I cannot believe that I have been here for over 3 months already. This post was meant to be a 3 month post but I had some issues with my computer (all fixed now), so it is a bit late. Sorry about that!
These three months have been completely amazing. I have done so many new and fun things and met so many people. Everything has been really good and I don't have anything really negative to say. We were warned before we left in our orientation that there was this homesickness wave. In the first few months everything is going really well, you're in a new place and it will take a while for the excitement and novelty to wear off. But it will, and maybe around the 3 or 4 month mark the homesickness will set in. Everything will feel weird and different, and wrong, and you may want to just go home and give up. But then after a bit of time things will start to seem better, and after not long everything is amazing again until you leave. I think I have been doing pretty well. There have been a few times that have been hard, there always will be, but I have gotten through them. I can't say I have been super homesick, I have been calling my parents less and even texting them much less, but there have been a few occasions where I just want to be where everything is normal. One of the weirdest things is that sometimes I will see someone very briefly, just out of the corner of my eye or as I ride by on my bike, and they will remind me a lot of someone. It could be anything, a style of clothing, a hair flip, the way they walk or talk, but it is enough for me to really think of someone that I know. And if I look again back at them or look a little bit more it is gone and I can't see it anymore. It can remind me of people that I don't really know very well, or people that I am really close to. It doesn't happen all the time but when it does its really weird. I feel like things are already starting to get a bit better, and they were never really bad, so I am happy about that. I have so many things to look for. For example in only an hour I am leaving to head to Turku to get one of four buses that will take me and many other exchange students up to Lapland (Northern Finland) for a few days. It is a 16 hour drive, through the night. It will be very long, but I am really looking forward to the time we will have up there. There are so many awesome activities planned! In December my family is going to see Lord of the Rings live onstage. I will be switching families on Dec. 1st, so that will be kind of nice to have a completely new start. I am really happy with my current family, but my next one also seems nice. At the same time I have a new period starting, the 3rd one starts on Dec. 3rd. And Christmas is coming up! I am super excited to have a Finnish Christmas, and learn about the traditions here. There are already a bunch of lights up around the town, and there's a tree that I'm sure will be decorated at some point that was recently put up in the old town right near my house. I also went to Stockholm with my family and a few friends in early November. I have one post that is almost done, I just need to add some pictures. I will try to get that one done along with one about our Lapland tour in the next few weeks once I am back. Comments are closed.
|
AuthorHi! My name is Katerina, and I am on exchange in Finland for a year! Archives
April 2019
|