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.