The Finland Finale

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This last week in Jyvaskyla has been a million things at once. As Lukas says, “I’m feeling all kinds of crap”.

I have been a member of 4 send-off committees this week. I have had a blast in Helsinki with Liza. I learned how to ice skate. I’ve cried. I’ve partied. I’ve been to Sebastian’s three times and I’ve said goodbye to people that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.

These were the hardest goodbyes I have ever had to give.

Because I can’t know when those goodbyes will be hellos again.

But more important than my sadness to be leaving is how grateful I am to have had this experience.

Studying abroad was everything I had hoped it would be. It met my expectations and then exceeded them by being absolutely perfect.

While it is so hard to leave something that was so beautiful, I was always aware that this time was fleeting. From the beginning it was constantly hurling towards the end because never again will I live in O/603 and even in reunion, we will never be together again in the same place, in this exact time of our lives.

But it was exactly the ephemeral nature of this experience which made it what it was. A friend observed that study abroad is special because only the moment matters. No one cares about your past and there is no future.

I don’t think I’ll ever get to live like this again: as a student, a friend, and a traveler, with little responsibility beyond myself.

Thank you to everyone who made it possible for me to be here, this includes Willamette University and more importantly, Mom and Dad.

Thank you to all of my friends at home who kept in touch and talked to me when I was lonely or confused. Also to everyone who sent me letters and packages to let me know I am loved. They meant so much to me.

And last of all, thank you to everyone who made Finland what it was. Never have I had so much fun and I loved getting to know all of you. I know I have made friendships that will last a lifetime and no matter where our lives take us, you will always be with me.



Now to all my international friends, Miss me, love me, and please don’t forget me. In return, I promise to do the same with all of you.

To my loved ones at home, it’s finally true when I say, “see you soon!”









Nothing Gold Can Stay

Robert Frost, 1874 – 1963



Nature’s first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf’s a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.



Finland, you were Gold.

Kiitos! Hei Hei!



Hannah

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