Fantastic Finland

So I just spent 14 days in Finland and it was EXCELLENT. My company, Wärtsilä, is based in Vaasa, Finland and we had our global team meeting last week. There was a manufacturing training course the week before, thus my boss let me come for 2 weeks. December is not necessarily the best month to visit Finland, since it is very dark and very cold. But I made the best of my time here and greatly enjoyed it - it reminded me a lot of back home in Canada!

The first week was the manufacturing training course. More than anything this course reminded me how much I don't miss sitting in lectures all day! But it was a very educational and useful course. They even took us out for dinner one night and I decided to try Reindeer! It was quite delicious.... but it tasted a lot like beef with a stronger flavour.

(Trying a traditional Finnish dish - Reindeer!! Hopefully it wasn't Rudolph)

On Friday night, my local Vaasa team was having their Christmas dinner so they invited me to come along with them. Although a little awkward because most people spoke Finnish all evening, it was still lots of fun. I attempted to Waltz with one of my coworkers (I only know latin dances, so I think I made a fairly large fool of myself) and ate a traditional Christmas dinner (ham... good, but not as delicious as turkey I must say). There were also LOTS of different types of fish and such, which makes sense considering Vaasa is on the coast. :)

Over the weekend I was actually able to enjoy the minimal hours of daylight that Vaasa gets! I went for a four hour walk along the coastline on Saturday. It was really pretty and helped me work off all the company bought food I had been eating! Afterwards, I got together with some couch surfing friends that I had contacted asking if they wanted to show me around over the weekend. One of the girls, Malin, took me to an Asian buffet, she introduced me to some traditional Xmas desserts and took me to the Xmas Market. At the Christmas market, we tried the rice porridge. At Christmas time it traditional to eat this rice porridge and hide an almond in it. The person who finds the almond is said to have good luck! Unfortnately I didn't find any almond though. :(

(Eating traditional Finnish Xmas porridge)

I went to visit another couch surfing friend at her residence at the University. We had some Glüggi and Gingerbread cookies. Glüggi is a very traditional Scandinavian winter drink. It is similar to Switzerland's and Germany's Gluwein (warmed red wine) but it doesn't have as much of a wine taste to it. It's more of a spiced red punch, warmed and then they put almonds and raisins in it. SOOO good! While at her place, we also went to the sauna! Sauna's are very famous in Finland, and apparently they have more sauna's than they do cars. I was quite happy I got to experience it. :)

After a great weekend, I had to go back to work for the week. I was excited though because I finally was going to get to meet my team. Our Design to Cost Team is about 15 people situated in Vaasa (Finland), Trieste (Italy), Drunnen (Netherlands) and Winterthur with me. So twice a year, we have a global team meeting. I had been talking to lots of these people over email, so it was great to finally meet them. It was also really neat to see what everyone else is up to in the different areas of Design to Cost.

(Outside my company office in Finland!!)

On the last day of the meeting, I had to do a presentation and training of my own. I was absolutely terrifed. I had to make a 30 minute presentation and then train everyone on the program for the next 2 hours. Luckily, the presentation went fairly well. I think anyway. I was told afterwards that I looked very confident considering it was my first big presentation. I guess it's all about the image, cause I definitely didn't feel confident. As my dad says, "Once you can fake you, you've made it!"

So that ends the work part of my Finland adventure. I then I took a 3 day vacation in Northern Finland!! Rovaniemi is a famous town as it sits right on the arctic circle. It is also said to be the home of Santa Claus, or as they call him, Joulupukkia! So they have made the "Santa Claus Village" 10 km from the city. Although mainly an overdone tourist attraction, it was still a must see. So, on my first day I took "Santa's Express" up to see Santa Claus!

There were of course lots of other things happening at village, and though a lot of the activities were quite pricey. The one thing that I did fork up the money to pay for was a visit into the Husky Park. I couldn't resist... it was worth the 6 EUR to spend some time with the dogs. :) And the guy gave me a tour around, telling me about the dogs and about sled racing. It was really neat. And I of course couldn't get enough of the dogs. Made me very happy. :):)

(Me with one of the husky puppies, Hugo)

Then it was time to go see the famous Santa Claus! His house was ... very different than I was expecting. As you walked up to him, it felt more like you were walking through a haunted house. It was very dark, and there was this eerie music playing in the background. Serisouly, if I visited that when I was a kid I think I would have been terrified. But finally I did make it to Santa, got my picture taken with him but was unwilling to pay the 30 EUR for it. So it will just have to be a memory. A great story to tell my kids one day I guess. :P

(Proof that I was at the arctic circle!!)

(The hallway leading up to Santa Claus!)

The next 2 days that I spent in northern Finland I went to another couch surfer's house, but she lived about 50km out of the city. Rovaniemi itself didn't have much snow, but rather was really icy. However, as I left the city I entered a beautiful winter wonderland. Taina, my host for the next 2 days, is definitely one of the most amazing ladies I have ever met. She is a mother of 10 children. She also particpiates in a community program taking care of a few kids on the weekend who live in some sort of disfunctional family. On top of all that, she does couch surfing and she never says no to anyone. There are almost always couch surfers around, and her record is 11 couch surfers on one night (though I was the only surfer over the 2 days I was there). All of these people live in a small one floor, 4 bedroom house, with a kitchen that fits only 8 people. It was amazing to see the efficiency of her household. Dinner was made in mass quantities, and then it was served in rotation, usually the younger ones eating first. They didn't have a dishwasher, so next came the dishes, which happened surprisingly fast. The most amazing thing about Taina's house was the fact that is was not chaotic. Sure there was always chatter and activities happening, but it was such a loving and warm atmosphere.

The next thing to note about Rovaniemi is the sun. Since it lies on the arctic circle, during the month of December there is very minimal sunlight. Only about 4-5 hours in the middle of the day. However, the progression of the sun was quite amazing to watch. Since the sun barely pokes above the horizon each step lasts much longer than usual. There is the so called "blue moment" as the sunlight beings to spread lasting about half an hour. And then the sun rises, with beautiful orange colours lasting over an hour. There was probably about 1-2 hours of pure sunlight and then the sunset lasted an hour and the "blue" again for another half hour.

(The "blue moment" after the sun had set at the arctic circle)

I went for a couple walks in the forest around Taina's house during the daylight hours. I was so happy... I was surrounded by a true winter wonderland, right at the arctic circle!! As I was walking down the path, I saw a reindeer up ahead, though it quickly ran into the forest. As I approached the area, I looked to my left and I noticed it was in fact an entire field of reindeer! There must have been at least 20 of them! Must have been Santa's training grounds. :P

(Lost in a winter wonderland!!! =D)

I slept on the couch in the living room, and in the morning the young boys would wake up, go to the kitchen and play cards while waiting for me to wake up. I usually heard them right away, but enjoyed the warmth of my bed a little longer before getting up. It was funny though, because the second I got up, they would abandon the cards and run to the living room to watch TV. I guess they have been trained well.

The youngest boy must have been about 3 years old really enjoyed played with me. He would drag me off into his room to play Lego, or play with pillows in the living room. It took him a little while to figure out that I didn't understand Finnish, but once he figured it out he started signing to me instead. It was really cute. :D

So that was my Finnish adventure. It was different than most of my other trips because it wasn't about touring around a city and seeing the famous sites. It spent a lot of time with locals, really getting to know the culture and I learned a lot about the holiday traditions. It is by far my favourite adventure thus far, and I could honestly see myself living there one day. Or perhaps at least doing another work term there. It would be nice to go back during the summer to experience the 24 hours of daylight instead of darkness :P

(Btw, I only got a small glimpse of the Northern Lights on my last morning there. It was cloudy so I couldn't see much, but a small area of the clouds was lit up. Still counts I guess!)

Up next: I am heading over to the UK for Christmas! I will be visiting with some family that I have in Cambridge! I am there for 9 days, so I think I will spend about 5 days with family, a couple days in London and a couple days in Bath/Stonehenge area. :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all!
Frohe Weihnachten! (how the Swiss German say it)
Hyvää Joulua! (how the Finnish say it)

(Enjoying Glüggi in the cold of Rovaniemi)

Scotland Roadtrip

So at first I was hoping to update my blog on a weekly, or at least bi-weekly basis. It has now been more than a month. Whoops. Well, I am just going to skip right over October (even though it was full of adventures - Paris, Luxembourg and Berlin) and talk about the first week of November which I spent in SCOTLAND!!

So Monika and I found cheap deals which flew from Switzerland to London and then London to Glasgow. It cost us 90 CHF (about equal to CND$) for 4 plane tickets, so it was definitely worth while. On Tuesday we arrived in London in the afternoon and our flight to Glasgow didn't leave until the next morning. So we thought why not hit the town! We bought tickets to a Chicago theatrical production which was EXCELLENT. After the production though we were hoping to buy a CD or something so we were taking our time. Apparently too much time, as we were quickly hussled out of the building, the doors literally closing and locking right at our heals. I have never seen a theater empty so quickly! After the show, we wandered around the town until 3am. Although it was neat to see some of the main sights (London Bridge, London Tower, London Eye, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Picadilly Square) by the end of it Monika and I were so exhausted. It was an hour bus ride back to the airport, where we took a nice nap, and then found a comfy spot on the floor of the airport for some more napping.

How we saw London - in the dead of night.

We arrived at the Glasgow Prestwick airport only to find that the Prestwick airport was in fact about 75 miles south of the Glasgow airport. Whoops. Big whoops. The biggest issue was that the car I had rented was waiting for us at the Glasgow airport. Luckily, the rental company also had a booth in Prestwick and they were kind to us and sorted out my mistake. Won't let that one happen again!

So off we went... in our car... down the left side of the road! It surprisingly wasn't too difficult to get used to. Having the gear shift on my left side was probably the weirdest thing. And only once when I turned left did I go on the wrong side of the road. Luckily Monika was there to correct me quickly.

We drove for most of the first day... saw a lot of the Scottish Highlands, went past a few Lochs on windy roads and stopped at the Harry Potter bridge! Although not as fantastic as seen in the film, it was still neat to see. We finished in a small town of Mallaig, where we would be catching a ferry in the morning. We found a nice spot to park our car, where we could also sleep, and then went to find some food. Being a TINY little town in Scotland there wasn't much choice and we stuck out as tourists like a sore thumb. We found a spot, made a fool of ourselves, and ordered some delicious fish, made our way back to the car for a cold night sleep. Though the car we were given this time was definitely much more comfortable than the one we slept in in Sardinia.

Cozied up for the night in the car.

Come morning we went directly to the ferry in hopes of catching the first one across to Isle of Skye. As we were paying for our ticket the lady says, "Okay just line up. Make sure you park backwards as you will be backing onto the ferry." And I think in my mind, BACKING ONTO THE FERRY!?!?! I am terrible at backing up in a car, and I knew this was just a disaster waiting to happen. But we had no choice, so backed onto the ferry we did. I failed miserably. By the end of it the guy directing me started wheeling his hands in the direction I was supposed to be turning the steering wheel cause he could tell I had no idea what I was doing. :S

One the ferry heading to Isle of Skye

Finally we made it onto the island though and we headed up North to the tip of the island. The further up we got the smaller the road got, and eventually it became a one-lane two-way road that went through unfenced farmlands. Fun to drive on? Yeah actually it was. Plus, although Scotland is known for its rain, we were lucky and had a beautifully shining sun. We stopped a few times to look at the funny sheep and cows and the beautiful ocean views. We were doing a hike and our instructions of the starting point said "turn at the phone box near Kilmaluag." Now considering we were in the middle of nowhere on a one-lane road with animals blocking our path we weren't exactly sure what type of phone box we were looking for. And then we turned the corner, and standing there in the middle of nowhere was a classic UK Red Phone Booth. Amused us greatly. =)

A classic red phone booth, in the middle of nowhere on Isle of Skye.

We didn't read the hike beforehand, rather we just looked at the pictures and decided it would be pretty. The first instruction "Start the walk by crossing the cattle grid and then turning immediately left on a boggy path." Now "boggy" in Scottish terms means really really boggy. And all we had were running shoes. At the beginning we tried leaping around the mud and puddles, but by the end of it we had given up and accepted the fact we were going to get filthy. The hike was beautiful though - along the rolling hills to the top of the vertical plunging cliffs of the coastline. We then climbed down those cliffs to the water, and walked along it spotting a few otters (we looked for whales and dolphins as well, but no luck there). Finally making it back to the car, our shoes were full of mud, animal poop and water. Not only were they not wearable but they smelt, they smelt bad. Luckily I had brought flip flops, so I could take off my shoes and still drive.

Beautiful cliffs by the ocean side :)

The result of walking unprepared on a "boggy" path...

We then headed up to Inverness, enjoying more beautiful views of the highland along the way. We arrived when it was dark and went to our couchsurfing house. Oh, I guess I haven't talked about couch surfing yet as the first weekend I did it was in Paris. Couchsurfing is a online community of people who offer up their couch to travelers, and then when they travel the favour is returned to them by them also crashing on people's couches. Monika and I have been couchsurfing for quite a few weeks now. Although initially we looked into it due to the cost savings, it has actually been quite an interesting experience. It amazing to see how trusting people are to complete strangers, allowing them to sleep in their house, and even give a key to the guests sometimes. Anyway, so we had arranged to couchsurf with someone in Inverness (Northern Scotland). Unfortunately we didn't get to spend much time with him, but we had some interesting conversations and enjoyed spending some time with his kid.

The next morning we headed back down South from Inverness, along Loch NESS!! It was an absolutely gorgeous road following Loch Ness with beautiful fall colours (again only one lane), and we kept our eye open to attempt to spot Nessie!! We stopped in Foyers and went for a hike down to the lake to explore around. I had planned on maybe going swimming but it was much too cold, so I instead just dipped my feet in. Oh, and Monika and I gave Nessie some nutrition for the winter months by relieving ourselves on the mountain side by the lake. ;) That's what happens when you don't pay for accommodation... when you gotta go you gotta go. I must say we have become quite adept at peeing anywhere. :P

Dipping my feet in Loch Ness.

We got on the road again, and although we hadn't had any bad experiences yet, we were in for a wake up call. We were driving on a 2-way highway again, with no divider in the middle. I was on the correct side of the road, driving the speed limit at 60 miles/hr. And then I come around a bend and there, directly in front of me, on MY side of the road is another car. It had also been raining, so the road was slippery and this could have gone VERY badly. Luckily, as I saw this car and I saw that they weren't going to get out of my way I swerved, missed the car and got back into my lane. My nerves just about shot at this point, both Monika and I are trying to catch our breath knowing that we were lucky in so many ways for having avoided an accident.

Finally making it to our last destination: Edinburgh. Which for all you folk who have no idea how to pronounce that city (I didn't know either) it is pronounced "Edinbro." I had looked into parking spots ahead of time (yay for Google Street View!) and found a nice spot at the North of the city so we didn't have to do much city driving (other cars on the wrong side of the road terrify me). I also made sure there was a night bus which accessed this spot because we were going on a PUB CRAWL!! We had been on a pub crawl by the same company in Berlin and had a blast so we thought we would try it out again. The guide leading the crawl was a Canadian... from Edmonton in fact! So we had fun chatting about Canada, and overall it was a fairly tame but fun night.

Jaegerbomb train - like dominoes the shots were knocked into the glasses!

After another comfortable night in the car, we went to the city of Edinburgh for a free walking tour. It was an excellent 4.5 hours history lesson of the city. Not only did we learn about history from thousands of years ago and the rock of destiny, but we also learned about the spot where JK Rowling wrote the first 2 Harry Potter books and the buildings of the town which gave her motivation for Hogwarts.

Finishing up our adventure we headed back to Prestwick (not Glasgow...haha) for another night sleep in the airport. This was the first time we got lost, trying to get out of Edinburgh. I had printed off maps of the area, but it wasn't much help because in Scotland they don't label ANYTHING!! So we headed in the generally right direction, and eventually made it somewhere. I think we probably did a good extra 40 miles of driving, but it was funny and we eventually made it!

We had completely run out of pounds at this point, and all we had left for food was cashews and bread. So we had delicious (not) cashew sandwiches for dinner, and then set ourselves up for a good night sleep. Overall, Scotland roadtrip was a success. :):)

Our bed for the night in the airport.

What's coming up next?
This weekend I will be going caving in Switzerland with the IAESTE program.
Next weekend I am going down to see Pisa and Venice.
The following weekend I will be going up to Kiel (Northern Germany) to visit my friend Holly who is working there.
AND THEN I AM GOING ON A TWO WEEK PAID TRIP TO FINLAND!! My company is mainly based in Finland and we have our team meeting coming up, so my boss is sending me a week early to attend a Manufacturing Technology Training course. And then I extended my trip by 4 days in order to have some time in Finland for actual traveling. I haven't quite figured out what I am doing yet, but be sure to watch for updates!

I am missing all of you and I promise I will try to update my blog more often! Perhaps if I get a chance before Italy I will share some adventures from Paris, Luxembourg and Berlin. :)

So I haven’t written a blog post in a while, and I thought I should catch you up on the adventures I have had over the past 4 weeks. This will include; Wildstrubel Hike, Lac des Dix hike, Oktoberfest and progress at work.

Wildstrubel Hike
Three weeks ago I went on a hike with 8 fellow Canadians. It was a 3 day hike which we completed in 2 days, so to say the least it was difficult. We started at an elevation of 1100m, and climbed in one day up to 2800m. That’s almost 2km, purely in elevation gain! Oh boy my legs could feel the pain. The weather was really nice to us, it wasn’t perfectly sunny but the clouds coming and going made it more interesting. We would have a beautiful clear view of the Alps towering above us, and then minutes later, the clouds would roll in and we could barely see the people in front of us, it was crazy!

The most rewarding part of this hike though was definitely the sunset which we witnessed from the hut we were sleeping at. As evening approached, the clouds settled below us so that we were able to look out onto the horizon, see a few mountain peaks poking out of the clouds and watch the sunset. It was just incredible to think that people below us were already covered in darkness and we were here, above the clouds, watching such an incredible sight. An unforgettable moment.

(Incredible picture, incredible moment)

Lac des Dix Hike
I tried to get as much hiking in as possible before the season ended, so barely giving my legs enough time to recover I went on another mountain hut hike the following weekend. This time I went on the hike with 3 other boys, which means the conversation often turned to bodily functions and every time we paused for a rest, their inner child would come out and they would play with the rocks, whether building the tallest tower or throwing the furthest. Boys are always boys.

This hike included many amazing parts including: starting off at the world’s 2nd tallest dam (283m, holding 375 million m^3 of water), hiking up 1km in elevation, sleeping at 2900m, seeing the Milky Way from atop the Alps, crossing a glacier, and climbing a 60m ladder over a dangerous pass. Overall it was quite a spectacular hike and we were lucky to have good weather all throughout.

(Me with the Cabane des Dix and le Glacier Cheilon in the background)

(The ladder which brought us over the Pas des Chevres)

Oktoberfest, Munich
Before going to Oktoberfest I didn’t have too many expectations, but I guess the thing that surprised me most was how similar to the Calgary Stampede it was. Replace the cowboy boots and hats with lederhosen, the mini donuts with pretzels and the corn dogs with bratwurst. But besides the beer and drinking aspect, it was basically a fair ground, with rides, games and junk food.

One thing I learned from this event – I can’t party for 12 hours straight. We arrived in the beer tents at 8:30am, got our first beer at 9am, and by about 2 in the afternoon we were all ready to pass out. I am just not cut out for continual alcohol consumption. So, after leaving the tents we enjoyed walking around the grounds, watching people pass out everywhere. Even a few emergency stretchers rolled by with people that obviously didn’t know their own limits.

Besides the Oktoberfest shenanigans, we did take some time to see the city of Munich. There are some quite architecturally spectacular buildings in the city, as well as some beautiful parks and so many statues! A lot of lion statues interestingly enough…I don’t know what Munich’s fascination with lions is but there must be some significance there.

So overall: Munich was a success.

(The gang of us doing some touring of Munich on a 7 person bike)

(I got so sick of Pretzels after this weekend...)

(Enjoying beer early in the morning of Oktoberfest)

Work Update
I have now been at work for 3 months, and I can tell that I have begun to be given more responsibility. Since I am a Cost Engineer, my boss and I work on all the projects within the company to help the designers with cost estimations along the way. There are many ongoing projects in Wärtsilä, and I mostly help my boss out with only a few. However last week, he basically told me that I would be the cost engineer representative on one of the projects. Obviously everything that I am assigned I still pass by him, but at the meetings I am the representative for our team. It’s a little nerve wracking because it means that I have a role beyond just sitting on the sidelines listening. It’s a great learning experience, and although terrifying it is good to be trusted with more responsibilities.

Having attended a few important meetings now, I also have begun to notice the male-dominance of my field. A few weeks ago we had a day-long meeting, and out of the 33 people there I was the only female. So when someone was introduced or began speaking they would say “Good day Lady and Gentlemen” looking specifically at me each time. It was very embarrassing. But overall, work is becoming easier, I am adjusting to being in the real world and feeling more comfortable about it.

What’s up Next
I have an exciting three weeks ahead of me. This coming weekend (tomorrow) I will be in PARIS!!! I am sooo incredibly excited! I think Paris was one of the places I was most looking forward to visiting so it is going to be incredible!! And then next weekend I am going to be biking across Luxembourg: from France, through Belgium, stopover in Luxembourg and finishing in Germany. And then 2 weeks from now I am going to enjoy the delights of Berlin!! And then after that I take a 2 week breather before going to Scotland for a week!! Hopefully my wallet can handle all of this traveling…

MISS YOU ALL!!

Sardinia - Sun, Sea and Sand

(sorry for the annoying formatting, but I am sick of trying to fix it)

Last weekend I went on what I would call my first real “vacation,” to Sardinia, Italy. For those of you that don’t know, Sardinia is an island to the East of the mainland of Italy. Not the football that the boot is kicking, but another island just a bit North-East of the football. I went to Sardinia with my good friend, Monika and we were excited to have a weekend just the two of us, relaxing on the beach.

We arrived without much of a plan, other than a rented vehicle and a road map in hand. We figured that was the best way to enjoy Sardinia, just wing it. Our plane flew into the town of Cagliari, but once we got our car we immediately drove out of the city in the search of beaches. I was very nervous about driving in Italy, especially when the first thing we encountered coming out of the airport was a round-a-bout. But I quickly got used to these round-a-bouts, and even began to prefer them, getting annoyed when we had to stop at the rare stop light. Eventually, we parked our nice little Smart car (yes, we rented a Smart car!!) near Porto Campana and walked down to the beach.

In front of us was endless gorgeous blue Mediterranean Sea, and under our feet was beautiful fine white sand. It was paradise. Monika and I both wanted to get a little bit of colour while down South, so we set up our towels on the beach and laid down. I think we lasted about 20 minutes before getting bored and wanting to go play in the sea. So we went for a swim, and a climb along the rocks before trying to lay and tan again. We may have lasted about 30 minutes this time, before needing to go for a walk along the beach. Although we failed at tanning, it was still a great afternoon enjoying the sea, the sun and the sand.

(Enjoying beautiful Sardinia!!)

Being in Italy, we of course wanted to enjoy some pizza fro dinner, so we drove to Teulada and stopped at a very nice pizzeria. Oh my goodness, so incredibly delicious!! I would eat pizza every single night if I lived in Italy! With full stomachs we needed to find a place to sleep. Since we were renting a car, we decided to save a little money and use our car as accommodation! But that meant pulling off and finding a quiet spot to stop, which proved to be harder than expected.

(Enjoying some true Italian pizza...delicious!!)

We found a nice little side road in the town of Iglésius, but as we were getting settled, a “Polizia” drove by, slowed down, and looked in at what we were doing. We thought it might not be a good idea to stay there in case he came back later in the night, so we continued along the road towards our destination (a cave we planned on visiting the next day). After having been sketched out by the cop, neither of us were very tired so we just kept on driving. It ended up being a VERY curvy road (even for Italian standards) in the mountainous desert of central Sardinia. It was not the most fun drive to do in the darkness of night, but at least we were the only ones on the road so I could drive as slow as I wanted. Finally, we reached the town of Fluminimaggiore, pulled over at our first opportunity and slept.

We got up early in the morning, and walked around the town a little. People gave us quite a few odd looks, most likely since it was obvious we were tourists yet it was unusual that we were already out and about before 7am. We arrived at the cave early, and since we hadn’t got the best night sleep we took a nap in our car, which was quite refreshing. Monika and I had decided to go to a cave cause we thought it might be a neat thing to see, but it was SO much more spectacular than I had imagined it would be!! The tour was done in Italian unfortunately, but Monika and I were floored by what we saw. I can’t even describe with words how magnificent it was, but hopefully a photos will help.

(Grotto di su Mannau, it's epicness not well depicted by this photo)

After the cave we headed back down to the south to a smaller island that was off the island of Sardinia, called Isola di Sant Antico. We drove around the mini island a whole bunch, getting lost quite a few times, but also stumbling on a couple nice beaches and a couple spectacular view spots. With another beautiful day in the sun accomplished, we again headed out for pizza. Who knew it could get even more delicious. In the town of Sant’ Antico, we found a pizzeria which used a traditional pizza stove. They didn’t speak Italian at this place, and the only pizza name we understood was “Funghi” (mushroom), so we ordered a half pizza with Funghi. Oh my goodness, fresh from the oven and so incredibly delicious. After pizza we decided we need to experience the other Italian specialty – Gelato. And just like their pizza, it’s melt in your mouth deliciousness exceeded our expectations.

(Enjoying some Gelato under a palm tree)

The second night we were more experienced with finding a good pull off spot, so we settled in much earlier. Before going to bed, we decided to walk around the town of Barbusi that we had parked in. One thing we noticed about the Italians is how lively they are late into the evening. We are used to the North American culture where the evening is often the time to relax inside, watch the nightly news with an evening tea. However, in Italy, the evening is when the temperature is most reasonable, so that is when people socialize. There is this really neat part of their culture where they sit out in front of their house in the evening and just chat with each other or any other passer bys. It was quite unique to see.

After a much more relaxing sleep the second night, we headed back to Cagliari to return our car and enjoy our last day in Sardinia. There is a lot of history in Cagliari so we wandered around the town for the morning, saw the amphitheatre, the old town, a beautiful cathedral and the University. We then decided to make one last effort to tan on the beach, so we walked an hour out of town to the first beach we found and we laid down for a rest. I don’t understand how people can spend an entire day tanning on the beach. I think Monika and I had a record that day and we managed to last 2 hours before needing to do something more productive. Though, over the 3 days we successfully turned from white to a slightly browned white (and pink in a couple of areas).

Our flight out of Cagliari left early the next morning, so again saving on accommodation costs, our plan was to sleep in the airport. We took a bus from the main centre to the airport, scouted out a good spot and settled in for the evening. Airport chairs are not the most comfortable, but we enjoyed a relatively good night sleep.

One very big disadvantage of not paying for accommodation is the lack of access to showers and bathrooms. In terms of bathrooms, for a female it’s not as easy to just pull over to the side of the road, but Monika and I got pretty good at the squatting technique. And when we ate out at restaurants we always made sure to use their bathroom a couple times before leaving. But having no showers – well, it wasn’t too terrible, I just feel bad for the people sitting around us on the plane home. Boy did we smell. Sure we spent a lot of time in the sea, but the sandy salt water of the Mediterranean does nothing to clean you off.

Overall, it was a very successful weekend. I learned a lot about the Italian culture, enjoyed the Mediterranean sea, became comfortable driving in Europe and successfully came home with a sunburn. Monika and I also perfected the art of sleeping in a car, which will probably come in handy for future trips. Hopefully you enjoyed that story, and look forward to my next one! I have 2 weekends of hiking coming up, and then I’m off to Munich to enjoy some beer at Oktoberfest!!!

Canyoning, Italy, and walking across a country

So I did really well in the first few months of regularly updating my blog, but I've been falling behind a little bit. Thus this is going to be a double update, covering the last two weekends.

Last weekend I took my first trip down to the Italian part of Switzerland (canton of Ticino)! That's one thing which is great about Switzerland. It is so tiny (could probably fit into Alberta about 8 times), yet it is still so diverse all across it.

On the first day, we rented bikes in Lugano and went for a BEAUTIFUL bike ride around the Lake Lugano. We went for a nice swim, and then continued along. We had some extra time so we decided to take a bike ride across the Italian border! My first time to ITALY! So of course, we had to stop to get some Gelato... so much better than the stuff I had once in Calgary!! Overall, we biked just about 60 km that day, so we were all exhausted. But we couldn't be in Italian Switzerland without having some pizza so we enjoyed a declicious dinner before heading back to our hostel and crashing for the evening.

(View from along our bike ride. :) Just makes me smile)

(My first Italian Gelato!)

(They even have palm trees in Southern Switzerland!)

We had to wake up bright and early Sunday morning to head over to where we would be canyoning. For those who don't know what canyoning is, just keep on reading. There were 6 of us in the group, but the canyoning group was 15. Of course the other 9 people were all German speakers, but it ended up being nice because they split us into 2 groups and thus we ended up with a nice small group, just the 6 of us. :)

So, after getting fitted into wet suits, and we slung our gear over our back to hike up the mountain before we could begin canyoning. It was a really hot day so we worked up a nice sweat by the time we got to the top. Of course, then we had to get our wet suits on which proved to be all that much more difficult with a sweaty body. But after the struggle, we jumped right into a beautiful pool of cold, fresh moutain water!

(Happy in a pool of water!)

And then the canyoning began!! It's exactly as it sounds - going through a canyon. Repelling, jumping, sliding and climbing. SO much fun! Though my fear of heights was a little more prominant than I hoped it would be. Especially when the 10m jump came. I volunteered to go first so I could take pictures of people after me jumping. But after jupming, my hands were shaking too much to be able to hold the camera steady and take pictures. This jump was followed by a well formed slide down into the final pool. And then we were greeted by an even greater surprise at the bottom, a group of old, naked men tanning on the rocks. How lovely.

(Me jumping through a waterfall!)

(So much fun!!)

(A sweet slide we went down in the canyon!)

(At the bottom of our adventure! We just came down that!)

To sum it up, Italian Switzerland proved to be a great and adventurous weekend!!

And then back to work for a week, and ready for more adventures the next weekend! This time, I would be walking across an entire country!! Liechtenstein, a small little country (about the size of Calgary, probably a bit smaller actually), to the East of Switzerland.

(Entering Liechtenstein!!)

A lot of people walk across the country, the 8 km across it. But we decided to be more intense and walk top to bottom, from Feldkirch, Austria to Sargans, Switzerland. 30 km, in one day... doesn't sound too bad, does it? Apparently 30 km was a lot more than we had expected. About 15 km in, our bodies were ACHING from top to bottom. I have done long hikes before, but the thing with hiking is you are going up and down all the time. Whereas with walking, you just walk and walk and walk. Always the same muscles, and they start to hurt, A LOT.

(Walking along the path, Liechtenstein on the left of the river, Switzerland on the right)

Beyond the pain, Liechtenstein was quite a nice country. Basically exactly the same as Switzerland though I must say. They even use the Swiss franc!! The main reason we really did this walk was just for the novelty of being able to say we walked across a country. It was a beautiful sunny day to walk across the coutry, with the alps towering all around us. Though the sun also caused much pain (and still is painful) due to the forgotten sunscreen.

(Two places at once! At the end of our journey....finally, back in Switzerland)

So that is my life over the past couple weeks. And this weekend I have another exciting trip coming up, down to Sardinia (Island off of Southern Italy). Work is getting more difficult, with my boss expecting a little bit more from me, but me feeling just as clueless as ever.

Missing you all in Canada!!

All play no work?

So I guess it would seem with my last few posts that I am only in Europe for play and no work. But I do in fact have a job here. How else would I afford my crazy weekends gallivanting around Europe? And now that I’ve been at my job for about a month I guess I know a little bit about what I am doing so I thought I would share.

In fancy words, I work in the Design to Cost and Commonality team in the Research and Development Division of 2-stroke engines for Wartisila. Simply put that means that I work to make 2-stroke engines more cost effective.

One of my big projects that I was given for the month of July was to benchmark key data for the different bore sizes that Wartsila offers in 2-stroke. Thus, I looked at all the different engines we manufacture and I took the important components (bedplate, column, cylinder jacket and liner, crankshaft, etc.) and I looked at their key design features. So things like weight, length, height, etc. And then, upon graphing the relationships between these it would be easy to see if one of the data points falls above the curve. So for example, if the bedplate of the 500mm bore engine appeared to be relatively heavier than the other engines, a cost reduction might be possible here. By analyzing these relationships, people will be able to use the data I have gathered to determine how to more cost effectively manufacture and design engines.

The team I am on (the Design to Cost and Commonality team) in Wartsila consists of me and my boss. The rest of the team is situated around Europe and the world, mostly in Vassa (Finland) and Trieste (Italy). The team meets about twice a year, and I have been told that I may get the opportunity to attend one of these meetings in Finland around December. This will definitely be an exciting trip (especially since everything is paid for by the company). I am also looking forward to being able to get a tour of one of the engines. These engines, made mostly for large ships and vessels, thus they are HUMONGOUS. I deal with a lot of facts and figures, so I know that they are about 27 000 mm long, and 13 000 mm tall. But I think to actually see that in real life will make it all that much more apparent that this engine is almost 3 stories tall!!!

Beyond the life at work, living in Europe is coming along well. Life here is basically the same as Canada. Everywhere I go people speak English. And everyone is so friendly, so if I’m having trouble communicating, the next person in line will help me out. People always talks about how Canadians are so generous and kind, but I think I have experienced just as much kindness here. Switzerland is such a jumble of cultures and nationalities that everyone is accepted and the people here are used to it. I have met many permanent residents of Switzerland who have not even bothered to try learning German (or French or Italian) because it is so easy to get by with English. Switzerland really does seem to be that country that is just stuck in the middle of everything else and it absorbs its culture from the surrounding nations. Just look at the fact that there are the German, French and Italian parts of Switzerland, depending which country you are most closely bordering. But it makes it a really neat experience to travel across the country and be greeted by such different surroundings.

And, now that I have started to get a paycheck put into my Swiss bank account, I have begun planning some trips around Europe!! Before Christmas I plan to hit Paris, Berlin, Rome, Venice, Pisa, Munich, Luxembourg as well as many more places around Switzerland. I am also heading to Sardinia (Italy) at the end of this month to enjoy the warm sun at the beaches.

I included some pictures from my adventures over the last couple weeks...

Me getting close with Darth Vader at a museum in Winterthur.

Jennings came to visit me!!! And of course I took him for a visit to see the Alps (near Luzern).

Some Alphorn players on the mountain top.

Reaching for the sky!! A sunflower field I found on one of my biking adventures.

Horse Polo!! Also stumbled upon this on one of my bike rides...

The amazing bike signs that they have all over Switzerland!!

My visit to the Rhine Falls on Swiss National Day. I took a boat to that rock in the middle.

One of the boats that goes right up to the falls. Those drivers are very impressive.

Some free beach volleyball action in Winterthur! Definitely nice to watch on a sunny day. ;)

Watching the sunset over Zurich on Swiss National Day.

Getting ready for fireworks by the lake!!

A spirited building in Winterthur.