OeBB and WESTbahn: How to Survive in Trains in Summer

“Summertime and the living is easy”, sang Ella Fitzgerald. Generally, she’s right; but not for those of us who have to take the train. In summer, the lunacy of OeBB and WESTbahn passengers is taken to another level. The following six tips will make sure that you survive the living hell.