Ouioui! Midsummer, Holland Park and Paris

Where does all the time go?
I have been in England now for less than two weeks. It feels like ages, but I really haven’t done anything… well, that’s not completely true. I’ve been looking for a place to stay in London and believe me it is a mission! First of all the prices are ridiculous, like you can imagine. You have to pay easily around 550 euros for a room if you want to live even close to the central, any part of the central London… Second problem was that the landlords or flatmates felt always a bit dodgy or weird… or dishonest or scary or drug addicts or just not good enough to live with. So I was almost giving up hope until I got an email from Jaana, a woman my mother and me met at the airport last summer. We kept contact because I was supposing to design a table for her but then I didn’t have time and I went to Budapest (I’m still completely in love with that city and my heart is in pieces). Anyway, I wrote her an email asking does she know any place I could rent a room from etc. In that point I had used all my possible contacts. I was so desperate. Well she said that she needs somebody to look after of her apartment while she is going back to Finland for the summer. And, this is the best (or should I say most posh) part, she lives in Holland Park, next to Notting Hill.



Annuska, Mikko, Saija and Johnny (plus the two devils with tails) finally found a house from London too. They got a really nice flat from a building that used to be a church in Bethnal Green. So, they will leave lovely Medway this weekend.
I have to tell you about Minea and Vinku, Annuska & Mikko’s cats. I have never been a cat lover, but these two somehow found their way in to my liking list. They moved to Rochester a year (or something like that) ago.
In the beginning I was only friend with Vinku, she was nice and always asked for some love but Minea was a total b**ch. I’m still sure she hates blondes because she has black fur. Every time when I just passed her she hit me for nothing! And with her nails it is not just a normal splat…
Anyway, now when I have lived with them for few weeks I’ve noticed that actually Vinku is the ‘eveil’ one. She keeps dragging my shoes under my bed and her favourite place is in my closet, where she makes a mess, of course. But Minea has been an angel. I think she even likes me now days. Maybe because now Annuska has blonde hair as well so she has realized that blondes are great!

We almost missed midsummer this year. It came so fast and we didn’t have any plans until Friday night when we decided to make a road trip to Dungeness, a place in Southern England. The place was something you wouldn’t imagine to see here. Dungeness is a beautiful place with its own weird community. I believe that the nuclear power plant gives jobs for most of the people who live there. But all the buildings and houses were really weird. You should go there to understand what I mean…
After Dungeness we carried on to another beach and had our picnic there, enjoying the sun and drinking wine.
Our night ended at Aingeru’s house where he tried to barbeque with his Spanish friends… It took them a while to get the grill working. “How many Spanish do you need to start a grill?”

Then the most exiting news!
I’m going to Paris this Wednesday for a week. YAY!
Pffffffff, it’s going to be crazy to see all my French fries (specially one particular frenchie)! I can’t wait actually. I’m counting days and hours.
After Paris I’m going to fly to Helsinki on the same day. Damn, it will be a loooong day but definitely worth it. That week will be the only time I’m going to spend in Finland this summer. Thank god Simona and Sami are getting married so I have at least that short time with all my sweethearts there!



I go packing now. I’ll move all my things tomorrow to Holland Park, my new summer home.

Naroa, thank you so much for the text you wrote to my last post’s comments (people go read it). Beautifully, beautifully written and so true. But I’m happy that Malev, the Hungarian airlines, allowed 20 kilos so I had a change to take Buda and Pest with me. Lot of kisses and hugs Narooa.

Budapest blues

This is SSSSOOO weird. I don’t know what to think.
I came back to England last Tuesday. I wasn’t sad… I was more like in a shock. Adam, a good and my only true English friend, picked me up from the airport and I almost forgot that I just left Budapest because it was so good to see him and we had so much to talk about. The same happened with Annuska. But after all the catching up, when I finally had time to think that I’m not in Pest I felt reallreallyreally awful. So much things I love was left behind and so many people are not a part of my life the same way as they used to be. I’m sure all the Erasmus people know what I’m talking about…

After most of the French fries left Budapest some things changed a lot. The city wasn’t the same at all (of course not) and in a way it felt empty. So me and Andrea had to keep ourselves busy in other ways.
During my time in Budapest I learnt a lot about the ‘cultural life’ in Hungary, but museums, galleries, etc weren’t a part of my daily routines (I wonder why..???), so we decided to visit few important places and do other touristic stuff.. We went to the synagogue, saw the House of Holocaust (which was amazing!) and the Terror House. I think we saw all the possible statues and took loads of pictures…

During my last we also paid our last respects to Menza (oh, I miss the mashed wasabi potatoes!!), Morrison;s and Szimpla… We went to West Balkan and once again we went to Rio just to make sure it is as awful place as always. We went to jump around in Zold Pardon and had palinka with awful after effects. Andrea cooked rakott krumpli, which was amazing! We went for the Hungarian dances and found a really cool new bar called Corvintato. It’s on the roof of Kaiser sZupermarket at Blaha Lujsa ter and the view from there is very worth seeing! So go there if you still are in Budapest (is anyone there?). I also learnt how to dance rock’n’roll… My partner is/was amazing.

So what can I say about England…I went to London on Thursday with Aingeru.
I have really missed TATE modern so we went there and spent hours in Dali & Film exhibition. That guy was crazy and so genius. Later that day we went to see the graduate show of our university in Brick Lane, which wasn’t that impressive, even for my ‘arty eye’ but it was cool to see people from uni and spend the night in London.

Ok and then about the biggest news. Like most of you know I was applying for an internship from a designer called Martino Gamper. He really liked my portfolio when I sent it to him in March but things were still a bit up in the air while I was in Budapest. Yesterday I met him in his studio at Hackney. We sat, talked and drank wine. So I got the job. I’ll start in the beginning of next month and will work with him until the next semester. He has really cool projects coming up. I’ll tell you more about them when I know, but we will definitely work together for London Design Week for example (yay!!). Best part is that we got along very well.

So this is my life at the moment. I can’t wait for next month. Now I’m staying in Rochester with friends. This town is so sad...
But hey! London is calling!!!
And I do miss BudaBest.


Here are my babies, the chairs I designed during erasmus. The task was to design conference chair for any public place (schools, airports, restaurants...). I made two because I had time and me and my tutor always faught which one should I present in the final presentation ;). I liked Stor, the one with the storing place under the seat better, while he prefered the design with one armrest.

Viva La Budapest

Oh life, it is so beautiful.
I remember when I came here to the city that will always stay in my memories as one of the best places I have ever been. I was so nervous and actually disappointed because I had to leave England. What a silly girl I was!! This place has treated me so well and I love every single part of it, including the homeless people on the streets (even the one who always yells at me because I don’t want to give him any money), the angry cashiers in Match at Blaha Lujza and even the ticket officers who are always so scary.

I will cherish my memories forever.

Paloma wrote in her farewell email: ‘
So now it all ends, and is frustrating cause you feel that time goes away and you can’t do nothing at all! I now close a cycle in my life, a cycle where you had appeared! I had the opportunity to really know some of you more than others, but you are all important in this stage of my life. I will always look back and see you all in the party’s, in the Morrison (holy Morrison!) in the szimpla, and in some many other places!”

That is exactly how I feel.

So thank you all my angels from France, Italy, Spain, Finland, England, Israel, Germany, Greece, Cyprus and Hungary. I love you.

Puszi, muak, kiss, pusu, becot, kuss, bacio x 100000000