BFF #12: What's the deal with the naked sauna thing?

Hey all and welcome to our last episode of BeFriending Finland! Dozen is a nice roundish figure to stop at, don't you think?  We've had a peculiar road and I think it is only fitting to end our series with a post about the sauna - the most peculiar thing in Finland of all times.

When I started eleven episodes ago, I told you about the Finn's need of a personal space. Yesterday I got an excellent comment from Bob who, after living 14 years in Finland (go Bob!), has noticed that though we like space we love closeness. This impression he has gotten in a sauna. Wait... where?

Sauna.
Picture: Jukk_a

A sauna is a room with a stove (or is a heater a more proper term?), which you heat up with either wood or electricity until the room temperature is at least 70 degrees Celsius. Then you strip naked, often in a group, sit on these long wooden benches and throw water on the stove to produce hot steam.

In the sauna you sit, you sweat, you talk (or not) and purely enjoy the heat until you're done. Sometimes you might even beat yourself or each other gently with branches of a birch.

Okay, written out like that it really sounds crazy. And what makes the sauna even a more crazy concept is that, like Bob said, you can sit very closely in the sauna - even with strangers and with both sexes present! Now this must sound very contradictory to you after the talk about personal space. And perhaps it is.

But I think that maybe in this vast, expansive country, where winters are snowy and dark, and where there's more personal space anyone can come up a use with, we have figured out a cultural context in which we can purely enjoy the company of each other. A context where you can get a little bit closer to others in a non-sexual environment. A context where it is quite okay to strip naked, both physically and personally, because in a sauna we are all simply human beings without any makeup.

It's also common to run from the sauna to a lake or a pond.
This picture is from last Juhannus...

Sauna is a good excuse to get friends over. It's a time families spent together. It brings people closer and takes away the barrier that we normally build. It is also respectful tradition since in the sauna it is not okay to stare or act offensive in any way. That is why it's okay to have both sexes present in one sauna, even though public saunas regularly have different sides for men and women.

At some point children stop bathing around the opposite sex parent, since parents are too close and it starts feeling awkward. And I guess here's the key of understanding how space-loving Finn might enjoy a tradition
of the sauna. A sauna is friendly, respectful but not so personal tradition.

And most of all - it's fun!

It has also been fun to share some insights about Finnish culture with. Thank you for sharing, for commenting and for being interested in the matter. If you come up with good ideas of a blog post, a good story or any other thing you might wan't to tell me about, don't hesitate to send me an email: aliisainwonderland (a) gmail.com.

Thank you and see you around!

How Falling in Love is Like Getting a Puppy

Being in love is like owning a dog. But falling in love is like getting a new puppy.

From the first second you lay your eyes upon love it seems like there is nothing else in the room. Love gets your attention, all of it, immediately. You must have it. You forget all the warnings your mother ever told you. You don't care if it makes a mess, you don't care if it takes all of your time and all of your heart and you simply don't care if it will grow bigger and turn into serious responsibility when time passes by.

The moment you lay your eyes upon love, you can't say no to it anymore. And after you have decided on love you become frightened. You fear that love might not want you, it might fear you or worse - it might already belong to somebody else. But if you're in luck, love doesn't yet have a home and it runs to you like your the most wonderful thing it has ever seen.

When you have a new love at home, you can't stay away. A moment apart seems like eternity. You run home from school, from work, from some meaningless party a friend of a friend of a friend invited you to. You just want to be home with your new love. Watching it sleep is the most fascinating thing you've ever done. Everything love does while awake seems utterly adorable and insanely captivating.

The first days with your new love is the time before you come across the fact that love can also be bad. You've heard love can chew on things you loved before, you know it might leave a mess behind and it might even bite you. You know it to be possible yet you don't care and you can't love love any less even if you know it to be true.

When you get a new love, it makes you wonder how you ever could live without one. It makes you wonder how something so seemingly small can bring you so much joy and meaning. And at the same time you constantly worry you might not know how to take care of it, you might actually accidently hurt it or even loose it. The thought of loosing love is unbearable.

And that's why you hold on to it. You let it fill your life, your daily routine and your home. You get used to not being able to come and go as you wish. You get used to the fact that something relies on you. You get happily adapted to a life with a new puppy.

And that's when you become a dog owner.

(This writing is a reply to Taylor Mali's wonderful and lovable poem: How Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog)

BFF #11: Being on time

Dear all, welcome to the eleventh episode of our exciting quest of understanding Finnish culture and people. Today’s topic in BeFriending Finland is being on time. If you enjoy this, be sure to check out parts #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9 and #10 too!

Earlier this summer we discussed the topic of being on time in Finland. Since the question is apparently also a cultural one, I thought it might be fun to bring it up here in BFF. See, in general, people in Finland are on time. And the one who are not know it is regarded a bad habit.

Well, I know that's not the case everywhere in the world. My Italian friend send me a message saying: "I'm gonna be late. Sorry for my Italianness." And my reader Voti pointed out that in Africa one can be two days late and it's still okay.

If in Africa bus leaves when it's full, in Finland it leaves when it's told to leave. Exception to this rule are the trains during the winter, but that's a totally different subject. But point being that you can trust timetables in Finland.

Kuva: Arjan Richter

And you can also trust your friends to be on time, give or take five minutes. Never ever will you have to wait for two hours without getting a message of why the other is being late and when can you expect him or her to arrive. Unlike in Turkey, as I've been told.

Time is a funky thing. One always seems to have too little, the other seems to have all the time in the world. For some, being on time is a matter of respect, to others being on time is not very much of an issue. If everybody's late always, why bother being on time?

In Finland being on time is considered a matter of respect and good manners but what is the case in your country? Are you always on time? Alway late? Five minutes, five hours or five days? When does the bus leave?

BeFriending Finland #10: Wanna Hang Out?

Dear all, welcome to the tenth episode of our exciting quest of understanding Finnish culture and people. Today’s topic in BeFriending Finland is hanging out. If you enjoy this, be sure to check out parts #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8 and #9 too!

I have a colleague who did her exchange year in South Korea. She has told me some awesome facts about Koreans, like when they are born, they're already one year old. No kidding! And how all Koreans age a year in New Year. Still not kidding.

But one thing in particular caught my ear. Let me tell you about it.

She said: "When a Korean invites you to hang out, it is normal that there are other Koreans around. That's how you get to know lots of people." I can see how this might be confusing to a Finn.

People hangin out in Bremen, Germany

See, when we invite somebody to hang out with us, it is - unless specifically said so - meant to be one on one quality time. If there are other people, it is a party. (There's not too many of us here so a group of five can easily form a party...) Maybe it's shyness, maybe it's devotion, maybe it's just a lack of people to invite, but that's just the way it is.

So when a Finn asks if you want to hang out, it means just the two of us. As friends. And when you ask a Finn to hang out with you they don't expect to find other people there. It's kind to mention if there's gonna be others so the overly shy Finn doesn't feel ambushed.

I actually find the Korean way better. It would be SO much easier for people to make new friends, find future spouses or simply change interesting ideas and learn, if we would hang out more with people we don't know. So next time, just bring along your friends and see what happens!

 If I was a South Korean, I'd be 26 now. How old would you be? And do you hang out in groups or not? 

BFF #9: Foood. Om nom nom.

Dear all, welcome to another episode of our exciting quest of understanding Finnish culture and people. Today’s topic in BeFriending Finland is food. If you enjoy this, be sure to check out parts #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7 and #8 too!

What do people eat in England? Fish and Chips! In Italy? Pizza and pasta! In France? Baguettes and red wine! In Finland? Umm... ummmmm... potatoes? Meat? Anyone?

Yeah, that's the thing. We might have a food culture. Somewhere. I think we have one. Mom, did you put our food culture in the attic last time you had a spring cleaning? I can't find it anywhere!

That's a bit mean. We do have a food culture, the one that Silvio Berlusconi insulted while visiting. That's probably the only thing he can't be blamed for. Our food culture is not much of culture. And in any case it is not something you can find abroad labeled "Finnish cuisine".

Kuva: mwri

Different parts of Finland have different traditional things that could be called food culture, like the Karelian pastry. It is actually amazingly good with butter and egg. But most of all we just eat simple, humble things. We eat potatoes with meat, all kinds of fish, vegetables and fruits, since we can pick them up for free.

And since we do not have a strong food culture of our own, we have adapted all of yours. Come to Finland to find Mexican, Indian, Chinese, Italian, Japanese and American restaurants sitting next to each other in peace.

This is my opinion. If you need a second opinion, and I strongly recommend that you do, check out what my best friend wrote about the Finnish food culture. 

Am I beeing too short sighted? Do we have a food culture? Did someone find it? Where was it? Please, argue with me.

BFF #8: To meet'n greet

Dear all, welcome to another episode of our exciting quest of understanding Finnish culture and people. Today’s topic in BeFriending Finland is the funky habits of meeting and greeting. If you enjoy this, be sure to check out parts #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6 and #7 too!

There are some very simple guidelines that will help you through the somewhat awkward moment of meeting completely foreign, Finnish people. You know the moment, when one helds out a hand, the other is about to kiss and the third just stands aside and bows. Well we do not bow and quite as certainly we don't kiss.

Well... to be fair, some of the young, quite international ladies might nowadays kiss on the cheeck. But that is an exception, not the rule and even those kiss only the people they already know. Never ever a complete stranger.

We shake hands when we meet and we shake hands again when we greet. We shake hands when we congratulate. And we even shake hands as we say goodbye and thank for the lovely time. This is the formal and polite way to meet and greet.

Kuva: Boston Public Library

After the point when you became good friends or if you're young and cool, you don't need to shake hands anymore. Then you might nod your head as a greeting and ask something friendly, such as "mitä kuuluu?" (how you're doing). Also hugging is possible, but if you're a man, be sure to remember the correct male hug with patting in the back. But kissing is left for those that are in love.

I need to advice you also on how to shake hands. One might think that's simple, just stick you hand out and that's it. But no. The three main points are: 1) Take a firm grip, don't let your hand just lie there. 2) Do not crush the fingers. 3) Remember to look in the eyes. 

If you're unsure what to do, held out your hand. Shaking hands is the safest way to approach a Finn.

Any thoughts about shaking hands? How do you greet?

Who wants to Marry a Finnish Girl?

I was prepared to hate Phil Schwarzmann. If you know me at all, you hopefully know that I'm not one of those who walk around hoping to hate people. But come on, you gotta hate a man who calls your home town "the capital of hillbilly Finland". Right?

But, it turns out, I do not hate Phil nor did I hate his brand new book How to Marry a Finnish Girl. Actually, I must admit quite liking it, even laughing at it. Phil turns out to have quite a sense of humor, I have to give him that, even if he insults my beloved town severely.

There are other reasons to read his book than his sense of humor. It gives you another side besides the tourist info. Yes, yes. We do have lots of snow, miraculous summer nights, fair and honest people and what not. But we do also have the dark side you can't find in any of the sugar coned, picturesque material aimed for the tourists.

Nobody wants to show their weak sides to strangers. No man, no country. Nevertheless, it would sometimes be a good idea to look at your own culture from the eyes of a stranger. Especially humorous stranger. And it certainly is good to know, that the Finnish winter seems everlasting, if you seriously consider moving here.

What I was a bit disappointed about, though, was that he paid too much attention to meaningless things like how we eat rye bread. Get over it. Every country has it own freaky food stuff. I find eating mayonnaise on everything quite as disgusting as Phil finds our habit of eating porridge. Instead I had been hopeful he'd actually have stronger insights on how to marry a Finnish girl. That's something even the men in Finland might find useful.

I strongly advise you to take a look on the book How to Marry a Finnish Girl. Even if you're a Finn, even if Phil disagrees. And especially so if you're not a Finn. Other than that, keep on marrying Finnish girls. After all, according to Mr. Schwarzmann, girl's in Finland are, right after Sweden, the most beautiful girl's in the world...

Now I only share the question of a good friend of mine: Who would write a book of How to Find and Keep a Finnish Man?

BBF #7: Culture shock

Dear all, welcome to another episode of our exciting quest of understanding Finnish culture and people. Today’s topic in BeFriending Finland is culture shock and at what point it might hit you. If you enjoy this, be sure to check out parts #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 and #6 too!

Culture shock is what a traveler might experience when visiting cultures that differ that from home. Obviously. Of course every culture has its own things which might cause a “shock” reaction, even for the very well prepared foreigner.

It is what hits you after you stop marveling about all the new and exciting things: the snow, the quietness, the language, the silly, silent people…  It is after the "honeymoon" that you realize all the things that are just so different, and somehow WRONG, in the new environment.

 

It doesn’t necessarily have to be something bad to cause a shock reaction. Even things like kissing on the cheek might do it for, say, a Finn travelling in southern Europe. Even the smallest things might cause it.

Kuva: Alex Schweigert

When you need something from the store and they just don’t have it in their country… culture shock. When you act like you normally would at home and you just repeatedly get misunderstood… culture shock. When you try to get some thing done and nobody simply understands what you’re trying to say… culture shock.

The German girl I told you about earlier had a culture shock when she realized that our sausages taste like bread and the good ones are ridiculously expensive. I had culture shock when I visited Cyprus as a kid and saw all the stray dogs.  A friend of mine had a culture shock when she came across quite a few Parisians who were somewhat rude when they noticed that her French wasn’t any that good.

Coming to Finland isn’t any different. After some time here you will most probably experience a culture shock, at least to some extent. You will find the silent Finns extremely annoying. You will get frustrated with our quite selfish way of driving a car. At some point you just want to get home, when you meet a bunch of Finns and they act so very rudely, speak Finnish all the time and don’t open up easily.

But bear with it. Remember that eventually you’ll find a way to get a decent sausage. You’ll break in a Finn's personal space and get a true friend. You’ll learn how to throw a finger for a slow driver in the motorway. And you will find it comfortable to sit silent in a group.

After that point you will go back to marveling the exciting things. The snow, the language, the silly, silent people.

Have you experienced a culture shock? When was it? Did you get over it? How?

BFF #6: Friendly silence

This is a series called BeFriending Finland and it is about the oddities of Finnish culture and people. I hope you find it not only amusing but useful too. Here are links to parts #1, #2, #3, #4 and #5! Enjoy!

Today's topic came from a lovely German girl I met last Saturday. We had a good five minute conversation about Finnish sausages, which in German point of view taste more like bread. But besides talking about sausages she also shared some of her insights about our culture.

Apparently in Germany, the more close you get the more you talk. And if, God forbid, one didn't have anything to say to a close friend not to mention a spouse... well that's just a bad thing. Silence means one has run out of things to discuss about.

Kuva: daimalu

So when she came here, she tried to fill all the silent moments with just something. And she was surprised how much Finns can just be quiet with each other. It took her quite a while to realize that we see the silence-situation quite the other way round.

The closer you get, the easier it is to stay quiet with a friend. If one can be silent around a person, it means s/he feels comfortable around him/her. The silence no longer bothers and makes people feel awkward. Rather it becomes friendly, accepting, relaxed.

So if you can sit silent with a Finn, it is almost considered a compliment. It says: hey, you're nice, I feel relaxed around you. So relaxed that I do not feel like we need to talk constantly to be comfortable.

But do You consider silence friendly or awkward?

And stay tuned for more, coming up next: culture shock!

BFF #5: Finnish women

This is the series called BeFriending Finland, which is all about pondering about the oddities of Finnish culture. Check out parts #1, #2, #3 and #4 too!

Well hello, hello my (potentially non-Finn) friends! Today we’re gonna talk about Finnish women. Not only because it is the ladies' week in Finland, but also because we are worth talking about. Before you judge me as cocky, let me try to assure you.

There is already a pretty interesting blog post about Finnish women you might want to take a look at. The blog is called Way up north. The writer has collected some statistics for you guys. And I quote: 

“Girls are likely to do better at school than boys. In fact, 53% of university students in Finland are women – and 64% of university students that graduate are women. 54.5% of PhD students are women.

Our president is a woman. Our former prime minister was a woman. 42.5% of our MPs are women (compared with a European average of about 19%), 61.5% of our MEPs are women.”

So as you can imagine Finnish women are quite independent. We study hard, gain our own status, make our own living and do not let anybody to push us down. In result we might be just a bit bossy like the writer and my dear neighbor Pablo have pointed out.

Kuva: Melanie Hughes

However I strongly disagree with the writer when she claims that every single Finnish woman would be appalled if someone tried to carry their bags or pay for the dinner. Yes, we might be independent, equal and a bit bossy. But it does not mean we do not appreciate the gesture. We might not expect it, not know how to react to it, but deep down inside we are touched.

So when you come to Finland or meet Finnish women abroad you’re likely to find a strong, stubborn person who’s ready to carry her own bags and open her own doors. We’re capable, ready and most of the times obliged to do those things ourselves. But that's also why we appreciate the attention and thoughtfulness more, since it’s rare and unexpected.

Have you met bossy Finnish women? Are you one? What is the situation in your own country? Can you carry your own bags? Should you?

And stay tuned for more! I really don’t know what’s coming up next but if you do, send me a suggestion or a question via Ask from Aliisa –button. (It's in Finnish, but I'm sure you'll cope. It just asks your name first, then your e-mail, your website and then the rest of the space is yours. Go crazy!)

BFF #4: Whaaat?

In the series of BeFriending Finland I explore and marvel some of the peculiarities of Finnish culture. Today’s topic is about our way of saying “excuse me”. You might also want to check out parts #1, #2 and #3!

Yesterday I, like the rest of the Finland, was still recovering from Juhannus. Juhannus is the midsummer’s festival, during which we just loose it. Imagine it yourself: for few days the sun does not set at all – at least in most parts of Finland. Those few nightless nights are definitely worth celebrating for!

While celebrating, one might get a little sidetracked during a conversation. Now, being a polite English speaking person, one would say “excuse me?” or like my favourite dialect in the world puts it: “pardon?”. But how do we do it? We say: “WHAT?” Sometimes I seriously think we must have the rudest language in the world…

Kuva: Martin Terber

Before you decide never to set your foot inside the borders of Finland let me assure you the tone of the word makes all the difference. In three cases out of four the tone is not rude at all. More likely “what” (“mitä?”) is said very quickly and with a light tone. Since it is a question, it sounds like a question.

But once again, like with please, it is very hard for us to get rid of the “what” while learning a new language. It took several weeks for me to learn to say “pardon” instead of "what" even though I was living in England and faced situations like that every day. That's how tightly the habit sticks with us.

So please give us some credit for trying, be patient and understanding. When a Finn says “umm… what?” what he’s really saying is ”excuse me, can you repeat that, I didn’t quite get it”.

Stay tuned for more, coming up next: a word or two about the Finnish women.

BFF #3: Please

Good morning world! Let’s start this new week with a new post in the series called BeFriending Finland. BFF is all about exploring and hopefully explaining the quirks and peculiarities of Finnish culture and people. Today our topic is the little but quite common word we all know. That is please.

To put it in a one sentence: we do not have a word for “please”. There, I said it. This is one of the reasons why a foreigner might think that Finns are rude and impolite.

See, if one asks another to pass the salt, one would automatically add please to the end. Since we do not have that word, we don’t. We use conditional to make the sentence polite. So when a Finn says “ojentaisitko suolan” ("would you pass the salt"), he’s actually being very polite.

In the case of “yes, please”, we replace the “please” with "kiitos", which is “thank you”. Comparing it to English “no, thank you”, it’s not very different. Anothe way of going around "please" is to replace it with "ole hyvä" ("you're welcome", or literally "be good"). Such a case might be for example "please pay here" and that would be "maksa tähän, ole hyvä".

Kuva: Steven Depolo

Also as we have noticed how useful that little word is, it kind of has been adapted to our language. One might hear someone say “älä pliis tee noin” (“please, don’t do that”), where "pliis" is just a Finnish version of the word, written as it is pronounced, as the rest of Finnish language. Though I must admit in most cases it is used more in a non-honest, ironic kind of way. And all in all it is not very common and not at all official.

If I try to sum it up a bit, I’d say that if someone asks you to do something and doesn’t say please, he might not be impolite. He might just be Finnish.

Are there any other situations, where English speaking people use “please” I did not remember to talk about? Does your language have a word for “please”? Do you consider Finns rude?

Stay tuned for more, coming up next: What?

BeFriending Finland #2: Shoes

Dear Non-Finns. I know you’re out there and I know you’re just dying to come to Finland, right? This series of blog posts is dedicated to you. With BeFriending Finland I try to familiarize you with the peculiarities of Finnish human nature and culture. Last time we talked about personal space. Today, naturally, we talk about shoes.

I’m not gonna talk about how some Finns wear sandals with socks, even if it is, in my opinion, absolutely horrendous. Instead I want to introduce you a habit that we have: When we enter a home, we take our shoes off. I know, it might sound pretty gross to you, but that’s what we do.

When you get pass the personal space issue, break the ice and become a friend with a Finn, inevitably you will be invited to visit. So what to do? When you enter the home you will find yourself in a space that looks somewhat like the one in this picture.


Entryway, that is. There’s likely to be hell of a lot of shoes there. Just leave yours amongst them and enter the home with your stocking feet (“sukkasillaan” in Finnish) or if it happens to be one of the warm months of the year, with your bare feet. Tadah!

This applies to all homes. I have not found a single home in Finland where people would keep their shoes on. Therefore it is likely that if you invite a Finn to your home he might try to take his shoes off. As we are brought up thinking that keeping ones shoes on inside a home is not only impolite but also messy, we tend to forget that in other cultures it can be seen the other way around.

But which way do YOU see it?

And keep coming back. Up next: Please and what?!

BeFriending Finland #1: Personal space

Despite the recent developments in our political field (the extreme nationalist party becoming the third biggest party in Finland) there’s still lots of people who actually like foreigners and want to welcome them to our country. But us Finns, like any other people, have our own peculiarities. Since there are so many foreigners in Finland and so many Finns in other countries, I hope this series of blog posts will be useful. And entertaining too! With no further intro I want to introduce you the first part of BeFriending Finland.

In Finland we have this thing called personal space. And we need lots of it. As you know, Finland is in the north of Europe and there’s only so much as 5 million people living here. That’s pretty few considering how big our country is. As we have been living here for quite some time we have developed ourselves a need of personal space.



When you come to Finland you will pretty soon run into the personal space issue. When waiting for bus, we stand at the opposite sides of the bus stop, if possible. In lunch cafeteria we sit at other end of the table. And if you go to any event you’ll find out that people fill the place (not logically, no, but) one in every three seats. It makes only sense in the context that we are so used to having space around, we tend to keep it that way as long as possible.

So if you go and sit next to a Finn, s/he might look at you with a “who the hell are you” -look on their face. But don’t be alarmed. In most cases they don’t mind. They just aren’t used to that. In fact, I think it would be brilliant, if all the foreigners in the world would teach us how to diminish the personal space so that it wouldn’t be so impossible to sit next to a stranger.

On the other hand, as we tend to keep strangers at least an arm's lenght away, the ones we let to get closer must be somehow special. So if you're lucky enough to be allowed to a Finn's personal space you ought to feel at least a bit proud. :)

Have you been to Finland? Did you notice the need for space? How much space do you need in your own country?

No matter what the politicians say, I say: welcome to our country! And stay tuned for more. Coming up next: shoes.

I miss you lovely Erasmus people

Today’s entry is dedicated to my dear Erasmus friends and is therefore written in English. Please do forgive me for the chosen language and all the mistakes I make with it.

As I’ve told you before, I was an Erasmus student last spring in the University of Loughborough. Even though the town is small and pretty much uninteresting I still spent the most amazing spring there with the most amazing people. Finding friends while studying abroad is fairly easy. Especially when one attends to an exchange program, since all the people brought together by the program are in the same situation. Lost, excited and looking for friends.

First you get to know as many people as possible. But later on and quite naturally you start to spend more and more time with a smaller group. I think the key to the question why you spend most time with particularly these people is sipmly how you feel around them. Or to be exact, how they make you feel.

With my group I could always be me. No matter how odd, how crazy, how silly, how Finnish. If I was sad, there was always a shoulder I could lean to and a friend who would hug me lungs-crushingly-tight. If I was happy there was always somebody to laugh with me adding another half to my joy. If I felt like going out, just a quick call and another Erasmus friend would join me in whatever I wanted to do. If I was being crazy there was always a voice of reason or somebody even crazier. They made me feel wanted. And important. And those are pretty good feelings.

And this is why I miss England, I miss Loughborough. Not just the travelling, partying, studying, eating and chatting. But the people. Lately I’ve spent too much time thinking about the things we did together, things someone said and situations we experienced together. Too much, because it makes me quite sad and because I know that no matter what, what has passed has passed. But on the other hand, I can’t think about it enough because all the memories make me happy. I can’t think about these people enough because they truly are one hell of a group of people. And that is why I miss them more than I never imagined I could.

I know this entry probably doesn’t have much value for my readers. But since I’m sitting in my room, listening to all the songs we danced to and sang together, crying my eyes out, this is the only thing that feels right writing. And there’s only on thing I want to tell them with this entry.

I love you guys.