Beaches of Anfi del Mar, Gran Canaria

So this is what Anfi del Mar's beach looks like. The sand is the most finest type you can imagine, specially brought all the way from The Caribbean to this little island lying next to Africa. The best thing ever was the supermarket, which was right next to the beach and the pools. Despite being an area buzzing with tourists, the prices in the market were very low compared to Finland's AND they had the perfect salt&vinegar crisps! Haha, the crisps really made my day.

Tomorrow it's time for my long-awaited summer holiday, which will last for 10 weeks! After my second year of upper secondary school, I'm sure I've earned my holiday! I'm planning on going to Helsinki for a weekend, attending  a rock festival in Turku and to meeting my language course friends in Uppsala, Sweden. Not to mention my ten-day twin town visit to Besançon, France about which I know nothing and studying for my matriculation exams - or A-levels as some call them -  I think I won't get bored during my holiday!

A Heavenly Place in the French Riviera

This pretty place is called Gorges du Verdon. It's actually not on the coast but in the inland of  the section of Var in Côte d'Azur. I guess this must have been one of the cherries on the top during my trip. I mean... just look at the perfectly turquoise water! The sun was shining and no one was busy (unlike during our other trips to cities and beaches farther away) The funnest part was moving around with paddle boats, which turned out to be so much fun. You could also rent a canoe if you wanted to.

The atmosphere was a lot like in those movies where lovers go relaxing in some lagoon. People were paddling, canoeing, jumping off the cliffs and swimming. All you could see were gorges, waterfalls and trees. I could even say that I wasn't in this world at that moment, I was completely elsewhere.

A cliché holiday photo, but I love the vivid colour of the water! (and my tan, haha)

After paddling around we were glad to find a stall that sold food and water. Just what we needed after this exercise! We would have had a few more hours to sunbathe but it started to rain - yes, it does rain once in a while over there! - and we had to leave. A bit of shame really.

Have you been to beautiful places which aren't that well-known? I'd love to hear from them!

Politics in European Youth Conference

These two previous days were something really different. Not only was it weird to travel to Helsinki on a Tuesday afternoon, but staying in a hotel room with people I didn't know in advance was a bit strange. Luckily the two other girls were very nice and we became friends during our stay!

On the first day we got precious information from interesting visitors such as MEPs, one of  Finland's ministers Alexander Stubb and an ambassador from Greece. We also followed a panel discussion by some young candidates. I must say that this discussion was impressive! The main topics on the heated debate were taxation, marketing and the value of euro.

On the second day it was our time to shine. We had the whole day to discuss nuclear power in five different political parties, which were given to us beforehand. Mine was ALDE, the Alliance of Liberal Democrats for Europe. After reaching consensus in our little group it was time for a real debate between all the parties. During a break we talked to other parties and decided to coalesce with EPP and ECR. Nearly all of our decisions were approved, which was great! The best of all was the visit of a Finnish MEP, Liisa Jaakonsaari, to whom was given our new modified directive.

Weird situations while travelling #1

Reminiscing one of our nights in Puerto Rico really brings smile on my face. I could say that it makes me laugh hysterically rather than just smile if I really start to think about it.

So what happened then?
After having a great dinner my friend and I wanted to relax and sit down somewhere. So we just strolled until we found a perfect empty bench in the middle of the park, which was simply crying out to be sat on. Well, the two of us didn't get to sit there for very long because an old Canarian man came along. It would've been normal if he hadn't been wearing white clothes from head to toe, carrying around a metal detector and riding a bicycle full of small flags. Nicely put... the whole apparition looked a bit out of this world.

centre of Puerto Rico

So he started telling us about his life by showing us how his metal detector works and some necklaces he had found with the help of it. Our communication was more non-verbal, because no one knew which language to talk. I think the only question he asked clearly in English was "do you smoke marijuana?" Unfortunately he had to deal with a lot of headshakes and no-nos as an answer from us. Suddenly he started raking up his backpack and took up a little bag. I was certain that he had something dangerous inside it, as the whole situation was completely random. Well I was wrong. This guy took out his recorder and started playing it!

Restautant la Bolera in Puerto Rico

I've studied Spanish for about two years and decided that it was the perfect time to practice it a bit - even if this man was a bit weird. I told him I had played the recorder for some years when I was a little girl. You should have seen how he got excited! So he began to tell us in Spanish how he loves to go to the mountains in the morning, play his recorder and sing over there with his six little dogs. This fellow even listed their names - from what I can remember, one of them was called Coco. Tenemos que irnos ahora, lo siento, adios. It was time for us to leave, for we didn't want to spend the whole night with this weird man.

This must be one of my most random memories from travelling. It's these kinds of things that make travelling so unique. Anddd that's why I'll share more of them whenever I can.

What's the most random thing you have experienced during your holiday? 

3x food from different countries

Clean, trip and peel the beets. Boil them in a saucepan until tender. While the beets are boiling, peel and grate the cucumber. Then boil the eggs and potatoes. After the beets have cooled, grate them and mix with the grated cucumber. Pour the sour milk and water with into the mixture. Add the sugar, salt, dill and chive. Cube the potatoes and eggs. The soup is now ready to be served. Make sure it is cold and has smetana, potatoes and eggs on the top. Serves 4 people but in my opinion the portions are gigantic. I'd say there's soup for about 6-8 people, especially if you're going to eat something else besides the soup.

      

                  

I guess everyone knows how to make a sandwich. Stuff all the fillings in and you're good to go! I'm more used to using butter on my bread but now it's replaced with olive oil, which makes a nice change. Serves 4 people.

Preheat the oven to 200° Place the peeled and chopped potatoes into a heat-resistant bowl with rosemary. Then cover the bowl with a damp piece of kitchen paper and cook the potatoes in the microwave for about 2 minutes until they are done. Grease the baking mold and start pressing the ready-made pastry dough into it. Make sure that it's neatly everywhere. Put the ham, cheese and potatoes into the baking mold. Whisk the eggs, milk and all-purpose seasoning. Then pour this mixture into the mold and place the pastry in the oven for 35-40 minutes. Serves 6 people.

I previously wrote a food article for our school's annual magazine. What this means is that I cooked  different foods during one week and then shared the recipes and my experiences in the newspaper. These three are my favourite ones I came across and they aren't even that difficult to prepare into the bargain. Just fly to the kitchen and get cooking! Oh and I hope you like the blog's new outlook, because at least I think it's much more fresh than the previous one!

Love from Aix-en-Provence

Aix-en-Provence was again another beautiful city in the French Riviera. We hadn't planed anything special to do during our one-day visit, but to be honest it didn't matter as I was completely satisfied with shopping and seeing the town. Totally worth waking up at 6 AM or some other godly hour! Just take a look at those chocolates; Perfection, don't you think? Unfortunately there were pretty dear so I only bought a tomato quiche to satisfy my hunger.

I remember buying my favourite moccasin boots (aka Indian boots) and a few souvenirs for my friends from Aix-en-Provence. Oh, and a little note to self: don't order pasta with blue cheese if it's 30 degrees celcius warm. It will make you even thirstier. That's why my friend's salad looked much more tempting even though I loved my super salty delicious pasta. Haha.