Independence Day

   I have long since realized that independence means completely different things to different people. Ask one person, they answer independence is about paying your own bills, someone else says it's all about breaking free from your family or their norms. But today, we celebrate something completely else here in Finland, we celebrate our country becoming whole, united, our very own, for exactly one hundred years ago.
   We have been greated with amazing weather today, the sun is shining and still has a bit of warmth to her. The clouds that have covered Åbo for quite some time, has parted and shows us a beautiful skies. A thin layer of snow coats everything.
   We, me and Theo, have decided to celebrate small. We went for a walk during the morning, being completely blown away by the small amount of cars driving around. It was strange to see our streets so empty. We're going to watch Tuntematon Sotilas (The Unknown Soldier) during the afternoon, as it is a classic movie closely associated with the national holiday, and I've made some gingerbread dough (from scratch, points to me for that) for us to make cookies from when the movie's done. And that, is about it. We also listened to Finlandia this morning, and our national anthem.

   Me and my family never really celebrated our nations independence day either, just by doing small things like spending time together, and of course, watching the festivities at the castle of our President (although if I'm being completely honest, as I was younger, I mostly enjoyed it because the women arriving wore so pretty dresses), so not celebrating large is something I've grown accustomed to and I love it.
   It's a bit of a tradition to not celebrate large (like for example, in the US where they have fireworks and other extravagant things to honor their country's special day), but that doesn't mean we enjoy it any less.
   So congratulations on 100 years as a country, Finland! Let's hope for a great many more years in the future.

Change

   The amount of things that changes in a year is insane. Sometimes, nothing happens. You stay in the same place, the same people surround you, and nothing really changes. However, this year, a ton of stuff has changed for me.
   My looks has changed, for example. During autumn/winter last year, my hair was longer (and also this weird blue/silvery color), and I carried myself in a very different way, I stand up straight and I have a lot more muscles than last year. I also like how I look more than I did last year. It makes me feel a lot better about things about myself. Look at this picture, there's a lot of difference.
   Last year, I was surrounded by a lot of toxic people. I had a lot of people I met on a regular basis that made me feel worse about myself and didn't make me want to improve. That has changed, I'm now surrounded by positive people who support me, who makes me feel better about myself and encourage me to become a better person and improve my skills, work on my talents and acheive the things I want to. This is changing my whole outlook on a ton of things, especially the fields I have talent in, and I've arrived at the conclusion when I realize that I have more than one talent, which is completely thanks to the people around me.
   I've always been fascinated by the people surrounding you, and how they make an impact on your life. The difference can be positive, neautral or negative, and it depends completely on how you and the person approach eachother, how you communicate and what happens between you. No one else impacts it, not really. Humans are fascinating.
   I already know that next year will change a lot of things. I'm going to move, and next year I'm starting my third year of university. I'm also hoping that I'll be able to travel during the summer, and that I manage to evolve as a person during 2018.

Glöggrundan Day #333

   For those of you who don't know, here students at universities have overalls (which has specific colors depending on what you study, for example mine is green and white) that are worn to informal occasions like parties for students, gatherings etc. It's a tradition to have one, and I think it's a good one. Each student personalizes their overalls by filling them with patched related to organisations close to their heart, or patches that are related to specific events the student has visited. Sewing these patches is however really hard, since the overalls are made of a rough material, resulting in some students using glue instead of needle and thread, but that's by many older students considered cheating. The general idea is that the more patches you have, the cooler you are, and the older of a student you probably are as well.
   Every year we have something called Glöggrundan here in Åbo, which makes a point of visiting as many bars as possible in a night, for which you recieve a patch. You can reach different levels, each one with different patches. You also need to have the first patch to get the second, the first and second patch to reach the third "level" and so on.
   Glöggrundan was held Thursday, and I participated for the first time, making me reach the first level, Kandidat (the patches associated with this year are viewed here on the right). I'm really happy about this, because it's kind of a prestige thing as well: the higher level you are, the better, and I  hope to reach Magister next year. I didn't manage to get a ticket last year, since they sell incredibly fast, for a lot of students residing in Åbo, Helsingfors and Vasa joins us for this little adventure.
   Note that the point of this isn't just to get drunk: you can earn your patch through ordering alcohol free drinks/food as well, making the entire idea more inclusive and avoids putting pressure on someone who'd like to participate but doesn't like to drink.
   This year I walked around with a group of people my boyfriend put together, most of which I had already met. As always when you start with a large group and partying is involved, the group's members changed during the night as we split up, reformed, met other friends and lost some of the original ones. However, everyone made it to where they were supposed to sleep all in one piece. I had a lot of fun, it was really great to see these people again, they're all so incredibly nice. During the night I also ran into a bunch of other acquaintances in different groups and places, most of them also trying to earn their patches.
   The snowglobe and the yellow, green and black patch were earned this week, and since I had a few patches left to sew, I spent a large portion of yesterday evening with choosing places for them and using my very limited skill with needle and thread to fasten them.
   I'mm already looking forward to Glöggrundan next year, and of course to the next time I get to wear my overalls! Thank you to all of those who made this year such a great one!

I'm Learning a Lot About Myself

   This year I've been learning so much about myself, things I really didn't know I thought about, skills I didn't know I had and challanges I thought I would never be able to complete (yes, it's going to be a really, really long blog post, so if you're here for the shorter ones, this one isn't for you, but feel free to read anything else!)
   I realized I'm stronger mentally than I thought. I have experienced a lot of challenging things this year, in many different ways. I failed to find an apartment, I failed to get a job over the summer, I went through a breakup and a ton of other things. And I survived all of that. Now it's December, and all my challenges from 2017 are about to be over (and the 2018 challenges are going to take over), and I'm so proud that I made it through all of that.
   I also, quite recently, realized that I'm smarter than I thought (which says absolutely nothing, becaue I consider myself to be a colossal idiot), because I've tackled a lot of intellectual challenges this year. I've taken two exams on the same day and passed them both, I've made it through a lot of college classes and built more complex puzzles than I've ever done before. I've read a lot of books, and more complex ones. I've handled ton of things this year, most of them relating to intelligence and intellect.
   I started, in the beginning of the year, that I need to change how I approach my choices. I noticed that I often make choices based on what other people might think about what I do, how I act or what I decide. It's not healthy for me, as these choices made because of what other's want are often bad for me, or don't take what I want into consideration at all (which of course is not healhty, you don't have to be a genious to figure it out (even a colossal idiot can do it) ). Making choices based on other people is not really good for anyone, and I have a lot of improving to do on this point, even after realising it. Being a people pleaser is embedded into my nature, which makes it really hard to change, but I'm confident that I'll be able to do it. Maybe that'd be a good New Year's resolution for the upcoming year?
   I also realized that I should listen more, I have a tendency to just talk, talk and then talk some more, and I keep having to tell myself to actually listen to the people around me instead of just going on and on about all the time. You can do so much just by listening to the people around you. Giving advice can be just as helpful as just listening to someone telling you something. Listening shouldn't be optional in a conversation, it's should be your first priority and it took twenty years for me to realize it.
   I have a lot of other things that I've learned (for example that I can be really productive if I manage to focus, that I have a problem with keeping focused, that I have a real problem with my sweet tooth, and a ton of other stuff) but I won't bore you with every single one.
   I have a lot of changes to make before I can consider myself a better person, and I'm actually going to try to be better at the things I'm considering to be my flaws. I hope you've had some helpful realizations this year, and have a great December!
(Image source: upper; Pinterest, lower; also Pinterest)