I made it back from freezing Finland safely and am now in Bretagne, where the weather is even worse. (Big surprise there, right?) But seriously Mother Nature, it's May - I shouldn't be needing my winter coat!Finland was awesome - I am so happy Easy Jet started up this new route. 90€ roundtrip is much easier to swallow than 250-300€. I can't believe it's been ten years since we lived there though - I was just a baby back then.
Miss Leyla and I had a good time visiting our old favorite haunts and reliving some memories, even though it was a bit of a shock to realize we didn't have the (alcohol) stamina we had back then. Another surprise for me was that Helsinki was also not as architecturally impressive as I remembered - but then again, I suppose living in Paris has skewed my idea of building beauty.I also have to say that the weekend was tinged with a bit of sadness. So much of my time there is associated with my dad's passing, and being there made it seem like it was just yesterday. Ten years down the road, I realize just how lucky I was to have found such a good group of friends - we were all just children really, but yet they were always there for me and helped me take my mind of things. Most of all, I'm glad I've been able to keep in touch with Leyla - she and her family have been a great source of support for me over the years, and have always taken me in when times were tough.People talk a lot about how when you live abroad, you often become friends with other foreigners out of circumstance. Which was originally true in our case, but since then it's evolved into a great friendship - one that I hope will continue for many years to come.So cheers Miss Leyla, there's no one else I would've rather gone to Finland with!