Had An Exhausting But Oh So Worth Every Step-day At Sintra Yesterday! No Wonder It’s One Of The Top

Random moments 1) beach at Cascais 2) Seeing the show of Under the Stars at Carmo convent in Lisbon that goes through all phases founded at the end 14th century damaged badly in 18th century and being a touristic spot of today. 

Cinnamon buns, endless summer nights, and saunas. What more could you want?

What do you dream of?

Okay, time for some sort of closure I guess. Can’t belive that I made it and that it’s time to head home. I cannot help but to be sad about all of this coming to an end but I’m also so happy and grateful that this year happened to me at all.

For over a year I’ve tried to share not only the best part (and some of the bad ones too) of moving to Canada for a year but also the fabulousness of Montréal and Québec. The reasons why it was my dream to live in province in the first place, why I’ve loved my every #mtlmoment and also why I’d like to come back here someday. Still hundreads of things I would have loved to share with you more.. 

But in this last post I won’t be telling you what I’ve been up to for the last weeks either;  I won’t be praising the summer events of the city or the amazing  things I’ve had the chance to do here. They are awesome and definitely worth telling for but now I wanna talk about the bigger picture.

For the last weeks I’ve been walking around the streets of Montréal and a bit in Québec also, trying to notice everything, learn every building, street and a charming café by heart. It’s been hard to look at the city, my favourite places and neighbourhoods, where I’ve lived so much…without knowing if I’ll ever experience them again. Countless amounts of last looks and things I will miss about this city. Some bigger than others.

My postcard collection, used to be much larger thou..

I’ve felt very much like home here. Nevermind of my crappy French but there is this small québecoise that has been growing in me and I wouldn’t have wanted to live anywhere else in North America or in Canada. I have been able to explore and observe the culture and the country that I used to read about endlessly as a kid and which I’ve always been drawn to in ways that only travellers/wanderers/ or however you would like to call yourselves, like me can understand. And for a year I lived my dream. Which is pretty cool, I must say.

Not everything went as planned like nothing goes in life in general speking.. Not saying that Québec and Montréal are perfect. There are things which I totally don’t agree on or that make absolutely no sense to me. But they say that a foreign country isn’t supposed to make you, an outsider to feel comfortable to be in. Adapting to the strange ways and new environment is as awkward as it is giving. It educates not only about the country you live in but also about yourself and where you’re coming from. And I’m not talking about country borders here.

When I talk about my MTL year I cannot help but to mention Couchsurfing. There are other websites who function with the same idea. It is a personal opinion which one works for you the best if not at all. Google it if you're not familiar with the concept.

But I do wanna say that it is a community where you don’t have to travel or even have someone sleeping at your couch to participate the community in your hometown. Besides of the actual hosting and surfing thing, which I haven’t been able to do yet - there are a lot different kinds of events and activites going on, in some places more than others. And I can say for a personal experience that it is a great way to build your social circle as a newcomer.

A lot has been said, lots of negative stuff about Couchsurfing, and here I’m not talking about the exact website but this new way of travelling and meeting people. And I’ve had my share of some of the minor issues but during my year of discovery of CS I gotta say that there is a lot of good stuff here too.

In Montréal the community is very active and, even thou I haven’t discovered the other CS communities around the world yet. However I dare to say, this one is filled with the craziest and the most awesome activities which tells a lot about the members in the community too. With some of them I’ve been lucky enough to build lifelong friendships with.

(not my pic)

It is a community where I haven’t felt the need to explain myself, my spirit and my reasons to come here because most of the CS members understand the desire and even the need to move away to abroad or do intensive, long travels.  Which is the reason why I wanna keep participating in one way or another in Finland too. Or wherever I’ll be living in. 

In general, during this year I’ve put so much time on so many events and on countless amount of meet ups with perfect strangers which not all of them were good actually but in the end it was all worth it. I’ve met people, sometimes only once or twice..others may have already moved on, but some of them have expanded my horizon by their stories and personalities. I’ve heard people describing me as a courageous person for coming as far I have come and in the way I have but there are people out there who’ve gone much further and have pursued way crazier ideas in more extraordinary ways than I have in mine.

Even though this post is already too long I cannot leave out the industry I discovered and worked for the last six months. Who knew that you could make money by testing videogames or that being a Finnish speaker could be such an advantage in Montréal? I’ve truly enjoyed my time and I’m definitely keeping my options open of becoming a videogame tester again. But not for the job itself or how cool and easy it sounds but for the people who work there.  It’s a great job because of the social environment, how deeply you can feel like being a part of a team and the wonderful friends you make along the way. Even sometimes the people you weren’t the most closest to, are the ones you’ll remember for the rest of your life. 

A MASSIVE thank you btw to everyone who’s been living this experience with me, from all the way back home to Québec and beyond…new and old ones. No names necessary, you know who you are. Thank you for being part of my québecois experience. Never would have been able to do this on my own.

Now when I look at my empty room where I’ve lived for almost the entire year; the white walls that used to be covered by my Mtl and Québec postcards and my luggages (which I had to pack four times to get it right!)…. I cannot believe I’m really leaving. These 12 months feel now much bigger and longer than when looking at them in the calendar. Even thou Canada and Québec are a lot like Finland I have truly lived outside of my comfort zone here.

This is the longest period of time and furthest I’ve ever been from home. Without my support system, from friends and family to EU benefits which all of them I was used to having. I’m continuously searching for the right words to describe the spiritual change and growth in me but I’m starting to think that there isn’t any. I've come a long way from the first post I wrote a year ago. 

I can only encourage everyone to do the same, not the CS thing or Montréal thing or even the travelling thing but to pursue your dreams and step outside of your box for a moment. A lot of bad stuff can happen but so can a lot of good too. Concentrate on the positive side. Life is short and time is precious and limited.

I hope that with the posts here in my blog I’ve managed to open up a little bit what Montréal and Québec are all about and encouraged anyone who’s ever had the thought of travelling here to do so. Or made someone local to be a tourist in his/her city and country. 

It is a remarkable place and I’m proud that I was able to call it my home once.

Je me souviens. I remember. 

Helsinki by night.

Lisbon and the Tagus river! 

Tomorrow #pausini20th

15 years ago since one of the biggest success story of Finnish music was released :) #nostalgia #helsinki

Fed up with winter.. Longing for summer even if it is cloudy and rainy. Took these last year in Kuopio while I was working in Wine Festival over there... btw going again this year also!