A Year In Europe
Introduction
Well I suppose the first question is, ''who am I?''.
My name is Daniel Hawes, I am 22 years old and have just moved to Helsinki, Finland. Before Europe I was living in a little place in South Australia named Kangaroo Island. It is a small community of around 4,500 residents but with a booming tourist trade, more often than not we have a lot more people on the island than that. In March of 2009 I met a girl, Julia Jansson. She hailed from Helsinki. A town that I thought was similar to Atlantis. Similar in the sense that it a didn't actually exist outside of fairy tales. I know better now. Julia ended up moving in with me on Kangaroo Island and when it came time for her to go back home it was agreed that I would follow. So in February of 2010 I moved from 40+degrees to below 20.
Apart from Julia I did have a couple of other things drawing me to Europe. While on Kangaroo Island I was employed by National Parks. I worked closely with Australian Sea-lions and New Zealand fur seals and after 3 years of working with them became quite infatuated by seals. Finland is home to one of, if not the worlds rarest seal. Saimaannorppa. With a population which is currently around the 250 mark it was really a case of 'get there and see it while you still can'. I had hoped to gain work with them also, either volunteer or paid but it was proving hard to get positive answers out of anyone when writing from another country and it really would be necessary to actually be in the country to be taken seriously.
My second big passion in life is downhill skateboarding. I have been involved in the sport for just a little over 3 years and am as addicted to riding down mountains as a fat person is addicted to pie. In 2009 I made my racing debut. I traveled Australia as well as heading to Canada and America to race. The International Gravity Sport Association (IGSA) runs an annual racing circuit around Europe as a part of the world tour. It was a big dream of mine to ride on some of the best hills Europe has to offer and meet some more of the extensive long boarding family from around the world. With really only 3 or 4 international riders coming out of Australia this was also my chance to get my name out there as a serious skater. Australia also has some fantastic product and ideas as far as skating is concerned but competing with the location and currency of Canada and America it is very hard to share them with the rest of the world. Moving to Europe would hopefully give me the chance to help the Australian market by pushing it overseas.
This site will be used to record my travels and life in general over the next year. Hopefully it will give others an insight to what it is really like to move to another part of the world with extreme differences to your homeland. It will also allow friends and family to keep track of me and my progress and give me a way to share my adventures with you. I hope you enjoy.
Moi moi.
My name is Daniel Hawes, I am 22 years old and have just moved to Helsinki, Finland. Before Europe I was living in a little place in South Australia named Kangaroo Island. It is a small community of around 4,500 residents but with a booming tourist trade, more often than not we have a lot more people on the island than that. In March of 2009 I met a girl, Julia Jansson. She hailed from Helsinki. A town that I thought was similar to Atlantis. Similar in the sense that it a didn't actually exist outside of fairy tales. I know better now. Julia ended up moving in with me on Kangaroo Island and when it came time for her to go back home it was agreed that I would follow. So in February of 2010 I moved from 40+degrees to below 20.
Apart from Julia I did have a couple of other things drawing me to Europe. While on Kangaroo Island I was employed by National Parks. I worked closely with Australian Sea-lions and New Zealand fur seals and after 3 years of working with them became quite infatuated by seals. Finland is home to one of, if not the worlds rarest seal. Saimaannorppa. With a population which is currently around the 250 mark it was really a case of 'get there and see it while you still can'. I had hoped to gain work with them also, either volunteer or paid but it was proving hard to get positive answers out of anyone when writing from another country and it really would be necessary to actually be in the country to be taken seriously.
My second big passion in life is downhill skateboarding. I have been involved in the sport for just a little over 3 years and am as addicted to riding down mountains as a fat person is addicted to pie. In 2009 I made my racing debut. I traveled Australia as well as heading to Canada and America to race. The International Gravity Sport Association (IGSA) runs an annual racing circuit around Europe as a part of the world tour. It was a big dream of mine to ride on some of the best hills Europe has to offer and meet some more of the extensive long boarding family from around the world. With really only 3 or 4 international riders coming out of Australia this was also my chance to get my name out there as a serious skater. Australia also has some fantastic product and ideas as far as skating is concerned but competing with the location and currency of Canada and America it is very hard to share them with the rest of the world. Moving to Europe would hopefully give me the chance to help the Australian market by pushing it overseas.
This site will be used to record my travels and life in general over the next year. Hopefully it will give others an insight to what it is really like to move to another part of the world with extreme differences to your homeland. It will also allow friends and family to keep track of me and my progress and give me a way to share my adventures with you. I hope you enjoy.
Moi moi.
