Coming back "home"

Coming back to your home after living 6 months abroad is... well, weird. Although it doesn’t seem like that long, a lot has happened within that time: I’ve changed. It’s an odd feeling: you’re still the same person your parents and your friends back home knew before you left... but there’s a part of you that just completely transformed.You learn so many things about life and yourself, so many things has happened to you... There’s a part of you that will never remain the same.

Think about it. You fly overseas for the very first time, to a continent you’ve only heard about, you move out of your parents’ home for the first time, you go to a completely foreign country whose culture is pretty much unknown AND you don’t speak either official languages. You’re alone in an environment completely different from anything you’ve ever known. That being said, you’d have to be as resourceful as you can, think fast on your feet, and get over that awkward feeling of asking for help. Finland has their own system for a lot of things so I had to learn pretty quickly. When I stopped by London on my way back, I just had the most odd feeling ever. I just felt that everything was so... easy. You wanted to ask for directions? Just ask anybody: EVERYONE speaks English. You can read signs and figure your way out no problem. This isn’t the case for, Finland. Although Turku is a university town, not everyone there speaks English, and pretty much everything is in Finnish. If you’re lucky some of it might be in Swedish and so you can more or less guess what they say. I’ve had to figure out what some signs mean, how to buy the vegetables in the grocery store, which street is where, etc. I’ve had to make educated guesses, fully develop my knowledge in semiotics as well as non-verbal communication. It can be quite exhausting, but once you’ve done it everyday for 6 months, you don’t notice it anymore, it just becomes automatic... So on my way back, both in London and Montreal, it was a weird feeling for me to be able to understand everything. So weird that it was hard for me not to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations because I understood everything.

Once I came back to Montreal, I guess I had a bit of a shock. After tasting 6 months of complete freedom, it was difficult for me to come back to my parents’ house and abide by their rules. It was difficult for me to know that I can’t be downtown in the middle of the night as often because Montreal’s commuting system kinda sucks. It was difficult for me to get back to a workaholic society who always seems pressed for time... Still, it was nice to come back to a city booming with arts and culture- surely, you must have heard about AT LEAST one of our festivals; and being somewhat of a foodie, I enjoyed getting variety on my palate once again, tasting authentic cuisines that were both local (i.e. poutines) and exotic (Korean).

Look at that miracle: I had a mango bingsu (left) and green tea bingsu (right). It's a Korean dessert. I think it's called "Shaved ice" in English.

OK, so because I I’m too lazy to separate this on to another post and come up with a different title, I’ll change the subject right about... NOW.

Now, this is a question I kept getting nonstop- before, during and after my exchange to Finland. I figured I’ll just answer it here, hopefully providing enough details so that people would stop bothering me about it.

Of all the countries to go on exchange, why did you choose Finland?

There are two main reasons. Firstly,I want to be a teacher and choosing Finland is pretty obvious considering it has one of the best educational systems in the world. I want to experience it, not just watch videos and read books about it. I want to be the best teacher I can be, reach out to my full potential so going to Finland is the way to go.

I’ve never been to Europe and I’m that type that either goes big or go home. Why not France, England or any country where I speak the language? Well it’s because I want to challenge myself. I love getting out of my comfort zone and testing my limits. What better way to do it than in an isolated, mysterious country whose language is basically impossible to learn?  And this is where my second reason comes in: culture. I want to learn about and live in a society whose philosophy is very different from anything I’ve ever known. Also, going to countries like France, Spain or England won’t do good for me. Everyone has gone there and I’ve heard so much about it already, what is there left to learn? I just feel like they have been so overexposed that I don’t really feel like going there. And besides, I’m guessing that they’re all pretty similar to Quebec so it would feel like I never left. So what’s the point?

You go on an exchange to learn about new cultures, test your abilities in an alien environment. Of course you’re supposed to make friends and travel and all that good stuff, but I really think that the main chunk of it is to experience things that you would never be able to do back home. E.g: go ice swimming, eat Mämmi, and drink on Vappu.

As a follow-up to that question, I would normally get this:

But isn’t it cold in Finland?

Seriously?

Nevermind the world-renowned educational system, exemplary social support, and near absence of corruption: let’s gauge how attractive a country is based on how cold it gets in the winter time.

Just get yourself a warm jacket, problem solved.

But to answer that question once and for all: it depends. I come from Montreal, we have crazy climates so it ain’t that cold for me. In fact, it was pretty warm all winter... and grey unfortunately. Turku is in the South-West part of Finland, so the temperatures aren’t that crazy. The average temperatures in the winter this year would be about -10°C. However, if you were in the Northern part, like Lapland, then it would obviously get colder, being in the Arctic Circle and all. It’s not as cold as you think (But this might just be my Canadian side speaking).

Going on exchange, I’ve learn how to keep an open mind. Living in Montreal, growing up in a fairly multicultural neighbourhood, and living in between both the franco and anglo culture, I’ve always prided myself on being effortlessly open-minded. But all of it turned to shit when I went on exchange. I actually had to force myself to keep an open mind. I had to stop criticising and comparing everything to Montreal.You’ve got to consciously force yourself to do this because you’ll just be miserable and won’t learn anything otherwise. I always thought I knew so much, having ethnically diverse friends and all. But then I realized I didn’t know anything, that the world is much bigger than I have always thought and that there is just SO much to learn.

In the end, going on this exchange is the best decision I’ve done in my life so far. It changed me: I’ve learned how to appreciate the little things in life, picked up on new interests and had an opportunity for some thorough introspection.

Of course it wasn’t easy in the beginning: I was so damn terrified and had a nervous breakdown the first night I came there. But in those times you just gotta roll up your sleeves and make the best you can with what you’ve got. You chose that country for a reason and you better finish what you’ve started.

With that, I wish you a good summer vacation and good luck on this upcoming academic year.

Until then,

Cheers, Santé, Chinchin

PS: I found this blog on a friend’s Facebook page. It’s a pretty accurate description on how I’ve felt coming back.