By Marilena Kagkaraki,
Ever thought about wanting to leave your current situation and just go somewhere else and live in a different way for some time? If your answer is yes, we are on the same boat. Τhere I was about to leave home for five months and go study abroad. I was thinking about doing the Erasmus student exchange programme for a long time, since these kinds of experiences really were what my heart needed at that time. The catch is I did not want to go to places I had heard about or most people usually go to. So, when I saw Finland was an option I knew this is what I wanted to experience. It was a place I did not know much about and by all means not popular for Erasmus. Hence there I am packed and ready to board the plane for one more time thinking to myself “What am I doing? Why do I make myself go through so many changes and challenges?”. However, the gate is boarding and I have no more time to think, it is decided and I am going there.
Once I arrived in Joensuu, which was where the university was, darkness, forests and lakes was all I could see. A landscape so different than what I was used to, but so raw and distinct. Then, I started getting more familiar with the settings and my surroundings. University had started and naturally I met new people that became friends. We all had an adventurous mindset and so we explored what we could in Finland during our studies there. We explored the Koli National Park with an amazing natural Scandinavian-like landscape, cities and the culture there. Keeping an open mind, in exploring a place and its culture, is key. Before that point though, the culture shock was quite existent, since things and people everywhere functioned in a very different way. Apparently, asking a cashier in Finland “how are you?” makes them laugh, since they do not have the concept of “smalltalk”. Moreover, Finnish people are so calm and private in their lives compared to Greek people.
In other words, pace of life revolves around calmness and nature and coming from studying in Athens, a buzzing capital, that change was quite a shock for me. Lastly, learning to cope in a different climate with cold and snow, again coming from a country that has more than 300 days of sun a year, was also a challenge itself. Nonetheless, despite all these challenges and differences, I got to experience things I would never have if I had not chosen Finland as my destination. Places covered in complete snow, a trip to St.Petersburg, Santa Claus’s village in Rovaniemi and travelling to Lapland are some of the things I will never forget.
The pinnacle of the trip was watching the northern lights or aurora borealis with the people that became my friends. In the end, every travel experience makes you richer and gives you memories, lessons and friends that last a lifetime. But, I do believe that exploring some places that are quite unheard of, has its own magic. At the end of the day this is the answer to why I am making myself go through this, to discover this magic. Next time you choose a destination for any kind of travelling, maybe you want to go somewhere you have no knowledge of. I promise you, you will be surprised.
