Feelings after few months in Brazil

I haven’t written for over two months and I feel pretty ashamed of the fact. I have faced the difficulty of trying to be a reporter and writing a blog at the same time as no one would buy my stories if those were already online. I’ve also had many blog texts in the pipeline but after reading the texts again I’ve decided not to publish those. Sometimes it’s just better not to antagonize certain people and in the era of social media and wide internet access I’d rather not leave a mark in the cyberspace that may affect my future plans. However, you can read my story about unequal society in Forsal website posted on February 28 (only in Finnish) and my English interview on Tero Iso-Kauppila’s blog.

The end of university

One large project ended in March 19 when I returned my master thesis about social media. I can’t describe how relieved I was at that moment. Thesis was acknowledged in the article published in the Finnish economy newspaper, Kauppalehti’s, website. Here is the link to the whole thesis (in Finnish).

This means that I can take my master diploma out whenever I want but I love student-friendly prices so much that I might keep my registration in university for few more years. I feel that I’ve studied for ages but when I see it on the other light it took less than 6 years to get a master degree. This time included two terms of study exchange and a full year of working abroad. To be honest obtaining a degree wasn’t too difficult and the entrance exam to university is still the most difficult exam I’ve taken during my studies.

Sports

I’ve found a good gym called Fema where I usually go four times a week. In addition to normal muscular training I attend spinning classes, local body pump called localizada and lambadance.



Video of a lambadance class from my gym (sorry but I’m not in this version).

During the time in Rio I’ve noticed that my love for sports, both on the sofa and off-sofa, has increased. It is always fun to watch when the best athletes compete in almost any sport even my favorite spectator sports are still football and ice hockey. So I’ve actually spent a lot of time in Rio watching sports that sounds kind of weird but I’ve enjoyed it.

My dream has always been to work on something related to sports. First I wanted to be a new Hristo Stoichkov, but my skills weren’t enough. After that came a dream of working as a top coach but I forgot it when under 10-year old children didn’t really take my strategies seriously and I saw what coaching a professional team does to people. Now I’m more interested on sports marketing and especially administration. Let’s see what the future brings with it.


Football coach Jose Mourinho before and after starting to coach Chelsea.

Rio

Only two weeks after I came to Rio there was famous Rio Samba Carnival. I sold the rights of the carnival story to a news magazine and I will cover the carnival thoroughly in this blog after the story has been published.

Finally after few months in Rio I start to feel that I know what is going around here. I’ve moved twice since the last post for a search for better housing and now I’ve finally found one only two blocks from both beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana. I’m sharing an apartment with two females. A British who works for tourism industry and a Brazilian lady, who is also the owner of the apartment. One of the most popular surf places in Rio, Arpoador, is only 300 meters from my apartment but I have to admit that I haven’t ridden any waves here yet.


On Ipanema Beach with Antti and Jeff.

There is a party in Rio every night so the pressure to go out is huge. However, I’m proud of myself by being able to resist the temptation. I've done more sports and work not needing to worry about late nights out. This has come with a sacrifice that I don’t know so many people as when I’ve lived abroad before. One party I nonetheless attended at the top of Sugar Loaf which was a lot of fun even around 4 am I found out that it was a gay party. Well, the scenery when I came down with the cable car at the sunrise was breathtaking enough to compensate.

In future I will write more regularly. The main topics before the summer are Brazil, sports and business. I'd like to hear comments or suggestions about possible topics and ideas. As my university account will be unsubcribed soon, the address that I use from now on for private mails is lastname.firstname(at)gmail.com.

Enjoy your day!

- Mikael

In Rio

It’s hard to believe that I currently live in Rio de Janeiro. When I was in High School I dreamed that I would some day live in New York, Rio de Janeiro, and the Philippines. The first one is still to come… So living in Rio has been my dream for long time. It just became possible few months ago after I had no second thoughts. Especially Copacabana has always had some kind of magic and now I’m leaving there just few blocks from the famous beach. I only really noticed that I’m moving here when I was at the massage table three days before my departure and this song came from the radio. What a coincidence!

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The first impression of Rio as a living place is expensive. Of course I live in one of the most expensive areas and samba carnival is coming, which naturally has inflationary consequences. Still paying 500 euros for a room is a lot. I live in very Latin atmosphere as my flatmates are all from different Southern European countries. Luisa from Spain, Ines from Italy and Robin from France are really cool and it never gets boring in our flat. Currently there are four friends visiting from Spain, France and Scotland so we have a full house indeed.

My expectations from living costs might be biased by the Philippines experience and I still think the last few months there I had the best deal ever. I paid 450 euros a month for a place in a 37th floor luxury apartment shared with two great Americans, Greg and Mike. The deal included a room in around 150 square meter flat rounded by full size windows with a view to Manila, full time maid, meals four times a day, access to swimming pool, sauna, squash court, and of course all the other benefits that come with G&M.

This was my sixth time when I move to another country. I have to admit that the first week is always hard. All the goodbyes at home, new apartment and environment, and a lot of running errands to do. It always takes few weeks to know where to buy morning bread, what is the right price to pay for a cab, how to get a good deal for sim-card, where’s the gym etc.

The first week in Rio was especially challenging and I needed to work a lot with my self-discipline. I made a deadline to return the first version of my graduation thesis by this Friday when the Rio Samba Carnaval itself starts. Well, it seems that it has started already, as there are a lot of events taking place from sunrise to sunrise. It’s extremely difficult to stay home writing a thesis when it’s +35 degrees, my flatmates are packing their bags for beach, and there are crazy parties each night. Finally on Wednesday I returned the thesis for my professor’s comments and now things will change. For truly to learn the Brazilian culture and Portuguese language I need to be out as much as possible.


Even I haven’t had time to check out my new neighborhood yet I’ve taken sports pretty seriously. So far I’ve tried five different gyms to find the right atmosphere. Well, it’s been worth it as I haven’t paid a real yet.

I know that some of you have been thinking of coming to Rio and I warmly welcome to do so. There’s space in my room and sometimes also in our living room, and to be honest being on holiday in Rio doesn’t mean too much sleep as I noticed last time when I was here. Just let me know before so I know to organize my schedule to show you around. However, my main concentration is to learn Brazilian culture, language, and do a lot of sports so I hope that KLM keeps its commas in a right place this time (when I was in the Philippines KLM sold return tickets from Helsinki to Manila for 329 euros by mistake which meant that I had visitors all the time from the end of January to beginning of April).

During my stays abroad I’ve noticed that I always have more time in a day. Regardless whether I’ve worked or studied I seem to be able to do more things that I usually never do in Finland. For instance in the Philippines I played street hockey weekly with Canadians which was superb. I don’t know if it’s the sun or something but leaving Finland creates more time for me. For some people it is stressful and I’ve seen people totally crack themselves with booze and depression while abroad. The road downwards usually starts by criticizing everything and comparing new home country to one’s home country. But for me extra-time is never a waste. I can always find things to do for it.

One of the best things is that my phone almost never rings. First, it’s expensive to call here, and secondly not many people know my number. The obligations that were kind of useless but took a lot of time in Finland have decreased to almost zero. In Finland my mobile rings all the time, and usually each answer means a new thing to do or plan. New situation means a fresh start and time for things that are really important to me like sports, health, self-improving and people.

- Mikael

Christmas time

Again the year has passed and it’s Christmas time. I’ve always been a Christmas person and actually I believed in Santa Claus until I was 14 (sorry if some of you still do). I’ve spent my Christmas in Nepal, Malaysia, India and Cambodia but I have to admit that the only real Christmas is with the family and when there is snow in the ground. Weather forecast in Finland predicts snow and -2 for Christmas day so I wont complain.

After Christmas I will go to Levi (http://www.levi.fi/en/home.html) ski resort in Lapland with my friends from Finland, Spain and Switzerland. I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve never been in Lapland before that is a real shame being a Finn and traveled around the world. One of my annual promises for the year was to go to Lapland and it went pretty tight but now the trip is booked and I’m ready to go.

With the real-time photo from my home I want to wish you Merry Christmas and wonderful year 2010!


- Mikael

The best airlines in the world

I have to admit that I like flying and hanging around at the airports. I also do fly a lot and for instance I counted that in 2008 I flew 35 flights, so far the balance for 2009 is 18 flights, and I’ve already booked 14 flights for year 2010. Of course businessmen fly more but these flights have mostly been on entertainment purpose. I also find airline industry really fascinating even some business models in the industry I just can’t understand.

Starting from the basics it should be expensive to fly when you consider all the people part of your flying experience. There are internet server providers, customer service, travel agents, security personnel, baggage people, air traffic controllers, flight attendants, pilots, plane manufacturers, mechanics, etc.

However, we can still fly return intercontinental flights for few hundred bucks and continental flights even for free. That doesn’t make sense and something in the industry needs to be wrong as only few airlines make profit.

One problem is that even the smallest nation needs to have its own airline that builds up competition. In addition many airlines receive heavy compensation from its government that distorts competition. I could predict that many airlines will go bankrupt in upcoming years before prices start to hike. Nowadays the only ones making the profit in the industry seem to be the airport operators and high-wage pilots. In order to cut costs and build synergies a trend has been mergers proved by latest KLM-Air France, Delta-Northwest and British Airways-Iberia mergers.

One thing that I have never understood. How is it still possible that the flights departing from or arriving to the USA mostly take two 50 pound luggages in cargo as for all other flights it’s usually the maximum of one luggage of 20 kg (45 pounds)? There must be some damn good lobbyist in the States… That extra 20 kg per passenger for aircraft capacity of 300 people really builds up the costs with current oil prices.

I could debate about the industry forever but now on to my favorite that is a ranking. Below the best and the worst airlines that either I’ve flown with or many of my acquaintances have talked about.

The best in class:

1. Etihad Airways (the national carrier of U.A.E)
Excellent service, fast transit airport in Abu Dhabi, good food selection, and beneficial frequent flyer program Etihad Guest that for instance includes home transportation. Etihad creates you a feeling of a superstar even in economy class. Sponsoring Ferrari race team and Chelsea Football Club.


2. Virgin Atlantic (British airline, 49% owned by Singapore Airlines)
I highly admire Sir Richard Branson and his airline has really done its job. The only UK airline able to resist British Airways’ dirty tricks in the 90s. Superb service, different and thus relaxing atmosphere. One doesn’t get bored on Virgin flights and it fulfills its promises.

3. Emirates (the national airline of Dubai, U.A.E)
The best in-flight entertainment that for instance includes UK billboard charts from the 60s, hundreds of on-demand movies and audio channels, language training in 10 languages, and compatible dock for Apple’s iPod. Young, international and energetic crew. Dubai one of the best transit airports in the world containing cheap tax-free shopping. Emirates bonus is the ease of a few night stopover in adult Disneyland Dubai. The official sponsor of FIFA World Cup. Planning for IPO in near future.


4. Singapore Airlines
The best fleet in the globe, good customer service and one of the best airports in the world. One of the only airlines making constant profit. SA has the longest non-stop scheduled passenger route from New York (Newark) to Singapore taking little less than 19 hours.

5. Air Berlin (the second largest airline in Germany)
Low-cost prices, but good service. I’ve flown almost ten flights with Air Berlin each one priced around 50 euros and I still feel like in a normal airline. Normal reservation system and luggage rules, free sandwiches and efficient service. Only downsize that flights always transit via Germany comparing to many other low-cost airlines.

The worst in class:

1. Cebu Pacific Air: (Philippine-based low-cost airline with international destinations in Southeast Asia.)
16 flights out of which 2 cancelled and 11 delayed. Do I need to continue? Never book many flights with a company before trying. Cheap but horrible customer service. I especially feel anger towards the customer representatives on the call centre with whom I had the privilege to chat for many hours during my stay in the Philippines.

2. Delta-Northwest, Continental and most other American airlines
No offense but considering great service level in the USA, the airlines are really an exception. Bad customer service and food, old and weary crew, a lot of delayed and cancelled flights.

3. KLM-Air France:
So average it hurts. Nothing special but I still jump into it often because of cheap prizes and Schippol airport in Amsterdam.

Special recognition: Royal Nepal Airlines (currently: Nepal Airlines)

During the 45-minute domestic flight from Biratnagar to Kathmandu they served a sandwich and a soft drink, tea and a cake, sweets, raffled three free flights (odds are pretty good in 50-seater plane), and a pilot worked as a tourist guide pointing out the highest peaks of the Himalayas. Unbelievable!


I have excluded a Finnish national carrier Finnair from this “survey” as I’m a bit biased towards it. I’m happy to hear criticism or endorsement for my picks. Which airline do you love or hate?

- Mikael

Heading to Rio de Janeiro

As some of you already know I’ve decided to go on master study exchange to Ibmec Business School in Rio de Janeiro in February for 5 months. Below few reasons why I decided so and therefore gave up to few interesting job offers:

1) As you might remember from my earlier post I fell in love with Brazil during my two-week trip there last March. When I had a chance to go there for few months I didn’t need to think twice. Playing beach football and volley in Copacabana, meeting new friends, eating good meat, learning Portuguese and samba… Well, if you’ve been in Rio, you know.

2) I find Brazil as a very potential country and its worldwide importance will grow in future as raw materials and land come scarcer. Rio will host football World Cup in 2014 and Olympic Games in 2016. Do I still have to continue to pinpoint what I think of Rio in coming years…

3) I’ve had occasions during past decade where my life and freedom has been threatened. I’ve forgotten that too often and haven’t enjoyed my life fully. I’ve done many of my previous decisions based on rationality but this decision came directly from my heart. I also feel I’ve deserved a little break before beginning my long work career.

4) My home university isn’t exactly excelling in finance. However, Ibmec’s strength is finance that I hope to improve during my stay. Even if I wouldn’t work in finance in future it will always be my hobby that’s why I want to learn more about it.

5) I’ve always envied Brazilians relaxed and friendly attitude. I wish to catch some of it to my life as well.


I will do some freelancer jobs to Finland but otherwise concentrate on studying, self-improving and sports. I will be in Rio from February to June and go directly from there to South Africa via London to follow football World Cup with my friend Perttu.

The fall has been busy as always and the most of my time has taken CFA Global Investment Research Challenge where our job was to analyze a given company, write a report and present it to the panel of high-level judges. Our team consisting of Jussi Pajunen, Anssi Suikkanen and Juha-Pekka Tanila worked hard and we won the written part. However, we lost the final by judge votes and lost a spot in European final.

At the beginning of December there was also a launch of the new web portal of our company Virtua.fi. We had two good days in student fair and I’m optimistic about our service. I haven’t been really hands on creating the portal but our partners Ville Vine, Ilkka Bergius and external help Tomi Räsänen have done an excellent job. Virtua.fi is an education portal that offers coaching courses to people applying for business and medical universities. Courses include virtual lectures, practices and community. Hopefully this is just the beginning and I have high expectations to our team.

As I’m writing pretty irregularly a good way to get updates of my posts is by adding RSS feed from the upper right corner after you receive information on new posts to your Google Reader or similar gadget.

- Mikael

Yellowstone, Vancouver, Texas, Panama, Seattle...

It has been around 12 hours since my fligth from Amsterdam landed to Helsinki-Vantaa airport. I’m pretty exhausted from jet lag but the trip was definitely worth it. It’s been awhile since I’ve been without my computer or mobile phone for a month. I thought that it’s not possible but actually I got use to it really soon and I can’t say that I would have missed my electronic tools during the journey.

To recap a month journey to Canada, USA and Panama it included 12 flights, driving car for 5000 kilometers, 10 hotels ranging from rustic bamboo hut to all inclusive –resort and 9 different states in the USA and Canada. I traveled the whole time with my ex-flatmate from Sky Bar Tero Iso-Kauppila and we had a lot of funny experiences.

Yellowstone National Park

My original flights were from Helsinki to Seattle via Amsterdam and we drove to the night towards Yellowstone National Park directly from Seattle-Tacoma airport. Our road trip group topped up to five as Kevin and Bee joined from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver.

Yellowstone National Park is situated in Wyoming and its area of 9000 km2 includes over half of the world’s active geysers, plenty of wildlife and beautiful nature. The unique feature of American national parks is that it is possible to drive around with a car and our journey was often stopped by bisons crossing the road. On our way to Yellowstone we also hit a deer driving around 100 km per hour but fortunately we survived but the car and the deer didn’t…


We were also stopped by police twice and I have to admit that the officers in the States are pretty cool. Idaho police said that our driving looked like the driver is sleeping so she gave directions to the nearest McDonalds for some coffey. Washington police officer explained how he has had all other Scandinavians except a Finn and despite of speeding for 20 miles he gave us thumbs up for returning to Vancouver without a speeding ticket.

There were some good sights on the way but I can’t really see what is there to do in states like Idaho (sorry Nicoleta), Montana or Oregon. Especially Americans consider each state like a separate country and these countries would have a lot of marketing to do to bring in the tourists. Or than we just didn’t see enough which would be justified by dozens of different motels and hotels scattered around those states. I just can’t understand how all of the accomodation places can make money with cheap prices and demand exceeding supply.

Vancouver

I stayed for a week in Vancouver and it would be a perfect place to live. Vancouver is extremely beautiful with great ocean and mountain views, sports opportunities are countless, people are friendly, things are working, people speak English but are still international, and living costs are decent.

Tero has been working for Simon Fraser University since June and now I got my own sight for Canadian lifestyle that I pretty much like. Canadians are crazy about ice hockey and each Canucks home game is sold out. Ice hockey is everywhere in life and it’s always a great way to start a conversation. I thought that my home town Tampere is a legendary hockey town but I got it wrong. We got premium seats to NHL game Canucks-Canadiens and witnessed Canucks 7-1 win over NHL:s most legendary team. We also went to see a Western Hockey League game Vancouver Giants-Kelowna Rockets where the crowd of over 6000 people cheered for potential junior stars. That is hockey culture!


I witnessed one weird occasion that proved how valuable human life is to Canadians. I was crossing over the main bridge of Vancouver, Lions Gate, as all the traffic was suddenly stopped during a rush hour. Not even the pedestrians were allowed to continue and there were a lot of police cars around one man who planned to attempt a suicide by jumping to water from the bridge. Soon the case was already in the news and copters were flying above us. Incident took around 1,5 hours and finally the police was able to talk the guy out from there. I walked pass and saw a total boozer surrounded by policemen offering him light for his cigarette. Unbelievable! Vancouver’s traffic was closed down for 1,5 hours just because this one selfish guy might have jumped to water which actually doesn’t mean he would have been killed as there were rescue boats in the water already. This action I wouldn’t call efficient or wise either as it only promotes more similar attempts after all the publicity.

At the end of Canadian adventure Tero ran a Royal Victoria Marathon to his personal best 3.40 in a beautiful island of Victoria next to Vancouver and I also did the half marathon resulting to 1:40. So our steps were not the steadiest when next day we headed for Seattle to catch our flight to San Antonio, Texas.

Texas

I couldn’t imagine how Texas would really be but from the movies I expected big cars, cowboy hats and warm weather. I guess I saw around five men wearing cowboy hats on a first sight coming out from airport so I wasn’t truly wrong. Everything in Texas is big and actually I liked the relaxing atmosphere of Texas. People are friendly and harmless, highways and shopping malls are huge, food is greasy and the most common apparel is the one with Texas Longhorns sports team logo on it. After Texas I also got a slight idea how it is possible that George Bush served two terms in the office and why Americans in general are overweight.

The biggest reason for our stop-over in Texas was Carlsbad Caverns that is situated in New Mexico around 600 kilometers from San Antonio. Carlsbad has the second largest cave chamber in the world and the caves were just impressive. After few days on classic Texas roads it was time for our main destination Panama.

Panama

We arrived to Panama during the rainy season and sitting in a crowded local airport bus when it rained heavily outside made me think whether we came at the right time. However, we only witnessed few showers during our 10-day trip so looking back it was a good idea to take advantage of low-season rates and lack of tourists. During the first weekend we stayed in capital Panama City to do some partying in local radio station anniversary party and with my friend Alberto who runs casinos in Latin America. Funny thing was when we met few locals at the club that took us to Panama’s air traffic control center the next day to see how everything works and also told some juicy stories about Central American air traffic.

After parties we took a van and boat combo (actually once even a combination of a van in the river) to take us to San Blas islands that is a homeplace of Kuna tribe. San Blas paradise islands were just the thing I needed and it was great to relax in ocean with only worry how to open a coconut. We also met some interesting people who were touring around Latin America for time periods exceeding to two years. Me and few other backpackers decided to test our swimming skills and swim to nearby island and back. Not a good idea because the waves were against us on a way back and we barely made it. And not especially after hearing from local tribe people that they have never swam there as the sea is full of sharks…


After few days in basic accommodation and food we got a great deal in the Panama’s best resort, Royal Decameron. It was all inclusive package so we had three days to enjoy the service of dozen of restaurants, pools and bars. Unfortunately, Tero got sick on a worst day so it was me who had to eat for two than. I tried horse riding and wind surfing for the first time, and I think that my horse didn’t like me the way he dragged me to trees and bushes and raced with other horses on airport tarmac. Stars were on my side and I could head for night party after some minor bruises.

I could add Panama to the places I could imagine living in. Everything is near as the country is small, and for instance it is possible to swim in both Atlantic and Pacific oceans in one day. Panama uses dollars, people generally understand English, country is safe compared to other Latin American countries, and activities are countless. Few downsides are capital’s heavy and congested traffic, lack of service culture and unhealthy food scene.

Seattle

The last two days we spent in Seattle relaxing, dining and walking around. Being the homeplace of Starbucks Seattle is really a city of coffee shops and bookstores, and it seemed that everyone is reading while waiting a bus, dining or sitting in a park. However, I was surprised how quiet the downtown area is and it reminded more of my hometown Tampere ona Monday night than large American metropolis. It was even hard to find a restaurant that would serve dinner past 10 pm. We recapped the journey over a dinner in Space Needle which has great views to Seattle skyline. I just love the city with skyscrapers, sea and mountains and with this trip I saw two in Vancouver and Seattle.


My former bosses and work colleagues have said that I’m really American which I haven’t subscribed to. This journey proved that I like many things that North America is offering. In general everyone is given an opportunity in life and entrepreneurship is highly promoted. Americans do know what good entertainment is and for instance I was hooked on watching American football broadcast just because it was so well done and entertaining. And things really work in North America. Highway system is just great, stores and malls have large sortiment, accommodation places are good and clean, and the thing I really value: Service level is superb in both quality and friendliness!

This trip also proved to me that traveling is often a good investment. Of course for everything there is a marginal utility but in general traveling gives new experiences, friends, conversation topics, and time for innovation and to oneself. Especially with current flight and accommodation prices it would be wrong not to travel at least once a year if just anyhow possible. There will be some changes in my life in upcoming months and I will keep you updated when I get a final confirmation. However, it looks like I won't be in Finland for the whole winter time...

Holiday time

I am writing this knowing that my bus to airport is leaving in 8 hours. Finally it is time to relax without any deadlines or work pressure for some time.

My internship at P&G was extended to September and my last work day was actually last Tuesday of the month. This changed my plans a bit and planned two week vacation at the end of August before beginning my graduation thesis was canceled. I enjoyed my internship, and especially the people who I worked with. However, my plans are wide open for the next spring as I first have to finish my thesis that hasn’t really even started yet. I hope that upcoming holiday and chats, or “linjaukset” as we call it in Finnish, with my travel buddy Tero will help to make good decisions for the future.

September was one of the hardest working months that I’ve had. Too many compulsory tasks fit into too little time is a good description of the month. I don’t want to work 18 hour days in a row but the fault is mine as no one forced me to book a month holiday in fall period…

Getting back to one of my main goals for the summer that was running a marathon below 3:30. Well, I couldn’t make it. But to my defense I tried my best. My training after Stockholm Marathon went perfectly and I ran easily 15k jogs with full speed. However, just two weeks before the start my legs started to feel numb and even walking hurt. I tried to rest but it didn’t seem to help and finally I had to see a doctor on a marathon day. He said that running was up to me and I decided to give a go.

Marathon went alright despite of my both calves cramping from 10k, and I was way ahead of my time goal. Than after around 33k my both calves and thighs cramped hard at the same time that continued until the end. Those 9 kilometers were one of the slowest in my life as I knew I could run faster but my legs wouldn’t let me do it. I’ve always considered marathon more like a mental thing. But now I finally learned the hard way that also the muscles and training need to be in order to be able to run fast. Result was my own record 3:37:53 but I know that at least 15 minutes could easily have taken from it. Since the marathon (7 weeks) I haven’t been able to run as I was diagnosed with strain injury but hopefully soon it’s time to do leg sports again. Bytheway, we were eight guys that ran the marathon together and all of us got to a finish line. Two marathon rookies, Mikko and Jussi, even ran it below 4 hours that is an excellent accomplishment. Looking forward to see even more friends join next year!

I’m really looking forward to holiday. Knowing me and Tero we won’t totally relax as action and seeing new things are always welcomed. I just counted that I will have 12 flights and around 4000 kilometers in a car ahead of me but just letting go of my computer for a while will do the thing. I’m flying to Seattle via Amsterdam where we’ll directly continue to Yellowstone national park with Tero’s two friends from Canada and Maarit from Helsinki School of Economics who I randomly met at Kaivohuone terrace in Helsinki. After quick chat we found out that we’ll be in same region at the same time and now she’ll join us. Small world indeed. From there we’ll head back to Vancouver where Tero is working. Than the journey continues to Texas, Panama and who knows where. I bet it will a real adventure but more about it in my next post.