I don't have many
regrets from my exchange but not keeping my blog alive has to be one of them. I
loved my blog, still do, but towards the end it just became too much of a
stress than an enjoyable thing and when I got home, I was being too nitpicky,
wanting to ‘one day’ get it up to date. Now over 4 months have been and gone
and my blog is in the same shape so I am just going to post this! This blog has
been alive for over 2 years now and I am pretty proud of that achievement in
itself.
Woah did I say 4
months? Wow.
Time is a weird thing
for an exchange student and it doesn't stop when you get back to your home
country. I’ve done many things in
the last 4 months, things I’ve missed with people I missed and I hope I keep
the momentum and get around to writing about them. This year I am in year 12
which is the final year of High School, it was difficult at the start because
after a messy year 10 and year 11 in Finland, getting back into the swing was
hard. Still don't really have as good as a grip as I would like but hey I’m
getting through it. My first report card was pretty good and I am still somehow
maintaining A’s (except Research Project, but about that later).
I don't think I had a
honeymoon return phase but I still have my new perspective. You realise the
things you enjoyed how much you really enjoy them when you don't get to do them
in a year. Like camping and caching. I’ve been doing a lot of them! I enjoy
people getting my jokes again (sorry Finns) and having people understand the
pop culture references I make way too often.
I’ve been enjoying
spending time with my friends and family who I missed very much. A lot of my
friends now have their P’s (driving license) so that has been a new exciting
freedom for us all. I am learning to drive with Dad, I still need to complete a
few more hours of driving and then take a test. I have learnt quite quickly
though and quite enjoy driving.
I miss Finland every
day but I try to keep positive about it. It got me down a lot at the beginning
and didn't cope very well but routine helps. I still get to Skype, not as often
as I would like but I get email updates on their lives and as much as it pains
me not to be apart of them anymore, I know they’re happy and its all I can hope
for right now. I keep little reminders throughout my life, like maps, flags,
pictures and my lovely moomin mugs, which for a while I refused to even take
out of my cupboard for fear they would get broken.
I do miss the feeling
of accomplishment you get when you can have a conversation in another language.
To others my Finnish was not that great in the end but I was proud of my
achievements. In my last 3 months I greatly improved because of my dear little
sister, Liina, who I owe a good chunk of my Finnish too. She is only 9 (well 10
very soon, paljon onnea Liina!) but she was a ruthless teacher! We would spend 10
minutes on just one word, until I got it perfect! I owe the other huge chunk,
of course, to Liisa who really can’t get enough airtime on this blog. Without
her teaching at the beginning, I would not have been able to talk to Liina and
just the thought of that is horrible!
Everyone helped me in
my Finnish; in fact everyone helped me with everything! They may say the Finns
are cold (because hey it is cold!) and quiet but they have big warm hearts and
they will help people out and not expect anything in return. I am so grateful
for everything that everyone did for me when I was in Finland and I hope that I
managed to let everyone know that but here it is for the world to see. I cant
even list names, it would take too long. I don't think some people realise that
if you ask an exchange student over for coffee and pulla, you may just make her
whole week. Mostly I am grateful for my families, they all became like families
to me and I miss all their smiling faces.(you get used to the Finnish smiles
:P) I also owe a lot to my wonderful Rotary counsellor, Kalevi, who helped me
out through out the year. Seriously guys, cant say enough good things about
Rotary. Everyone at my school was great too, especially at the end when I
started seeming a little bit less odd. If I ever won a Nobel prize, my thank
you speech would be pretty long….
It still hasn't
finished though!!! My real family were also amazing <3 My mum sent me emails
almost everyday, just telling me what they were up too, I didn't reply often
but just knowing what was happening was a comfort for me, especially in the
beginning when Dad was still ill and then when the silly thing went and fell of
his bike and ended up in Hospital again! Talk about frequent flyer… I got
skyped in to a bit of Christmas and a few family dinners and just having the
support from my family was the best thing I could have hoped for. My Mum and
Dad came to visit me in October, which I hope to blog about and that was a
great experience for us all too. My mum got to learn 1-10 in Finnish from Liina
who couldn't really grasp that mum had no idea! They have both retained ‘kiitos’
and ‘hei hei’ though, Dad says whenever this song ever plays on the radio it
makes him think of Finland. I did a bit of travel with them and luckily we had
some snow too! I also missed my sisters terribly and that has got to be the
best thing about being back, I love you guys (even though I know you don't read
my blog!). My rotary counsellor here has also been a great help, before during
and even now. I owe so much thanks to so many people. This whole experience has
changed my life forever and I will never forget everyone who helped me have the
best time I could.
This post is messy and
doesn't have a very good flow, but it makes me feel happy. I know it sounds like
a goodbye but I promise its not. I will be back soon.
First day back with Dad and Mum
Clayton with the sunset
