Why you should become an exchange student

Dear O’Times readers, our exchange year is coming to an end, and we are now here to tell you about our experien-

AS MANY OF YOU KNOW, we arrived in Finland in August 2021, without knowing anything about Finnish and your culture.

Starting a new life here, however, wasn’t that easy. We struggled to make friends at school, especially because of the language barrier. But after all our struggles, we are now very happy with the life we have created in Helsinki.

You may wonder why we decided to become exchange students. Living abroad, leaving your family, your friends and your city to go to another country that you don’t know anything about: is it all worth it? In our opinion, yes, it is worth it.

Of course, leaving was a little bit scary and sad, but we were extremely excited and anxious to start this new adventure. Our group of exchange students

Of course, it wasn’t always easy: we had to put a lot of effort into everything we wanted to do. We had to take risks and put ourselves in the game, because it was the only way to find our places here. There are several reasons why you should consider doing an exchange year.

Getting to know a new language and a new culture for example. When you arrive in your host country, you start learning its habits and customs and, without even noticing, you start to use them like a native. For example, we tried salmiakki for the first time and now we can’t live without it. We always have a pack of salmiakki with us, just in case we need it.

You also get to have another family in another part of the world. Living with a host family is very challenging. At the beginning it can be weird because you don’t know each other. But after a while you’ll start to get more and more involved in the family activities until you become an active member of it! At the end of the exchange year, you’ll feel that your host family is like your second family, and you’ll miss them as much as you missed your family when you

Marianna with her host sisters

left your home country. At least this is what we think based on our experience.

Another aspect of the exchange year is that you have the opportunity to meet other exchange students from all around the world. This means that you’ll learn things not only about your host country, but also about other countries. You’ll face a lot of diversity, and you’ll also get to share your culture and traditions. This exchange will make you richer and open to the world.

Last but not least, the exchange year makes you grow up in every aspect. In fact, from the moment you take the plane and leave your home country, you have your life in your hands. You won’t have your parents to help you at any time:

you’ll have to figure everything out by yourself.You will improve your language skill and overcome all the fears and obstacles you had in your home country. Marianna with her friend Anna

Us at the lake

We remember very well our feelings when we had just started our exchange year: confusion, discouragement and excitement. We could never have imagined ourselves at this point, with a perfect life, like we had always lived here. Our advice is to not fear the unknown and always believe in your abilities. An exchange year will change your life forever and it’s worth more than a school year!

Text and photos Marianna Faggin and Emma Guasti