Wait... This is not a holiday!

No, it's not. But it sure feels like that! I've had three days off from work to act like a tourist together with my dearest boyfriend. We had soooo much fun! A day by day report:

On monday I turned 20. Wooohooooo, finally :D At first I wanted to keep it from my colleagues, but as soon as I had told one of colleagues, the others knew it as well... But you know, they were all really nice. Merlin (one of my colleagues) even baked me a chocolate, heart-shaped cake! I also got a birthday card and a box of chocolates from all of my colleagues :)

Now, a special message to all of my family members.
Lieve, lieve familie. Wat super dat ik van iedereen een verjaardagskaart heb mogen ontvangen! Het heeft me echt enorm goed gedaan om over zo'n verre afstand zo veel liefde te mogen ontvangen! De ene kaart kwam wat eerder dan de andere, maar ze hangen nu allemaal op in mijn kamer! Ik zal snel een foto via email verzenden. Heel veel liefs van mij xxx

In short, I got birthday cards from all of my family members. I started reading them at the reception, which I shouldn't have done... I couldn't keep my tears in, which meant I had to run to the toilets to quickly freshen up... I would've loved to be able to hug everyone!

Luckily, the shift that day went quite fast! You know why? At 17:15 Tijs would be arriving at the airport!! I leapt upon him, made sure we didn't fall to the ground and we were off back 'home' to the hotel. We had a lovey dinner at restaurant Coma, an Italian restaurant. The owner was really friendly, dinner was amazing and I got flowers for my birthday (from the owner, Tijs gave me another present). All in all a great birthday!

On tuesday we went into the city centre. We walked quite a bit that day. We went to the shops, the Senate Square and the harbour. During the afternoon it started raining and we took a tram back to the hotel. In the evening we went on a typical date: pizza and a movie. Yes, we went to see 50 Shades of Grey. And you know what? It was seriously hilarious! It isn't supposed to be a comedy, but I laughed really hard. On wednesday the tourist tour continued: we went to the Olympic Stadium and up the Olympic Tower (from which you can overlook entire Helsinki). The weather was beautiful, both wednesday and thursday. Sun was shining and no clouds in the sky. It was almost warm! We also went to Sealife to see some remarkable fish and a giant octopus... Brrrr! In the evening we had dinner at the Hard Rock Café. We'd both never been at a Hard Rock Café before, but it was quite impressive! We shared a starter and that was it. After that we were already full. Of course not too full for desert, for the people on Facebook... (for the people who are not on Facebook: a giant ice cream/brownie desert)

That was already our last night together for this week. On thursday we went into the city centre again to have lunch and look around a bit. After that it was time to say goodbye again... I was actually wondering for a moment if it would just be better to be across the globe and not have any visits during my internship... I wouldn't have to say goodbye multiple times that way! I again cried my eyes out today... But after that we came to the conclusion that I would rather say goodbye 10 more times than not seeing him at all for five months...

I would almost forget that I am here to work. Tomorrow the 'normal' life starts again. And it starts early: I have a 6 o'clock shift. I'll be looking forward to the next visit! (Bas, it's your turn :D) Oh, and for the people who are actually interested in my internship progress: I got feedback on my first periodic report and everything's good! My supervisor at school is pleased with me :)

Much love,
Anouk