A small step for humanity - A big step for me

It was the 24th of August, 2012. A day that was the beginning of the actual experience. Maybe the best experience of my entire life but I'm bad in judging and nobody knows what will come next. I won't ever forget this day really. It is like I can still see it directly in front of my eyes.
I had to wake up very early, my suitcase already packed almost bursting yesterday. Breakfast went fast, then we jumped into our car and headed to the big Frankfurt International Airport. There we found the other Freshees/Awayees who supposed to fly to Helsinki, Oslo and Stockholm. My destination was of course the capital of Finland. So I gave my suitcase to the counter and prepared for the hardest part ever in my life. It was time to say good-bye to my parents. The fact that they already had tears in their eyes didn't help me to survive this really. After long and firm hugs I had to let them go and made my heavy steps to the gate while waving my hand for a last time. Then they were gone and I stretched my throat trying to see them again but it was not granted for me anymore. I took a deep breath and turned my face towards the gate.

A new chapter of life.
A big step for me.
I can tell you, it was not easy as it may seem.

Luckily I was not alone. The other Awayees felt the same and many of us were crying but nevertheless, we didn't go back. After maybe half an hour, it turned out that there were also Italian Awayees who had the same flight like us. That was my first touch with intercultural exchange and I was very happy about it because that was the thing what I dreamed of. A smile showed up on my face and the sadness was almost gone.    

 This picture was taken after we took off from Frankfurt. It was the first picture of my journey and if you want I will also add more, one by one. After two hours flying, we landed at 1:08pm safely in Vantaa/Helsinki Airport. When I stepped out of the plane and set my feet on the ground, I was pretty sure: I WAS IN FINLAND!

That's all for now. I hope you still enjoy my entries. Furthermore I hope you had a wonderful christmas time and a good start into new year 2014. By the way I spent my new year at one of the Italian Returnees who I got to know in Frankfurt! ;)
You see, an exchange year helps a lot, haha!

So until next time: Stay tuned!
Terveisin, Finno Sheep