A midnight walk

Last night I decided to have a late night stroll, and ended up wandering near to where I used to work, my first job in Turku.
First of all, I got quite a surprise. I worked there during December, when everything was covered in snow, so I had absolutely no idea that that area had quite a lot of trees and grass. I'd never seen it before! I'm glad I went in that direction because I got the chance to see it in quite a different light.
Being around there brought up plenty of memories for me. Winter was quite a dark and miserable time - it literally was that way, and also felt that way as there were a lot of problems around that time. Being near there made me both happy and sad. It was around that time that I first started to feel like I really loved Turku, and that it was somewhere I would like to call my home. I remember one particular morning, quite early, when I'd only had to be there for one hour. I was walking home, seeing the cathedral in the distance, seeing the roads in and out of the city, and the train tracks, it was extremely cold but very clear and sunny, and I remember thinking how beautiful it all was. I got that feeling last night too.
I also felt quite sad because I thought of how my first few months here were in some ways wasted, just like many before I came to Finland. Maybe they needed to be wasted so I could be so happy and appreciative of everything I have now, and especially everything I've gained since coming to Turku. I'm so grateful for how things have turned out. This is definitely one of the happiest times of my life.
Whilst I worked there I was staying with Emma and Tommi most of the time, and little did I know that every time I walked back to their house I was walking straight past my future home, the place where I live now. I actually walked past my current home on the first morning I was ever in Turku. I never would have guessed. It goes to show you never can tell how things will turn out.