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Last year I worked like a donkey in order to make money and go to Europe in the summer. After I proved to myself my amazing saving skills (except for the money I spent eating sushi), my dream came true and off I was to Europe to visit some very special friends. I visited France, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, The Netherlands and Italy. Here is a bit of what I experienced.

Saima Lake

This beautiful scenario overwhelms your breath at 11:30 pm sometime at the end of May, in front of the Saimaa lake about three hours north-east of Helsinki, Finland.

Everything started on May 20th after a very good flight on British Airways. I arrived in Paris and spent the weekend with Peter, Mathieu (our host), Christophe, Corine and Harold (who came down from The Netherlands just for the weekend). Then I went to Marseille by train and spent a week and half there with Peter, who had been doing an exchange for the previous semester in a business school in that city. During that week, we met with Jonna and Timo who lived in Aix-en-Provence and took us for a tour around beautiful provence! Fromage chevre, good wine, gorgeous landscape and incredible weather! Oh la belle France!

Meudon

Corine, Harold and me in Meudon, France.

Paris

Friends in Paris

Aix-en-Provence

Aix-en-Provence market in the south of France

Marseille, France

Marseille, France

Finland

Mervi (Petes's mom), Me and Peter somewhere in the arctic sea!

Helsinki

Fancy dinner a la maison Platan! Better to eat something before getting totally wasted!

Finland

BBQ for dinner in front of the magnificent Saima lake!

Pete's granparents

Eating lunch with Peter's Grandparents!

Copenhagen

Copenhagen and me!

Lund, Sweden

Malisa in Lund, Sweden!

French flag

Paris

Paris and me!

Mat's house, Meudon, France

Our lovely host "parisien" Mathieu and his house!

France

Quiet little town in Provence, France.

Finnish flag

Then came Finland. WOW! That is the simple word that comes to mind. It was defintely the highlight of my trip. I loved the contrast of language, behavior and landscape; it was just extremely different from anywhere I had ever been! Nature at its best! "Honest and strong, balanced between east and west, Finland embodies the clarity of its waters, the vastness of its skies and the silence of its forests" There you go, I could have not said it better!

Helsinki

Finnish flags!

Helsinki

Helsinki and I!

Finalnd

Afternoon on a boat in Saimaa lake!

melisa.gif

Sweden followed Finland in my itinerary!

Les Calanques

"Calanques" beach near Cassis about 20 minutes from Marseille (Provence, France).

Paris

Peter, Harold, Corine, Mathieu, Christophe and I in a postcard we sent to our dear Mohammed!

Provence

Pic-nic somewhere in Provence with Jonna, Timo and Peter

Provence

Helsinki

Tulyps in a quiet Helsinki downtown square!

Finland

Learning new words in finnish.

Mokki

Kesamokki! The beautiful summer cottage in front of the gorgeous Saimaa lake!

Peter's parents

Mervi and Jorma, Pete's parents!

Peter's sister

Laura, Peter's sis and me!

Finland

Saimaa Lake

This part of the trip concluded with me taking a cruise to Sweden where I visited Lund, Malmo and Vaxjo. I have to say that I found a bit weird the fact that on the cruise they played the Titanic song by Celine Dion quite often, oh well! In Sweden I also visited my friend Mao who lives close to Vaxjo now days.