Pros and cons of my exchange

Exams, the 3-week holiday after the exams and finally the day to leave are coming nearer and nearer. A couple of weeks ago I felt really sad and wouldn’t have wanted to go back to Finland at all. Now my feelings are a bit happier but I’m still somehow confused about everything. I don’t know whether I should be sad, happy, neutral or what? That’s why I made a list of all the positive and negative things about my exchange year that came to my mind. Here is publishable version of that list :-)

Positive:

• I spent the best month of my life so far last September. I was happy, excited about everything and smiling almost the whole time.
• I finally learned to speak and listen to German. I’m not anymore afraid of using it in any situation, and I enjoy it a lot. Yay!
• I realized I like living outside Finland and a foreign city can feel like a home city.
• I realized I value several things both in Germany and in Finland.
• I got really nice and good friends in Germany and all over Europe. I’ve got now a lot of countries and cities that I definitely want to visit.
• I realized I can still go to parties during the week without ruining the rest of week, even though I’m 25…!
• I realized I can still live in a commune.
• I also found out that I’ve chosen a major that really interests me. HCI <3
• I learned quite a lot about international business and think now that it’s actually surprisingly interesting.
• I listened to music and found new cool music and bands more than before. (mostly because I’ve had more free time to surf in Internet and in Spotify)
• I made very many interesting findings about German culture and other European cultures. I also realized some things about Finnish culture of which I hadn’t thought earlier.
• I changed, in my opinion, in a good way.
• I enjoy spending time alone more than before, but I can also get to know new people easily.
• I’m probably more open than before.
• I realized many strange but also nice things about friendship. And men as well.
• I met many extraordinary people. They still make me laugh quite often.
• I saw Berlin, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich, Bonn, Maastricht, Liege, London, Gdansk, and a couple of small cities in Germany. (and I’m still gonna see a few!)
• I didn’t quit doing sports, but was quite sporty the whole year and even run a marathon and another running competition!
• I tried to start to eat meat again but realized my stomach still says no. I still “have” to be a vegetarian <3 but I tried!
• Eating and drinking both out and at home were much cheaper than in Finland. I ate things that I don’t normally eat that much.
• Cocktails to go <3

Negative:

• I broke 2 mobile phones and lost one. Or actually they got broken, I didn’t do anything.
• I was stressed because I didn’t and still don’t have really good plans for next autumn.
• My feelings and mood changed sometimes a lot during a single day, week or month. I had to get used to being moody every now and then. And some other people too :<
• During the whole year, I found only one interesting course that was in German, so mostly I had to study in English and hence I couldn’t learn German in the most effective way.
• In March I was homesick.
• Sometimes when being only with German people I was quieter than normally which made me to feel confused (not always though).
• I bought way too much clothes and shoes and don’t know how to get them back to Finland.
• I didn’t travel that much I could have traveled.
• I sat quite a lot at the computer instead of for example wandering in the city or reading German books.
• I started to eat Nutella and jam on bread, which I really have to quit in Finland because there they are way too expensive (and unhealthy….).

Now I know at least that I’m really pleased that I left for exchange and that I’m probably gonna miss my time in Aachen a lot. However, I think it’s always good that autumn brings something new. Now the new is Finland, maybe next year Germany again.

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