Finland, friends and forks?

Finland, friends and forks?

So my latest adventure to Finland was definitely the 'coolest' one I'd been on. Oh wow what an awful pun. Honestly though, I can say I never dreamt that I'd be flying out to Finland for a week, and the thought terrified me! If I couldn't cope with a typical British blizzard (-1 degrees and barely a dusting of snow on the ground) how the heck was I going to cope in Finland?!

On the platform in the freezing train station on Monday April 1st I decided to slump down against the wall and seriously wonder 'what the heck am I doing here'. The 4:30am start was not a good idea for someone who only rises out of her cave at the usual holiday time of 10:30am and even that's pushing it! I wasn't ready for the train journey and two flights over to Finland but I can't lie I think I was prepared for every disaster, every mishap and every unfortunate event that could possible occur. In fact I think that I would have been fine in an Apocalypse! My suitcase had barely closed and my hand luggage was a ridiculous size compared to my best friend Kat's tiny backpack.

Anyway, enough about luggage and the stupidly booked timing of journeys...

 

Finland was fantastic. We spent a week living in an 'inn' sharing rooms with Finnish and German girls and talking about everything and anything getting barely any sleep every night and leaving it until the very latest moment we could to go to bed. Every day was packed full of new things to learn about a different way of life and culture, laughs and giggles and a different adventure everyday. I did the music workshop and I'm so glad I did. Everyday I would spend hours with one of the most inspirational and fantastic musicians I've ever met, as he taught me new ways to play and new songs to learn!

 

I met some amazing people while I was there, and in a way 're-met' some if that makes any sense at all? The whole reason why I was even in Finland in the first place was because I'm part of 'IYF' also known as the 'International Youth Festival' which is basically, young people from the UK, people from Munich in Germany and people from Kuopio and the surrounding areas in Finland coming together. Every year we meet up at Easter time in one of the countries and we spend the week together having fun, learning new things, visiting a different country or just catching up with old friends and it's one of the best things that I have ever done. Literally. I only started going in Easter 2012 but I'm so glad I did!
Last IYF I met my best friend Kat who for the past year has been my absolute rock through everything and is now my adopted sister as my mum likes to call her ;) and not only that I met so many other new people. Then this year I got to catch up with them, get to know them even better, and after a year of talking on the Internet finally get to be with them again!

 

These two lads are the funniest and craziest people you will ever meet! Gregor and Claudio, I know you're going to read this so yeah ich liebe dich! Du bist sehr lustig und freundlich  und nett und fantastich und herrlich! I'm so glad that I met you both and thank you for doing so much for me when i was going through a really hard time! We spent all week catching up me, Gregor, Kat and Claudio and having fun and we have so many memories that will last forever! The long running joke of forking and ladeling lives on in England!

You are perfect and I miss you so much.

 

And these two girls are just amazing. My best friend Kat and our Finnish sister Anni! I miss you Anni and our 2am chats! I miss the weird breakfasts you ate and when you tried to learn the English accent :') 'I'm going to write a letter to the queen' asking her to let you come and live with me and Kat because that would be amazing! It was so great finally being back together after a year! I hope that we will see you soon because ermagerd I need you here!

 

The week was fantastic and I tried so many new things like going to sauna, jumping in a frozen lake and all sorts of new crazy food! I miss this perfect place so much. It's so different to home. I sat outside one night and looked at the stars, you could see hundreds and thousands of them and the air was silent, there was no police sirens or traffic noises or noisy people, everything was calm and I absolutely loved it!

 

It was a perfect week, I miss all my friends so much and I can't wait to see you again on my travels when I make my next adventure to Munich! X

 

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