For some people learning to fly, free as a bird, can be a lifelong dream. I'm not one of them. I just thought it would be cool to have a pilot's licence. So I entered a flight school, did the training and - got the licence.
Training at the San Jose International Airport and sharing the same airspace with big passenger jets was exciting, challenging and very rewarding. At first, everything was so overwhelming. I didn't remember what to say to the air traffic control, and I didn't understand half of what they replied to me. Taking off and controlling the plane was never a big problem, neither was learning the navigational systems, but learning to land smoothly took more practicing.
The learning process, challenging myself, was the most rewarding part to me. After getting the licence I didn't use it much because I didn't have any real need to, and there was not much new to get from it. And when you don't fly often enough, the skills get rusty and you don't feel comfortable any more, which reduces the chances of going flying even further. That's what happened to me, and in the end before moving back to Finland I didn't go flying at all. Many people have asked if I will continue flying here in Finland. I don't know. I kind of want to, but my understanding is that getting a licence and flying is here even more challenging and expensive than in the US, and it is not practically possible to convert an American licence to a European one. Due to the weather conditions, an instrument rating would be practically mandatory. Now that would be another challenge of course, so I don't rule it out yet, but not in the near future.