Books, Travel, Study and Planning a Move.

So I have been planning to update recently with some book reviews but I keep getting distracted by starting to read other good books- I highly recommend the Divergent books by Veronia Roth and the Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant- so those posts will come when I hit a wall in the book reading. I have also been very busy on another note.

I started looking for jobs for when I finished being an au pair, and I was looking all over Europe, not just in Finland to find as many opportunities as possible. I ended up applying for a job in Rhodes, Greece, and I got it! So I will be moving to Greece as of the 29th of August... that gives me just under 3 weeks until I move.

I also travel to Ireland next week for a friends wedding! YAY! Weddings! YAY! Travel! I am there for a week and then when I come back, I think I will have two days here in Vaasa before I travel south and visit friends in Turku for a few days and then a day or so in Helsinki. I am tempted to try get in a day trip to Tallinn just for the hell of it before I leave as well. I love Tallinn and I don't know when I will get a chance to visit again. This also means that I have to do most of my packing for the move before I even go to Ireland, so that I just have to really worry about packing what I take to Ireland with me when I get back to Finland.

On top of all that planning, I have been doing the Archaeology MOOC that I talked about a few posts ago. The final exercise was due last week and the results were given this morning. I got full marks for everything! YAY! I'm happy with that because, apart from my language classes which have often been fairly informal in terms of any kind of homework, it is the first study I have really done on anything since high school. It was really fun and interesting too. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in history. It is run through the Coursera website and is called Archaeology's Dirty Little Secrets. I will probably also post some more of the stuff I wrote for exercises here at some point. One of the other students had the idea to start a blog for the students to post to with different archaeological themed things and I am going to be a contributor to that as well.

So basically to sum up my life I have been busy. Things are going to get fun and exciting over the next few weeks. I am excited to go to Greece and sad to be leaving Finland. Also I have never been to Greece so I can't wait to see some of the historical sites. At least the history geek inside of me will have fun!

Well that's all for now folks! I will try to post something up between Ireland and Greece at the very least.


~~Random Logic~~

Oh god, oh god, we're all going to die...

Well not really... I just have that particular line from Firefly stuck in my head at the moment.

So today marks 7 days left until I leave this sunburnt country for a land of ice and snow. I finished work a week ago now and have been packing frantically to move out of where I'm living. 4 days of the last week have been spent essentially in transit to and from where my belongings are being stored. My dad and brother spent today moving another load.

All that's left to move now are basically the things I will be taking with me to Finland.

As I started packing my suitcase today it kind of hit me what I am doing. This is a major move. It's a one way ticket. It's the opportunity of a lifetime. I'm freaking excited!

But at the same time I'm kinda scared.

I won't be able to just call my parents up at any time or even just jump on a bus to go visit them. I won't be able to just call up some of my best friends and ask them if they want to hang out and catch a movie or anything like that.

And then I balance it against what I am doing.

I am moving to a country I love.

I am going to be doing something that 10 years ago wouldn't have even crossed my mind.

I am going to be catching up with friends  haven't seen in 5 years. I can call them up if I want to hang out.

I am putting myself out there.

Talking to a friend tonight I asked her if she felt the same thing when she moved to the centre of Australia for a job. She did, but she settled and I know she loves what she does. I guess it's just a matter of getting settled into my job in Finland and back into the country as well. I guess the best thing about it is that I will be in an area that whilst I am not entirely familiar with it, I am familiar with the region and I have friends around who can help me if I need it and who I can just chill with if I need it.

I guess the biggest motivation behind all of this move is the fact that I felt a little bit stuck in a rut. I love Australia for sure, and I have made so many amazing friends here over the past couple of years, but it's something beyond friends and family. I have had a couple of jobs since I finished high school and my youth exchange. I never seem to stick in the same kind of industry either. The only constant is that all jobs have been administration based... something which I do not want to be doing for the rest of my life unless it is in a position that I absolutely love and adore.

I'm looking forward to this more than it scares me and I think that is the best thing possible when all is said and done. I know I will have an amazing time and the experience of a lifetime.

So I will go back to packing secure in the thought that life goes nowhere unless one is willing to a take a chance, and we are all in charge of our own future even when it seems like we aren't.


~~Random Logic~~