When my Hungarian pen pal took a bus to Hämeenlinna

Some time last year (2013) I got to know that my pen pal from Hungary is applying for an Erasmus exchange for the spring semester to Finland. It was nice to hear because obviously it would mean meeting her. She was accepted to come to Finland, which was just awesome! As the time went on we were planning to meet each other even though it took a bit longer to find a weekend that would suit us both, in the end we found time that was good for us both. We spent 10-12th of April together. It was the first time for me to meet a pen pal, who would stay over night, so obviously it was partly learning how things should go and so. When I was younger, I used to have many sleepovers and so, but my friends were always Finns and I had known them for a longer time before they stayed at my place over night, or I at their home. 

Of course, I was excited for the idea of meeting someone with whom I had exchanged letters with for a long time, for about three years, to be exact. Naturally, I was a bit worried of needing to speak English for three days as it's not same as using English at school. I do think that my spoken English is understandable even though I know it still needs some work, but using the language is the best to learn it, huh? Of course, forgetting some words was a problem, but not something that couldn't be overcome.  

At 20:05 her bus was due to arrive at the bus station of Hämeenlinna. The whole day I had been very busy due to unimportant reasons, so I hadn't had time to get nervous over something. When she stepped out from the bus, I wasn't nervous at all - it was like meeting any friend, except the language that we used was English. I don't think it got awkward many times, at least I don't remember it being awkward. Of course, there's always some silence when meeting someone for the first time, as you need to let things sink in first. Straight from the bus station we went to Iittala, where my father lives, as we spent the first night there. We just talked during the first evening, as I had to take an exam (business law) the next morning in Valkeakoski. And she also acted as my personal postwoman, as she delivered her letter that was written in Hungary, to me by herself (I mentioned about this a few posts earlier).

On Friday (11th) I had the business law exam like mentioned earlier. That day I was thinking we could stop by at the beautiful place called Sääksmäen silta. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't very good - we did stop there, but it was raining, so it wasn't as beautiful as I knew it could be. The rain made me sad, as it kept on raining for the whole day. Don't get me wrong; I like rain, but not when it would be nice to do touristic stuff outside. 

Later the same day we saw what there is to see in Iittala. So basically, we stopped by at the church and at the Glass Center. :) They had some lovely decorations outside of the Glass Center, which looked nice. And as I like taking pictures, I sure took a lot of them, however, I won't show all of them here, otherwise this post would be packed with pictures. 

On Friday she also cooked some Hungarian food, which name is way too difficult for me to remember. The food was good even though she said it didn't turn out as it was supposed to turn out. However, later that day, when my dad was eating it, the food wasn't as soupy as it was earlier - it wasn't supposed to be a soup. After having lunch, we watched a movie called 'Oceans 13', which was better than I thought. Later in the evening we moved to Hämeenlinna, at my mother's place. As it was still raining we ended up playing cards and watching another movie called 'Geisha'. This movie I liked a lot! We have had the DVD for ages, and I wonder why we haven't watched it before. Thank you for deciding to watch this movie, now we saw it, too. 

On Saturday morning (12th) the weather was a bit better, which was nice. It still wasn't the kind of weather that I was hoping it to be. Still it was good enough to go outside, as it wasn't raining. We ended up in Aulanko, where we walked a bit and saw different places, such as Aulanko spa, some ruins and a sight-seeing tower.

Thank you for the pic!

This lovely woman took this pic for us, which I'm thankful for even though she didn't know how to use my camera. 

Overall, we had a nice time together and I hope to meet her soon again. The last picture is of something that she brought for me from Hungary. Thank you very much, it was delicious! :)

First time meeting a foreign pen pal

Some time last year (2013) I got to know that my pen pal from New Zealand would be spending an exchange year in Finland. It was great news for me, as I was always hoping to meet my pen pals for real. 

Don't misunderstand - I have met five of my Finnish pen pals (tho, I'm corresponding with only one of them nowadays...), which has been awesome as well. Last September I also got to meet my Polish friend in a town called Lahti, which was my first time meeting an online friend from other country than Finland, so it was a very special day for me. 

Thank u for the pic! :)

On 14th of March I got to know that my friend from New Zealand could come to Hämeenlinna and visit me on 22nd of March! Of course, I said yes! :) I was excited for the idea of meeting someone with whom I had exchanged letters with for a long time, tho speaking English with a native speaker did worry me a bit. Hahh. I still think my spoken English is understandable, at least I wanna think that way. Of course, I couldn't remember some words and wasn't speaking clear enough all the time. I need to practice pronunciation - how difficult can it be to pronounce Russia?? :o 

At 10 am I took a bus to go to the railway station, where I met my pen pal at 10:30. At first we walked around, and through the center of Hämeenlinna. This ain't a very big place, so it won't take long to walk through it. x) After that we ended near to the Häme castle, and decided to walk through all the three museums there - cost €14, which is rather expensive if you ask me. Must say that the 1st museum, Häme castle, was the most interesting one. We both agreed on that. :) 

Medium interesting was the Prison Museum. Wouldn't believe it was still working in 1993!?! :o

And the least interesting was the military museum.... 

Then we came to my home for lunch.. This time I learned what we call as a blueberry pie is most probably called a blueberry tart in New Zealand. I will remember this forever! :p We stayed at my place for a while as all the walking had some effects on our feet. 

Thank you for the cute stuff!

Later we headed to Aulanko, this time by a car. There we checked some ''ruins'' before it was time to go back to the railway station. 

Overall I had lots of fun that day! 

Then it was time to say goodbye for now - hoping to meet again, soon! ;)