After a long hiatus the Lavaja Diaries is back! I joked with Rusty that all of my followers have been anxiously waiting! Haha But with so much that is new in our lives, I figured it was about time.
Rusty and I have officially began our new adventure in Finland! I can barely believe I'm saying that. I remember last season when an opportunity for Rusty to play on a team in Finland came up, I told him- "I couldn't handle Finland! It would be too freezing and dark and depressing!" BUT we have been here for about a week and I am LOVING it! Now, in December and January it might not be the same story, but until then, you can find me outside soakin' up all the sun I can!
Layover in Stockholm, Sweden...
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When we landed in Oulu I felt like we had just entered an enormous Ikea. Everything from the benches, to the houses, to the wording on signs, reminded me of Ikea- but not in a boring, you're trying too hard, type of way; in a crisp, clean, modern, type of way. The architecture is a night and day difference from Greece- in fact everything has been a night and day difference from Greece.
Don't get me wrong, I loved Greece. I miss the warm weather and all of the good friends we made there. At the time, I didn't realize how lucky we were that people in Greece immediately accepted us and made us feel right at home. It was like, the same day we would meet people, they would invite us to go out. I saw a quote the other day on instagram that said, "Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow" and it hit home because it made me realize how much I value the time we had in Greece and the friendships made. The memories we have will always be with me. I plan to go back someday to visit our friends and of course to visit the beautiful islands! But even though I miss Greece, I am so excited that we get to experience something entirely different!!
Our apartment here could not be in a better location. See for yourself...
But seriously, it is a five minute walk to the center of the city, a five minute walk to the gym, and a one minute walk to the sea. Oh and we have a pancake house two minutes away from us, which I am pretty excited about!
The people here have been awesome! They have told us multiple times to let them know if we need anything for the apartment or anything at all, they are helping me find a job, and they respond to us immediately. When it came to the volleyball organization in Greece, people weren't as efficient and the economy was bad, so often, when we asked for something, they either didn't really care to get it for us, or it took weeks to get. Everything is just so much better organized here. Before the season started Rusty received a daily schedule through January! That might not sound that awesome, but in Greece, sometimes, they didn't know the schedule for the following week.
We have pretty much spent all of our extra time, walking around the city. We are still not completely settled into our apartment, but we are getting there! As soon as we are, I will post pictures of the inside. We actually may be moving into a two bedroom instead of our one bedroom in January, so if you're wanting to come check out Finland just let me know! It is home to Santa Claus and has an actual Santa Claus village. And you can see the northern lights! I'm trying to recruit as many visitors as possible to help keep me sane during the winter...just kidding...but seriously.
Walking home from a game...that's important enough to document, right? ;)
Rusty played in a pre-season tournament this past weekend and they won all of their games! Woohoo! They actually killed the three teams they played- most of the sets ended about 25-17. The season starts on Sunday and they play one of the teams they played during the tournament, so hopefully it will be another win!
Rusty got Monday off, so we spent our day checking out the town...(bundled up)!
P.S.- Random side note, I haven't posted since April, so I have a ton to catch up on! I would do just one summer recap, but I feel like each thing is worthy of its own post (I haven't even posted about visiting Santorini or Italy when Kirsten came to visit!) So, in between talking about Finland, you'll be seeing random events from throughout summer.
Rusty and I have officially began our new adventure in Finland! I can barely believe I'm saying that. I remember last season when an opportunity for Rusty to play on a team in Finland came up, I told him- "I couldn't handle Finland! It would be too freezing and dark and depressing!" BUT we have been here for about a week and I am LOVING it! Now, in December and January it might not be the same story, but until then, you can find me outside soakin' up all the sun I can!
Layover in Stockholm, Sweden...
Don't get me wrong, I loved Greece. I miss the warm weather and all of the good friends we made there. At the time, I didn't realize how lucky we were that people in Greece immediately accepted us and made us feel right at home. It was like, the same day we would meet people, they would invite us to go out. I saw a quote the other day on instagram that said, "Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow" and it hit home because it made me realize how much I value the time we had in Greece and the friendships made. The memories we have will always be with me. I plan to go back someday to visit our friends and of course to visit the beautiful islands! But even though I miss Greece, I am so excited that we get to experience something entirely different!!
Our apartment here could not be in a better location. See for yourself...
 |
| View from our balcony! |
But seriously, it is a five minute walk to the center of the city, a five minute walk to the gym, and a one minute walk to the sea. Oh and we have a pancake house two minutes away from us, which I am pretty excited about!
The people here have been awesome! They have told us multiple times to let them know if we need anything for the apartment or anything at all, they are helping me find a job, and they respond to us immediately. When it came to the volleyball organization in Greece, people weren't as efficient and the economy was bad, so often, when we asked for something, they either didn't really care to get it for us, or it took weeks to get. Everything is just so much better organized here. Before the season started Rusty received a daily schedule through January! That might not sound that awesome, but in Greece, sometimes, they didn't know the schedule for the following week.
We have pretty much spent all of our extra time, walking around the city. We are still not completely settled into our apartment, but we are getting there! As soon as we are, I will post pictures of the inside. We actually may be moving into a two bedroom instead of our one bedroom in January, so if you're wanting to come check out Finland just let me know! It is home to Santa Claus and has an actual Santa Claus village. And you can see the northern lights! I'm trying to recruit as many visitors as possible to help keep me sane during the winter...just kidding...but seriously.
Walking home from a game...that's important enough to document, right? ;)
Rusty played in a pre-season tournament this past weekend and they won all of their games! Woohoo! They actually killed the three teams they played- most of the sets ended about 25-17. The season starts on Sunday and they play one of the teams they played during the tournament, so hopefully it will be another win!
Rusty got Monday off, so we spent our day checking out the town...(bundled up)!
P.S.- Random side note, I haven't posted since April, so I have a ton to catch up on! I would do just one summer recap, but I feel like each thing is worthy of its own post (I haven't even posted about visiting Santorini or Italy when Kirsten came to visit!) So, in between talking about Finland, you'll be seeing random events from throughout summer.
