Cannot believe it..it's already been a year

Hello there!

Okay, so it has been a year since I packed up my bags and went for a five- month exchange trip to exotic Sweden. And I still haven’t written the damn last entry to this blog. Better late than never, right?  I am really trying to keep this as short as possible but knowing myself, that’s not gonna happen. I’ll try anyway. So here we go… There are going to be a lot of photos though...

 

Let’s go back in time to June, when I was going home. And how did I feel? It didn’t even hit me that I was actually returning home, not leaving my home. But that’s how it felt. Five months may not seem like a long time, but it is enough for a new town to feel like home.  My last weeks in Uppsala mainly consisted of sheer panic. I was constantly thinking “I don’t wanna go, I don’t wanna go, I don’t wanna go, I do not want to go home!!!”  and so on. Luckily I wasn’t the first to leave. In fact, there were only a few of my friends still left in Uppsala for the last week or so.  I would have cried my eyes out if I was the first one to go home.  The last weeks were constant goodbyes, one or two persons at a time. Oh dear, now this makes me cry, thinking about my friends and how I miss them… Geez.  I can still remember clearly the last day in Sweden. It was Friday the 13^th(yay lucky me!) and the whole morning was hectic as hell. I cleaned, threw most of my unpacked stuff away, packed some more, biked to the other side of Uppsala to return my keys, had some pancakes at my friends’ place and then it was time to go. I managed to get in to the airport just in time, there was a huge chaos for whatever reason, but I made it… of course contrary to my own beliefs, haha. In Finland I mistakenly went to the wrong arrival lobby and had to wait a while for someone to come and guide me to the right place. I should learn not to panic so much because once again everything went just fine and I made it to my train taking me back to the lovely town of Jyväskylä.  The train ride took forever; I was nervous and just texted with my friends. The whole time, three and a half hours, I was in constant shock just because I could understand everyone around me without even focusing on their speech. It felt like I was eavesdropping, totally not my purpose.  My parents were at the station to meet me and then I got to see my darling cat again, a cute hairball as always. And yet, it felt like I was only visiting. But no, I was back home.

Gamla Uppsala

Stupid cat, haha

So I bet that you’re wondering what a person does in a place like Jyväskylä. Well… not much. I moved to a new apartment (thanks mom and dad for moving my stuff), cut my hair and went back to work. It all seemed so surreal. Of course I made time to meet my friends, whom I hadn’t seen in almost six months. But it was like I had never left. I don’t mean it like nothing happened while I was gone, but everything was the same, the weather had just magically turned into summer. A pretty damn cold summer, I may add. I had my life pretty well scheduled between work and soccer, so it was easy to get back to the old routines.  Work was horrible, soccer was demanding to say the least and living without roommates was something totally new… and quiet. And as a Finn, I freaking love my own personal space. During summer had time to visit Ruisrock and Åland and our summer cottage, summer was pretty fun I have to say. In the autumn I returned to university which felt weird since I basically just fooled around in Uppsala as far as the studying goes. But I still managed to pass all of my four courses, which I am very proud of. Didn’t think that I would manage it having partied and been lazy all the time.

My "new" apartment

Ruisrock festival in the beginning of July :)

Summer cottage

Föglö, Åland

Running track, every monday evening

Beer pong also in Finland!

But so…Uppsala. I miss it so much! Now I’ve been feeling super nostalgic and stuff since one of my friends is going to spend the spring semester in Uppsala. I want to go too! Can I just drop my bachelor thesis and do the exchange again? Probably not, too bad. One year ago I was so unsure about going to exchange, the whole process between applying and leaving was quite a mess.  Final decision came in the beginning of December after  I had  cancelled my rental agreement. So it was Uppsala or living at my parents’ house for a while. But luckily I got to Uppsala, dragging the luggage through the snow from the railway station to Västgöta nation was not the best thing ever, but now I would do it again. It was a pretty lousy winter weather, it was so fun to see someone being disappointed with the kind of warm weather. I was just happy about it, I’ve seen enough snow in my life. I still don’t love snow and cold weather, in Finland we’re human too.  I have so many great memories that I’ll always have with me. The first week I was pretty much lost and confused, understandable right? The Swedish way of doing things, like getting the internet to work, seemed nuts and of course I couldn’t help but to compare everything to Finland. I have to admit that in the end it was super similar, as you would guess.  But oh the memories… the first bike rides back home, getting to know bunch of new people every day, hugging someone you know you should remember but you don’t, speaking Finnish when no one understands (the best thing ever), not understanding the Swedish grocery stores’ system,  the beer pong tournament, double birthday parties, sooo many corridor parties either in flogsta or kantorsgatan, horrible snow chaos in the middle of March, breaking too many bike locks (yay, go me!),  dinners with friends,  barbeques, torturing my friend at the gym (moi Anu), cruise to Riga, kvalborg+ valborg, way too many parties at Snerikes, Stocken and Värmlands + the ridiculous queueing culture in Sweden, trips to Gamla Uppsala, pancakes at GH, having my roommate’s mom and dog living with us for almost two weeks (!!), baking kanelbullar with a wine bottle, playing cards (mostly drinking games, whyyyy), everyone wondering why it doesn’t get dark in the evening in the summer, walking around in Botaniska Trädgården, spotting a bike in Fyrisån, so many fika moments aaand sooo many other great moments. Now this makes me a bit sad and nostalgic.

Too much beer, oh my.

Since I am an unsocial and weird person as we Finns tend to be (what?) I never really thought that I could find friends. But oh my gosh I actually met so many awesome people in Uppsala. So all of my international friends (that sounds so cool)- from Sweden, Russia, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands (or Holland?)France, Spain, Italy, Poland, Korea, Australia, United States, Mexico, Canada and wherever  you came from- I miss each and every one of you so bad!! I had an amazing time with you guys and ordinary life with heaps of work and studying and everything boring sucks compared to last spring. And now I am getting emotional once again. Luckily we managed to arrange a small reunion in Amsterdam in the beginning of September, which was sooooo nice! I wish that we can make it happen again this year. And also it would be so cool to see other people as well, I think I promised to visit almost every country in Europe soon and also USA and Australia if I ever had the time and money to travel there. But at least now I have more or less eager tourist guides around the world.

But anyways: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR MAKING THE FIVE MONTHS IN UPPSALA AMAZING AND TOTALLY UNFORGETTABLE! Puss och kram till er! <3 I looooveee yooou and miss you guys so much.

Reccegasgue was great, napkin hats ftw!

Foooooood in Riga

Me and my boys in Amsterdam

<3

I know I’m going to Uppsala again, probably this spring to see my friend or even spend Valborg there, should be awesome! I have no idea if anyone has the energy to read through this blah blah blah anyway, but I don’t care. It was just necessary to write this final entry and now it is time to say bye bye to this blog. Everyone who is wondering if they should go to exchange: DO IT! It’s pretty damn great :)

On Monday I have to go back to school, it's been a long but relaxing christmas holiday. This spring is going to be hectic as hell but I will survive somehow.  

Have an awesome year everyone! 

xx Anniina

That's me, a couple of days ago in my student overall haha

My "real" name on a side of a buildning in Jyväskylä, so cool.