The Enlightenment

It’s the day when I’m flying to Sevilla. At the moment I’m sitting at a lunch bar in London Stanstedt airport and I’m thrilled! These last few days I’ve visited good friends all over southern Finland for the last time. First met this nice girl, Kalla, in Helsinki and we had some great time in Helsinki’s night life. The next day I left out to Turku where I met with another nice girl, Anna, who I went to Lapland together last winter. Unfortunately another friend, Marianne, who also was on that same Lapland journey, had recently broken her leg and couldn’t participate in our reunion :( But greetings to her as well!

The night in Turku was even better than the one in Helsinki and it was sad to leave to Tampere, my final destination in Finland. At Tampere I spent the night with my dear cousin Toni and her girlfriend Henna. The flight was the next day so I thought it would be wisest to get some rest. Toni and Henna live right next to the train station, where the bus to airport leaves, so it was really nice from them to accommodate me for the last night. Thanks!

 

     The last person I talked to in Finland!                             Moment of truth :)

You can take my word when I tell you that the last 12 hours before the flight I started to get a bit excited! Actually, when I stepped on the bus to the airport I could say I was terrified :D Yes, I had travelled by myself earlier never in this magnitude. That, combined with the fact that I don’t like flying, the airport terminal was actually the crappiest I’ve ever been to and the flight was the cheapest one I could’ve gotten no wonder I was terrified :D

Then, during the flight it really struck my consciousness: This is it. This is really it. There's no coming back! I was so thrilled. I was enlightened. The feeling was just incredible: anxious, relieved, happy, sad, scared and enthusiastic all at the same time! Plus, already in London it was so “hot” (+11 celcius compared to -14 in Tampere) that I was sweating like a pig :D So yes, if someone asks me should he/she go to an exchange to another country, I’d say definitely yes only based on this feeling you get even before you reach your destination! It’s crazy!

Soundtrack: ShinyToy Guns – Major Tom

Standing there alone, the ship is waiting.
All systems are go. Are you sure?
Control is not convinced, but the computer,
has the evidence:
No need to abort. The countdown starts.