007 Tomorrow will never die

Today was a special day. I had my long-waited district 1410's outbound briefing in Hämeenkyrö, finally <3 I had my mom with me and we had this kind of a road trip feeling going on as we were driving to Tampere yesterday. We spent a night there because otherwise we would have had to get up really early (I'm talking about 5 or 6 am early, not 9 am on a Saturday morning) to drive all the way to the training that started 10 am today. Shout-out to my grandparents as they generously sponsored our night in Tampere!

I was so nervous before we got to the place the training was held that my stomach hurt and I felt like I was out of breath. It's always like that when I'm going to meet someone I've been dying to see for a while already! In whatsapp we people from district 1410 were updating how far we were as we got nearer. My feet were literally shaking when I got there. Everyone was looking at each other like "Do I know you? I don't know you. Or maybe I do know you but I'm not sure if I really know you... Do you know me?"

From left to right: Essi, Oscar, Johanna and me. Love you guys <3© Essi

I finally met some people I've talked with in our "little" whatsapp group! It was so great, even though I was a bit nervous, a bit tired for some reason and really didn't come up with anything (smart) to say. It was funny, shocking and incredible to actually see Johanna, Essi, Oscar and a few other people. You know when you've seen pictures of someone and know how they look like, but still it's completely different to see them in front of you, live, face to face. I just wish we had had a bit more time to talk!

"And the food is not bad, it's interesting." - A clever reminder from our RYE district chairman Kari Tuominen <3

Maybe I've done my research or maybe the outbound training was more meant to explain our parents what's up and coming, because I feel I didn't learn anything I didn't already know. But I liked especially that part where we future outbounds got to talk with the rotex people without our parents. It was the most relaxed, interesting and informative part of the whole training. Still, I felt this training was necessary for me - even if just to revise the things I knew - and it sure got my Argentina-enthusiasm up again!

I was bored so I marked (almost) every club I found from my host district to the map. There's probably some mistakes, but at least it gives me some kind of sense of where I might be going :D

Lately I've been wondering where I'll go in Argentina. I've been actually hoping to get somewhere up as north as possible where it's warmer. I'd like to have a year without winter. But the RYE district chairman told us not to expect things. I'm really glad he said this. I know I will have an incredible year no matter where I go! And the less I expect something, the less I will get upset for nothing. So, this was a reminder I had needed. Later today I asked other exchange students in district 4930 to tell me some places to visit, and one of them told how beautiful place Barilecho is, even though it's pretty cold there, too. Then I started to google some pictures of Patagonia, getting mostly portraits of the glaciers, cold ocean and snowy mountains. And to be honest... The pictures were absolutely stunning. I wouldn't mind living in such beautiful place at all. There's so much to do in Argentina, and I know I'm going to do trips around the country, that I'm just so happy with everything! Ahh, I just want to go there right now... But now I'm off to sleep, I'm so tired

PS. Again, I'm going to put up some pictures of the training a bit later, when I get them. (Ahem, I still haven't put the other pictures here, too... But I will do that, I promise!