While studying overseas in Helsinki, a friend told me about a programme called Skype that I could use to call my parents back in Canada. I added my friend to my contact list, and a day later was contacted by a boy named "Matt". I remembered my friend had been on exchange in Ohio previously, and this guy Matt said that he was from Pennsylvania. I assumed they were friends, not knowing that random people could talk to you over Skype! I asked him how he knew my friend, Naomi, and he said, "Naomi?" Eek! A stranger! I found my privacy settings and prevented anyone from being able to message me or call me randomly ever again, but decided to keep this Matt person on my list anyway. He claimed he wanted to learn Finnish, and that he'd been to Finland on a Rotary International exchange a few years ago. I had to confess to him that, although I had a Finnish first and last name and was living in Helsinki, that I was a Finnish-Canadian, and only had about a year's worth of Finnish under my belt. Still, I promised to try to teach him Finn if he liked! We got to know each other and talked about Finland and our families. We had an instant bond, and talked every single day for many hours for months and months. Finally, in May, he told me he was coming to Helsinki to meet me. We were both scared but more excited than anything. I couldn't help but feel like one of those stupid women who meet strangers online and then end up as a lampshade. But I'd talked to his family over skype--even helped his younger sister with algebra--so I felt like I knew him! Still... maybe his whole family would turn me into a lampshade. Having him meet me on my turf (Helsinki) made me feel safe. I can't explain how you can be in love with someone you've never even touched, but I felt that way with him even before he even stepped off the plane. And the feelings were mutual. The three weeks he spent in Finland was the happiest time of both of our lives thus far. We visited his host parents in the west of Finland and he met my friends in Helsinki. We officially decided to call ourselves a "couple". When I returned home to Canada in July 2006, we began our long-distance relationship. He was still in university in the states, and I was still in university in Toronto. We saw each other every chance we got over the next few years, and got to know each others friends and families. It was very difficult, but we remained strong. We eventually started to talk about marriage, but both agreed that we'd wait until we were finished with school before we tied-the-knot. I finally graduated in June 2009 with a BA in Finnish Studies and Art History. He graduated with a BSc in Business Management. He's never once asked me to teach him Finnish. ;)

Matt told me later that it was more difficult asking for my father's blessing than it was popping the question to me. Cheeky bum! We both knew it was coming--we'd said we would be engaged when we finished school--but I wasn't really sure exactly when he'd propose. Well, he and his family invited me to North Carolina in late July to visit with them before I flew off to Japan (for the next two years!). I was expecting it all week, but the proposal never came. We even went on a wild horse tour and I was sure it would happen that day! I dressed up extra cute and practiced looking surprised in my head. Nada. I thought, oh well, maybe he wants to do it when we're in Japan. The last morning we were there, I'd completely given up all engagement expectations and was even sporting my only mismatched bikini. We walked down to the beach for one last romp in the waves with his family that morning. I was putting on sunscreen and had pulled my horrid sand-swept coif into an ugly bun on the back of my head to do so. In true Matti-fashion, he proposed at the beach when I was looking my worst (hehehe), but I couldn't have asked for a better proposal. I had just finished slathering some screen on my face and turned to look at him, and there he was on bended knee. At that moment, my eyes welled up with tears and the sunscreen attacked! I was blinded! You could say my eyes burned with sunscreen just as my heart burned with love for him. If you did say that, though, you'd be pretty over-the-top :P . Matt's family didn't even notice him on bended knee, and he still hadn't popped the question. His nan finally saw what was happening and began running to the water screaming for his sisters and cousins to "GET OUT OF THE WATER!" This alarmed most of the people at the beach--who I'm sure may have had sharks on their minds--but she soon followed that up with screams of "MATT'S PROPOSING!" His family showed up wide (and teary) -eyed and stood around and waited for him to ask. I felt like it had been an eternity, when he finally asked, "Will you marry me?" I choked out a "yes", and everyone celebrated. His dad was quick with the camera. Four hours later I was on a plane heading back to Canada. Matt's family was elated, I was elated, Matti was elated, the people at the beach were elated and boy were my parents elated when I came home sporting my grandmother's ring and a big grin on my face!