Thursday, January 31, 2013

Happy birthday Gordie!

My day yesterday started really nicely. I think I slept like 10 hours or so and in the afternoon me and Fanny headed once again to the gym to attend a BodyPump class. I've gone to one of those earlier here in Nice but before that I'd had quite a break so I can definitely feel the effect today. Fortunately I still didn't drop my weights on the bar too low, kept the squat track at 9,5kg per side so 19kg altogether compared to my normal 2*13,5kg. Hopefully I'll get back there soon. Since the moves vary very little from release to another it's much easier to understand than the BodyBalance class for example. After a quick shower and lunch at home it was time to head to French class. The classes are alright but I feel like I'm not learning much even if it is the intermediate group. I'd really like to improve my French here, and it already has when I use it everywhere I go, watch tv, read etc.

Today is my Canadian friend Gordie's 21st birthday so we went out to Wayne's to celebrate him last night. It's the first time I was there that late but the atmosphere was amazing. The place was packed, there was a live band playing good covers and we Finnish gals (Clara, Fanny and me) could actually order ciders. I've never been a beer person so I'm glad that the popularity of cider is growing so I can get it outside Finland too. After the band stopped playing the DJ started to play some more current hits and everyone including yours truely was dancing on the tables. I hear this is normal at Wayne's. Here's a pic of my outfit for last night.

                                    Scarf: Guess
                                    Bag: Chanel
                                    Blouse: Esprit Perfect 10 collection
                                    Pants: Esprit

Today I had no classes so we went to check out the Nike Factory Store just outside Nice with Fanny, Joel and Ziming. They had everything you could imagine and I really needed a running jacket and found one. It was literally a steal. Today we've had such nice weather, +17C and the sun is still shining. I feel like taking a stroll on the promenade and then probably dig into some school stuff.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Jippikayjei

Today I woke up well rested and wanted to head to the gym early. Me and Fanny both tried the Les Mills Body Balance class for the first time. You can imagine the difficulty level was raised a bit by the fact that it was all in French. The class surprised me. It was slightly more challenging than I had imagined with real ab exercises and the plank.  The class was definitely worth the early wake-up and I felt good starting the day.

Fortunately I had only one class today (only one class here means 3 hours instead of 1,5 back home) and I went to school straight from the gym. After school I had a whole day time to get things done so I went shopping for some groceries at the nearest Spar store. It's very nice to have Spar here since we don't have it in Finland and the store is really nice, not like a big supermarket and the staff is friendly. 

Since the day had been so good I wanted to do more so I decided to take a walk on the promenade which turned out to be a run. When I got on Promenade des Anglais (the big boulevard by the beach popular among runners and walkers) I just started running and kept going. I'm so proud of myself, I'm really not a runner and the weather in Finland has made me practice indoor sports more. With the right kind of music it felt like I can do anything. Here's a real workout song, it really pushes you to try harder. It's a regular on my workout playlist. The song is by a very famous Finnish rapper/hip hopper called Cheek. Enjoy!



I found the lyrics translated to English so you'll see the meaning of the song :)


Yippie-Kay-Yay

Yippie-Kay-Yay-hey-hey! (x4)
I came to win, nothing will stand on my way
Yippie-Kay-Yay-hey-hey, you are staring at the winner
I came to win, nothing will stand on my way
Yippie-Kay-Yay-hey-hey, you are staring at the winner
This is something that losers shouldn't try at home
This is for those who decide to be winners
This is for a locker room crammers
for those know they can do it better
For those who make it faster than their opponents
who cheer and teach the younger ones
This is for winners
for those who give it all
Rocky Balboa - Eye of the tiger
It takes love, madness, drive
All out even though it would make them angry
Coolness, nature, mania, severity, straight back
the truth is needed here!
Tears, blood, sweat
taking it to end, swearing to God
You see the will of victory in the eyes
This is for those with feet on the ground
and head in the clouds
I came to win, nothing will stand on my way
Yippie-Kay-Yay-hey-hey, you are staring at the winner
I came to win, nothing will stand on my way
Yippie-Kay-Yay-hey-hey, you are staring at the winner
I don't dream my life but live my dream
Having that has always been my goal
It didn't work, I tried again like Dalia
Now this whole genre is listened for me
Or at least something like that
Since I saw, gave it all
Can't think it comes for free
Winners make it, losers say it
And I won't make mistakes
one prof asked me to lecture to School Of Economics
Rags to riches, a living example
The President on spring 2012
Or whatever, everything's possible as long I can do this
If you want to get, you need to give
Nikke T.
Even the chiefs have cried alone
I came to win, nothing will stand on my way
Yippie-Kay-Yay-hey-hey, you are staring at the winner
I came to win, nothing will stand on my way
Yippie-Kay-Yay-hey-hey, you are staring at the winner
I'm such, such, such, such a bad loser
that I just have, have, have to win
So, so, so, if you wanna try
you just go and try
I'm such, such, such, such a bad loser
that I just have, have, have to win
So, so, so, if you wanna try
you just go and try
I came to win, nothing will stand on my way
Yippie-Kay-Yay-hey-hey, you are staring at the winner
I came to win, nothing will stand on my way
Yippie-Kay-Yay-hey-hey, you are staring at the winner
Yippie-Kay-Yay-hey-hey! (x8)
You're staring at the winner...

Monday, January 28, 2013

Tired but happy

Today was the longest day at school so far. Didn't get much sleep last night since I was watching Ocean's Eleven (classic) on tv and trying to work on some school projects yesterday. My first class started at 9.30 so thankfully not an 8am. After that we rushed to the cafeteria to discover the long line and decided to find lunch elsewhere. There was a nice little pizza place outside school and their chèvre panini sounded particularly good, and it was.

It felt like time went by slowly but thankfully the day was over sooner than I thought. Since it was late the bus was rather empty so the ride home didn't take too long. There was a bump on the road though on one stop where someone apparently had had some kind of a seizure and there were police cars, an ambulance and a stretcher. I was so hungry and tired when I got home so I decided to just take it easy the rest of the night and hit early to bed.

Been gone for almost a month now so I miss certain things from back home like the food, (don't get me wrong, the food is great here too) my family and of course our little family chihuahua Oliver. He is the cutest thing in the whole world. Here's a picture of him.

Goodnight!






                           Little Oliver

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Salut Cannes!

So it was early Saturday morning and I woke up to a bright sunlight. I usually don't like getting up early especially during the weekend but this was the day when Team Finland, aka me, Fanny and Iiris were gonna go visit lovely Cannes. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. As Fanny wanted to get an  early workout done at the gym me and Iiris took the bus and she followed later by train. The bus ride took about an hour and a half and it only cost 1 euro! That's how cheap you can go to places here I just love it.

When we arrived in Cannes we were greeted by the sun and since it was early we decided to take a walk around the beach. It was beautiful. A sand beach with clear water and nice small waves. Listening to the sea was just so relaxing. We sat down and enjoyed some snacks and enjoyed the sunshine. 


                         
    Here's my look for the day
    Jacket: Club Monaco
    Sunglasses: Chanel (new collection, just bought them in Nice)
    Scarf: Gucci (a souvenir from our trip to Florence)
    Bag: Chanel Classic Flap Bag Maxi Jumbo in Lambskin

Fanny joined us later and we thought it would be nice to check out La Croisette, the main luxury shopping street in Cannes. We walked in the sunshine and after noticing a really nice café at the beach decided to take a little break and sit down for a minute. After some resting we continued walking down the street and found ourselves in the Yves Saint Laurent store. Everything was displayed so lovely there and my eye was caught by a fabulous YSL clutch which I had to get. Everyone was so nice to us and we all agreed that the male sales assistant was very  sweet also. Next stop shoes. Right next door at the Jimmy Choo store. I said I'd only look but I couldn't help it so I found myself buying a pair.

After serious shopping we were all getting kind of hungry but found ourselves in a huge crowd right on La Croisette. You wanna know why? The annual NRJ Music Awards were gonna be here live tonight and a lot of celebrities were gonna show up. Of course we thought they were all French so we pretty much ignored the crowd and kept walking.

NRJ Music Awards 2013 in Cannes Palais des Festivals where the Cannes Film Festival is held annually. This is where the Eurovision song contest has also taken place a few times.

We found a great pizza place by the beach and really enjoyed our time under the warmth of the heating lamps on the restaurant terrace with some wine also. Then it was time to head home. The bus passed the music award scene on our way out of the city and it felt like the crowd had just grown bigger. Of course we were thinking about if we should've stayed, maybe we could've seen someone famous after all. Well we should've been smarter. After turning on the Award show on on tv at home that night I noticed PSY was actually performing Gangnam Style LIVE on the red carpet! Now we were all mad at ourselves! Well better luck next time. We also could've seen Taylor Swift, Alicia Keys and Carly Rae Jepsen. Too late now. Since we had had a long day we decided to skip parties that night and charge our batteries. We can all agree on that it was an amazing day with nice weather, great company and fun new experiences. I will definitely head back to Cannes soon. ;)


Gorgeous Jimmy Choo Agnes shoes in patent leather


                                              Fabulous YSL ChYc clutch in calfskin







Friday, January 25, 2013

Greetings from the French Riviera!

I feel like I'm already running behind with this blogging cause I'd have so much to tell you guys. I arrived in Nice early January with my friend Fanny to study here (our exchange semester). The first day of school we met lots of new great people and we come up with all kind of fun and crazy things to do together. I've been here for only three weeks but I already feel like I would've lived here for longer, the city feels like a home and I love it. I love my apartment and the neighborhood. It's in the center so everything is close. I managed to open a bank account and get a gym card, they have Les Mills classes which is great. Now I just gotta wait for my French sim card to arrive.

The weather here has been really ideal. It's been varying from rainy and below +10 to +15 and sunny, but it's still much better than back home in Finland where people are freezing outside in -20 degrees. Of course we've done some shopping with the girls too. We'll see if I'll post some photos here later. ;)

I've also done some traveling already. We went to Florence, Italy the other weekend and stopped by at Pisa to see the leaning tower. It was amazing. Took a while to climb up those stairs and the weather was really rainy all weekend but that didn't bother us at all. In Florence we had this great dinner and to quote my friend Helen "amazingly cheap wine" :D We also experienced the Florenzian nightlife. The following day was a bit more relaxed as we walked in the rain and went to visit the famous statue of David, il Duomo and then paid a visit to Gucci's flagship store in Firenze. I had to go there, it's the home of Gucci so a little shopping there was a must. The weekend was a success, we had a real road trip with two cars.

Tonight we're probably gonna head out and have dinner at this amazing place in Nice Old Town, Vieux Nice called Wayne's. If you ever go to Nice then that's definitely one place you gotta visit. It's very international, great food and music and from what I've heard it can get a little crazy at night...

Here are some photos from my time here


                                          The Christmas decorations at the Christmas market in Nice

                                          First day of school


                                           Florence

                                                    The leaning tower of Pisa

                                          Gucci flagship store in Firenze


Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Here we go!

Tervetuloa blogiini!

Alkuun pääsy aina hieman hankalaa, mutta kyllä se siitä. Ajattelin kirjoitella elämästäni Ranskan Rivieralla opiskelijavaihdon ajan, ja miksi ei myös Suomeen palattuani.


Welcome to my blog!

Takes some time to get used to this. This is a blog about my life on the French Riviera during my exchange period. Who knows, maybe the stories will continue when returning back home to Finland. Will try to write posts both in Finnish and English. Here we go! :)