Exploring Finland: Erasmus with salmiakki flavor

Moikka kaikille!

My name is Veru and I’m 25-year old student based in Prague with home in beautiful south of the Czech Republic. But for the last autumn, Pori became my home during my exchange stay in Finland. And I was asked to tell a few words about it. What an honour! But where to begin?

It wouldn’t be polite to bore you with a total recap of my semester in Finland. And be sure it was really intense and rich in adventures of all kinds! But to be honest, my expectations were not high. You know what I mean: the more you expect, the bigger can be the disappointment. Which is totally not this case :) There were only two minor negative points in my stay and the latter one was the departure back home. 

Mu Pori o kaunis!

For instance, the university. In terms of people, your uni is quite small but the approach towards us, erasmus people, was full of kindness. And I believe it’s not only because of our status of exchange students. Beginning with our tutors, who were always friendly and ready to help with everything, continuing with International Office staff, who made our stay as easy and comfortable as possible, and (not) ending with helpful teachers, some of whom I find very inspiring, too! And don’t worry, I’m not speaking of politeness now. ;-)

 And by the way, the uni and its premises (all of them, not only Sofia) are great! :)

Of course, Erasmus life is not solely about studying. Hey, guys, I’m quite jealous of you! Some traditional parts of the finnish students’ culture I’d love to incorporate into ours: sitsits, appros, vujuts, sillises, kastajaisets and “races” through the city and some more. And overalls are something that enchanted me so much I decided to get me one, too. Well, why not when I was working hard on collecting patches throughout the whole semester. 

Not bad for a freshman, what do you think? ;-)

Going to events didn’t bring only patches and bills for drinks (omg!). Can you name any better way how to truly discover a foreign country than through food and people? Necessary to say the first option was way easier. Not exactly that I fell in love with liquorice (not speaking of salmiakki!), though I might do some exceptions. Getting closer to the locals – yes, I’m talking about you, PorKy people!  – sometimes seemed rather challenging if not totally inaccessible. But the effort paid off J I like you, guys, and in my opinion at least half of what’s being said about Finns in the world is total rubbish. You’re nice, warmhearted (after the upper icy crust melts a little bit), entertaining and sometimes even quite noisy and talkative – seems like silence is definitely not the most popular national hobby B-)

And Erasmus is also about travelling. One of my two must-dos in Finland was to travel to the North (and cross the Wall – oh yes, Winter is coming, let’s go to meet it! :-D ) hoping to see the northern lights. And I was incredibly lucky! I’ve seen it twice (or, actually, three times) which is – as they say - high above average what most Finns can tell about seeing aurora with own eyes. Splendid and precious moments alike nothing I’ve ever seen or done. An experience that I wish to everyone. <3 

Santa Claus is coming to town

Lapland was of course a trip about which I’ll be telling to my grandchildren but it’d be unfair not to mention some other trips, too. At least Stockholm excu deserves a few words. It was a great trip! It took me something away (for example my glasses, many hours of sleep and a disgusting amount of money, ha ha :D ) but also gave me a lot. Apart from a new flag to my traveller’s map (oh, beautiful charming Stockholm and Sigtuna!) it was a kind of ice-breaking journey without which many following stories would have never happened. And I dare say it was useful for some finnish fellows, too; at least they could find out that exchange guys don’t bite and are quite cool ;-)

Veru Tukholmassa

When talking about exchange students, our small group was not very internationally diverse but it didn’t lack interesting people. And so our “Erasmus family” got a completely new meaning in this humble number of 22 people. Too little? Sure not. Just enough to know each other well and to have fun all together as well as not to live separately in some “exchange bubble” and be able to hang out with Finns, too.

Erasmus on – party mood on!

And that is actually my message for next generations of exchange students in Pori. Be sure to enjoy your time here as much as possible! Pori is rather small city but can offer you a lot. Just discover the opportunities; never sit at home - go out often and join all events that pop up in your facebook newsfeed - at least sitsits are a must. And meet your finnish fellows who are maybe not your fellows at the moment but will be soon, just give them some time and show your nice face. And travel!! No need to mention that, right? Finland, a beautiful country worth and easy to travel, awaits you so don’t let it slip through your fingers and enjoy your semester for 150 % !

Without any names, let me say THANK YOU to all of you who took any part in that 4-month amazing finnish ride, hoping it wasn’t a finish at all. No goodbyes – just see you! :)