ONE MONTH

What's life in here like?

magic, happiness, laughter, español,

dancing, smiling, walking, running,

giggling, kissing, studying, caring,

letting go, realizing, opening eyes

discovering, finding,

understanding (finally?)

Never have I ever been through so many emotions in one month - everything from homesick..ness, hopelessness, desperation, wishing, dreaming, hoping, wanting, craving, smiling, til the end of the absolute happiness you only find within.

So far, it's still been the best month of my life, through it all.

Minea xx

this is the way that i say i need you

this is the way that i say i'm yours

and the boys go on

"How many languages do you speak? FOUR?? How is it possible to know so many??"

"You've been to Asia and Africa? Honestly? I've never left my country."

"What's it like in an airplane?"

"It's so cool to talk to you, I've never met anyone from another country!"

Being European.

Because I was born in Finland, yes, I've studied manymany languages in school.

Because I was born in Europe, my family has money to travel to the other side of the world, and back.

Because I am North European, of course I've been to an airplane, who here hasn't?

It is unfair. Just because I was born in Europe I can do all this. And just because my friends weren't, they can't.

Why does the place where we born give us such limits? Why do people have to have different opportunities in life just because of where they were born? Nobody chooses to be born somewhere. It... just happens(?). And still I feel like I've been so priviledged, I have seen many places, I've done many things, I've bought stuff most of my friends have never heard of.. and wherever I go, I always have the label in my forehead. European. Rich. Has opportunities most people only dream of. Has to work 10 times less to reach the same goals.

Sometimes, some people (not everyone, of course not) treat me differently because of my roots. There are people who think it's the greatest thing ever and who come to me saying how jealous they are of everything I've been able to do and learn and see. Wishing they'd had the chance to do the same. I don't know how I should react to this, when we finish doing homework and my friends start speaking, 'why are there people in this country who get to eat whatever they want, but we have to eat the same food from yesterday for breakfast'. What can I say, except that I will never know what it means to be poor like that? (Poor in money, rich in culture, why does it have to be this way?) That just because I was born in Finland I can, no matter if I will or not?

That's the thing. I can't even explain how complicated and torn I feel. I know that I am one of the very few ones in this world who have the chance to do what I want, or even choose to do aboslutely nothing and still survive through the day. But why me? What did I ever do to 'deserve' the title of being European and surrounded by opportunities? My point here isn't saying that Europeans are the best and everyone else sucks, I hope you get what I'm saying. I just think it's unfair that I've met the most beautiful people of this world here, who still will never have the same opportunities as me, no matter how much they work for them.

Yes, I am lucky. But why? Why me? Why us? Why does it have to be this way? My head is just.. really confused. Wherever I go, I'll always be the blonde, the tall one, the European, when all I want is to fit in, to feel Mexican. Thanks to the people I do, but still there are things I will never truly understand. Just because I was born in Europe.

Thinking of this world makes my head spin. I have no idea what to say anymore. I hate racism, that's the main thing on my mind, I guess. Probably... but I love it here. That's the number one thing in my mind, the only feeling in my heart that matters. Don't worry:) (if this post brought ANY thoughts into your head, please share them with me, I'd love to hear what you guys think too. Am I alone with this?)

and there's gold

falling from the ceiling

from this world

(but who decides who gets to catch it?)

Minea x

happiness hit her like a train on a track

Heyy,

I thought I should make a more organized post for my unorganized thoughts:D so enjoy while I talk about these two (!!!) first weeks in here.

The city. As I said, it's a relatively small town with about 70 000 inhabitants - at first I was kinda scared about it since I've always been a big town girl (:D ahaha), but actually it's way better this way - all my friends live pretty near the centre, I can go to school with just one bus AND I can walk in the streets alone. Not that I like doing things alone, but it's great that I can go home alone and to the city alone and don't always have to be picked up from everywhere. I can go shopping or running or to the gym alone, and it makes me really happy, that I can go do things and not just be inside the house :) plus my hostmom is kind of a celebrity in Juchitán so I always have to greet everyone I meet on the streets because I've probably been introduced to them and I don't want to be rude :D ...

Family. Today I finally met my hostsister Shunashi who lives in Tuxla - great! Most of the time I hang out with my hostbrother Fernando, just because his girlfriend and their kid live in here only in the weekends and my parents have to sleep in the afternoon. I have great communication and trust with them, they trust me (ie they let me go to Ixtepec, a city near here ALONE with the 30minute bus, which was pretty awesome concidering how little time I've been here!!), and next Friday I'm going to Tuxla to live at my hostsister's and another hostbrother's house with Fernando, so yay :)! I really like the family, I trust them and they trust me and I like talking to them. Plus they help me alot with my Spanish which brings me to...

Language. Yes, I speak Italian at home, which helps me so much when it comes to understanding, but suprisingly it helps me a lot in learning new words and grammar too. I already speak Spanish with my family and at school, and I still (naturally) stutter and ask questions but hey atleast they get what I'm saying:) I don't need to use any English, so I guess I'm a little "ahead" of other exchange students, but I don't see it as a negative thing, it only makes communicating and making friends so much easier. So I'm happy:)

School. My school is called CONALEP (Colegio National del Educación Tecnica... or something), it's about 15km away and my class speciality is... *drumroll* INFORMÁTICA !! Which means... computers. No, I am not kidding (anybody who knows me in real life knows I dont know anything about computers, I've managed to break one in the past :DDD...). My schedule has English, Maths and Physics, and... computer programming and managing the operative systems and basic security of computers. Yes. :DDD but I like it!!! I wouldn't like it as much if I didn't have such an awesome class I think! My class is pretty big and I know about half of the people in it, or atleast I hang out with them, and they're so cool and friendly and nice!!!!!! We've been out a couple of times and they help me a lot and we always have a laugh and !!! It's different than in Finland but I like it, I lovelovelove it, we do all different things and talk about different stuff and laugh at different jokes, which is afhfhfsk so very cool. Everyone's really interested about me and my home country and everything and they're supersweet:D I'm so happy they took me so well in the class, they're all so sweet I want to die. Not really. But you know.

Nationality. Ahh lovely:D I thought everytime someone asked me where I'm from I'd explain the whole Finland-Italy thing, just because it's really weird to say that I am just Finnish and that's it, but turns out here it's way easier to say that yeah, I'm from Finland, that's it. Most of the people have never heard of it so I don't really have to be scared of them thinking that I am like most Finns etc. because they don't know anyone else:D (I know this is a little chaotic I hope you get my point). Also the same thing happened here that happened to India, about being born in Europe, how it affects people when you leave Europe and start talking about it. But I'm gonna talk about that later now I've gotta go..

Anyways I'm doing really really good:) I'm not that homesick anymore and I feel like I can just start enjoying this awesome year. I can't wait to see what it holds!!!!!!!!!

:) Minea xx

i'm finding it hard to believe I'M IN HEAVEN

So now that it's Sunday and my family's asleep I can tell more about what's been going on here:)

I arrived to the México City airport at 6pm local time with five other girls, but because of the time difference it ws actually 2am, and we'd left home earlier at around 7am so we were all pretty dead! The Mexican AFS took us to a hotel in the centre where we met other exchange students (I wish I could put pictures here!!!..) from Belgium, Thailand, Germany, Italy, Norway, Japan.. nevermind the lack of sleep, we were up for pretty long just chilling with everybody. At that point I was too excited to believe I was actually in México, I acted lice a loco, but it was fun!

The next day the students left in groups to their cities, to Querétaro, Mexico, Veracruz, Tuxla, Tapachula, Lagunas, Oaxaca... ...and of course my bus to Juchitán was the absolute last! Our bus and the other bus to Ixtepec left at 9:30 in the evening. Which could've been fun and exciting but... WE WEREN'T ALLOWED TO LEAVE THE HOTEL. So imagine, you are in gorgeus gorgeus Mexico, about to start the adventure of your life, but you have to sit around in a hotell all day watching everybody else leave to their destinations... oh boy oh boy ! At the end there was me, two guys and one girl from Thailand, to Germans, one Italian and one Belgian. So.. we played UNO and hangman and.. well it was pretty boring, but atleast you got to know something about the other cultures... I guess:D no but for me it was fun, I got to know the Belgian boy pretty well, he lives 20min by car from my house. But more of that later:D ANYWAY I went with the bus with one thai boy... gosh no common language... awkwad:D but I survived!

I got to Juchitan and I spent the first days getting to know the family and asking them to shw me around a bit. It was cool, but they were pretty rough. I got pretty homesick and the culture shock I was waved into was pretty big. My family's lovely though, I have two parents who both own a restaurant, meaning they work late until the evening and sleep in the afternoons, and a brother who's supersuper cool and chill, and his ex girlfriend and their baby, aw he's the cutest thing ever!! But as days went by (today it's exactly one week in the family), it got better, now I don't feel that homesick. It comes once in a while but luckily it goes away wuickly and I can enjoy my time here :)

It's been a confusing, lovely, dangerous, wonderful, lifefull week of experiences! My brother Fernando took me to Oaxaca wich is the state capital (I know... Oaxaca, Oaxca) about 5hrs with the bus. Lovely!!! He's taken me around the centre and meet his friends and my mom's shown me the market squares and shops. Luckily this is a pretty small town so I can walk around by myself too, I know how to get to the centre and can get around by myself too. I also went to the Belgian boy's family's party, I loved it, I was forced to dance salsa though I have no skills whatsoever :DDDD but it was fun ! Yesterday I went to see a movie with him and his two host brothers (hihihi) and after that we went to a bar for a while, and then got out with Fernando and his friends. I've been having so much fun and basically everything's an emotional rollercoaster, I can cry about how much I miss home and 10 minutes later I can't wait to experience more. Tomorrow I go to school so I'll meet new people and new friendships and yayyy I'm so excited !! :) also in a couple of minutes I'll be goin to the centre with Fernando :))) ayayayayyy life here is good. I've already experienced so much and been so happy, and it's only been one week!!!! Can't wait for more days like this :)

I hope everything's ok with you guys too ! talk to you later :)

Minea xox

here i am!!

..or actually have been for a while already :P I lovein Juchitan, its a pretty small city in Oaxaca, in the South of Mexico, and my family is really amazing! At home theres my brother and his girlfriend and child and my parents and outside two more brothers and a sister. I start school on Monday, I wish it was earlier since theres not much to do in the afternoons, my parents are sleeping now cause they work all night long and my brothers working, but anyways, things are really really good here !! :)

Just a quick post to say Im alive and here and loving it!

Minea x

LAST CHANCE !!!!!

Hiyaaa ! So since the departure is getting closer everyday, I thought it might be a good idea to start thinking about what clothes I want to take with me - but more importantly, to choose the ones I want to sell tomorrow at the flee market. (I have to be there at SEVEN THIRTY tops, how much torture is that????) I've been tossing clothes all year long into random bins and tomorrow it's time to get rid of them, finally. It's my second time selling clothes, don't know how I always end up throwing so many of them into re-sell, but now it completely emptied my closet... since they said that a good amount of clothes is ~10kg, and you should really only take clothes that you're actually going to use, so why should I leave a bunch of clothes for a year into my closet for nothing? I doubt I'll wear them when I come back if I never do it now. So let's be ecological and put them into use again yay !

It was kinda therapeutical to go through old clothes and all the memories that come with them (and to remember how much bigger I actually was before...), so I thought I'd share some here. I recommend everyone who wants to go to exchange to do the same, just go through everything and REALLY think: Am I going to use this? (Plus it's a good way to get some extra money that will surely be needed !) So, here goes, some clothes that I'll be selling tomorrow, if interested=)

two dresses I've never worn. the purple one is from France, I loved it, but

then I never got the chance to use it there, and never have afterwards.

Right one is from here, H&M I think.

this used to be my favorite skirt. notice the sexy red stitch in the front

from trying to make it a bit more fitting ;)))))))

I bought this dress from Italy in the summer of 2009 in a rush, and it was really easy to use in India because it was light and.. windy, I guess :D but

here I've never really used it.

I bought this from France while I was interrailing in the summer of '10,

and I loved it and still do, but it's a bit tricky to use and doesn't really

look that good on me&&my bodytype. :(

this used to be my sister's, but she gave it to me. It's cute, but I think

someone else will like it a bit more than I do now :)

I lovelove this shirt, it's so perky and adorable, but again, I just don't use it anymore. I wish I did, but you know, styles change while people change!

and THIS is what my closet looked afterwards! Even with the phases of not buying clothes or whatever, it has never been this empty. NEVER. Wowwies.

// ok this sale was a huge flop :DD I only made about 25 euros if I take away the table's price from the full price :DDDD so much for making more money ajajajaja

FAMILIAFAMILIAFAMILIAFAMILIAFAMILIA

YESSSSS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was with my boyfriend when I got a call from my mom, I thought it was just the normal "where are you will you eat at home" but instead she said I GOT MY HOST FAMILY INFORMATION !!!!!!!!!!! I ran to the nearest computer and THERE IT WAS !!!!!

I'm so excited my hands just shake and I can't believe I am one step closer to México !! My family lives in Oaxaca which is a state in South-West México which means it's HOT and HUMID and hghsgghgs !!!! It's close to historical mountains and the Pacific Ocean :)) COULD THIS BE ANY MORE PERFECT HONESTLY

It's a state full of history and native mexicans (?? :D) andadnnaddd adhhfhdszjffhff I just can't believe this is true I've been singing dancing and JUMPING UP AND DOWN ALL DAY 'cause... wowokwoeiewo !!!!!! I got my host mom's e-mail so I'll send her something in Spanish tomorrow yippeeeeeeee ayayayayayy !! I looked at pictures of the city I'm going to which is called Juchitán de Zaragoza and it looks SO GORGEOUS filled with festivals and street markets and I looked up my home street and it's next to a lake and JDSAJFDHSAHJH honestly !! This is one of the first big steps that brings me so much closer to México... 38 DAYS TO GO !!!

I have a mom, a dad, about the same age as my own parents, and THREE OLDER BROTHERS and a sister who's 2 years older than me AND A DOG !!! I've wanted a god all my life :D:ddd and how ironic, I'm the youngest here and will be the youngest there too ! But now I can't sit still I'm just sjfkasjsfjsaj all the time and I CAN'T WAIT ANYMORE !!!!!!!!!!! I feel so awesome♥

But the best part is:

LOOK AT THE TEMPERATURE AND EVERYTHINGGGGGGGGG HAHGDGAGGDDDD I can't wait, I can't sit still anymore. México, HERE I COME, wait for 38 days and here I come !!!!!

This was kinda messy, but who cares !! :):)) I love it soso much ! JSJADHDJHDHDHD

xx Minea