itsepäisyyspäivä

Happy Indepence Day, good ol' Finland! The title is one of my favorite Finnish word puns: itseNäisyyspäivä means indepence day, itsePäisyyspäivä means stubborness day - and let's face it, Finns can be pretty stubborn ;-)

I just want to take this chance to tell you that I really like this country, and at times I might be thought as patriotic, even. I've seen quite many countries, and it feels the more I travel, the more I learn to appreciate Finland. I have my chronic wanderlust, I always want to see new places and experience new adventures, but I also enjoy coming back to Finland, each and every time. After all, Finland is where I come from, where my roots are. Sure, Finland has its faults, no doubt about it, but there's still plenty of nice things here, too - and that's something I've learnt to appreciate after travelling as much as I have. In a nutshell, Finland is not any better or worse than any other country, but it's mine. It's a place I will always return, eventually. It's a place... it's a place I call home. Like Rodney Atkins puts it while thinking about his own country:

...These are my people
This is where I come from
We're givin' this life everything we've got and then some
It ain't always pretty
But it's real
That's the way we were made
Wouldn't have it any other way
We fall down and we get up
We walk proud and we talk tough
We got heart and we got nerve
Even if we are a bit disturbed...

Yeah... today is the day for all us Finns to feel proud of our isolated little country. Light up those two candles to your windowsill and listen to some Jean Sibelius, right? (hey, here's a comic relief for this quite deep blog entry: I haven't really listened to Finlandia hymn that many times; now I did, and came to conclusion it's actually pretty scary! xD Just try it... LOL, and the beginning reminds me of Star Wars theme)

Yours Truly