Slowly but steadily our return to Switzerland comes closer, and with it comes a slight melancholy. During the last months, we managed to settle down, establish a daily routine and, most importantly, made new friends. Finland is a great country to live in and there are many things that I am going to miss. The friendly and supportive approach towards children (where else would you find a small fast food store without any chairs for adults, but a babychair for your offspring?). The landscape with its rocks, birch trees, pines and moss. The seaside and the daily walks along the river. The buildings (and the lanterns next to the front doors). The saunas. The cinnamon buns. Even the weather has been beautiful for the last days –a real feeling of spring took over…about two months early for Finland.

But first and foremost we are going to miss our friends. During the last years, we lived in various places. We made good friends, enjoyed the time, and then we had to leave again because school was over, the semester abroad passed too quickly, the studies were finished, the internship ended, a new job came up somewhere else….I guess it is a modern phenomenon: most of our friends are spread somewhere around the globe. So is our family. And at every new place you got to make new friends. Feels like a never-ending story.

It is a pity because sometimes the distance makes it hard to stay in touch and we would both love to meet up with everyone more often, make them a bigger part in our daily life. Most of our extended family hasn’t even had the chance to meet the little one yet which is really sad.

At the same time, experiencing so many different places is a blessing. Without it we wouldn’t have so many friends in the first place. And we are incredibly happy to know all of you guys! So when we will leave we will do so with an auspicious and a dropping eye and a big thank you to our Finnish and French-Finnish friends.