Starting Anew in Finland: 15 Years Away from Home

Hi, I'm Mofei.

The night before my flight to Finland, I sat down for a while and tried to sort out my thoughts. It was one of those moments that feels both ordinary and unreal at the same time. I was excited, a little nervous, and strangely calm.

Fifteen Years

If you live long enough in one rhythm, it starts to feel inevitable to look back. At this point, it feels natural to split my life so far into two stages.

The first stage runs from childhood to 18. I grew up in Huainan, had a stable family life, and spent those years learning the basic things that still shape me now: how to be grateful, how to keep going, and how to stay steady.

In June 2008, I graduated from high school and was about to leave my hometown for Shanghai.

At 18, I left Huainan for Shanghai. That move started the second stage. I later moved between Shanghai and Beijing, then back to Shanghai again. Those fifteen years were not simple, but they were the years that taught me how to work, how to adapt, and how to stand on my own feet.

The Work

Looking back, I do feel lucky in one specific way: the major I chose in college and the jobs I took after graduation all stayed roughly on the same line. There were detours, but the general direction never really shifted.

1. (2010-2014) My first job after graduation was with a group of entrepreneurs. I was employee number 007. That sounds dramatic now, but at the time it just meant there was a lot to do and no one else to do it. I met two close colleagues there, Drama Person and Xiaoma (who still refuses to have a blog). We had similar backgrounds, rented a big house together, stayed up late together, and sharpened our technical skills side by side. Years later, we even ended up working together again at Baidu.

2. (2014-2018) Baidu was where I first really felt the gap between myself and capable people. It was a good kind of pressure. I met people with strong backgrounds and very different ways of thinking. That made me more humble, but also more disciplined with my own work.

3. (2018-2023) At Mapbox Shanghai, I worked in a very different kind of environment. It was probably the closest I had come to the kind of work rhythm I had imagined for myself entirely. I also traveled for work, met colleagues from all over the world, and gradually realized that working abroad was no longer some distant, abstract idea. It had become a real possibility.

   During a training trip to the US, I remember standing in the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., thinking how strange it was that work had brought me there.

   

   My colleagues came from everywhere. That mix of cultures mattered. It essentially changed how I thought about work, communication, and the environment I actually wanted to be in.

4. 2023+ Mapbox Finland: By the time I wrote this, the move to Finland was already very close. I did not know exactly what would happen next, but I knew I wanted to see what life looked like in a new country. Uncertainty is not always comfortable, but it is real, and it was enough.

Footprints and Changes

After I started working, I gradually got more chances to travel. I still clearly remember my first flight. At the time, my manager even asked if it was my first time flying. It sounds funny now, because flying is no longer something I think about. The map has become less empty. Each trip made the world feel a little larger, but also a little more familiar.

In China:

• Went to Tibet and found out what severe altitude sickness feels like.
• Drove through Xinjiang in October, which turned out to be freezing.
• Went on a business trip to Maduo, where altitude sickness knocked me down again.
• Walked four hours across the plateau in Daocheng to see the lakes, and decided I never want to be on a plateau again.
• Wandered the Hulunbuir grasslands and unexpectedly learned that milking a cow involves actual technique.
• Took a family of seven to Yunnan, proving you can survive a group tour without a breakdown.

Outside:

• Thailand three times (spouse, colleagues, parents).
• New Zealand for the honeymoon. The landscapes were good enough that I joked about retiring there.
• The US twice for work.
• Sipadan alone, where I finished my OW and AOW diving licenses.

Besides work, I also ended up trying things that were not part of the original plan.

• I learned a bit of baking and can make something presentable.
• I got into diving. Enough to know I like the quiet down there.
• In New Zealand, I took the controls of a small plane.
• Walked on a glacier after flying in by helicopter. It still sounds slightly unreal to say.
• I went skydiving. Highly memorable, mostly in a profoundly physical way.

The pandemic made things less predictable for everyone, but looking back, I am still satisfied with how those years turned out. I handled the usual life milestones: hukou, housing, a car. But I also always believed that life should stay open to some changes. That is part of why I was willing to lose money selling a car I had only owned for half a year to make room for this move. New scenery isn't free, but I still think it is worth paying for.

Keep Going

Looking back on the past 15 years, I mostly just feel fortunate. Sitting here just before leaving for Finland, there are obvious worries, but I am far more curious than afraid. New places bring uncertainty, but they also bring new things to learn. That is reason enough.

Keep going.