It's been an interesting 12 months.
Previously, I had been away from my family for one month at most, and that was within Ireland when I was away at college, surrounded by my friends. Taking the leap to living by myself almost 6,000 miles away for four months is, looking back, utter madness.
No one tried to talk me out of it, and now that I think about it, my mother must have been sick with worry! My sister had previously spent a few months in Finland so she wasn't completely alien to the concept of us living abroad, but she had travelled over there with her when she first moved, and we visited her again while she was there.
I don't think I was really nervous about the whole thing. Well I was nervous, but in an itchy-feet excited way, not an anxious way. I couldn't wait to get to Japan and see all these famous locations and meet lots of new friends. It was an adventure - one I had been looking forward to for nearly four years.
My time in Japan, while amazing, wasn't all a barrel of laughs. Work was terribly annoying sometimes and the severely early mornings are a lot to take every day. For the most part, I was lonely. During the week I went to work by myself and came home by myself, and I spent most weekends exploring Tokyo by myself. That was the worst part - when you see something extraordinary, and turn around to comment on it, but there's no one there to tell.
My time in Sweden was different from what I expected. I was really looking forward to making friends with all these other nationalities, as well as finally having house mates again! When I arrived it was a little different, and I think I expected too much. I had little to no contact with my five house mates, and of the 50 or so people I went to class with and lived beside, I became close with only a handful.
Now I'm home, and I can't wait to go somewhere again. I'm flat broke and surrounded by people who have money saved - but whenever I feel jealous or have to cut back my spending, I just think about the amazing year I've had.
