I have made millions of memories in Finland, the one memory that I will never forget is when my mom and sister came to Europe to visit me. It was the first time all of us had been in Europe together, and it couldn’t have been better.
I didn’t know what to expect or what to feel since it had been 8 months since I last saw them. The weirdest part was that as soon as I hugged my sister we realized that we were about the exact same height, my whole life she has always been about 5in taller.
After they settled in and we finished all the hugs and kisses, I properly introduced them to my host family, my friends, and my host counselor and his family. After the 15minutes it took me to show them the entire town I’ve been living in, we drove to Emmi’s house for coffee and my mom and sister got to meet her, her family, Piia and Titta 🙂
The next day we went to Turku (the third largest city in Finland), we spent the night at a spa which was pretty nice, although that night at the hotel the fire alarm went off so we went to the hallway to see what other people were doing. A few people asked us if we knew what was going on, we tried asking one old man if he knew what was happening but he only spoke Finnish (too bad they didn’t teach me how to say “Is there a fire in the hotel? Do we need to get the hell out of here?” in my finish lesson..). It turned out being some boy playing with his toy near the alarm.
We spent the next day in the city and we only got one parking ticket.
Finally, we left for France!! Goodbye snow, hello sunshine! As soon as we got to where we were staying in France we then heard about the attack in Brussels.. which was very sad and scary (on the way back the had many armed men in the France airport). Apart from the attack, we had a merry time in France.
I had totally forgotten how nice it felt being able to go outside in a tee-shirt (No more puffy-coat). The French people were very polite and kind. They drive like maniacs, so my mom fit in just perfectly ;). I am so blessed I had the opportunity to get to visit such a beautiful Country, but I am even more grateful that I had the chance to spend it with my two favorite women. We got to go all over France, we stayed in Nyons, visited Avignon and the palace of the pope (definitely recommend it), we also finally met my cousins who live a little further North. It was so amazing being able to spend time with them! We also got lost a few times, which was great in the long run because we were able to see even more beautiful cities and the Countryside. Sadly the time finally came when we had to leave France, goodbye Cousins, goodbye delicious bread, goodbye sunshine, hello hideous jacket…
We went to the airport in Marseille and I guess it wasn’t the safest place because just about every building was gated up, even our hotel. We stopped in Amsterdam, then landed in Helsinki. My mom, sister, and I spent one last day in Helsinki. But then we eventually had to say goodbye… For some reason, this goodbye was much harder than the first.
I already miss them but in a couple of days, I’m lucky enough to spend some time with my two favorite men in Finland and London!
France 2k16 was a vacation I will never forget.
Great post Meghan! Can’t wait to see you soon!