Emily's Exchange to University of Turku | Finland
I have to say that it never really kicked in that I was leaving everything I knew to be normal. My home, family and friends, my world of reality to journey across to the opposite side of the globe for an entire year of my life. And I have to say that my naivety became evident as I was saying my final goodbyes and saw my family for the last time as I entered immigration. I’m not going to lie, it was one of the scariest moments right then and there. Ahead of me lay all this uncertainty but at the same time a world of opportunity. I cried a lot as I was leaving, but from then on the experience was only up and it was almost impossible to wipe the smile off my face.
Having a fair while before I reached Finland, I was processing the whole, big experience that I was undertaking and my mind kept trying to picture exactly how I would feel on the flight home.
Flashing forward one year, and my journey home was a mix of emotions. It almost felt like de ja vu. Here I was on the flight back home, in tears once again as I said goodbye to the place I now knew as home, and to all these people who were like a second family. That’s what exchange does to you. You meet these people, take on these adventures and live in a place which although may have its differences at first, begins to show its similarities to your hometown.
I still remember the first time I referred to Turku as home. I had just visited a friend in Budapest, and my flight back to Finland had been delayed by 8 hours which left me calling the airport my room for the night. I had been texting my mum at the time and I was complaining as just about anyone would, when their afternoon flight turns into a red eye. And then I said it… “I just want to get home.” Immediately after I realized what I had said, and it made me smile. I was excited to get back to Finland, to what I now knew as home.
The experience was the most amazing, incredible, exciting, adventurous and spontaneous thing I had ever done. I travelled to 17 countries and almost 30 different cities. I was given the amazing opportunity to see Europe through the eyes of locals, staying with friends I had made during my first semester in Finland. And I have to say these bonds that I now have are some of the strongest I have ever had.
You meet people who you live with and you’re forced into situations where you have to make friends. I may have made this sound like a chore but it is far from that. You learn all about new countries and cultures, and hear stories all about these international students. It is one of the few chances where you’re able to see stereotypes erased and actually laugh about the common (mis)interpretations that everyone worldwide has of a certain culture. You would not believe how many people thought I had been attacked by a venomous spider or snake once in my lifetime. We had international dinners where we tried new cuisines from different countries, and spoke of the variances and similarities of our home countries.
One thing I am particularly grateful for is this: being away allowed me to fully appreciate where I came from. We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful country, city and to have English as our first language.
The student union in Turku offered so much. 2.50euros for a full lunch from the cafeteria, and discounts with the gym, free doctors’ visits and a number of other things. The university itself was amazing! The courses were set up so that they were intensive… this may of course may only be relevant to the course I was studying (Law), but I did also hear this from a number of other students studying different courses, who also had this set up. Anyway, this meant that I would have classes for two to three weeks roughly two hours a day. I would then have an exam either the following week or fortnight, once the course had concluded. Because I only did four courses a semester it meant I had a lot of free time between the conclusion of one course and the start of another allowing for so much time to travel and do other exciting things in Finland. The other perk of the Turku university set up was that you could sit the exam up to three times and they would take your highest score, so if you weren’t happy with your result you were able to re-sit the exam. Sounds pretty good hey?!
Anyway in rounding up, exchange was the best experience I could possibly imagine! I wasn’t nearly as prepared for what would happen but I wouldn’t change it for the world. I spent such little time alone, doing grocery shopping; laundry; and cooking with my best friends. It made such basic and what could be considered boring tasks so much fun!
Highlights for me included the travel for sure, but in particular, spending an entire winter immersed in snow, witnessing the northern lights four times, going to Iceland, the international dinners, the parties for sure and ultimately meeting so many international people who are so likeminded and who I can now call my best friends. If you have the opportunity to do it, do it. Don’t think twice and just live! Murdoch is giving you one of the most incredible and amazing opportunities, don’t let it go to waste. It may be cliché, but I have seen this motto everywhere and it sums up exchange pretty nicely: “Exchange isn’t just a year of your life, it is your life in a year.”
- Emily studied abroad at the University of Turku in Finland
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