Finland + me = ??? (Alias how it all started and continued)

Early beginnings

I was born and then grew up without any Finnish influence around me - until the day I listened to my sister's walkman and heard The Rasmus for the first time. It isn't needed to write that I somehow managed to "steal" the cassette and got hooked on this one piece of music called Dead Letters. Since that I have been listening to The Rasmus and their music helped me to get over some trouble times of my teenagehood. But still, I wasn't interested in Finland much more than any other average Czech.

The outbreak of disease
After a few years of listening to this one CD I discovered the magic of downloading songs from the internet. That way i got all The Rasmus songs (legally, ofc :D) and discovered such bands like Negative, The 69 Eyes, Private Line or Uniklubi. That was before 8th class of elementary school and all I can say is, that by the start of the 9th class I already liked Finland a LOT. How did it happen and why? I really don't know. Maybe it was because I met some Finns and found out they were so amazing or I just overheard the Finnish language and fell in love with it. Or maybe I just woke up one day with Finland in my head, reluctant to get out of it.

The disease is getting worse...
My love to Finland was a bit pasive until i got a Finnish textbook so I could start learning. Although it took some time, first I had to pass the exams to high school, but then when summer holidays came, I was reading this textbook all the time and at any place (for example on sunny beach in Greece ;) ). After holiday I joined a course which I took for another 1.5 year and the last half year I was taught by my friend.
I was decided to move to Finland one day and wanted to study university there or go there at least for an exchange year. But it even didn't come on my mind that my exchange year could come so soon...

Bright future...??

In my first year of grammar school I happened to see YFU presentation about exchange stayes in countries around the world. The idea of going on an exchange during high school was getting more and more reasonable and exciting and soon I decided to go whatever it takes. In September I chose to go with YFU (and that's something I'm never going to regret because I already met so many great people) and got all the papers done as fast as I could. I had never imagined what kinds of problems could bubble up - not having any normal photo of myself nor photo with my family which wouldn't be older than 10 years. 

I was so looking forward to it and I already counted down the days to leave. But 'thanks' to people around me I was getting still more and more confused - let's just say that when so many people tell you 5 times a day, that going to such a land like Finland is totally stupid idea and that I'm a selfish and problematic person when I refuse giving up vegetarianism and that I wouldn't get a family... It's not anything to cheer you up, trust me. I almost decided to give up whole my exchange but I was lucky to meet an exchanger-vegetarian and could see what's the exchange year about in real. And I knew that this was what I so wanted.

I'm really happy I didn't give up because some month or two later I got my host family - I came back from a show of a Finnish band, had shower, laid down and I was ready to fall asleep (It was 2 a.m.), but I had a strange feeling so I turned on the PC and went straight to my mail box. What a surprise when I saw an e-mail from Czech YFU telling me I had a host family!! I opened up the folder and couldn't help myself to scream, cry and laugh loud - not only, that I got the host family, but by chance I got to Tampere (which was a city I secretly dreamed of)!!

Now I'm eagerly waiting to enter the departure lounge and head strainght to Finland, yay!