This and that

4 December 2016

Sorry for not having written anything for a while. Niko was visiting me for two weeks and now I’ve been busy studying Spanish etc. We have an exam in our Spanish course next Friday so I need to study a bit although I don’t think the result of the exam matters at all but this exam is a good motivator to catch up a bit with grammar and such.

To be honest, I don’t know if I have anything special to report for now. It was great with Niko, I got to introduce him to all of my friends here and so on. We simply enjoyed spending time together and didn’t do anything really extraordinary. The most “special” thing we did was that we went to Valencia for a weekend. It is a beautiful city and we had a lot of fun biking around and watching a Marathon event that took place there then (by the way having seen that, I think I’ll also have to sign up for a running event now somewhere around here = ) ).

At work everything continues as before. I’m getting more and more responsibility and interesting and difficult tasks and my supervisor teaches me, I have no complaints. Although, the trainees’ group may be “fragmenting” a bit now. People are starting to form smaller groups and it’s not anymore so often that we meet up as a big group of almost all trainees like we used to in the beginning. That’s of course normal and clearly, when in smaller groups one gets to know people on a deeper level which is of course nice but on the other hand I feel a bit sad of us not being a massive group anymore like in the beginning. And also now there seems to be a bit of tension if one smaller group is organising something and not everyone is invited.

Now I finally got a roommate today! She’s also doing her internship in Alicante and seems really nice. I’m happy not to have to be so alone anymore and also because she is Spanish and I get to speak Spanish with her J ..yet that’s kind of a compromise, because on one hand it would be lovely to get to know my roommates really well and have some real in-dept conversations and in Spanish that’s not possible for me quite yet. On the other hand I feel like if I now give up and start speaking English with her, then it’ll be really hard to go back to Spanish. I’ll need some discipline and will have to find the “golden mean” or whatever that’s called in English :D

Only a few weeks to Christmas. I’ll spend Christmas with Niko’s family and already look forward to it although am a bit stressed because of so many things I have to take care of before Christmas but yet, it will be nice being with Niko again and to see some real winter and so on. ..Though, I’m not sure I miss winter, at least not quite yet. Maybe in a few months the weather being practically always the same will start to bore me, we’ll see.

Now I’ve gotten to know some people here so well that I’ve already started thinking about how difficult it will be to say goodbye to them when this year is over. This goes especially to the three girls with whom I sit in the same office. It’s quite peculiar spending eight hours per weekday plus a large proportion of the weekends with the same people. I bet you can imagine, we have our arguments but also our own discussion topics and of course our own humour.

That’s all for now J

Besos,

Noora

Typical Day in Alicante

10 November 2016

Hi again! My life in Alicante is beginning to “normalise”. Here’s a schedule of a typical day of mine:

1. Wake up and be excited about a new day, although tired.

2. Go to work on a bus with 300 other trainees plus 200 tourists.

3. Try and work really efficiently before the 2 h Spanish class (and fail because of so many people coming and going and so many things happening all of the time. We are four trainees, all girls, in the same office, so it can get quite hectic and noisy :D Now, luckily I discovered a great playlist that I can listen to while working, so I’m not distracted for everything happening around me.) 

4. Make 1000.000.000 grammatical mistakes at the Spanish classes but still enjoy it :D

5. Have lunch – Try and manage to eat quickly and look at your watch after a time that felt like 15 minutes but in reality was 1 hour because of so many interesting topics to discuss with the other trainees. Luckily we have a 2,5 hour “siesta” in the middle of the day, so we can take as long as we want for lunch, but of course the longer you take, the longer you’ll have to work in the evening because our working time is 8 hours/day.

6. Work for a few more hours and again realise, 2 hours went by in like 2 seconds.

7. Miss the bus and wait 20 minutes for the next one with 100 other trainees. It’s nice because I never have to take the bus alone, there’s always someone to talk to.

8. Go to supermarket and buy a huge bottle of water; sweat and wish you could drink tap water while carrying the bottle home. Have dinner and talk to Niko on Skype.

9. Go to bed - too late - and swear tomorrow you’ll go to bed earlier.

10. ..and repeat :D

The days seem to be really short and every night I go to bed too late, but I really feel like I only got home from work and already I should be in bed, it’s crazy. Also, I feel like it’s weekend all of the time. I’ve figured this probably means that I like my job. And indeed, I do like my job, I know it sounds really geeky but I am actually excited to go to work. I’ve been excited about my work before, but never like this, it’s great.

During weekends I usually go out with other trainees. Fridays going out after work is already almost like a tradition to us. And many stay out until 5 o’clock in the morning. Friday nights out with the other trainees are always really nice. It’s a peculiar experience to be surrounded with so many people that are roughly in the same “phase” of their life, have the same profession and similar interests and are of so many different nationalities.

Yet, I must say that we are all so different. Still almost every day we encounter some arguments regarding difference of opinion often having to do with cultural differences. Sometimes for example, I’m in trouble for saying something really directly, which in Finland would be regarded normal, but which people of other nationalities may find offensive. Same goes for sarcastic humour, which clearly is much more difficult with people not of your own nationality..

Besides my “Finnish” behaviour every now and then, here I hear a lot that I’m not “typical Finnish”. I’m not sure why that is, and by now I haven’t really figured out whether it is a compliment or not :D

..if I’m not typical Finnish, I can tell, I’m not typical Spanish either. I still attract quite a bit of attention, I’ve noticed. I guess it’s my blonde hair and neon-white skin. And especially when I’m running, people do not seem to be ashamed to simply stare at me :D I guess even a Spanish-looking woman running around here is not a typical sight. When I go running, I always see like 20 male but only 2 female joggers. Anyway, yes, I’ve finally defeated the sore throat and could finally go running! Now the weather is perfect for running because it is not so hot anymore, around 15 degrees in the evenings.

I don’t mind people looking at me strangely but what’s a bit sad is, because of not at all looking like a Spanish, I am regarded a tourist. It’s a shame, because here it seems, the locals aren’t too keen on tourists. And unfortunately, I must say, I often get really bad service in like restaurants or shops because of being seen as a tourist.

That’s all for now! I miss you all, my friends in Finland, hope you’re doing fine!

With love,

Noora

  

Happy Halloween!

30 October 2016

I’ve had a nice, relaxing weekend and managed to get some sun tan too while walking outside yesterday! During daytime, the most appropriate outfit here for the weather is still shorts and a T-shirt.

This week at work we had two entire days of training about trademarks. Really interesting and lots of new information! I feel really privileged to be paid to learn.

Speaking of learning, now my Spanish classes begun. I skipped the very beginners’ class and was a bit nervous about how I would cope in the a-bit-more-advanced class. Luckily, I cope just fine and maybe the beginners’ class would have been even too easy, as I’ve learned already quite a bit on my own. The Spanish classes are actually quite fun and the teacher makes us talk a lot which I find quite efficient for learning.

Because of the daylight saving time, this weekend is one hour longer than a normal weekend and also Tuesday is off because of Halloween. That’s good because I really need some rest after my brain having been in a state of total overload like 90 per cent of my time here because of the challenging tasks at work and all that learning and all those languages, jeez.

I had no idea Halloween would be such a big deal here as it seems to be. Friday we went out with other trainees and lots of people were dressed up and now all stores and restaurants and even the EUIPO cafeteria are decorated with some pumpkins and fake spider web and stuff. And now one can’t help noticing, Christmas is coming too.. Christmas chocolates and decorations have invaded the best shelfs at supermarkets and El Corte Ingles also put up their Christmas lights. It’s funny, because to me it’s still summer! The shop windows are also quite funny with their winter coats and woollen hats and gloves and all that.. Especially as to me it doesn’t seem that the locals find the weather cold either and they still walk around in their summer clothes, but I don’t know, maybe winter comes here then like all of a sudden during one night, we’ll see..

With love,

Noora