I am a 22 years young Finnish girl studying psychology at Brunel University. My first year is getting close to its end (one month to go) and I can without a doubt say that deciding to study abroad was one of the best decisions I've ever made! I have not only gained many lifelong friendships but also learned things about myself while studying a subject that I love!
I've been as lucky as to get to live in the best flat on campus (and no, I am not exaggerating)!!! We have people from seven different countries (Finland x2, Greece x2, Britain x2, Ireland, Italy, Nigeria and Dominica) and we are all really different but learning so much from each other. Whenever I feel low I have a shoulder to cry on (actually several shoulders) and I have always someone to laugh with! My other friends in uni get confused when I call this place home, but home is where the heart is. The bad thing about living abroad is that your heart is actually ripped into two pieces between your home country and your new home. But it does actually make your life richer! I have two families now: my biological family in Finland and my London family!
This is picture from our flats Christmas dinner from last year!
(It's unfortunately the only pic with all of us.)
But to the main thing: my studies! I have known since I was 16 that I wanted to study psychology. I was inspired by my high school teacher. The University system in Finland is really different compared to Britain. We have entering exams for every single subject and that basically means that only a fraction of the appliers get in. Competition is tough and psychology is in third on the list of hardest subjects to get into. Only 3% of the appliers get in every year. For example last year there were over 2000 appliers and 49 got in. It is not impossible but really really hard!
In 2011 after spending 2 springs in the library studying to the exams I decided that this would be the last time and next year I would be in uni, if not in Finland then somewhere else. I applied to Finland, Britain and Ireland. In July I had been accepted to Brunel (and some other Universities but I already knew that Brunel was on top of my list) but I was still waiting for my results from Finland. They arrived and the envelope was not thick which means that... It was a crying marathon for the whole day. I saw my friends and they all cheered me up saying this will be for the best. At that time I didn't know how right they were! Just when I was starting to come to term with this massive change in my life I realized I had not told my brother yet. I came home and we just cried together for hours. My brother and my mom are the base of my life! Not seeing them every day is hard!
The rest of the summer I lived like it was the last day of my life and it just made it all the more harder to leave! I had a great but emotional farewell party! My family and friends took me to the airport and I can't remember a more bittersweet image in my life than seeing my friends and family cry at the other side of the security check and waving at me as I took my first steps towards this new adventure!
In Helsinki-Vantaa airport on the day of my departure!
After this pic there were loads of tears!
