How's life now?

Vibe check

I have been here in Finland for two months already, crazy!! I thought I'd write some things down and tell those who might be interested in how I've been coping during these weeks :D Disclaimer: this is quite confusing but I felt like I needed to get a closure to my blog posting -saga, so here you go.

How does it feel to be in Finland again?

I would say that this is actually the question I have gotten asked the most since I came back.

I mean it does feel a bit weird yes but honestly, I thought it would've been worse. The first few days I was kinda waiting for something to feel different, I thought I'd be hit by the reverse culture shock as well, which I've heard can be quite common when coming back from a such a different culture. I think I was the most weirded out by the fact that I did not feel like anything had changed. Obviously now the whole world is in a situation that is indeed quite odd and nobody was really prepared for it so my theory for me not feeling any changes here has something to do with that I faced the shock from the current world state while I was still in Chile and the quarantine and social distancing already felt normal when I came back. Somehow it also felt like I never left, that I had just learned Spanish and gotten friends from all over the world by just snapping my fingers. It's kinda hard to explain but altogether I'd say I'm doing good.

I do miss my friends and family in Chile a lot and I have had a few lower moments with that but I have been able to keep myself quite busy with other stuff. For example, I had the opportunity to take a few courses in my school's 5th period so I did and I started my high school studies a bit earlier than planned but that's just going to help me in the future at least a bit so no worries. I have also been seeing some friends and family (as safely as possible) and man, let me tell you when you haven't seen someone in over 8 months it is quite hard not to give a hug to them, but I've managed. (at least quite well I'd say) I've also tried to go on runs and altogether do some own trainings but let's just say it could've gone better. Practising social distancing or not, I'm still very excited for the summer. Just to be able to take it easy for a while will really be nice not only for me but to others as well.

I don't know whether or not I will make more blog postings in the future but so far this is the last one. Thank you for everyone for giving feedback on my writings and following my journey in Chile and the aftermaths of it! If you have any more questions about my exchange, my future plans about going back to Chile or literally anything else, I'm happy to answer your doubts. You can get in contact with me for example through instagram (@saaraellin), I'll also be posting there if I decide to write more posts here! Bye for now, have a good weekend and stay safe!


Saara