/Roo

“Sometimes we have to get lost to find ourselves… sometimes we gotta go walkabout…”
- Baz Luhrmann

I’ve now been home for two weeks. Many people have asked me if I had a good year.

So what would I say? I’d say yes, I had an amazing year. But still, writing my final blog post has seemed like an impossible challenge. I haven’t known what to say. Because somehow only a “Yes, I did have a bloody great time” doesn’t feel like an adequate answer. There is just too much depth in moving overseas for a year to be told briefly.

Before I left to Australia, I was petrified. I was going for the unknown, and I was scared about it. I had made the actual decision to go in just a couple of hours from first hearing about the possibility, so I was fairly unsure about my reasons behind going. Why had I decided to go to Australia? Why did I want to leave?

It does seem, however, that sometimes in life you seem to do just the right thing even if you don’t have any idea about it at the time. And sometimes you just gotta go walkabout…

A year is a peculiar amount of time. It is long, and it is short. It flies by, and yet you can experience so much. Things change, but those that are the most profound tend to stay. By getting lost for a year, by going without planning and just keeping my eyes open to everything turned out to be a wonderful experience. I met so many amazing people, saw so many places and learnt so many new things that it makes me endlessly grateful. I believe that these new inspiring ideas and thoughts have really made a difference. They have given me a better insight on what I can and want to do. Because everything is possible, really, that’s the lesson that I learned…

During these two weeks at home, many people have also asked me if I miss Australia and whether I’m sad that the year is over.

So what would I say? Yes, of course. Yes for both questions. It was incredibly sad to abandon the good life in Melbourne and say goodbye to all the good friends and wonderful people I had got to know. But I’m still very happy at the moment, and I think that’s the only way to be. I can only be grateful for everything. I shouldn’t be sad because it’s over, but grateful because it happened in the first place; I really couldn’t have asked for more. Now it’s time to cherish the good memories and put the new ideas and the developed me into a good use…

… What also makes me happy is that when a period of life ends, others can begin. My past couple of weeks haven’t only been time for my year in Australia to end - they have also been time for my life in Finland to begin again. And during these two weeks, life here has been so very good. I’ve been happy to be home. Happy to be home for Christmas.

When I was walking in Helsinki City Centre today on my way home from work, the snow was falling slowly and I was able to see my breath in the crisp dark night air. The craze of the Christmas shopping had already started to calm down and the city was turning quiet for Christmas. Someone was singing Christmas carols on the street. And I was smiling. I was smiling with my heart.

—

I’m home. Landed here this afternoon.

Now I’m just jetlagged and very confused. It is very, very weird; weird in a way that I don’t even understand yet.

But I’m also thrilled. Thrilled to see everyone again so soon. Thrilled to be Home.

… A closer report will follow when my brain starts to function again. Then it’ll be time for the closing chapter of this blog too. Not quite yet - there’s still things to be said on the Roo blog.

After sitting in a moving box for the amazingly long and painful 13,5 hours from Hong Kong to London, _not doing_ anything for the whole time, I felt the need to DO something the moment I got to Heathrow. So I opened my laptop and - click, click - got connected to the world again.

Just that I’m way too tired and jetlagged to actually do anything useful.

In reality I’m just sleepwalking right now. Or walksleeping, that is.

Also, the floor under me seems to be going through some heavy turbulence. It’s amazing how long your body remembers the movements.

But all in all, I just can’t understand that I’m in Europe. Full stop. A few days ago, I was still Down Under, it was summer in Melbourne and we were at Nina’s place, looking at the Southern Cross and other stars of the Southern Hemisphere during a wonderful graduation party night. Yesterday I was in ever so wonderful Hong Kong, watching the ships sail through the hazy harbour, with the soft background of the skyscrapers and mountains of Hong Kong Island in front of me. And now here in London - soon in Finland.

I’m also trying to spot all the Finns at the airport, but it seems that my sensitivity for the Finn-ishness has become a bit too high, as I seem to mistake every pale Scandinavian or Northern European for a Finn. But there have been some genuine spottings already - a couple on the Hong Kong flight already, which made me burst into a spontaneous giggle and want to go and talk to them. But I had to remind myself that I shouldn’t act that way for too long - most Finns, especially in a normal situation with many Finns around, still think talking to strangers is a sign that you’re not completely there.

Right now I’m looking at the map of the world on the wall and measuring the distances - the flight from London to Helsinki is about the same distance as the flight from Melbourne to Alice Springs, which is only half the lenght of Australia.

Australia. What a crazy land. What a dear, dear, crazy land.

“Niin oletko sinä Suomi
Sellainen iloinen maa
Jossa on paikkoja ja kolmostuoppeja

Silloin jos olet niin
Kuule mä tulen niihin paikkoihin
Ja mä tapaan Suomen tyypit
Hei mä tulen niihin paikkoihin
Ja mä tapaan Suomen tyypit

Hei hei hei kuule Suomi
Me ajetaan Vääksyn kautta
Kun ollaan perillä niin voidaanko tavata

Sitten otetaan isot tuopit
Ja katsotaan Suomea”

Ultra Bra - Hei kuule Suomi
…

Kone Lontoosta laskeutuu Helsinki-Vantaalle aikataulun mukaan huomenna varttia yli kolme. Tänään myös itsenäisyyspäivä, ja South China Morning Postissa oli sen kunniaksi Suomesta aukeamallinen juttua. Tulipa ylpeä olo olla suomalainen ja olla tulossa ihan kohta takaisin kotiin!

Mutta siis - kulkaas Suomen tyypit - ihan kohta nähdään!

Daughtry - Home

I’m going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.
I’m not running from.
I think you got me all wrong.
I don’t regret this life I chose for me.
But these places and these faces are getting old,
So I’m going home.

Be careful what you wish for,
‘Cause you just might get it all.
You just might get it all,
And then some you don’t want.
Be careful what you wish for,
‘Cause you just might get it all.
You just might get it all.

(If my flights are on time, I’ll be home at around 3.15 pm tomorrow)

I got lost in Hong Kong and found myself in many wonderful and random places.

Nyt on kiitosten aika. Yritän olla järjestelmällinen ja edetä ajan mukaan.

It’s time for thank yous. I’m just so overwhelmed by all the amazing, genuine and warm people that I’ve met during the year.

Siis. Kiitos & Thank you to:
- Äidille & Isälle. Ihan kaikesta mahdollisesta.
- Kaikille taloudellisille ja muillekin tukijoille reissun mahdollistamisesta. Thank you Ron & Ellen for a generous birthday present!
- Sariannalle. Ystävälle, joka lähti saattamaan hassun päähänpiston saamaa kaveriaan toiselle puolelle planeettaa. Maailman parhalle roadtrippausseuralle, joka pysyi läsnä maailman toiseltakin puolelta käsin ja toimi parhaimpana mahdollisena Suomi-agenttina.
- Artolle ja Jukalle Honkkareilusta
- All the people hat we met in New Zealand: Heather, Nick, Frederick, Ruud, Anika, Bouke etc.
- Sally, David, Maddie & Max for taking such a good care of me and introducing me to living in Australia. Special thanks to Maddie for teching me to do cartwheels.
- Hanne, Annika, Celine, Marty, Marie, Tom for good times in Melbourne in the very beginning.
- Villamanta housemates: Björn, Matthias, Laura, Matt, Tyson, Thilde, Callan, Gretchen, Amanda, Sam, Shai, Ross, Marley, Anthony, Scott - for good & wicked times in the house
- Bianca for being the best Geelong friend ever - thanks for letting me go for a run to your place for a beer, for all the wonderful dinners, coffees etc.
- All the East Coast people we bumped into or who hosted us during our trip from Byron Bay to Cairns - Tom, John, Chuck, Camilla, Sofia etc.
- Grace, Fliss, Beth and Chloe for sharing the beautiful house in Canterbury. And, of course, Thank you Mia for being the most wonderfully honest selfish cat.
- Nina for being so wonderfully suomalainen and letting me be the un-finnish Finn. Thank you for sharing your lovely life in so many ways.
- All the Melbourne friends: Hjálmar, Auður, Unnar, Katrín, Jón, Kasper, Claire, Mario, Nian, Atte, Jussi, Angie, Amanda, Raisha, Erin, Krista, John, Karl etc. - Thank you for being such a wonderful group of friends, more than I could’ve ever hoped for an exchange year. It’s been truly special to got to know each one of you!
- Maailman parhaille Suomi-tytöille, meidän voimaryhmälle Nellille, Maijulle, Helille ja Matelle aivan uskomattoman ihanista ajoista. Kiitos erityisesti Nellille kikherneistä, Maijulle poliitikoinnista, Helille poksahteluista ja Matelle keittiöfilosofoinnesta.
- Mina, for always so good times & yogas.
- Craig, Helen, Darya and Nanou, for good company on the amazing and amazingly scary trip to Mungo.
- Gai, Jon and Lyn for hosting us in Tasmania.
- Sarah, my dear Aussie friend, for all the good times. Thank you for being always right there & taking such a good care of the crazy Finn when she was about the leave the country (& all the times before that).

Kiitos myös kaikille Suomen ystäville ja tärkeille ihmisille. Kiitos, kun jaksoitte sulattaa ja ymmärtää hullua päätöstäni sekä kaikkea lähtöön liittynyttä hajoiluani. Kiitos myös, kun jaksoitte olla koko vuoden ajan siellä ja kestitte yhteydenpitoa netin välityksellä mitä omituisimpina vuorokaudenaikoina - tiedätte kyllä! Kohta nähdään taas.

I hope I’ve remembered everyone. Knowing my poor memory, I may have forgotten someone - it doesn’t mean that you were any less important, only that my brain has continued to not work properly… But thank you as well.

Looking at all these names and knowing the wonderful, wonderful people behind them makes me feel very priviledged. So truly amazing.

… and don’t have much more to say right now…

I’ll be in Hong Kong at about 3 pm local time tomorrow, spend three days there and then… I’m coming home!