18th of July

I was supposed to be born on the 18th of July. I didn’t. As it was one of the hottest summers in Finland I decided to wait another 2weeks to make my mother feel a tiny bit more uncomfortable. And I doubt I have made her job any easier since.

But the 18^th became my name day. It is the day that begins the “women’s week” in names, which means that all the names celebrated in that week are for girls. Maybe that is why I have grown up to secretly be a feminist. Who knows?

So, for the past twenty odd years the 18^th of July has been a day of strawberries – not a bad day at all. But it also appears that for me, there is more magic to that day then to any other day of the year. Three years ago, on the 18^th of July I stepped on to the train in England and crossed the canal, thinking my life on the little island was over for good.

A year later, on the 18^th of July I finally got the results for my French test, with which my acceptance to the school I have been going to now for several semesters, was confirmed. That little figure in the corner of the paper also decided that I was going to stay in Paris.

Today, on the 18^th of July I will graduate. 19 years of schooling will today be finally over, for good. I will be getting my second degree, which is supposed help me to achieve my career aspirations. 

Excited? I am. There is always a risk that something unexpected or expected and meaningful comes to my way on this day. And if I did believe in horoscopes I would indeed think so, as the stars seemed to be on my side today.

And I think I might, I might just have to soon become superstitious.