Back home!

Six countries, 125 days and a ton of laughs and memories later: back home!

Finland taught me so much, showed me amazing things, let me see a whole different world, but most of all it gave me memories that I will never forget. 

I had the most amazing four months and wouldn't trade this for anything and I'm so glad that I took the chance to study abroad! I could never imagine that I would visit all of the countries we've been to, would meet the most sweet people and learn so much about myself, my knowledge of nursing and about the world. It gave me so much and made me grow as a person and made me so much richer (not in money as you can guess.. ;))

Emma, thank you so much for going on this adventure with me, thank you for laughing with me, sheering me up when I needed it, made this memories with me, but most of all thank you for being one of my best friends now, I love you loads. 

So if I can give one advice to you who is reading this, if you ever get the chance to go abroad, GO! Just go, pack your stuff and go. It will not disappointed you, it will make you richer in every single way.

Saved the best for last - Lapland part two

It's over.... Our trip to Lapland finally happened!! From the beginning we arrived to Finland, we were looking forward for this trip, so when the time had finally come, we were so freaking excited to go!

Our journey would take us to Vasatokka Youth Center in Inari, Lapland, Finland. A journey from around 1200 km via Rovaniemi and other stops and with a program full with activities to experience real Arctic life.

Let's continue with part two of our Lapland trip, much more to come!!

Saved the best for last - Lapland part one

It's over.... Our trip to Lapland finally happened!! From the beginning we arrived to Finland, we were looking forward for this trip, so when the time had finally come, we were so freaking excited to go!

Our journey would take us to Vasatokka Youth Center in Inari, Lapland, Finland. A journey from around 1200 km via Rovaniemi and other stops and with a program full with activities to experience real Arctic life.

Lithuania

How to spend our last days in Finland? Right, with travelling. This time we made a trip to Lithuania.

From Turku we flew to Kaunas, which is the second city of Lithuania. 

After a flight from an hour and a little more, we landed in the city that seemed cold and dreary.. 

Not really what we expected. The pictures on the internet showed us a colorful city, in summer, so full with light. Now it looked black and white to us. But we tried to explore the city without prejudices and headed to our hotel. It was close to New Town and next to a bus station, so the perfect location. After we relaxed for a little time, we dragged ourselves out of the room and got ready for some exploring. We didn't do any research, so we just walked in a direction. We ended op in Old Town and bumped into a little Christmas market. Full of little stalls, with Lithuanian food, Christmas decorations and hot chocolate. There was also this big Christmas tree with all sorts of lights. 

After strolling around we got hungry, of course, and ended up in a sushi place where we ate the most delicious sushi ever, so good!

Six more nights and a few more days

Six more nights to sleep in my bed here in our apartment in Iltakajo in Varissuo, Turku. 

Fifteen more days before Emma and I are heading back home. HOW?????

The months here in Finland flew by. Some days seemed longer than other days, but when I think about the time that we first set foot here in Finland, it seems not possible that it's almost four months ago, but on the other hand it feels like forever.

Yesterday we finished our last day at school and luckily I passed all of my courses. And with passing the courses, my school time here in Finland is done and we can enjoy our free time again and  the date we're going home comes a little bit closer. 

It feels so weird thinking about going home again. For these past months this was our home and I learned so much here in Finland, not only school stuff, but most importantly, a lot about myself. 

But before getting to sentimental, we have a 15 days left here in Finland. 15 days full of nice trips and fun times. Let's make these last days unforgettable!

Go TPS!!

It was time to attend a game of this popular sport here in Finland, ice hockey!

Emma and I went to the game TPS vs. Kalpa. TPS is the team from Turku, so that was the one that we were cheering for.

We both never attended an ice hockey game before, so we didn't really knew what to expect. But it was really fun to watch!

The players can all skate so so good, I was so impressed. They are really confident on the skates and go for- and backwards, making twists and pushing each other, bump into the wall of the ring and trying to make a goal. They made a big show of it.

Unfortunately TPS lost with 1 against 3.. Emma and I really enjoyed watching the game and see how competitive the supporters are and how they cheer for their favorite team.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

While our time here is coming closer to the end, also the days here in Finland are getting shorter and shorter... 

By the time that the sun decides to show herself, it's almost 9.30 in the morning, and still, it will stay a little dark. We can only enjoy the light for a few hours a day because the sunset will start around 15.30 already. So the days are short and it looks a little sad.. 

I'm really wondering how the days will be in Lapland, where we are way more north than here in Turku. But I can imagine that we will only see a few hours of daylight. 

But with the days becoming shorter, we also welcomed some snow here in Turku! For me it is a long time ago that I saw snow this early in the year (we had the first snow here in Turku at the end of November). While I'm writing this the snow is falling from the sky, and I really hope that we can enjoy it for a few days. 

It really feels like winter here and with all the Christmas lights in town, we are totally in the Christmas vibe because of that. Emma and I are spending Christmas here in Finland, so I hope we will experience a real Finnish Christmas. But to be honest, it's bittersweet. Spending Christmas here is a nice experience and a good ending of our time here. But with all the other exchange students going home to their family already, it makes me miss home a little bit more.. 

Luckily I'm not alone, I have Emma by my side, so we're going to make the best of it and we will make it a Christmas we will never forget. 

Nähdään!

Aniek 

Itsenäisyyspäivä

Today, 6th of December, it's itsenäisyyspäivä or Independence Day!

On this day the Finnish people celebrate Finland's declaration of independence from Russia in 1917. 

What I've read on the internet is the following:

Official Independence Day festivities usually commence with the raising of the Finnish flag on Tähtitorninmäki ("Observatory Hill") in Helsinki. A religious service is held at Helsinki Cathedral, and official visits are made to the war memorials of World War II.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Day_(Finland)

Last year it was a really special Independence Day, the 100th, so our tutor told us that this year it would be less spectacular. She said that it's kind of a day when you come together with your family and have a nice dinner. But the night before a lot of people go out and party to celebrate their independence. 

I hope to see some of the celebration of the Independence Day here in Turku, to see the differences with our Liberation Day. When I listened to my tutor I already noticed some differences. For us it's not really a day where we get together with family to enjoy some food. In our country there are a lot of festivals where you go with friends and celebrate the freedom of our country. It's mostly a day where the younger people party and just have a good time. 

Nähdään!

Aniek 

International Food Party

Tonight our tutor group met for an international foodparty! The group consists of a Finnish/Vietnamese girl, she is our tutor, a Spanish girl and Emma and me, from the Netherlands. So kind of a variation of cultures, really fun!

Emma and I decided to make 'pepernoten', because it was the 5th of December, so that means it was the day of Sinterklaas in the Netherlands! We missed out bacause we're here, but by making this we brought a little bit of home to Finland. Luckily the girls liked them really much and even I must admit they turned out really good. 

We also made a not really Dutch dish, but a delicious one, pizza-nachos, 'cause who doesn't like pizza? Next to our dishes we had the Spanish frittata, an omelette with potato. It tasted really good! 

And of course, a dessert had to be there to finish the dinner party, some Finnish pie! Our tutor made us Mustikkakukko. It's a Finnish blueberry pie with a rye crust. It was really good!! 

And all fun things have to come to an end, we drank some glögi to get into the Christmas vibe, and then it was time to say goodbye.. 

I really enjoyed this night and to taste the different things from their countries. And who knows, maybe we will meet again someday.

Nähdään!

Aniek 

Pre-Christmas Sauna

Ispoisten uimarannan sauna.
http://www.turunavantouimarit.fi/ 

Finally the time had come.... I would go to sauna in Finland. Maybe your wondering why that's something memorable. Well Finland is the country of the saunas, and in my whole four months here, I've never been to one. Stupid me.

So as I mentioned above, Finland is the country of the sauna. Sauna is a big part of the Finnish culture. For them it's a place to relax, meet friends and family and it's also an important place for physical and mental relaxation. I like their thinking about saunas: Finns think of saunas not as a luxury but as a necessity. Maybe we can bring this thinking to the Netherlands? No problem for me to go to sauna once a week.

So why is Finland the country of the sauna? Well, Finland might be a big country when you look at the surface, but it has only five million inhabitants. When you look at how many saunas there are, you can count to almost three million! So basically every household has one sauna, and that's a really common thing, to own a sauna. There are also a lot of little public saunas, for example by the lakes.

A little bit of Amsterdam in Gdańsk - part two

Part two - This week it was time to scratch an other country off of my map, a country that I never thought I would visit, we went to Poland!

A classmate of Emma and me gave us the tip to look at the website Wizzair, so we did, and we could not believe our eyes.... Tickets from 30 euros?! So we quickly booked a flight to Poland, Gdańsk to see some more of Europe. 

A little bit of Amsterdam in Gdańsk - part one

This week it was time to scratch an other country off of my map, a country that I never thought I would visit, we went to Poland!

A classmate of Emma and me gave us the tip to look at the website Wizzair, so we did, and we could not believe our eyes.... Tickets started at a price less than 30 euros?! So we quickly booked a flight to Poland, Gdańsk to see some more of Europe. 

Spending money

Spending money like I won the lottery.

If you would ask me on what I spend my money during this exchange period, the first thing I would say is food. We spend a lot of money on food. And not because Emma and I eat a lot (okay, maybe that is a small part of the reason), but because food here in Finland is quite expensive.

Most of the time Emma and I do our grocery shopping at the supermarket Lidl, just like the one we have in the Netherlands. But here in Finland, you have to pay much more for the same product as back home. The first time that we went grocery shopping we were quite shocked about the amount of money we had to pay. And not only this first time, every other time we went we tried to calculate how much we would have to pay and every time it turned out in that we had to pay way more.

Emma and I made it like a sport to get our weeks as cheap as possible, and I must say that these last few weeks went better than before. We are getting quite good at it.

Maybe it's because our parents brought a lot of food or maybe we now know how we can shop better and what we really need, but our cabins and fridge is filled up with food and we spent a little less.

So hopefully, by the time that we are real adults, we can shop like we know how to spend our money the best.

Nähdään!

Aniek

Pancake Party

While living in a building full of exchange students from all over the world, you make friends that have a different culture than you and have different eating habits. And as you might know, Emma and I love food and we love trying out new things.

Emma and I met this American guy, and when we talked about our differences in food we decided to have a pancake party. 

Emma and I both love the Dutch pancakes and were really excited to try the real American ones. Emma is the pro at baking the Dutch ones, so she made a ton of them. While waiting for our friend to arrive we accidentally ate some of them (read a bunch), but we saved some to start the pancake party. 

The Dutch pancakes are quiet big and thin, the American ones smaller and thicker. That's already the first difference. An other thing that we do not the same, is the toppings we put on them. While they put on this maple syrup, we do all kinds of stuff. Think about 'stroop', sugar, cheese, bacon, jam, Nutella and even peanut butter (I know, I'm weird). 

So when our friend saw our pancakes, he was quite surprised and he didn't think it looked like a thing that he would enjoy to eat. But he tasted them, and well.... he said it was alright. Not that enthusiastic..... 

But then you had us, we were out of our world about the American pancakes he made us. They were so good!!   

Next to eating we talked a lot about our lives and it's so interesting to hear all of the differences. The way how their school system works, what he normally does in his free time, the eating habits and holidays. 

And of course we had to show him 'the Netherlands second' movie that Arjen Lubach made. Emma and I laughed our asses off and he thought it was funny too, so maybe we will be second. We also showed him the translation of some Dutch sayings. And I must admit, when you see these translations, I get why people think the Dutch language is a little bit weird...

We had a really fun night, learned some new English words, tried to learn him some Dutch words (not that easy, because we have so much ggggg) (make the choking sound to pronounce it) and laughed way to much. 

Nähdään!

Aniek 

Roadtrip - part two

Another day at the road! Our second day of the road-trip took us to Tampere. A city that is places more up north. And again, a two hour drive to get there. I felt a little tired, but got more awake with Emma singing next to me.

The drive to Tampere was a long one. It was one straight way for over a 100 km and there were not that much other cars. The surroundings were still beautiful and a little white so that made it a little better.

Roadtrip - part one

Last weekend it was time to do some roadtripping! Emma and I rented a car for the weekend so we could explore some more of Finland and got a chance to go a little bit off the road, instead of spending our time in Turku or Helsinki.

We got up early on Saturday to pick up the car. When we got there I had to show my drivers license and sign some adult looking papers. When we rented the car online, the picture told us that it would be a small, white Volkswagen Polo. I think the guy who rented us the car thought that we girls needed something else, that made us look more grown-up and glassy... So we got this (for me) huge, red, Renault Clio. I must admit that it made me a little nervous, because the last time I drove a car was a little while ago and our car at home is not that big. But we hopped in and made us ready to get on the road! 

Moving trough Turku

I have to admit, the public transport here in Turku is quiet on point. I'm sorry Holland, you can learn a lot from this. 

First of all the buses are almost never late, they will arrive right on time to take you to your next destination. Sometimes quiet frustrating because that means I have to run a lot to catch the bus, but hey good for my condition and running skills right?

Unlike how it works in the Netherlands, the bus will not stop if none of the people that are standing in line raises their hand. Someone has to do it! 

Another thing is that you have to make sure that you are focused on the road and not on your phone, so you can see when the bus is almost their, to avoid that you only see the bus when it's already passing you.... 

The payment for the bus works almost the same as in the Netherlands. We bought a monthly pass and with this pass we can use the bus as many times as we like. Every month we have to pay again for the next month. When you don't have this pass, you can buy a ticket in the bus, which you can use for the next two hours. 

The bus is not the only transport thing you can use in Turku. Emma and I also rented a bike for our time here, because you know, Dutch people know how to ride the bike and we thought it would be nice to go somewhere whenever we wanted. 

But time is passing by and we adjusted ourselves to the Finnish lifestyle and took the bus many, many times. I'm wondering how my friend the bike is doing in the storage room.... I think we used it like six times and I hope I didn't forgot how to ride the bike by now, oops. 

For this weekend Emma and I rented a car, so then we can see what the traffic is like here in Finland. Hopefully they can see that I still have my drivers licence, so we can enjoy this roadtrip! 

Nähdään!

Aniek

Trying to be on the same level

While being here in Finland there will always be the change that there will be an issue with the communication. Every culture and country has it on ways of behavior and understandings of what is polite and what isn't.

Especially when I was in my clinical practical I wanted to fit in with the Finnish people. But soon I realized that it was not that easy to let go of your behaviors.

The Lewis Model is based on behavior and divides humans into three categories.
The three categories are the linear-active group, the reactive group and the multi-active group.

1. The linear-active group is the English speaking world. - The Netherlands and Finland are also in this group.
2. In the reactive group you can find all of the major countries in Asia. 
3. The multi-active group is more scattered around the world. - Although they are widely spread, they follow the same pattern as behaviorally. 

Back to school

After doing clinical practical for six weeks it was time to go back to school. In our previous school year in the Netherlands we finished our first clinical practical of six months, so it was a while ago that Emma and I had set a foot in a school building. But this was a thing we couldn't hide for, so it was time to go back to being a student! 

Overall Party

Maybe you can remember my previous post about the thing with the overalls here in Finland (if you don't, go read it!). This week we finally got the change to show our hard work of hours of sewing patches on our bright yellow overalls. It was time for an overall party! 

During our stay here in Finland we already collected a bunch of patches to put on our overalls, but we could never find a needle and thread to sew them on our overalls. When my mother came, she brought some with her so I could finally start sewing them on! 

Never thought it would be so much work, but after many hours, after sticking myself with the needle and sewing my trousers together, I was finally done. And I must say, it turned out pretty good. 

Because Emma and I have the yellow overall, it represents the nurses, every Finn thought we were Finnish too. When we told them we couldn't speak Finnish, they were quite surprised, because normally the exchange students wear the blue overalls from the ESN organisation. So we blended in pretty well with the Finnish students. 

The overall party was the best party we had attended in Finland, don't know if it was because of the overalls or the nice people we met, but we had a blast! 

Nähdään!

Aniek