Back when I first started learning Finnish, I thought of it as an exciting, intellectual, almost artistic challenge. I wanted to express myself in Finnish and I wondered about how I’d develop the ability to conjugate, inflect and live in Finnish! What I didn’t expect, was that I would learn a lot about myself on the way. I kind of just thought I’d learn Finnish. In the post I reflect on the 7 things I learned about myself and the world through this process.

I believe every single person and being I come across knows something that I don’t know, and vice versa. For this reason, every interaction is a chance to learn something new, for ourselves and the people we interact with. This post explains my thinking and its far-reaching implications.

Ever have those days where it seems that everything would just be easier if you’d stayed home or moved back there? Me too. There’s some growth involved, and with it comes some pain as well, but fear not! I wrote this post to help you understand 2 things: why we get into bad moods/funks in the first place (and why you’re especially likely to develop them if you live abroad) and, how to shift out of them when they happen.