Now it's finally sinking in: the fact that I am in Finland now to stay. These past four years I've been as much abroad as at home, and it feels weird to know that (most likely) I will be studying in Helsinki University for the next six years. 2007-2008 I was in the States, 2009 in France, and 2010-2011 in Hungary (+ traveling all around Eastern Europe). To be honest, if someone had told me all that four years ago I would have laughed with disbelief. It is exciting to see where we will all be four years from now, in 2015!
I was ready and excited to come back to Finland after studying in Hungary for a year. Everything at home seemed almost new yet old, and I had began to appreciate and value everyday things such as cooking for myself. I was surprised at how easy and smooth the adjustment was, the first two weeks everything seemed to be nothing less than amazing.
Now the reality is raising its head. The excitement of being back has worn off and I'm beginning to miss Bible College more and more. I got so used to being among my peers 24/7 that I am now finding myself feeling quite lonely when all of my friends live at least 10 km away. I'm extremely thankful of my job and I like being there, but obviously the fact that I'm working half of the day - mostly evenings - makes me unable to go out with my friends that much or participate in our prayer group. And even when I'm with people I can feel like an outsider because I've been gone for a year and of course haven't been, or am not, included in certain things people talk about.
Please don't get me wrong, I have been warmly welcomed back home! I am blessed to know some of the most amazing people in the world. Before I had even landed on my arrival day, I had gotten a text message from Rachel and we had an ice cream as soon as we could. Tuulia and Aleksi invited me over to their apartment after church on Sunday for lunch, and they even had a little gift for me. Other people also sent me text messages welcoming me home, and you don't know how happy they all made me!
Another fun event took place last weekend, that I mentioned in my previous post. My sister graduated from junior college with very good grades, and we had family members join us to celebrate this. My mom's family and some other people came on Saturday, and my dad's family came on Sunday. I got to meet my new baby cousins that had been born while I was gone! It was an exhausting weekend after an exhausting week, but it was all worth it and at least I enjoyed it a lot.
