31.8.2015

Mail & Great Weather ♥

I can't believe it's already been three weeks of school, time has went soo fast! The weather's been amazing and I've been able to wear dresses etc at school which is wonderful but also strange at the same time because usually Finland is very cold already in the end of August. :D The pictures below are from Parainen where we have a summer cottage. The water was so amazing and clear 


Here's today's mail: postcards to Turkey & Denmark and letters from Poland & China and a postcard from Ireland. Not bad, I'd say :)

Closer looks at the letters ~

This one is from Martyna, Poland 

And this one's from Shine, China 

Thanks, girls! :)

ps. Are you already following me on Instagram? @melissaw4yl ;)

8.8.2015

Mail to Poland, Hong Kong, Hungary, China...


Yes, I've spent this day (okay, yesterday.. I'm just posting this late haha) catching up on my mail and it feels great!! Doing something normal always relaxes me ^^ And we also finally have good weather in Finland!

This first letter is for Kinga, Poland :) I forgot to take a picture of it before closing the envelope, sorry! Fun fact: The envelope is actually made of a page from my grandma's old gardening magazine :D


This one is for Xavier, China. I sent him also two brochures, one from Koli National Park (in Finland) and one from Ayasofya Hamam - Turkish bath.


The brochures were so heavy that I had to add some more stamps.. The reindeer didn't have to travel alone :D


This colourful letter is now on its way to Poland.. My last letter to Martyna never reached her so I wanted to try again ^^


Also I sent three cards to my friends from that Bursa camp in Turkey, to Poland, Hong Kong and Hungary!


The stamps..


Aand here's all the mail I sent! :) 


I still have some letters to write.. hopefully I can finish them before the school begins! I go to school on Tuesday so I still have a few days :)

6.8.2015

Turkey ✰ Part three


Here's the Part three of my exchange story! This is about my return home and all the feels and my souvenirs and... I don't even know yet :D

The exchange was only for three weeks but it certainly felt like three months. Every single day I experienced something new and it was amazing, like every day was a new adventure. At first everything felt too surreal and I couldn't even believe I was in Turkey. Then, when I had finally understood my new life and adapted to Turkish culture, I had to leave my host host family and head for the camp. It was hard but it was something I just had to do. The camp time was amazing and I couldn't even believe it was over until I walked through the security at the airport. It was a strange feeling when I found myself sitting in the airplane and heading to Finland. Only then I realized I was leaving Turkey. I didn't know should I be happy for seeing my friends, family and home or sad about leaving my other home and my life in Turkey with all the people I met there.

I really feel like I left a huge part of me (including my heart ;) ) in Turkey and I will be visiting Turkey sooo many times in the future! I met the best people in the world and I wouldn't be more grateful.


Souvenirs  :


1. Some sweets, of course.. ;) 2. During the camp we also went to hamam a.k.a. Turkish bath which was.. interesting experience. xD We got those little packages from there and 3. there were a small towel and soap inside 4. An ornament we all got from one of the camp leaders, a snow ball (is that the name? xD) from Dolmabahce Palace and some playing cards from Istanbul 5. When I took this picture I really thought that here was all my souvenirs but.. no, not even close. I found so many other things when I unpacked my suitcase :D Anyway, I think you can see the majority here! Here's also all the gifts I got from my amazing host family  One of my favorites is that hali (yes, my Finnish fellas, hali means a carpet in Turkish!) I got from them. :) 6. You could find those small pouches EVERYWHERE so of course I had to buy some of them, and I find them so cute! 7. These bracelets were for my cousins, they loved them ^^ 8. Turkish tea!! I totally fell in love with it! In Finland I don't really care about tea but the Turkish one was great so of course I had to bring some tea with me 9. My favorite necklaces at the moment 

Mail that was waiting for me when I came back! Actually I was quite surprised that I didn't get more than two envelopes in three whole weeks. But it's good that the lack of mail happened when I was away because I couldn't even have time (or possibility) to reply to them :D


1. The envelopes were from Xavier, China and Fab, Italy . 2. The SPSH 2015 was a fail for me this time, but you can't be lucky all the time. But I was lucky to receive these goodies from Fab as a replacement 'package', I really like them! Thank you :) 3. Xavier sent me Vietnamese money (so beautiful!) and a card with '8' because why not ;) 4. Chinese stamps ^^

These are more recent pictures (even though it's already been awhile since they were took)!


I don't think it's necessary to put the numbers here.. It's just me enjoying my Finnish life with my family and cousins. :D Picking wild strawberries from our backyard, playing, laughing and flying kites. I can't remember the last time I would've flown a kite so it was funny haha :D

After the three weeks of hugging strangers, hearing language that you desperately wanted to understand but just couldn't, drinking tea every day and living in huge cities, my life in Finland felt surreal for once. But now I'm here again, everything went so safe and sound and I wouldn't be more thankful. 

3.8.2015

Turkey ✰ Part 2

Hello again! Here's the part two my traveling montage that I promised to post soon..

This is the 'camp part' of the exchange! We had that 1,5 weeks long Lions Youth Camp with about 20 people from all around the world and I had so much fun with them :)


1. During the first days at the camp we went to see that stadium in Bursa 2. We also did a day trip to Eskisehir and there was this pretty castle 3. "Hey, could you take a picture of me and the water? :D" 4. The view from the castle 5. We also had a little boat trip in beautiful Eskisehir 6. City view ^^ 7. I'm not sure where this picture is from.. But the nights were always very pretty there! 8. We went to a seaside swimming pool on the 2nd camp day which was really nice! 9. More water.. :D


1. Boat trip :) 2. Just a random picture from a bridge in Eskisehir 3. Trojan horse in Canakkale 4. I don't really know how to describe this picture :D 5. TURKEY  6. Eskisehir city looked very pretty from the hights but not as beautiful as Bursa ;) 7. My name tag, I experienced so much with it :D 8. Evening in Canakkale when trying to find a waffle restaurant 9. Palm trees and taxes, pretty much what symbolizes Turkey for me haha 



1. Bowling ♥ 2. Haha, we went to go-karting and I really enjoyed that! 3. The beautiful streets of Istanbul  4. One day we had this thing where everybody had to write something positive about each person and that's my plate (not ready yet though) :) 5.  6. Dolmabahçe palace in Istanbul 7. We also went to Hagia Sophia 8. Bosphorus tour in Istanbul, again! :D Those bridges were soo cool *__* 9. Turkish bazaars were so crazy but I loved them a lot!

There will still be a Part Three coming in a few days, stay tuned! ;)


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