Stories from the past

So here I am - on the other side of the world again, surrounded by mountains, water, forests and amazing people. It's been almost a year since I left Canada and the past year in Finland passed by fast. Well, to be honest, from time to time it felt this spring would never come but now it's almost summertime!

And I know, I never really finished the posts about my last months here but I can just say I had amazing Spring Break '11 (went to New Orleans, Las Vegas and San Francisco, got to see Bon Jovi in Vancouver etc), and I had great time with my friends in Canada until I got so sick I had to leave a few weeks earlier than I was supposed to.
 It was so frustrating, especially when the doctors in Finland couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. I was like "I flew all over the world just because of this and now you're telling me I'm perfectly fine?" But what can I say, prayers worked (thanks for them once again) and I haven't really been suffering from the stomach aches since or if I have, I've also known the reason.

 Anyway, then in that summer I went to the States to visit my best friend Elina in Washington DC and we had amazing time there. We also had the once-in-a-lifetime trip to New York and Wilmington, NC. Most of you know what happened during that trip, and if you don't, feel free to check out this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ8I5TVoftg (2:30) 
I can't say this too often - anything can happen. Especially if you're a finnish blonde ;-)

In Finland I started an university (of applied sciences) and I'm studying tourism. I'm doing my practicum here in Canada right now so I'm not just hanging out, this is hard work! Gotta love it. 
I enjoyed my time in the father's land as well, it was good to see my friends and family, get to meet new people, find a great church (and an amazing worship team there!) and live a year with my grandma. So you can just imagine how spoiled I was; "Mimmi, what do you want for breakfast?" "Mimmi, I cleaned up your room, made your bed and bought you some cookies". Wow, you don't get that kind of treatment every day. (J, you better try hahhaa).

But all the time when I was in Finland I knew I belong somewhere else. It was and it's still hard to explain and I won't try to open it up now more than that. One of the main reasons was the atmosphere of the country for sure. I remember going back to Finland last August (2011) and still being in that "Canadian mood" so greeting strangers on the street, smiling and looking people into eyes. You can't imagine how many weird looks I got, I felt so out of place. I've always been a happy person so maybe my personality is just more that North American type.


This text was only supposed to be an introduction and I tried to basically just explain where we paused last time with my Canadian Dream, now it's time to keep going. This is a lifetime dream, not only for these few months (or a year? God only knows :-) that I'm gonna spend here now. I'm thankful for every single day I get and we'll see how it goes. 
To be continued.


Ps, on my way home on the other day...