"Sweet Caroline du du duu..."

YAAAAY my entrance exams are over!
 Finally I can do the things that I've been wanting to do for so long. I can meet up with my friends without feeling bad that I should be reading instead, edit all my pictures and knit socks... ah freedom feels so good! :) Now I just need to wait few more weeks till I get the results. So keep your fingers crossed for me please!

The girl in these pictures is my friend Karoliina. I've known her since year... 2001 or 2002? Anyway. A loooong looong time! That whole time she's been my next door neighbor.
Oh we've grown up together playing and doing silly things. We've grown from those innocent first graders, to annoying teenagers and now suddenly we are so called "adults"... WHAAT?!?! Time goes fast!! And it has been amazing to see this young woman to grow up and become absolutely gorgeous lady!

I really like these photos and I hope you like them too! :)

Enjoy your weekend!!! xxxx

                                                                                                  with love, Rowina




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Manu, the cutest dog in the world

LOOK AT THIS DOG?!!? THERE'S NO WAY YOU CAN NOT LOVE THIS ABSOLUTELY CUTE FURRY CREATURE!!!

His name is Manu and he is a spanish water dog. He is my friend's dog.
Manu is the silliest dog I've ever met. I think that fur makes him look even goofier. <3 When he's been trimmed he looks slightly "smarter". But personally...I prefer the fur to be like this haha! He looks like a little bear that I would love to cuddle all day long.
Who agrees with me?
Can't wait to have my own dog... though it won't happen till in few years, meh!

Off to sleep now, so good night/ good morning (to my Aussie friends) everyone! <3


                                                                                                             with love, Rowina





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Sunflower field part 1

Yellow, yellow, everywhere yellowwwww!!

One weekend we went to the sunflower fields to take some pictures. Oh how much I love those flowers... They are so pretty! :) But I just hate the fact that all the bees and bugs are attracted on them too.. and me and bees are not good pals....And we'll never be.
Any how, had a great time with these three! We took lots of photos, so I'll have to do two posts of them.
Here's the first batch!











How cute is this dog????????? <3 <3 <3

Have a great week!! xx

                                                                                                        with love, Rowina


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Friday adventure

Bon Iver - re: Stacks


I've been back in Finland about for few weeks now. And it feels good.
I'm so happy to be able to hang around with my friends and family. But don't get me wrong. I do miss Australia.. a lot! But it's good to be home and there's few exciting things coming up so at least there's something to look forward to!

These photos are taken from a little pond that we happened to find with my friend. The "dock/pier/whatever" was so broken and unstable that I'm surprised that we both survived without falling into the water. Especially because I'm known of my very bad balance and being the clumsiest person in the world. 

Anyways I love all the photos that we took. I'm so glad that I have a friend who loves to take pictures as much as I do, and is ready to do (really) stupid (and dangerous) stuff just to get a cool pic.
Hope you like the photos! 






Woooooooooooooooooooooow.... steaaaaaaaaaaady.











Found this little friend on our way back to the car! :)

Have a great weekend everyone!!!
                                                                                                 with love, Rowina
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Melbourne Royal Botanic Gardens

Josh Pyke - Leeward Side
"Mill go there, sit there!!" 
"OMG OMG ROWINA I'M SURE THERE WAS A SPIDER"
"I don't care.... GO!!!!!!"
----

MILL, GIRL FROM NORTH YORKSHIRE, I MISS YOU SO MUCH. Your pretty face and your weird mind!!

---

So about month ago (that's like ages ago!! o.O )  me and Mill decided to go to take some pictures to Botanic Gardens. Neither of us really have been there properly, though we had been living in Melbourne over a year already... Whoopsie daisy.
It's such beautiful place to walk around, explore and just enjoy the beautiful weather. I think that day we ended up walking more than 7km. No wonder we were so tired in the end, hah!













Follow my blog with Bloglovin For those who did not know.. I'm back in Finland!! This time, for good! I must admit, it feels weird.. Not just because I've been feeling crap lately as I have the strongest flu I've ever had, but bcause I still don't understand that I'm back on the other side of the world. Saying goodbyes was hard, but at the same time I didn't feel as bad as I thought I would. Maybe because I knew I will be back on December 2016! :P Yep that's the plan ;)

But yeah it's crazy how time flies when you are enjoying your life. 3months turned to be 15months... And now it has come to an end and here I am, thinking all the memories, all the friends I've made and the person that I've become.
That most spontaneous decision of my life, on May 2014, to come over to Australia without any plan or what so ever, turned out to be the best decision that I've ever made.

Thank you to my host family for the warm welcome and I'm so lucky to be part of their family. I miss all of you. Especially you H, my little buddy! I am the luckiest girl to find the man of my dreams from the other side of the world. It was about the time for you to stop hiding and come in my life, haha!! And I am so blessed to have all these beautiful people around me that I've made friends with in Australia. Now I have friends literally all around the world and that just means that I need to travel more so I can see all of you again ;)

Thank you all for this amazing experience. Without you, it wouldn't be the same!!!

"home is the person or place you want to return over and over"

"You get a strange feeling when you’re about to leave a place. Like you’ll not only miss the people you love but you’ll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you’ll never be this way ever again"

"The world lies in the hands of those who have the courage to dream and who take risk of living out their dreams – each according to his or her own talent "

"Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, no matter how small. And in return, life and travel – leaves marks on you. Most of the time, those marks on your body or on your heart are beautiful. Often, though, they hurt"

"You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place."

                                             Till we see each other again,
                                                                                  with love, Rowina

Autumn & Mill

One day while waiting for Kelley to come down to the city, with Mill we decided to enjoy the colors of autumn and the benches at Fitzroy Gardens.

Grampians National Park

Few months ago me, Vanessa and Mill(S) had a little 2 day trip to the Grampians National Park. It was one of the best trips so far!! It included lots of chips, not double or even triple but FOUR chocolate muffins, sweating as hell, getting lost in the middle of nowhere, asking directions in little towns, freeeeeeezing cold night --> no sleep at all, waking up at 4.30am to the fact that our tent was surrounded by 30 kangaroos sniffing around the campsite, praying that Vanessa would not kill us with her driving skills (just joke my luv), taking lots of pictures, and to capture those cool pictures we could have died as we were standing on the edge of a cliff facing a few hundred meters long drop and of course eating ice cream.
All in all just one of the funniest trip I've had with my penguin fwends. :)




























Oh and in few days I'll be in Finland!! Imagine that! Time flieeees!

Have a great day :)

                                                                                                        xoxo, Rowina

GREAT OCEAN ROAD

John Legend - Save Room


Moikka!
Tällänen pikainen throw backi tonne vuoden alkuun ja meijän road trippiin Great Ocean Roadille. Lähettiin sinne aikaisin lauantai aamuna ja tultiin takasin maantaina.
Tää on ollu mun bucket listillä jo jonkun aikaa ja nyt vihdoin päästii toteuttaa se!
Huh huh, voin kyl kertoo et näkymät oli sanoin kuvaamattomat. Pyysin Filii pysähtyy varmaa kilsan välein, koska halusin ottaa kuvia. Ne maisemat oli jotain nii käsittämätöntä. En oo ikin nähny mitään niin kaunista! Tolla reissulla  alko taas arvostaa elämää ja luontoa! Mut tosiaan, jos koskaan ootte tääl Melbournessa päin niin käykää ihmees ajelee Great Ocean Roadilla! Ite haluun mennä takas taas ens kesänä, koska mult jäi nii monta kohtaa kuvaamatta hahah!!
Mä nyt meen takas kirjojen pariin... Joten hyvää viikkoa kaikille! Nähdään Suomessa sitte n. 3 viikon päästä, IIIIIIK!!!!


English:
A quick throw back to our road trip to Great Ocean Road.
So after New Year on Friday 2nd of January we decided to tick one of the things on my bucket list and it was the trip to the one of the world's scenic coastal drives!

We were on the road from Saturday to Monday. We stayed at Ocean Grove because all the accommodations on Great Ocean Road were booked out or the prices were way too expensive.
During those few days we enjoyed John Legend's amazing songs, the beach, the huge waves (I almost drowned... just kidding), watching the surfers riding waves, beautiful scenery along the road, 12 Apostles, waterfalls, sleepy koalas and Fil's favoutites, lighthouses. It was such a good trip and I wouldn't mind on doing it again. :)

I love the kangaroo/opossum/echidna/koala signs!










Have a great week!!!

                                 with love, Rowina

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20 FACTS ABOUT ME

Winterbourne - Sunshine



1. My parents are from the Philippines so I'm 100% filipina. BUT I've been living my entire life in cold cold cold Finland. No, I wasn't born in Finland though. I was born in Germany. And my surname, San Juan, is spanish. A bit confusing yeah?

2. About my name: it's probably the most difficult name to write/pronounce. Rowina San Juan. It doesn't look hard, right? But the problem is that when it's pronounced no one knows how to write it! Here in Australia people write my name  as "Rowena" which is understandable as that is the "normal" way to write that name.. :D But in Finland .. oh dear. I've been called "Robina, Rokina, Rosita, Roina, Ruina, Lorina... the list is endless. And then my surname, San Juan. It's pronounced "San Huan" because in Spanish J is pronounced like H. And it's confusing because the words are separated.. so some may think that "San" is my second name and "Juan" is my last name. Or that San is some kind of title etc.. So for example on my bank card it says " San Rowina Marie Juan" :)

3. I love food. Especially ice cream. I could live only with ice cream...

4. I love to take pictures. Photographing is one of my favorite things to do. I'm good behind the camera but on front of the camera I'm super awkward. I just have no idea what to do... weird.

5.  I'm a person who rather be 30 minutes too early than 10 minutes late. Even when I was a kid I used to be at school 7.30 even though school wouldn't start till 8.15.... 

6. In new situations where there are lots of people, and I don't know most of them, I can be really shy. I'm usually the one standing in the corner all alone. I'm just not good at starting conversations. So if someone else starts the conversation then I'm fine.

7. I love kids!

8. I have the weirdest memory ever.  Some things, more like daily things,I forget them really easily. That's why my calendar is always full of stuff, because if I don't write things down, I will most likely forget them. And that's not good... How many birthdays I've forgot.. It's really embarrassing but I can't help it!!!! :(
But on the other hand when it comes to studying I have decent memory. I write notes with different colors and I can remember my notes just by thinking the color that I used for those notes. This is the reason why I'm so interested about brains, and how we learn and how our memory works.

9. This is really Asian thing to say but I don't care: I love maths. I don't know why but I've always liked it. I've  like to solve things.. I just like numbers haha. But must say, I suck at mental calculation!

10. I'm not a very girly girl.

11. I love people watching. I love to be in a crowded place and just watch all the people passing by. Usually I wonder what they are thinking, where they've been and where they are going. I like to make up my own little happy stories in my mind. :)

12. I have no sense of rhythm. It's just terrible. Just terrible. I can't sing (OK when I'm in the shower or cleaning I like to think I'm the best singer everrrrrrr), I can't play any instrument...Oh and I can't dance.

13. I hate bugs. Especially all the bugs here in Australia... In Finland we only have cute bugs.... 

14. I'm afraid of darkness, height and their combination: deep water.

15. If I could choose a super power it would be ability to fly. I've always dreamed about flying. Damn, I envy birds.

16. I'm an animal lover. Dogs, cats, ferrets, bunnies... <3 <3 <3

17. I'm really awkward on the phone. I just don't know how to talk normally on the phone :D "emm hi emm yea umm where are you umm ok well yeaaaah idk why I called bye...."

18. I need to start everything with my right foot. Getting out of the bed, putting shoes on.. I must start with the right one. o.O

19. I love to laugh. OK who wouldn't? But like the feeling when you are with someone and they make you laugh.  :)

20. I love traveling. The feeling of being in a new place, seeing different things that you are used to, getting new experiences and having new friends.

Hope you liked it!

                                                                                            with love, Rowina


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Hi again!

Vance Joy - Riptide

Hi!!
 I'm still alive. hehee. I'm so sorry! I've been really really really busy and haven't had really time to sit and edit photos ( which I have thousands on my hard drive waiting for me... iik) and write my blog. But anyway here I am!
I've decided to write only in English (your welcome Leslie!). It's easier this way and it saves so much time. BUT please be patient and don't mind about my huge grammar mistakes. I suck in grammar... even in Finnish. So just imagine what a big struggle English grammar is for me. Anyways, I'M TRYING. And I'm only doing this for you, my international friends <3 So just ignore the mistakes hah! There will be heaps of them :P

OK.. Soo what has been going on... yes I am still an Au Pair! I'm still with the same family and will be here as long as they need me :) Harrison is going to kinder 3 days in a week now. He's enjoying that a lot!!! He's growing up so fast!! :O And while he's at kinder I take care of other 2 kids from different families... So yea, my hands are pretty full hah! And though as much as I love all the kids that I take care of, after all this nannying I don't want to have my own kids at least for another 3 to 4 years!! Sorry mom, no grandchildren for you for awhile...

Umm what else. Oh I'M GOING TO FINLAND IN MAY! I'm going there for 3 weeks to see all my family and friends. I'm soooooooooooo excited!!!!!!!! And finally my boyfriend is going to meet my family! Ok, he has met them via Skype, but that's not the same thing as in person :P So please family San Juan, behave well when we come over. I don't want you to scare him away lol. Just joking mom, dad and Nici.. or am I?
And when I'm in Finland I'm going to do my entrance exam for Uni. Right now I really have the feeling that I want to study psychology or cognitive science so I'm going to try to get into school.. I reckon I won't have really big chances to get in (last year 55 out of 1012 got in.. that's 5%!! no pressure...) as my reading hasn't been that productive. But I'm still going to try and really doing my best to study here as hard as I can. The thing is that it's just not easy to study when you are in a city that has everyday something going on and the sun is out and so on.. but yep. I'll do my best!
And after the trip to Finland, on the way back to Melbourne we stop in Paris, France. I'm quite excited about that as I've never been in Paris!! Can't wait to take 1291293081209 pictures!!!!! And eat all the food.. and hear that beautiful language. <3 oh oh oh.

And theeeeeeeen.. if you haven't heard yet, YES I AM STAYING FOR ANOTHER YEAR HERE IN AUSTRALIA! I'm just not ready to come home yet. Though every now and then I miss my family, my friends, cold weather (OK that's a lie) and my little furry ferrets, I have my life here and I still wanna keep going! And I haven't even had the chance to travel around this amazing country. So my plan is to stay here for another year, travel a bit in December/January and then go back to Finland in May(?) 2016 and then start my studies in Uni. This is my rough master plan! Sounds good doesn't it? :P

Ok right now I'm just shit chatting so I better stop... Anyways life is all good here, haven't got eaten by crocodiles and still living a dream.  Just loving my life. :)
I'll try to do another post soon(ish) but as you've noticed my tries always fail... but keep hoping, maybe I'll surprise you ;)

Till then,
Love you all!
                                                                                                         xoxo, Rowina

Here are some random pictures along the way...

The girl on the left is my little penguin fweend. The third one is behind the camera.. And she's now back to Germany :( I miss you a lot penguin #3 x

               

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