STORIES

Photo Mountain Challenge: Selecting the Best from a Zillion Images

If you love photography but feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of your images, you’re not alone. Over the years, my photos have piled up into what feels like a towering photo mountain. Now, I’m about to climb that mountain to select the very best — the gems worth printing, sharing, and preserving. During the…

Carrying a Sauna in My Pocket: A Memoir of Finland’s Warmest Tradition

Most Finns have their own sauna stories to tell. Here are some of mine. As someone born in Finland, I see the sauna as much more than just a place to sweat. It’s a space for relaxation, reflection, and rootedness— a tradition passed down through generations. Sauna is where babies were born, the sick were…

What makes a friend feel like home? And are you also that friend to yourself?

When we live across cultures, we meet amazing, diverse people. Still, forming lasting, true, or like-minded friendships can be hard. So much depends on our history, personality, location, language, role, life stage, and luck too. keep CONNECTING with an open heart During my 14 years abroad, I’ve found friends in all sorts of places: our…

10 fun language learning techniques I’ve tried: what works (and what doesn’t)

Languages open doors to new places, perspectives, connections, and possibilities. But learning a language is tough—especially without daily exposure, like through family or work. There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to learning a language. In addition to more common learning methods, you can spice up the learning by combining your interests. How about singing karaoke…

Our Overnight Stay in a Traditional Mountain Lodge in The Alps

The Spitzmeilenhütte stands at 2087 meters above sea level in St. Gallen, Switzerland, about 70 km from Zurich as the crow flies. It’s a bit better equipped than many other mountain huts but still offers the experience of staying in ascetic setting surrounded by mountains. We booked our stay there already in the spring for…

Why I love being in nature? 11 reasons to get outdoors

While I was creating an illustration of “The Great Outdoors”, I started to think more about why I like being outdoors and why nature is so important to me. I share the reasons and the illustration here in pieces that make up the whole picture in the end. I wonder if you can relate to…

Art can inspire change and action to improve the environment

Each of us can promote the wellbeing of our environment. In addition to our daily choices, we can influence by creating art that evokes emotions, thoughts and actions. I introduce here two environmental art projects that are close to my heart. Both of them were made years ago, but they’re still relevant and even more…

Diving Into the See of Wanderlust

The term Wanderlust originates from the German words wandern (to hike) and Lust (desire). Today it’s mostly used in connection with traveling – however, Wanderlust can have much broader and deeper meanings, and it can even serve as a life philosophy. Here are some examples of what and how. Upside Down artwork by Sibylla Walpen. The Bernese Alps in…

The ‘Stranger’s Freedom’ and 10 ways how it manifests itself

We know that life abroad comes with difficulties. For example, we may have limitations that the locals don’t have, and we may miss people from our country of origin and sometimes feel like we don’t belong. But the other, bright✨, side of the coin is the freedom the foreignness can bring (of course depending on…

Find a treasure trove beyond routines and achievements

Habits and goals can be the cornerstones for maintaining focus and moving things forward. However, nowadays we talk so much about them that we may forget there’s much more to life! If we are always doing things efficiently with goals in mind and our days revolve around rituals, we can start to feel exhausted, restricted,…

What do a hike and a design project have in common, and how to prepare for both?

I love hiking and I love designing. Their processes resemble each other. Sometimes a hike or a project can be so simple that not much planning is needed, but if it’s a bit more demanding work/route, the journey might go as described below. Photo of me in the mountains taken by Mirta Kess The different…

Breathe in… Breathe out… Repeat

Breathing is the first and last thing we do here on earth. And there’s the whole lifetime between for us to learn to breathe better – in ways that improve our health and quality of life. Better breathing helps us to relax, sleep, digest, remember, focus, move… the list goes on. Fortunately, it’s never too…

25 ideas to brighten up the grayer days (that don’t look like these photos)

“What makes you happy in the rainy and dark autumn days?” a fellow nature-lover asked on Instagram. She mentioned photography and creativity as examples, and we agreed to make a list of things that bring us joy during this season. Of course, there is no one way to “do autumn”. Some take a more stoic approach, running in…

The many colors of the Sisu courage

You may have heard about the Finnish term/mentality called sisu – described as extraordinary courage, grit and resilience. Like an inner fire driving you to reach almost impossible goals. Sisu can be seen as a verb, it’s determination in action*. Sisu is often associated with toughness and masculine power but it also has a colorful and softer side that deserves to be shed some light on. A…

Taking a swim for a fresher feeling + testing 17 outdoor swimming places in Zurich

Because I come from ‘the country of thousands of lakes’ = Finland, I’m used to swimming in natural waters. The water wasn’t often that warm but there were saunas for warming up when needed. The recipe for a perfect summer day in my childhood: First to the sauna, then to the lake, then back to the…

Day 2 in Engadin: The Lake St. Moritz and the UNESCO World Heritage railway trail

Join the two-days trip to the eastern Swiss Alps! Read the first day of the trip (if you haven’t already). After the breakfast and leaving the little hotel nestled in the wooded mountains, I almost jumped on the wrong train because my train was late – which is rather rare in Switzerland. The couple waiting with…

Day 1 of a trip to Engadin: Buildings full of stories and horse riding along the rivers

Join me on a two-day trip to the eastern Swiss Alps! The train travel from Zurich to Zuoz took about 2.5 hours, and was full of gorgeous views of mountains, rivers and towns. Lake Walen, Heidiland, Klosters and other places passed by, until the train turned towards the valleys of Engadin. I got off the…

Go solo – why some trips are better alone?

Traveling with family or friends is fun but sometimes it’s good to go to places alone too. Even a day trip can do wonders! Here you can read five positive perspectives of solo travel: 1. SIMPLICITY The trip will be simpler to plan and execute as you don’t need to negotiate with anyone. You are…

Cherish your relationship with your country of residence

A new country is like a new relationship. Sometimes the chemistry is there right away, sometimes not. Like in relationships, getting to know each other helps to understand other one better. Your own attitude also affects the development of the relationship. Every experience of living in a foreign country is unique. How each person experiences…

Your energy is your currency – how to fill your spark account

There are many ways to fill our energy assets in addition to healthy nutrition, sleep and exercise. Make your own energy source list and check out 10 ways to boost your energy.

WOOP your wish come true. Wish-Outcome-Obstacle-Plan

The WOOP is a simple, easy and yet effective method to make your wishes come true. The abbreviation comes from the words W – Wish, O – Outcome, O – Obstacle and P – Plan.

Life Skill Souvenirs from Overseas

What can you learn from life abroad – when ‘sailing the seas of overseas’? In the beginning of this year – before this global crisis was on – I started listing things I’ve learned during my family’s* nine years abroad, and I’ve noticed that these qualities are helpful also in the volatile and restricted times…

15+ Sunny Sides of Switzerland That Make You Want to Stay

Jump directly to the part “The Zurich Coffee Place Recommendations”, updated 29.5.2025 What are the best things about where you live? By listing the positives of your living place, you gain a helpful perspective that lets you see the good around you. The list can be especially useful when you’re struggling with your current location,…

The power of positive feedback

After one particularly long day, I noticed a review of my book ‘Greetings from Abroadland’ on (a Finnish) blog called ‘Kirjeitä Shanghaista’. It made me happy and humbled. How amazing that the book has made a positive impact! And that the blogger had taken time to write the review. It made me also to think…

The best teachers

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”– Pablo Picasso Every child is also a teacher. Here are things we can learn from kids: A child looks things from different perspectives and surprises in many ways. Kids can be delighted because of the rain, when many…

At home in Abroadland

How could we have and cultivate the feeling of home, no matter where we live – to carry it with us like crabs carry their shells? Read the post ‘Feeling at home in Abroadland’ I wrote for Thexpatmagazine.com, a great source about traveling and living abroad!

15 things I miss about living in Singapore

“Live for the moments you can’t put into words.” There is still some winter left in Europe but I’m already excited about the spring and the green that comes with it… I mind traveled back to the tropics and listed things I miss about living in Singapore: And then there are also all the personal…

5 QUICK TIPS FOR A GOOD VISIT ’BACK HOME’

Edited 11.7.2019 Holidays are coming and so are the visits to see family and friends! Here are 5 quick tips for a successful visit ’back home’: If you will be visiting your friends and family in your native country / home town soon, I hope you will have a great time! 💛

When you move abroad, pack these qualities with you

I listed 10 most helpful qualities to have when you move and live abroad: Do you have anything common with the features of a chameleon?

Keepsake suitcase

For a long time I’ve been planning to do keepsake suitcases for my kids. Places to store some of their childhood items. I think suitcases fit well for a travelling family – they remind of the adventures that have happened and those that will happen. Plus the suitcases can look beautiful! I’ve now found a…

Should we go or should we ‘no’? Tools for making any big decision

Should we move or should we stay? Should I start my own business?… Decision making is especially challenging when the choice affects many people. These tips can help you to make good decisions!

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