Farewell to Finland, Hello USA

Well, I've been back in the US for about 5 days now. It's taken a few days for me to adjust and to get back into the normal routine again. Let's be honest though, throwing off those scarves, gloves, hats, and coats was the easy part! I stayed in Kansas City with my parents for 3 days, and now I'm back in Utah to finish out the last two weeks until graduation.  I don't really have much to do for that, just meeting with teachers, handing in paperwork, and of course partying with friends!

Sidenote: Reunion with my best friend happened today! I really don't have enough words to say how much I missed this girl! We skyped very often, which I definitely needed. But nothing tops hanging out in person. So this was an epic reunion!

she packed us a cute picnic lunch and we shopped, ate, and talked for hours! It was wonderful!

So. The rest of this post is a farewell post to Finland, my trip to Estonia/Helsinki, and last feelings I had before I left.

Last Thursday, April 3, Leena and I left Savonlinna to spend my last weekend in Helsinki. Packing up was really difficult, I had forgotten how much stuff I brought along. Things that I never needed, and regretted bringing (cough hairdryer, straightener, so much clothes...) We ended up taking the bus to Helsinki instead of the train because of my luggage. It was about a 3.5 hour trip through the beautiful countryside of Finland. I spent my time sleeping and reading Seven Brothers, one of the best (and first) books written in Finnish about 7 brothers growing up in the forest of Finland around the 1800s. Since Finland was part of Sweden for a long time, Swedish was the language of education. Even though people spoke Finnish, it wasn't used in literature or academics at all. This book was a revolutionary of its time.

This was pretty much the view the entire time :)

The bus dropped us off in the middle of Helsinki, after which we had to walk about 15 minutes (with luggage) to the flat that Leena has there. It was small but cozy. She lived there for a time with her kids when she was studying for her specialization in Child Psychiatry (don't quote me on that I'm not sure if it's right). It's called the Tiger's Nest. :) It has orange and red walls. And chandeliers. And a sauna in the basement.

Friday we took a trip across the waters to Estonia! I was excited to see another city/country. We have some family friends who are from Estonia, and so I was happy to visit there to tell them that I traveled all the way to Europe to see Estonia!

At the port of entry-they didn't even check passports!

Apparently Tallinn it's one of Europe's best preserved medieval cities. (I am skeptic of that because I've seen some medieval cities in Spain...wait am I becoming a travel snob?? SO sorry, I take it all back.)

Spain or Estonia???

This one is Spain!

Anyway, it does have a beautiful skyline, cobblestone streets, cathedrals, and old buildings.

Outside the English embassy....I didn't see a US one.

 I loved the feel of the town! I have this thing with history. I love it. I love thinking about who lived before and how, and I love imagining what life could have been like on those same streets hundreds of years before.

The Orthodox Cathedral, built when Estonia became part of the Soviet Union

The town square

Estonia uses the Euro, too, so it was easy to buy lots of things :) 

Actually, I only bought three or so things....the rest were gifts that Leena bought for people!

I also loved the trip over and back. The cruise ship that took us over there was really exciting!

I had never been on one before and I just loved the idea of it.

 I also loved the buffet....

Saturday, I spent most of the day walking around Helsinki and seeing the sights.

Monument built to the national composer, Sibelious. (Who wrote the national anthem)

A Lutheran church built inside a rock!

I stopped by a few churches, the National History Museum, went into some shops, walked all around until I was beat.

National History Museum

The city's big, Lutheran Cathedral

The Orthodox Cathedral

Ok. Headquarters of Finland's best chocolate!!

I really loved Helsinki. More people spoke English there, and I felt like I was more able to get around by myself. There were so many fun shops to see and things to go do, that I loved it! Sometime in my life I would love to live in a big city for awhile. I'm sorry but I'm not sure Kansas City counts...I'm thinking more like Boston, NYC, Philadelphia...awesome.

Sunday we spent the afternoon with some friends in Helsinki and enjoyed being in each other's company before I had to leave. I asked Leena if she was ready to get back to her normal life (without an extra person in her house), and she just leaned over, patted my cheek, and said that she would miss me.

Monday morning we left for the airport at 4:30 for my early morning flight. Leena came with me, stayed as I checked my bags, and watched as I went through security. It was a bittersweet moment, knowing how much I love that lady but not knowing when the next I will see her again. It was hard, nostalgic and sad.

I have loved learning about Finland, about the culture, language, and getting to know the Finns. Clinical hours were hard, but I learned so much about global nursing and crossing those cultural boundaries. I learned to love in a different way that I have before. I have fond memories of sauna, ice skating, movie nights, swimming, baking, traveling, laughing, and crying with Leena. I feel like she is part of my family now, and I know that I want to visit her again.

Those times. They were fun. They were sweet. They were the best. 

Thanks so much to everyone who has read my stories, followed my adventures, supported me in the hard times, encouraged me to go and keep persevering. This has been a trip of a lifetime. I feel so much more confidence in myself and the things that I can achieve. I'm closing this last chapter of my nursing school, and I so look forward to the next. Fair warning, I will probably keep blogging! So stay tuned!

Much love,
Melanie

Saying goodbye to Sininen Talo

Well, I am officially done with my nursing clinical hours (cough: slave labor), and I couldn't be more excited! I've done 270 hours here in Finland over the course of these three months, and even though I am leaving a wonderful country and experiences, I am very excited for the next stage in my life. On that note, I might as well announce that I'll be working on the Renal/Organ Transplant unit at the University of Kansas Hospital AKA KUMed! Hooray!

Celebratory picture outside my last clinical place!

Back to today. On my last full day in Savonlinna, we had so much planned! We went to dinner over at another member of our church's house. I made quiche :) with salmon. That's the first time I've ever made quiche, or salmon. I'm definitely learning to "extend my horizons." I had never touched raw fish before this trip...but Savonlinna is most definitely a fishy area, so I have had to adjust! So we ate there and the missionaries came, too, and it was a great farewell to Finland where we listened to Finlandia, by Sibelious (the national composer).

Then we ran over to a men's chorus concert at the town's cathedral. I fell asleep (oops), but it was only because the music was so good.

And lastly, we went to the pool for the last time. Leena and I have gone pretty faithfully every Wednesday and Friday. I will miss swimming and sauna and Leena's company there. I had forgotten how much I love swimming. It helps calm my mind from worries, and actually, all those laps help me think and sort out my problems. And the sauna helps, too!

And now, I'm just finishing up my packing. (Clearly it's going well....since I'm blogging now instead)

Leena and I leave tomorrow afternoon to go to Helsinki, where we will stay until my flight early Monday morning. I don't expect to write again on here until I'm home. We are going to Estonia, and all around Helsinki. It's going to be a blast :)

This is my last night in the Blue House. The last night in Savonlinna. It was really hard to say goodbye to friends, places, ect. "See you later" takes on a whole other meaning. I don't actually know when that later will be, and that is something that is really hard to come to terms with. I've met some of the greatest people here that I love, respect, and look up to so much. I've learned a lot about nursing, and I've learned how universal human nature is. I've learned ways to try to break down cultural barriers, and  have learned to love so many people here.

A few days ago, I took a walk behind the castle (I know...again), and captured some of my thoughts on this experience in Finland.

See:

Fun fact: this was the first time I had blow-dried my hair in three months!

Just be aware this is super, duper, cheesy nostalgic. Don't judge me for it :)

Final Thoughts

I don't really think I have a full understanding yet of what I have gained here, and I think that will come as I adjust back into my normal life again. But that was the tip of the iceburg for ya.

Shopping Spree!!!

To be honest, I haven't done all that much shopping here. I hadn't really been into that many stores either. I realized last week that that had to change. I got done with clinical a little early today, and had two hours to kill before meeting my nursing instructor for a final evaluation.

Clearly I spent my 2 hours very well :)

The meeting with my professor was a little sad, mostly because she asked me to sum up what I learned, experienced, ect, what I loved, what was hard, and so on. I realized that even though things were rough, (I didn't always have the clinical placements I wanted, it was hard to communicate with patients), I would not have changed any of it. It all was to my benefit and they built upon each other. I am extremely grateful that I got to do this. I have opened my eyes more so than ever before to people of different cultures and backgrounds, and I think I will be a better nurse because of it.

Me and Sirkka

She was so sweet, and even bought me this cute mug to remind me of Finland. (These are cartoon characters that are HUGE over here!)

This evening my American friend Aaron and I went out to dinner, to celebrate me going home. He's been a good friend to me, especially on those days where I've needed to rant about things here, or talk about what I miss from America. He's been here for over a year already, so he totally gets all those emotions. We've had a good time together, and we enjoyed being able to slip into our "American phrases" as Leena likes to call strange metaphors and phrases that we have.

Some of the fun things we've done:

Playing cards...

Seeing the National Ballet perform with the local chillens;

And so, another day has suddenly slipped away!