Great Keppel Island

Moikka!

It's been what - two months (!?) - since my last post. Woops. And sorry.
I don't even know what else to say, so much has happened! Safari was amazing, school's been good, I turned 18 last month (hehe): everything's just how it's supposed to be.

Eeeeexcept for the fact that I only have 51 days left in Australia and the thought of having to leave scares the crap out of me.

I have, hands down, had the best year of my life. It's only just now, though, that I've genuinely started enjoying school and the company of the people there (I couldn't be myself around them before). So whywhywhywhy is it now that I have to leave? When everything's going so well?

I will miss everyone so much, and I hate knowing that while I'm going to remember and miss every single one of my school friends - even people I didn't talk to that much - their lives will go on, they will forget. It's me who'll always remember the year 2014-2015 and the people who made it special, but for them it'll soon be just another school year (and I will become that-some-tall-maybe-Swedish-chick). I will miss everyone, simply because they were a part of my daily routines; they were what made everything "normal".

People keep asking me why I don't want to go "home" and how I can not be missing my family and friends, but think about it; it's been almost a year - 310 days without them. You get used to it. Fall in love with the place, the culture. Start feeling at home. I couldn't believe how much I started missing Melbourne - home - when I was away for three weeks on Safari. The restaurants, corner shops, coffee and buildings... It's my home now, my second home. (Exchange year in a nutshell: you leave home, cry, try to adapt to the new environment, cry, homesickness, cry, things start getting better, yay, things start getting amazing, yay??, time to leave, cry, arrive in your home country, cry, don't feel like home anymore, cry, miss your exchange friends, cry -- fun isn't it?) Anyway, I do think it's my personality as well: I just don't get homesick that easily. Doesn't mean I'd love my Finnish family and friends any less though :-)

Hahaa I just reread the text above and well, it sounds awfully like a goodbye speech. Geez, I'm not going anywhere yet. I just have to remember to breath hahah. 51 is a lot. It can be. If I make the most of it.

Pictures from Great Keppel Island! It was a paradise.

SUN-BLEST

1.It was a Thursday. Chet Faker. Best friend. St Kilda.
2.It was a Monday evening. I had just arrived in Brisbane. Two of my favourite people and a wonderful, wonderful dog.

3.St Kilda's twilight market, just before Chet Faker. Eating spuds in a hurry.

4.It was a Monday, the day of the annual Swimming carnival. Pancakes and friends.

5.Best friend. My overalls.


Apua apua kiire kiire! Tajusin äsken just ennen nukkumaanmenoa, että pitäähän mun tänään vielä laittaa postausta tulemaan - lähden huomenaamulla Safarille (=ei uusia postauksia ainakaan kolmeen viikkoon). En oo oikeen edes sisäistänyt vielä koko juttua, mutta luulenpa, että ensimmäisen kymmenen tunnin bussilla ajelun jälkeen alkaa totuus valjeta :-D Huomenna Adeleideen, sieltä maan halki Ulurun kautta pohjoiseen, josta sitten itärannikkoa pitkin takaisin Melbourneen. Huijjui, pitäkää peukut pystyssä! Kuukauden päästä nähdään :-)

Tasmania

Tasmania oli ihana, en voi muuta sanoa. Tosi kaunis. Oli ihana tuntea kylmä ja puhdas tuuli kasvoilla ekaa kertaa kahdeksaan kuukauteen, juosta peiton alle koko matkalaukun sisältöön kääriytyneenä, huomata ihmisten tuntevan toisensa kaupungilla ja kävellä yöllä kaupungilla ilman pelkoa, että nurkan takaa juoksisi joku puukko kädessä.

Suurin osa ajasta meni Rotary-konferenssin puhujia kuunnellen, mutta ehdittiin onneksi käymään upeassa MONAssa (museum of old and new art) ja viettämään aikaa ihan vaan vaihtarien kesken. Rotary jakaa siis maat niin Suomessa kuin Australiassakin districteihin, ja mun districtin 9800 vuosittainen konferenssi järjestettiin tänä vuonna meidän vaihtarien onneksi Hobartissa.

No mutta, tässä muutamat kuvat ennen kuin nukahdan. Silmät painuu kiinniiiiiiiiiiii hahah, toivottavasti tykkäätte! :-)

Tasmania was small, cold and beautiful - absolutely lovely. 

Kahvia @Tasmania

Coffee in Tasmania with a dear friend and a smile on my face.

MOOMBA FESTIVAL 2015

Heippa ja moikka! Ihan pikasesti tulin lisäämään kuvat tänpäiväiseltä Moomba-paraatilta - yritän meinaan mennä kerrankin ajoissa nukkumaan. Vähän erilaisempia (= värikkäitä) kuvia tällä kertaa, toivottavasti silti tykkäätte! Mua kysyttiin postaamaan useemmin, ja vaikka se on tosi hankalaa ajanpuutteen sun muun takia, lupaan yrittää :-) Hyvää yötä!

Hello (and goodbye)! Just wanted to quickly come and show you a couple of photos from today's Moomba parade before I go to bed. They are a bit different from my usual ones (= colourful hahah) but I hope you dig them anyway. Also, I was asked to post more often and even though it really is hard, I promise to give it a try and be a bit more active :-) Goodnight x

Chet Faker @Palais Theatre

Moikka!

Takana kiva viikko. Maanantaina meillä oli koulussa tuntien sijaan Swimming Carnival (year 12 pukeutuu ja uidaan kilpaa muiden tupien kanssa) (tajusin, ettei toi lause sano varmaan kenellekään yhtään mitään, uusi postaus mun koulusta paikallaan?), keskiviikkona pidin rotarykokouksessa esitelmän mun tähänastisesta vuodesta, torstaina nähtiin Julien kanssa Chet Faker ja perjantaina otin omaa lomaa ja mentiin shoppailemaan. Kiirettä siis pitää, muttei valittamista.
Ensi torstaina lähden Tasmaniaan viikonlopuksi, senjälkeisenä maanantaina muutan kolmanteen hostperheeseen, sitten Canberraan ja 29. päivä vihdoin nokka kohti Safaria. Aika menee niin nopeesti, että vähän ahdistaa - Safarin jälkeen mulla on vaan pari hullua kuukautta jäljellä! Ja Australia on niin kaukana, että joudun odottamaan ainakin vuoden ennen kuin tuun takasin. Ihan kamalaa :-D itkettää ajatuskin. Äh, tä on just tätä: lähdetään kotimaasta, koetaan koti-ikävä- ja kulttuurishokki-itkut, sopeudutaan, rakastutaan ja sitten itketään, koska ei haluta lähteä. Mulla on elämä täällä.

Heyoo

I've had quite a busy week - Swimming Carnival, Rotary presentation, Chet Faker.. - and it seems like the next weeks are going to be even busier. I'm spending next weekend in Tasmania, changing host families the Monday after, then driving up to Canberra with my current host family, and after that it'll be time for Safari (a three-week road trip around Australia). Time goes by way too fast, I'm terrified to be honest - I don't want to go anywhere :-D I have my life here.

Photos from Thursday's amazing Chet Faker concert

Thinking out loud

Maybe it's because I somehow wasn't mentally prepared to find happiness here, or maybe I'd simply forgotten what being completely, utterly happy feels like, nevertheless, I feel stupid coming here once again, having nothing else to write about. It's overwhelming really, this feeling, it confuses me yet makes me smile. To feel so good about myself, to feel so blessed and grateful - I never thought I'd experience anything like this.

I've changed so much during these seven months. I've learnt so much, felt so much. When I came here I had just experienced my first real (and awful) breakup and even though there was a lot going on, I still couldn't keep my mind off it completely. I don't really remember much about my first months here, wish I'd kept a diary or something, but I'm pretty sure I was feeling a lot more miserable than I can now recall. I was having trouble being myself both in and out of school which slowly started turning into homesickness. I have a vivid memory of myself crying on the phone with my mom, telling her I just wanted to go home. It was scary, being on the other side of the world and wanting something so badly, something I couldn't have. After that phone call I haven't said those words again, I haven't had the need to.

As time went by and I started getting around more, the homesickness disappeared completely. My friendships with the people here and love for Melbourne and Australia in general have grown incredibly - along with my happiness. I've gained confidence and my interests have changed as well as my attitude towards life. Australia has inspired me so much when it comes to my diet, style and way of living - everything - and like I said a few posts back, I've never been this happy with myself. As cheesy as it sounds, exchange truly isn't a year in your life but a life in a year. I'm so excited for the future and it'll be interesting to see what the last five months of my year will be like.

[random shots of Brisbane]