Dorm deco

Like many, I too have, upon finding out I'm accepted to my selected university, been most excited about personalising my dorm. In light of having at least someone/something remotely alive in the room, I invested in 6 tiny cactuses from Ikea (y'now, the tumblr ones), which I definitely named: Alejandro, Roberto, Fernando, Gianteo, Gianluigi and Gianpiero. Somewhere along the line I realised I don't like the smell of my dorm, thus a candle has found its place among the cacti. As I am a bookworm, I couldn't refrain myself from bringing a couple of books. My favorite is The Little Book of Hygge, which I turn to whenever I want to bring hygge into my dorm, or just want to reminisce on my week in Scandinavia. There were some dents in the wall, which I took the libery of covering with a lovely composition of postcards and artcards from my travels, film negatives, and polaroids. December came, and that section of the wall got a pleasant addition: the Advent calendar. The ultimate Advent calendar, really, it was Lindt. I taped it to the wall, and on a lovely December morning, as I was sleepily seeking my will to live in a large cup of coffee, it fell on my head, rattling me to my very core. I went to uni sans my will to live. My sister got me a branch to imitate a Christmas tree and made some decorations, so my dorm was more festive than I ever got to be. I also put up a large picture of the Blue Lagoon in Iceland (love me some Iceland), and a drawing I had to do for uni that happened to turn out nice. Now there's a calendar taped to the wall, I hope that one doesn't come after me. (Edit: It did come after me. I should invest in better tape.)

Ljubljana

I'd been warned before moving, that the city I like very much will soon become boring and annoying. That turned out to be true in terms of people, as I am having trouble listening to the wide selection of different accents the fellow students use. What's nice about life here, is that I go through the city centre every day, and thus get to capture all the beautiful buildings in lovely lighting. This especially paid off on the day we got snowfall, as I had the chance to stroll around the parks and alleys and photograph Ljubljana in its winter wonderland glory. I recognise the potential of the abundance of lovely cafés scattered all around the city, and my professors are constantly telling us about various exhibitions in all sorts of galleries, however, due to the lack of company and time, I haven't gotten around to see any of them yet. The other day I walked up to Ljubljana castle to see an old renovation done by Plečnik, and it was on that Wednesday morning I realised how very out of shape I've become, for the max. 15 minute walk had me panting like a walrus fresh out of water (not completely confident in the accuracy of the description but ok).

Travel

Obviously I hadn't gotten around to wandering about the world yet, but I do have some good plans for the future. My seminar has organised a week long trip to Southern Spain in March, so expect a lengthy post about that. This year, Venice is hosting the Architectural biennale, and you don't have to guess twice whether I'll be there.

Living alone has gotten me well in touch with myself, my mentality, my patience, my working habits, and my organisation skills. I've noticed that I'm fairly tidy, but can't possibly summon the time to sweep. Cooking is very nice, though it would be even nicer if I weren't on a clock to return to uni. I'm excited about this student meal program thing I'm applied for, where a handful of restaurants all over the country offer free or reduced meals to all students. Many take advantage of this and are very happy with it, however I hadn't yet found time to do it. It is highly likely I'll get to do it in the second semester, as we have seminar work that keeps us at uni all day. I do get a bit lonely sometimes, but as I am a deep introvert, that doesn't last long.

That's about all I have to say about my life in Ljubljana so far, I will to another check in at the end of the second semester. Until then, I desperately hope I can get myself to publish more. I already have one post written and two in the beginning stages of bullet points, but god knows when I'll get to edit them, add photos etc.

To be honest, this post was written over the course of three weeks, so there should probably more content here, had I not taken so many breaks between writing.

In my relatively short existence so far, I've (amongst all else) learned one thing: if you look forward to something, it will pass by sooner. Thus, when faced with hard/stressful occasions/situations, I make myself look forward to them, knowing full well it will be over before I know it. Similarly, when faced with positive occasions, I try my best not to think too much of it, to stop trying to bring the occasion and instead leave it on its place in the calendar. This is exactly what I had done upon finding out that I'm going to Scandinavia, and time flies when you're having a good time, alas the last day came and left me feeling morose/blue.

As I mentioned in the beginning, things you're excited about pass by much faster, and so it was time to say our goodbyes to Scandinavia, fully certain of our return. Despite having spent the least amount of time in the city, Copenhagen (and the entire country of Denmark for that matter) remains my favorite of the four capitals I visited on this trip. Even with its incredibly moody weather (seriously, its worse than what they make the UK to be). It's highly likely Meik Wiking's The Little Book of Hygge (which I bought as a souvenir from said country) is to blame, as it simultaneously makes me identify with the danish culture (as I'm already doing many of the things the book mentions), and makes me itch to take part in activities/customs the Danes are keen on doing.

Have you been to Denmark before? I'd love to hear about your expreience below in the comments! 

x, Valens

As travelling by cruise was an element of considerable size on this trip, I'd like to tell you about the night we travelled from Oslo whether to Copenhagen, which qualifies as one of the wilder occurrences in my life. Unlike the cruiseship we took from Stockholm to Helsinki and back, this one was smaller, less comfortable, and more claustrophobia inducing. I'm not sure whether it is the current(s) and/or the winds in that area, or if this was a special occurrence just for our pleasure, but until the early morning hours, the ship was rocking in such large motions that one had trouble keeping balance, let alone walking straight. The cabins we had had no windows, 4 beds, and fit 3 people if they were all standing (god forbid a suitcase were to open, that would reduce the space to only fit the person diggin through it). The really fun times, however, started at dinner time, where the population separated in two groups: the ones who sat mournfully not wanting to eat in fear the food wouldn't stay down, and the ones who battled against the forces of nature to get their fill. Spending a large part of my life living on a sailboat has enabled me to fit into the latter group. There were large round windows showing the lazy mass of waves, the cause of such circumstances, while inside was a mixture of people's murmur and the screeeching of stacks of plates situated on springs within walls of metal, as they peeked out above the counter at the top of a wave and screeched back inside at the bottom. Eating my second serving of a plate full of french fries and nothing else (I'm not particularly good at food when travelling), I'd realised that despite the constant presence of slight claustrophobia, this was one of the cooler things to have happened to me. Looking back, I would not mind returning to that ship at all. Especially when the next morning had me waking up in Copenhagen.

As it had been with the previous stops in Scandinavia, Oslo, the northernmost point of our trip (and of my life) did not disappoint. We started roaming about the city the night before by visiting the Oslo Opera House, an architectural feature that interacts with the public by allowing access all over the surface. I was very happy to have experienced the building in cloudy weather, as the white of the sky is complimentary to the stone that covers the building's surface, while the sharp sea with grey hues offers a sharp contrast.

Is Oslo on your bucket list? Please don't hesitate to express your opinion on my post in the comments below!

x, Valens

The day begun around 9am, when the boat docked in the port. Unlike in Helsinki, the weather in Stockholm was about as summer-like as weather in Scandinavia can get, meaning a light jacket will suffice. We began by paying a visit to the Vasa museum, the home of the 17th century Vasa warship. Whilst there we also went onboard a steam-powered 1915 icebreaker and a light ship from 1903. After that we hurried to Gamla Stan to see the changing of the Royal Guard. After witnessing a fairly amusing set of guards playing instruments whilst riding horseback, we took to the main square to have a look at the stock exchange building, where the Swedish Academy meets to elect the Nobel Prize winners in literature. As it is with trdelnik in Prague, one can't go around Stockholm without treating oneself to at least one cinnamon roll. Thus, our miniature exploration of the old town with its medieval stone streets and buildings with facades in fifty shades of ochre was motivated entirely by the desire to find a cosy cafe and smother ourselves in cinnamon buns. Personally, I am not a big fan of cinnamon pastries, which is why this bun was the first cinnamony thing I ate since the trdelnik in Czechia two years ago, and while I enjoyed it, I am now done for a while. It was around 2pm and we had the rest of the day left to wander around the city, so instead of going out of our way to visit the Fotografiska museum in Södermalm, we instead went to Norrmalm down Drottninggatan (Queen street). We generally spent the rest of the day drinking coffee in litres, marveling at the abundance of H&M shops (though, strangely enough, I did not find any interesting clothing there?), and wandering aimlessly down unknown streets eating ice cream, which gave me a great opportunity to observe the locals. As a southern European, I was amazed to see how dressed up everyone was, as there had not been a single soul wearing leisure clothing. People there are also incredibly active and interestingly enough, there are people running at all times of the day, despite it being work time. Towards the end of the day, the city is covered in the migration wave of cyclists, who got off work. Be careful or you might get hit.

Despite the adventure having started on August 15th, the genuine discovering began on the following day, when the Silja Lines cruise docked in the port of Helsinki. We started by visiting the Sibelius park, which holds an organ monument dedicated to the Finnish composer and violinist Jean Sibelius. We continued to a suburban area, where we our curious outsider snooping (within respectable limits, of course) had surprised quite the some Finns. Really, we were just admiring the cleanliness, organisation and peace that the people in Finland live in.