Natalie From America

Sweden ya'll! It was a doozy, and yet another place to check off the Scandinavian list. This part of Europe, to me, is one of the most unique. Scandinavian style is right up my alley. And if you're not sure what 'Scandinavian style' is, don't worry I've included so  many pictures for this post. Let me just start by saying, I fricken loved  Sweden. Stockholm is a big, diverse, beautiful city. When compared to Finland, I got a completely different vibe than say, Helsinki. There are so many more ethnicities, languages, and options for things to do and places to eat, etc. Coming from a very spoiled place, Chicago, I appreciated this.  While I do still appreciate Helsinki as a city, Stockholm might take the lead. Swedes seemed warmer, they actually embraced their friends, and by this I mean they actually hugged or kissed to greet or bid farewell to one another. In Finland, I almost never see people kissing, hugging, let alone holding hands to show any ty...

So I've shared this info with my close friends and family, but didn't want to share with the world until it was official - I am employed! I'm very excited to share that I secured a full-time preschool teaching position at an international school in Tampere, Finland. There was definitely an aspect of 'being in the right place, at the right time', as a teacher unexpectedly resigned during my first week of substitute teaching at the school. I'm not sure what the universe is trying to tell me, but I am so lucky and grateful to have some amazing people in my corner who helped me get here. An article published in The Atlantic gave me an intriguing perspective on what we are doing in America in comparison to the rest of the world. This system definitely informed my teaching style while in Chicago the last couple of years. (Read it  here .) But the biggest coincidence, about being here, is that in undergrad my professors preached the gospel of the Finnish education s...

Copenhagen Top Five I finally traveled to the number one spot on my travel list this weekend: Copenhagen, Denmark. It lived up to every expectation. There was so much we planned to see, and I wish we could have stayed longer, but we made do and had  such  an incredible trip. As we only had a solid 48 hours in Copenhagen, here are the top five things we did/saw/ate while there. #1: Tivoli Gardens As one of the oldest amusement parks in the world, Tivoli Gardens was one of my favorite attractions we went to. Walt Disney himself would visit Tivoli to find inspiration for the Disney Parks, and I could see why he was so drawn to this place. First of all, it was stunning. We went at night so it was lit up, which I felt was the only way to see it. It included everything from gardens and ponds, to rollercoasters, to fine dining. I could have walked around this park for hours had we given ourselves the time to do so. And of course, we couldn't have gone to the park with...

I've realized that I have been seriously motivated by this blog to do things. I find myself often saying, "Gotta do this for the blog," or " I need this picture for the blog," and the best one "Gotta eat this, or drink that...for the blog." Honestly, it's been a very fulfilling last few days. I owe part of that to wanting to build content for this blog. It's really been forcing me to get myself out there and experience things in the world so that I can share about it. Earlier this week, we took a trip to Southern Finland to and visited a city called Turku. It's about 170 kilometers (~106 miles, for my American friends) from Helsinki and about 312 kilometers (~193 miles) from Stockholm. Due to it's close proximity to dense urban areas, and the University of Turku being the second largest university, there were an immense  amount of English speakers. At no point did I feel out of place, or abnormal for having an English conversation. In...

I write to you all having survived the unseasonable, Finland heatwave. And I know I speak to you as a very privileged, American girl, but even the Finns have reassured me that this heat was  crazy bizarre. It's really reminded me, thought, of the privileges I do have: air conditioning. This luxury does not exist in peoples' homes here. But luckily, and with gratitude, there is a book store down the street (that has only Finnish books) which I would pretend to read so that I could dry my sweat and ease my mind. At said bookstore, we recently purchased games so that I could bond with my roomie(s) just a little bit more. Ticket to Ride is a classic, I highly recommend (thank you, Ashley!). However, I didn't think about the implications of bringing it home, but also reading the directions. But, at least now I can bring a board game home with directions in Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish. It's cool, you can look up directions on the internet! We also got Uno, a...

I've gotten a lot of questions about a few things surrounding Finland culture. Some of those questions include curiosities about whether or not I'll teach out here (I'm working on it!), general questions about the people, food, going out life, etc. So I'm gonna break down some of those questions and hopefully help you get to know a little bit more about life here, from a 24 year old, white, American, girl's (woman's*) perspective. 1. Have you tried any Finnish food? I am convinced , there is no 👏 such 👏 thing 👏 as "Finnish food". You want some pizza? Got that. You want some sushi? For sure. Do you want literally any food from any culture ever ? Then walk down any street and you'll find it. I don't think that there is even such a thing as a 'Finnish restaurant', they genuinely do not exist. But you can definitely get some Finnish dishes; ie. seafood, potato pastries (have tried these), and reindeer (yet to try). *I googled Finn...

Before I dive into this post, I wanted to take a minute to thank those of you who have either reached out to me wishing me well on my move here or taken a minute to open my blog and read it. It has meant a lot to me to feel supported 4,000 miles away. When I started this blog, I started it with the intention of keeping family and friends in the loop with regular updates and include some nice pictures. What I've come to find, is a world of interconnectedness, of people interested in travel, of genuine people who want the best for me and have lended me a helping hand. It has given me so much  reassurance that I have made a great decision coming to Finland, and  I'm truly so grateful. This week I spent time with my mom who visited a country other than Greece, in Europe, for the first time! We explored Helsinki, Tampere, and Valkeakoski together and I was able to navigate surprisingly well.  We walked the piers, caught a boat ride, and enjoyed fresh se...