Ready to rumble!

Finally all packed and ready to go!

So… The time has finally come where I can say, “I leave tomorrow”!
As I hug my parents goodnight for the last time for a long time I can’t help but think about how truly different this year is going to be from the previous one!
My last week in Australia has been a bit of a blur! If anyone has been driving around Gawler this week and has seen two suspicious people taking photos of all kinds of random landmarks, don’t stress it was more than likely just my dad and I! We have been taking photos of the town to put with my presentation I have been working on for when I get to my host club in Oulainen, Finland. Covering topics of family, school, my town and more it should be interesting trying to get my point across to people who may or may not understand a single word of English! I think my first task when I get there is to work on writing and practicing it in Finnish so at the very least they can understand what my name is!

Me speaking at the Rotary Club of
Gawler Light's meeting- Tuesday 15/1/13 

Rotary is an international organisation, with clubs all around the world. My local Rotary club is the Rotary Club of Gawler Light and they are sponsoring my exchange this year. They meet weekly and on Tuesday night I went and gave a small impromptu talk where I spoke a bit about whatever came to mind in relation to myself, my exchange and Finland. I talked about my host families, about my Finnish language skills (or lack thereof!) and also about the Finnish weather… It sure is going to be a shock after the heat we’ve been having here!

My Outbound Counsellor and I

My first week in Finland will be spent in Karkku not too far from the capital, Helsinki but around 400kms from my host town, Oulainen. There I will be with all of the other newly arrived exchange students on a camp. We haven’t been told exactly what we will actually be doing but from what past students have said I believe we will learn a little about the language and culture and basically settle into the ridiculously awkward time difference. (Finland is about 8 and a half hours behind us here in SA which will prove difficult when it comes time to wanting to Skype Mum and Dad or friends back home…)

I have been told that at some point we will have a day trip into Tampere where we can do a bit of shopping which would be awesome as I am going with the warmest clothes I own which I can 100% guarantee I am going to freeze in over there!

Today has been such a mad rush of final farewells to friends and family and organising so many little last minute things! Tonight’s packing turned into a very demanding exercise when my luggage totalled 27kgs! With only 7 of those kilos being my own things I finally came to the conclusion that I may have overdone the souvenir and gift shopping a little bit!! The drama of deciding what to take and what Australian goodies would have to stay in Australia was extremely trying! The sad moment came where the Tim tams were told they were not going on their European holiday and out they went…
With our bathroom scales giving us all kinds of answers we resorted to weighing items 1kg at a time on the kitchen scales! After the drama of packing was over which took much longer than expected I am finally about to call it a night!

I will be getting up bright and early in the morning for what I am sure will be yet another last minute rush to be ready to get to the airport for my morning flight to Melbourne. It will be weird to drive away from home tomorrow. It may not change a lot in the year I am away but I am curious as to how I will see it after seeing so many different places of the world and experiencing so many new and different things; how I change and how that affects how I view places, people and situations will be interesting to see.
January has been a hectic month so far! I have been on a total of 5 planes rides already and I haven’t even left the country! It’s been a crazy month of farewells, souvenir shopping, badge making, packing, and that trip to Canberra for the allusive ‘biometric scan’ which turned out to only involve my two index fingers being placed on a scanner!

Euro, Singapore Dollars and British Pounds... All prepared for the stop overs!

I think as challenging as this year will be I will probably feel relief when I finally sit down on that plane tomorrow! The preparation for this has been madness and it’ll be nice when it’s all finished and all I have to think about is what everyone has been working hard towards this past year, the exchange itself!

Rotary exchange students from all around the globe have blazers of different colours depending on the country they are from. In Australia we are given green blazers. It is a sort of tradition that each student sources a variety of small pins that relate to where they’re from or themselves in some way. They then go on to share them with all of the different people they meet throughout their year away, including other exchange students they may meet along the way! Exchange students will often come home after their year abroad with their blazer absolutely covered! Filled with pins, badges and other nicknacks from their adventures you can barely see what colour the blazer actually is!

For my badges I tried really hard to look for some that related to South Australia and my town of Gawler specifically rather than a generic Australian flag pin. It was really difficult to find but I really wanted to have some distinctive badges so when I couldn’t buy any I had to think outside of the box. My Mum and I thought it would be really unique to make my own badges! We borrowed badge making materials and a machine from some family friends and came up with a whole range of designs on the computer for some small button badges. They are very special as my family have all worked together to produce them! I have over 20 different designs with Gawler printed on them along with different Australian animals, and South Australian icons and trademarks. I also have a badge that has my Rotary district and sponsor club on it (Gawler Light D9500). My family and I have made around 250 badges altogether that I will share throughout my year abroad!

Already stitched to the pocket on my blazer in front of my heart is a small angel charm my work friends gave to me as a part of my going away gift. It is a travel angel that stays with me so that where ever I am, I will never be alone.  One of a few thoughtful little pins and charms that have already started to fill my blazer!
For my going away my Grandparents gave me a beautiful little necklace which is of Saint Christopher, the Patron Saint of safe travel.

I am so blessed to have such caring friends and family. Whilst a year is a long time, you will neither leave my mind nor my heart…