What Studying Abroad Does to You

I leave Finland in ten days; my nine month adventure abroad is almost over.

In my last post, I said that I didn’t know how to feel at this point. And I am 100% still feeling like that, but I’m doing something I’ve never really done before- just live in the present. I’m a planner, hence my major, and I am always planning something. For me cutting back is making a to-do list the night before each day.  I’m glad I planned myself into studying abroad though. Living in Finland for the last eight months has absolutely been the most life changing experience I could have imagined.

It seems so long ago when I was filling out papers, writing essays and simply dreaming about living in a new country.  I didn’t even really care where I went, I just needed to go. I didn’t care what people had to say about safety precautions, what to bring, the cultural adjustment curve; I didn’t care about what people were saying about these so called ‘difficulties.’ Studying abroad is fun, simple as that. I was so wrong.

I’ve always considered myself to be extremely independent and I didn’t need people to take care of me. My independence was seriously put to the test since August 29^th. When I got on that plane, all I could feel was pure excitement and nothing else. The minute I landed in Helsinki though, I realized I had no idea what to do. I had too much luggage and too little Finnish language skills. Wait a minute, I can’t read a single thing and have never ridden a train before. At first, that is such a scary feeling.  All my comfort was completely torn away which is something nobody can be prepared for. When you study abroad, you sign yourself up for complete independence shock without even knowing what you’ve done.

The first few weeks felt like this:

Where is Target? I packed too much stuff. Nobody wears jeans here? So it’s okay for me to drink although I’m not 21 yet? I’ve just met people from every country in Europe. Finnish sounds weird.  I only have one fork, knife and spoon and no frying pan and no toaster. Do I talk funny? Am I developing an accent? I’ve only been eating Cheerios because it’s the only thing I can read. Biking makes me sweaty; do I have to this the entire year? Why does the coffee taste so bad? When can I start travelling? Oh, my god I miss Montana.

Or something like that…

I never truly appreciated what I had back home- my favorite coffee shops, The Bay, close group of friends, never wondering where anything is at, my car, familiarity of campus, hiking the M, my running trail, knowing where to buy anything, my hair dresser...English. These are all things I identified home with, but never realized how important they were. I arrived in Finland and had no idea what to do. I really did eat Cheerios until I figured out rice, frozen vegetables, and sweet chili sauce. I found bigger stores that have an American sized variety of food, a new hair dresser, my new coffee shop, I figured out campus, and after what felt like a long time, made some seriously amazing friends. For me, it takes a while to develop close relationships and now that the end is here I’m finding myself feeling attached to these people. Though what’s felt so hard to do, I’ve made myself a small home here in Jyväskylä, Finland.

Before I left, I imagined myself having a nine month vacation. Some of that is very much true. Amsterdam, Germany, Vienna, Czech Republic, Lapland, London, and Estonia made the best mini vacations. This is why I can’t pick a favorite; the feeling with all of them was so different. It can’t be described because the pure shock value of something so incredibly new is very personal. The second factor that made my exchange a ‘vacation’ was that I only needed to pass my classes. The vacations couldn’t outweigh the hard times. The loneliness, isolation, uncertainty, homesickness, cultural adjustment, and constantly having to learn to adapt could not be washed away from my side travels.

The best thing about living abroad- the sheer satisfaction of knowing that I did it. Even though so much of my time was spent feeling isolated, lonely, uncertain, and homesick, I overcame all of it. Now that it’s the end I keep thinking “Why couldn’t I have felt this way the entire year?”  I can honestly say how comfortable I am in my own skin and with my own thoughts, I truly love myself.  That’s something that is so hard to achieve through life and I’ve at least made a big step in the right direction. I love the true confidence and independence living abroad gives you- no matter how independent one might think they are, it is absolutely tested once they leave their comfort zone. That’s the best thing I could have done for myself; to leave my comfort zone.  I feel so different from when I left and in the best way possible.

The Home Stretch!

First of all, I went to Estonia and I’m going to write about that later because I have much more important things to say right now! Okay? Wonderful.

Secondly, Bozeman got a French café while I was gone. Who’s ready to go back to Bozeman?! ME!

And I’ll finally get to the point of this blog: reverse culture shock.

Yes, it exists, is common, and will probably suck. I very much experiences culture shock/homesickness and reverse culture shock is supposed to be work. I’ve been having to think more and more about it as my last few weeks in Finland are winding down.  Part of me can’t believe the end is finally here and another part of me is sad about leaving. No, I don’t want to settle down or move to Finland but I said good bye to Christoph last night and let me tell you, it was really sad. I didn’t expect to be emotional about myself or others leaving. Living in Finland has been such an eye opening experience and I can’t help but think “Now what?” Where is my life going from here?! How are people going to react to me? Where do I fit now?

I have the best family, friends and overall support system I could have ever asked for. The people I needed were always there for me. The one thing I’m most afraid of upon my return is the simple acquaintances I have in Bozeman through MSU, the Bay, anywhere else. They aren’t the ones who have seen me go through my rough process of cultural adjustment. I got annoyed of walking around Finland being an “outsider” and “special” and I’ll go back to Montana, talk to people I briefly know and I expect the experience to be the same thing because “it was so cool that I spent a year abroad.” Little do they know… haha! I don’t know how I’m going to handle constantly talking about Europe with people I don’t talk to regularly. It sounds weird and maybe kind of mean, but I want to share my experiences in a proactive way with people who support and respect me. Not somebody who thinks it’s simply cool what I did. Yes, it was absolutely cool but so many other things went into the uniqueness of it.  We’ll see how it goes…

For the people who have kept in touch with me! I think reverse culture shock should be fine with you all; everyone may actually get annoyed of me talking about Finland and Europe (at least that’s what I’m told anyways).  But it’s what has been going on in my life for the last year and I’m jumping back into everyone’s lives so feel free to talk about your life as much as you want to make balance. J

I have just over three weeks left in Finland! So surreal for me. I don’t really know how to feel right now. Excited, yes. Nervous, yes. There are so many unknown things right now and it’s all things I can’t control.

I guess before I worry about those things I’ll simply enjoy pain au chocolat en France and gelato in Italy… J

"Lost in America and never heard from again..."

Kasksdjflksjfj  trip continued!

The quest to look for anything of my great, great, great grandfather (Alexander Lindquist, Senior) with his four sons turned out to be successful! Shocking, I know. I had a small feeling of anxiety this morning and I got on the bus and saw I was driving into the forest. And I had to get up at 6:00 a.m.

I got to Kronoby which is on the Finn-Swede border, but on the coast of the Baltic Sea. Thankfully, we pass a church that looks old and I decided to walk there first. This turned out to be an excellent decision. I walked to the cute, old and yellow church and start taking pictures since that’s all I expected to be doing. Well, I turned out to be wrong. There was a new church next to the old one and somebody pull up. I was just standing there, deciding whether or not to talk to him and he saw me contemplating. I decided to go talk to him. I tell him why I’m there and if he could help me at all, which leads to this other man who starts digging through original records of citizens’ births and departures! Unfortunately, they didn’t have the specific person I was looking for but it was still so neat. This extremely kind Finn looked through records for two hours with me. He also called a Lindquist who still lives in Kronoby who may have records; we may have found his actual birth year which is a good thing! I could not believe the kindness these people showed me. I couldn’t tell if they simply took pity on me or if they were actually interested in what I was doing, but they were still more than generous to help me.  Regardless of their motives, I was more than grateful.

Afterwards, I walked around the cemetery and found some Lindquist graves. I don’t know who they are but they could possibly be related to my ancestors.  I liked walking around regardless. J The rest of the day was spent walking to take a picture of the “Kruunupyy” sign and to find postcards. Both were successful! I stopped at a gas station, drank coffee, and read while I waited for the bus. It was a short and sweet but interesting and random trip.

A slightly funny story though, I stopped at a random bakery and they had meringue cookies. I love meringue cookies. The lady seemed like she didn’t really speak English so I spoke Finnish. I know I said one but I ended up with five cookies and I felt too bad to say that I only wanted one, so I bought all five. It’s a good thing I was walking all day…

I'm in Kadjfajfdialdkfj... Seriously.

I’m having a random adventure… I’m kind of excited to share it as I’m in the adventure right now!

We’ll start with this:

a.        My grandma’s side of the family is Finnish/Swedish

b.      Her grandfather came from Finland

c.       She somehow had information exactly where he came from in Finland

Where am I now? This random town in Finland, the spelling looks as if I hit my head on the keyboard. Seriously, I’m in Kruunupyy, Finland (or Kronoby for us English speakers). I haven’t explored yet, I’m just sitting in my hotel room and blogging. I have some fun things to share though. Also, I did not really want to do this trip, I got roped into it through basically everyone except my Grandma.

I haven’t traveled alone before, especially not in Europe. I always have my handy and buff boyfriend with me who has a great sense of direction (not like I don’t, but his is better). This is completely a Mariah adventure, mainly because Ian really didn’t want to come with me. This afternoon I grabbed the train from Jyväskylä. It started off with this poor girl who was sitting in my seat, I told her and we looked at our tickets and we had the same seat, so I just sat next to her.  I say ‘poor girl’ because the ticket was for the wrong day, she didn’t get kicked off though. She kept talking to me because she wanted to use her English and clearly I’m a good excuse to use it since my Finnish skills are lacking. Although, I was happy to be an exchange student today- she literally just got notice that she was accepted to study abroad next year! I was the first person to know. J She’s going to Estonia which is like a Montanan going to Alberta, but whatever floats your boat! It was a good start to my travels.

I arrived in Kokkola which is where I’m staying for the night. This town is tiny but out of the two directions I can walk, I take the wrong one. Google maps says east, but when you get off of a train after four hours you have no idea where any directions are pointing. It took maybe five minutes for somebody to approach me to see if I needed help. On the inside “WHY DID IT TAKE A WHOLE FIVE MINUTES FOR SOMEBODY TO ASK ME? I HAVE A BACKPACK ON! I AM TOURIST!” Outside me: “Oh yes, please that would be so helpful. “ Why can’t Google just use left and right? It didn’t take me very long to find my hotel after that point.

It’s sad to admit, but I’m kind of afraid of European hotels after my Gorbachov Palace experience in the Czech Republic (if you haven’t read it, where have you been?!).  This one is good though! I have enough room to do my BodyRock workout tomorrow morning. The person at the desk was very clearly surprised as to why this bubbly American is here. But, she’s extremely helpful and kind.  I had to call for the code for the internet and she said “Well, it has a lot of numbers and letters… maybe you should just come down here.” While I was down on the first floor, I had to ask for a spoon which was awkward since the girl I asked didn’t speak English. I wonder how spoon sounds to somebody who doesn’t know what it is? “What in god’s name is a spoon?” I found somebody who does speak English, because, again, my Finnish skills are lacking and I don’t know the word for spoon, and had to be this silly American “Oh, I’m sorry but may I borrow your spoon? I promise I’ll bring it back!” Which, in fact, I can’t bring it back because I packed myself a quinoa lunch and you can’t  just simply eat quinoa with your hands.

So, I’m in my hotel room now waiting for the morning of who knows what adventures. I could barely find my hotel, how am I supposed to find information about my extended, dead ancestors?

More to come…

"The Adjustment Phase"

Now that I’ve finally written my travel blogs I can talk about the second semester of being an exchange student! I’ll start off by saying that the second half is significantly better than the first. I’m not ‘over’ being homesick, but I know how to deal with it. And it’s fun to plan your future when you’re not crazy busy with business classes. J

I’ve never really enjoyed having the title of an exchange student, when you’re at the grocery store or ordering a coffee and the cashier starts speaking in another language it gets old saying “I’m sorry? I don’t really speak Finnish” I know I’ve been learning Finnish, but it’s bad and I don’t usually use it in public. J I’m okay with that though, the language makes no sense. Example: Mä menen bussille. Vs. Mä menen bussiin. Technically, they both mean I am going to the bus. But the endings mean something different –lle means I am going somewhere near the bus, maybe the stop, the –iin ending means I’m literally going into the bus. Okay, Finland… I gave up about three weeks into the semester. I guess Finland is just exceptionally good at creating a language that foreigners can’t learn- something that was important way back in the day. J

Anyways, being an exchange student… after about a month it’s kind of annoying with every person you meet I have to describe myself and Montana. “Oh, do you know where Seattle is. Go like 13 hours’ worth of a drive to the right. It’s the big state.“ Haha! I don’t say that, but I do start off with Seattle.  However, the adjustment to living abroad is wonderful! I can say I’m fully adjusted to living abroad, which is such a nice place to be. It’s weird that before I left for Finland, all I could think about was Finland and how grand my life would be. Now, a few months before I head back to Montana, all I can think about is how grand my life will be when I get back! It’s a strange circle of emotions and feelings. I do have some pretty fantastic things coming up though- jobs, an internship, sharing my experience with other exchange students, caring about school again, and being surrounded my friends who know me well. I have made a couple fantastic friends though, a Canadian and an Italian. They are wonderful. So it feels nice to have someone to relate to, which in first semester a lot of people were only staying for four months, and it’s harder for them to complain about being an exchange student when their experience is a bit different from mine. However, North Americans get homesick, it’s not just me. J It’s strange talking to other people and hear them say that they’re so sad to go back that they love being an exchange student, while here I am being a negative Nancy (not really, I just have a fantastic life waiting for me when I get back J ) saying “Oh, well I can’t wait to leave!” It’s not a stab towards Finland at all, I’ve absolutely enjoyed my time here and the experiences I’ve had.  It’s just that I’m ready for normalcy again. I’m very lucky to have Ian here; I think we’re both lucky to have each other. No, we’re not planning, at all, on getting married. A friend asked me that a few weeks ago, I know you’re all thinking it.

Another thing I’m quite thankful for since my time abroad is the growth of my relationships with people back home. I’ve never felt closer to my sisters, mom, dad, step-parents, friends, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and even mentors back home (I e-mailed the study abroad office in November wanting to come home, so now we have a connection!). Since I can’t just pick up the phone and call then whenever I want now, I really cherish our Skype sessions. They may not know it, but it truly makes my day when I get to ‘see’ them.

Would I suggest somebody study abroad for a full year? Yes, absolutely. First of all, the obvious, look at how many places I’ve gotten to go! I counted the countries that I will have seen by the time I get home and it’s ten! Ten countries, that is so much more than I would have thought before I left. And the less obvious, which Kati (Canadian) and I like to call our “self reflection” type of exchange; since Finland is actually quite boring I’ve had a lot of time to think about what’s important to me and the type of person I want to be. It’s even helped develop an idea of what type of career field I want to go into.

Now, some awesome things I’ve been up to, other than travelling, that I may not have gotten into otherwise. I’m really keeping up on politics now; I didn’t used to do that which is a shame. I feel like I can make an educated and wise vote. I now think that’s an important aspect to living in a country with voting rights, if Europeans can stay updated on American politics there is no reason why I can’t. Maybe that’s because I’m able to vote this coming election, but regardless of the reason, I feel like I’m more educated.  I’ve turned into a health-y, I’ve been doing awesome workouts that I love five days a week and have been eating as clean as I can. (If anyone wants these amazing workouts, go to bodyrock.tv, they’re killer but I love them, I can actually do pushups now!) It’s fun finding healthy recipes to try that are delicious and making me feel good. I’ve even gotten to the point that I can’t eat fast food because it literally makes me sick. Then there’s planning my life for when I get back. J Normally, this may be kind of stressful but I have the time for it now. I love scheduling my new classes, looking for apartments, talking about scholarships and internships, and job hunting…and being able to enjoy being twenty-one. Haha! Yes, my birthday was pretty uneventful here in Europe. I can’t necessarily complain though. My days are pretty nice; I do actually have classes this semester so I have things to do! I’m taking Finnish, Strategic Management, Marketing, Business in Russia, Theory of International Trade, and International Management. Go me! I get to work out, eat well, cook dinner, and focus on myself a little.

So, for anyone that wants to know my date of arrival back in Montana is May 30^th; only after I travel around France and Italy. J

London!

I'm a horrible blogger! I keep forgetting to write about things that I've been doing. So, first things first, London!

I would post videos but since I'm not a video techie, I can't figure out how to upload them. In my defense, the software is really strange. :) Now you get to read my story! Woo!

London was a jam-packed trip because before the trip I booked the wrong return date online. Everyone check fifty times that the dates are right! Otherwise, RyanAir gets to charge you absurd fees. This flight was expensive, even with RyanAir. Note to anybody travelling to Europe cheaply: try to avoid RyanAir as much as you can.

Once we finally got there, we had a fantastic time! Ian and I kept saying "Why didn't we study here?!" Sometimes, Finland just can't compare. But then again, it is London and the only cities comparable to London are New York, Paris and Rome. At least that's what the internet machine says. :)

On our first tourist day, we saw Tower Bridge, walked the wrong direction, saw the London Eye (which is giant, bigger than the Prater in Vienna), a sweet castle, the Financial District (like Wall Street for Europe), Westminister Abbey, Big Ben, The Parliament Buildings, St. James Park, and Buckingham Palace. Yes, all in one day. Yes, it was not bright of us because the rest of the trip we were so exhausted. No, we didn't get to see the guards which was sad. Okay, not that sad! But we didn't get a touristy snapshop with the guards in larger-than-life furry hats. I wonder if they're faux fur...? Then we enjoyed the nice weather and ate ice cream. Later that night, we met up with Christoph and Simone in a part of London called Angel. We saw some hilarious, low-key, British comedy in a local pub. I love hanging out with Germans- they always find the best deals and stuff to do. Successful first night!

Next day! Camden Town. The New York-y part of London, I think. Food everywhere. And, fresh squeezed orange juice stands! This huge and unique part of London with fantastic shopping. It's not like shopping anywhere else in London because it's very local with small shops. Not that I minded the NikeTown and H&M. :) But I bought myself my London souvenir here- a vintage Iron Maiden tank top. Win! Later that night we ate fish and chips, of course. Later, later...later that night we decided to go out. We went to this bar, in a part named Shoreditch, where there were so many black, drunk and fantastically dancing girls. Then we ended the 'night' at a club named Aquarium- it has a pool inside it. Another exhausting day/night ending at 6:00 a.m. I love being 20; 20 at the time, 21 now. :)

The next few days were pretty easy going. We went back to Camden, looked around a bit, did a little shopping on Oxfurd Circus. We also hit up Traflgar Square which is amazing, it's a huge monument with a fountain and the countdown to the Olympics!

Sidenote: I bought the most amazing workout capris at NikeTown. I'm telling you this because they're that amazing. I've never loved a pair of pants so much. I wish I could wear them everyday. If you're in need of some ultimate, fantastic workout pants. Buy these. Here's the link. You're welcome. :) Yes, mine are in purple. I'm not kidding about this, I've gone through multiple pairs of pants and these ones are superior to any other article of clothing I own. Except my running shoes. http://store.nike.com/us/en_us/?l=shop,pdp,ctr-inline/cid-1/pid-434729/pgid-434730#?l=shop,pdp,ctr-inline/cid-1/pid-434731/pgid-434730

Back to London Town...

We also got to see the fancy shopping part of London! Sort of like 5th Avenue in New York; with Saks, Burberry, and other fancy brands a college student can't afford. I didn't get to see anyone famous, but don't worry, I was at least looking!

We went to Hyde Park, which to those of you who don't know what it is... Speakers' Corner is there and it is a wacky time. I wish I could upload videos, but I'll post a couple memorable quotes.

"Your hair is the colour of Satan's breath!"
"Well, the main reason why aliens don't come to Earth is because they're so far away."
"When people have sex, it means they're then married."

Just to name a few... Like I said, a wacky, hilarious time for us regular-folk. It's mostly religious speakers with tourist audiences, still awesome though.

The last thing we did was visit the British Museum which is spectacular. There's a huge section for every corner of the world. There were some amazing replicas of ancient Greece and the Roman Empire which I loved. And it's free!

My moral of the story: everything is bigger in London. It is by far the biggest and most intricate city I've been to, other than New York. The castles, bridges, churches, palaces, ferris wheels are bigger than anything I've ever seen. Nice try, Texas.

P.S. I tried to go see Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station but I had to have an actual train ticket to enter the train area and all I had was a subway card. Maybe next time. :)

Taste of the Tropics

Firstly, I was recently informed that there are actually people following my blog so I’m sorry for being a terrible blogger! I’ll be better at it from now on. J

I continued my awesome travels to the Arctic Circle, otherwise known as Lapland. Let me give you an idea of how far north I was, the city I live is about a three and a half hour drive away from Helsinki, about the most southern point in Finland. We were thirteen hours more north of here. The town right on the edge of the Arctic Circle is Rovaniemi, it took us four hours to get to our middle-of-nowhere cabin from there.

Our first stop was an ice castle! It’s exactly what you think it is. There’s an ice bar, ice restaurant, ice chapel and an ice hotel  that you can even stay in. It’s a pretty Nordic place to see.

The ice restaurant

Rovaniemi is the home of Santa! I’m serious, Santa lives here and I met him. I don’t have a picture because (other than Finland always being expensive J) the pictures were twenty five euros which is roughly thirty five dollars. We decided against it. Without the proof, I promise he exists.  He’s the nicest Santa and speaks almost every language. He spoke Bavarian German with Christoph! Bavarian German it seems, and I’m only saying this for comparison terms not to insult the Bavarians, is like Montanans talking to somebody from Georgia. Santa could speak that German. You go, Mr. Claus. After that we walked around the multiple souvenir shops and saw some reindeer. We hoped back on the bus for another four hours more north.

We finally arrive at our destination: Vasatokka. We get settled into our fabulous cabin which Ian and I shared with eight Germans which is probably the best set up we could have had due to an insane amount of obnoxious French. We sauna-ed and went to bed. The next morning was supposed to be full of “igloo” building, ice fishing and theory to survival. Ian and I skipped all of it. J We needed sleep. Those “igloos” are forts that I built when I five, haha! But we got to go snowshoeing that afternoon! That night we sauna-ed again and jumped into “The Black Hole.” The Black Hole is a hole in the ice of a lake that we can run and jump into after we sauna.  Every night consisted of sauna-ing and jumping into the frozen lake. Basically, the entire trip was one big outdoor adventure and sitting in a bus. The next day we got to go cross country skiing which I enjoyed because it’s running for winter conditions.

THE REINDEER FARM! Reindeer farms are usually ran by people named Sami people, comparable to the Native Americans in North America. We got to feed the reindeer, go on a sleigh ride and observe what they like to do. They’re pretty interesting creatures. Later we learned more about the Sami people; a lady played a drum made out of reindeer leather and sang while we drank coffee. That night was, obviously, more sauna and more frozen lake. Oh! We got to see those magical northern lights which was incredible and would be the absolute only reason I could live that far north. They dance in the sky. J

The Sami Women

Not my picture, but fabulous northern lights

Taking our reindeer sleigh ride

Taking the plunge!

Arctic Ocean beach in Norway

The next day was the real Arctic adventure! Imagine this, we were already four hours into the Arctic Circle and we drove another four hours more north after I felt we couldn’t go more north without hitting the ice cap called the North Pole. But we did! And this is called Norway. We were on the fabulous beaches of the Arctic Ocean! There really are nice, frozen sandy beaches. The ocean isn’t frozen so there are waves hitting the shore. There’s a “ghetto sauna” as we like to call it because there was no dressing room… we changed outside. That was probably half the fun, haha! But we survived and sauna-ed and made the, which seems like an eternity, trek from the sauna to the beach. I have proof of that! And really, the worst part is running from the sauna to the ocean and back. I felt like I couldn’t run fast enough out of the water.  Something not many people have done though.

The next day we left Vasatokka and went to Saariselkka which is about an hour south. That was the sled dog safari! Those dogs are incredible.  There’s so much energy in those Siberian Huskies! Ian and I got to drive the sled for about 20 minutes each while the other rode in the sled. That may have been my favorite excursion. There were a lot of offerings for downhill skiing, snowmobiling, ice karting, and other outdoor adventures but Ian and I decided they’re probably better in wonderful Montana. J We do have some of the best downhill skiing in the country so Finland’s “mountains” just can’t compare.  Overall: Lapland was such a unique and tremendous trip.  

Ian steering the dog sled

We learned some fun things about Germany though. You can buy dog meat in the grocery store and apparently that’s normal in all of Europe. Whoda thunk?! Also, if somebody in Germany buys a snowmobile they’re only allowed to ride it in specified areas. Montana: 1, Germany: 0.