“My relatives were also surprised by this choice”
Gintarė Bieliauskaitė, student of Sociology and Anthropology at VMU // Erasmus studies in Finland
Moi! Minun nimeni on Gintare. (Hi! My name is Gintare) I went on Erasmus+ exchange the previous autumn semester as. The country which hosted me for 3,5 months was…Finland. My relatives were surprised by this choice as this country is far to North and not very popular destination. Well, to be honest, I had chosen Finland mainly because of its great education system and environmentally-friendly lifestyle. I didn’t know much about this country before going there so spent half of the summer watching random youtube videos about it (Finland is not a Scandinavian country!) and learning some Finnish online.
Moving on to my experience in Finland, it really differs from the life I got used to in Kaunas. As we lived in a shared flat 4km away from the university’s campus, the majority of students were going to the lectures by bike or by bus. After the classes we either stay in the library or study at home by reading books and writing the essays. The rest of the time I tried to get a taste of Finnish culture by actively participating in some local events such as culture nights and orchestra of Joensuu city concerts (exactly, the city where I lived has its own orchestra and it performed twice a month at the university’s great hall).
One more great thing is that almost each flat has its own sauna in the basement and all the students each Wednesday can enjoy it completely free of charge! It has been said that there are more saunas than cars in Finland. Well, it’s really truth. Also, we had no exam sessions as in Lithuania so after finishing my assignments I went to the trip to Lapland which was unforgettable! Although, to reach Rovaniemi takes 8 hours by train from Joensuu as there is no direct route, I had a chance to explore a bit two other cities where were the stops so it was really worth it! From visiting the Santa Claus village (he really exists!), having a reindeer sleigh ride to the forest to the Arktikum museum and Lordi’s Square in the city centre of Rovaniemi. The only thing is that I didn’t see the Northern lights because of bad forecast for them.
To conclude, Erasmus+ exchange programme gave me a wonderful opportunity to experience what it feels like to be a student abroad in completely different education system, get to know new unfamiliar culture and meet amazing people all over the world. Each Erasmus story is different and unique. I really recommend every student to go on exchange and create his/her own Erasmus story! :)
