Dear Helsinki, visiting you made me thoughtful. You surprised me with your Street Art District, you frightened me with your massive buildings in Katajanokka and you touched my heart with your peculiar language. All these long words and names that I was unable to keep in mind and every time Aleksi* asked me where I’d spent the day I had to describe the place because I had already forgotten its name again. The only Finnish words I could remember were “Kiitos” (Thank you) and “Moi” (Hello) – they were short enough. 😉 *Aleksi was my wonderful Airbnb host – I will tell you more about him below. The trip was very different from what I had expected. I wanted to visited the “Helsinki Design Week” but then everything turned out differently: I arrived with stomach ache and a general feeling of illness which forced me to slow down and listen to my body carefully. Instead of entering the fray I tried to avoid crowded places. I walked along Helsinki’s lakes and sea-coast ate a lot …