Haparanda

   Since yesterday was the last day everyone was free before my dad goes back to work and me and my siblings go back to school, we decided to take a short family trip to Haparanda. Considering it's in another country, it's surprisingly close to our place, and driving only took 4-5 hours (it's hard for me to tell since I fell heavily asleep during the drive back). I was really happy to be able to come with, since my working hours are so weird, and my days off don't match the norm, it was a very pleasant surprise for me to be able to come along. My family isn't that much into travel either, so once they do go somewhere, they prefer it if we all go at once.
   Once in Sweden, we really didn't do much. Since we go to Haparanda quite a lot, we have a bit of usual stuff we often do. We go to IKEA, and then we go for hamburgers at Max (which we've done about 2-3 times). We also visited a fishing store, since my dad and brother wanted some gear and I was searching for something for my upcoming class, which I didn't find ( I found it today however, when shopping with mom and dad in Kokkola). Most of the time was actually spent in IKEA, which I didn't mind. I actually love walking around, looking at the little displays of rooms, because I love to imagine what it would be like to live in apartments looking like that, or what it would be like to have a livingroom/kitchen/bedroom that looks the way theirs do. However, I didn't do any shopping there, since I prefer to buy furniture and things closer to home, and we happen to have an IKEA about 7km away from our apartment.
   We also visited a candy store, which was huge. That's where I got the candy in the lower pictures (nerds, and Renskit, which literally translates to "raindeer droppings", which is despite the name quite a delicious candy).
   I had a lot of fun there, and was especially surprised when I woke up this morning and realized I had slept very well, about six hours according to my watch, something that made making it to work today a lot easier. Needless to say, these past four days have been crazy intense, and I look forward to life calming down a few days before I have to start thinking about packing up my stuff and leaving (yes, I'm going back to Åbo next week's Sunday, sleep there for one night, and then going off onto the ocean to experience marine biology in the field, how exciting!).
   For now though, I will just relax a while at Theos place, spend the night before going back home tomorrow, where I'll take care of some things that need doing, and then head to Kokkola, where I am (drumroll please) going to get my second tattoo! But that's for tomorrow's me to handle, right now I'm going to wait for Theo to get done with what he's doing and then we're going to watch some Supernatural and relax. He's also had a rough past few days and we both feel like we deserve to relax a bit, so...
   Before I log off for today though, I just want to say that I am insanely grateful for where I'm at in life right now. In the span of 3 days I've completed two things on my bucketlist, been to the edge of the Russian border and been to another country. I've been feeling happy (although a tad sleep deprived), grateful and motivated for almost a week, and I keep having new ideas on what to write, what videos to make, what to add to my bucketlist, etc. In short, I'm happy, and I can't wait to see what the universe has in stock for me for the upcoming months.
   Today marks the beginning of a new month. Make the most of August. Acheive/work for your goals, travel, spend more time around people you love, and focus on making choices that are good for you! This month is for you to grab and make your own, lets do that!