STUDY ABROAD_Finland: Recollections
I have a rather vague memory of adolescent days when I was playing hide & seek with my six-year-old neighbor. I was hiding in the trunk of my mom’s Chevy Tahoe (a spot I would recommend to anyone who doesn’t want to get found). I saw my neighbor walking by so I crouched down, but suddenly she exclaimed, “Springtime!.. Help me! I’m Lost!”
Such an odd thing to say, I thought at the time. But as I sit here in one of my favorite coffee shops on a lovely spring day I can’t seem to get what she said out of my mind.
Born and raised in the Tennessee valley, I have always been enchanted by the landscape. The river, the mountains, the heritage... I thought they could fulfill me for a lifetime. But a year ago I bought a plane ticket that would take me nearly 5,000 miles away from the comfort of what I have always considered home. During my 3-month stay in Helsinki, Finland I discovered that ‘home’ is much more a state of mind than some coordinates on a map.
I find it interesting that the two days I remember most throughout the trip were the day we arrived and the day we left. The former was a cold, rainy day, which consisted of running confusedly through the streets of Helsinki trying to find an Otto (ATM), and walking way too far to get to our hostel. The latter was one of the most beautiful days, spent strolling familiar streets, and bidding hyvästi [good-bye] to the place and people with which I had become so enchanted. And the days in between? Nearly 90 of mostly beautiful days of spring weather, dominating short-lived nights as the sun dipped just barely below the horizon.
I was most amazed at how quickly I felt I had transcended tourist status, and settled into a fairly Finnish routine. I was a regular at a coffee shop, and most mornings, the lovely Nina anticipated my coffee order and would help me quickly start my day. I had a bus route; and then another one just in case I missed the first one, which wasn’t that unlikely. I had a desk at a university, and a daily routine: work – lunch – ice cream – work – and then return to the city. I had a favorite restaurant with a favorite meal and a favorite beer. If the language had been any easier to pick up, I may have been able to masquerade as a local.
So here I am, back in Knoxville almost a year later, still trying to figure out how I will be spending my summer, but all I can think about is how nice it would be to take the ferry over to Suomenlinna, the sea fortress island; or how great it would be to walk down to the K-market to get the makings of a picnic on the beach. I remember so clearly our time spent throwing Frisbee by the water as our makkara [sausage] was cooking on the grill, and it just feels like – as all the flowers and trees are blooming – I am on the wrong side of the globe.