An American's 4th Winter in Finland, and How I Learned to Love It.

     Man, it's been a long time hasn't it? 

    As I look back on my other posts, I realize that I haven't made a strong enough commitment to add to this blog and really explore my thoughts like I always intended to. This was supposed to be a place where people who know me--or know of me--could see what goes on behind the TikTok videos and Instagram posts. But... It's been a while. 

    So, let's catch up, shall we?

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    This year has marked my 4th winter in Finland. It's been an exciting one, because I have managed to learn how to appreciate the way Finnish winter is, rather than what I wish it was. I have learned to embrace the darkness (name of my emo band?), and welcome all the winter fun I can possibly find. 

    This winter I have:

         - Gone sledding down abandoned skiing slopes. 

         - Walked on a frozen lake for the first time. 

         - Hunted for (and didn't find) the northern lights. 

         - Experienced a sauna made entirely out of ice. 

        

         - Received my first pair of Mummo-made knitted socks.

        - Started seriously trying to learn Finnish--I even know super useful words like 'velho' and 'undulaatti.'  

    All that, and my vitamin D levels are still up ;) 

    I mention all this to say that I am finally coming around to Finnish winter. I know it's fashionable for foreigners like me to go onto social media and make fun of how miserable Finnish winter is--I've made a few of those videos myself (and likely will make more, I mean come on, there's a lot of jokes to be had there). 

    But, this winter has felt different. Maybe its the fact that the social gathering spots have been closed, forcing me to go experience life outside of them. Or, maybe Finland is finally starting to feel like more a part of me rather than just where I live. Who knows. I guess you could say I learned to like rocks-in-my-socks and eternally wet pant-legs.

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    So, all of that leads me to what I expect from 2022. After all, we are over a month into this year and I haven't really addressed it at all. So, here are my goals that may or may not happen:

    - I want to visit at least 3 new Finnish cities this year. Who knows which ones, maybe yours?!

    - I want to get my Instagram to 30k followers, and my TikTok to 100,000 followers. Hopefully this is more realistic than I think!

    - I want to write more--especially fiction (it's where my passion ultimately resides). 

    - I want to announce, and launch, a small project I have been working on for a long time. It's something very different than what you know me for, but I hope you all like it! 

    - I want to find time for some real commitment to the YouTube channel with Ekaterini. 

    - I want to finally see a moose in the wild, dammit!

    All-in-all I think I have some pretty easy to achieve goals, and some pretty difficult ones--a healthy mix if you ask me. Let's see how these progress, and if I can add a nice, neat little check mark to each and every one over the next few months. Let's also hope I bring myself to update you all more often on here. 

    So, until next time (hopefully not 9 months from now). 

        Kiitos, 

- Josh.