Dylan's Exchange to University of Turku | Finland
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| Photo from https://www.utu.fi/en/studying/exchange-students/partners/Pages/home.aspx |
It is difficult to put an experience like studying abroad into words. It offers a new world of possibilities and exciting new experiences. My name is Dylan Caddy and I chose to go to the University of Turku, in Finland. I have a degree in Communications and Political science and am now studying an LLB (Law). At the end of my first degree my major regret was not doing student exchange. I had friends who had travelled to America, Canada and Europe on exchange and they told me that it was the most amazing experience of their lives. I didn’t doubt this for a second, the entire premise of exchange is to broaden your understanding of the different cultures, of different languages and to make the world seem a little bit smaller. It is a programme for developing yourself as a person, so there could never really be a negative associated with it.
Finland has a world renowned education system. This was a major reason for my application there. I wanted to spend 6 months abroad, but I wanted it to add to my resume, and stand out from the rest of the hundreds of applications that law firms view. The exchange programme shows the ability to work under differing conditions, to be independent and to accept and work with cultures that are not familiar to you. It is a huge asset on my resume.
Another reason I chose Finland was because I had never seen snow in real life before. I didn’t want just a little bit of snow, I wanted as much snow as I could possibly see, and then some more. On my second day in Finland it started to snow, not much but just enough to get me excited. When I woke up the next morning there was a spectacular white sheet covering everything exposed to it. I was thrilled!
Perhaps the most interesting thing about all these people together sharing a kitchen is that the only mutual language is English. So a floor full of non-native English speakers speaking English to each other made for a few very humorous conversations. Especially when they fully understood each other in broken English.
It became a tradition of my floor to hold a floor dinner once a week. Generally the person cooking would do a native dish from their country. I was treated to some incredible meals, with the most notable being some very spicy Korean dishes. Unfortunately I couldn’t source any kangaroo over there, so I doubled up with the American bloke and cooked up some greasy, cheesy, super unhealthy hamburgers.
Part of the appeal of going to exchange in Europe is that you have the ability to travel while you are there at a very affordable price. I made a few choice travel arrangements to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia (!) and a music festival in Amsterdam. I also travelled for a month after my exchange with some of the people that I met there.
This brings me to the most important, rewarding and valuable part of the exchange. The people that you meet. To spend 5 months with people from different cultures, different backgrounds, different customs, tastes, likes and dislikes seemed to be a fairly daunting process before I arrived. I stayed in the Student Village which allows its residents to have a private room, with a private bathroom and shower, and a shared kitchen with the floor. Each floor consists of 12 people. I was blessed enough to have a plethora of cultures on my floor which included Spanish, Swedish, French, Australian, Austrian, American, Hungarian and South Korean.
It is incredible how much you can relate to a person without them speaking your language. I spent a lot of time with a Spanish guy on my floor, I attended the opening parties and the aforementioned Lapland trip with him and a bunch of French girls. His English was pretty limited, but we never had any issues communicating. After a while you start to realise that even though there are some superficial, and some very potent differences between the cultures, everyone is the same, and you can bond over mutual niceties, like food!
My advice to you is do Exchange, do it as many times as you can in as many places as possible. You will make friends for life, experience enough for 100 lifetimes, and better yourself. If nothing else, you will party with a bunch of crazy people in a foreign country!
- Dylan studied abroad at the University of Turku in Finland
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