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When I was little, I never wanted to become a firefighter, police woman or princess. My dream was to research penguins. Followed by wanting to be a vet or a teacher. When I got older, I planned on studying International law.
The idea of my gap year wasn’t to reinvent or find myself, just to take a break from studying before getting back to it. In order to know what to prepare myself for regarding the entrance exams, I even took the ones for International law before going abroad. Once I arrived at the airport in Helsinki, I got the email that I had suprisingly been accepted. I declined since it wasn’t my plan to study just yet. School, gap year, International law. That was always the plan. But does life ever really go according to plan?
Day by day, the days got darker since winter was knocking at the door. My roommate didn’t show up since she had some complications to face. Day by day life in Kokkola became lonelier.
With the benefit of hindsight, I would say that the day I went supboarding with a schoolclass and one of my cooworkers, Sarah, was the day my mood took a turn. I still remember asking her whether we should wear a wetsuit. Her answer was: “Well, I won’t since I’m sure I won’t fall in. But you can if you want.”. Obviously, I didn’t. Afterwards she gave me the honor of leading the big supboard with ten small kids that were having a tough time paddling. You guessed it: I got drenched in the finnish sea at the end of October. I remember me being soaked top to bottom, running to the main building to get changed and encountering lots of businessmen who were having a meeting. They must have thought I was completely nuts. Well, I am proud to be, just don’t tell them. Sarah and me had a similar situation on one of my last days in Kokkola ending with us pulling the big supboard with a storm going at approximately 90km/h. A bunch of teenagers on the board and us pulling them and pouring all our strengh in it. What a sight that must have been but we were just giggling and laughing the whole time. It is those impossible moments that are still stuck in my head and that lightened my mood the most.
Though, there were so many great moments. Like Heidi showing me how to prepare the archery bows during lunchbreak on one of my first days and me trying over and over again. Failing every time. When I started to feel like a lost case, she handed me the small kids bow made out of plastic instead of wood. She just kept cheering me on until I managed to do even the big ones. Heidi’s positivity and happiness is generally something I will treasure forever. No matter how big or small the positive things were, she was always so happy and her laughter was simply contagious. Like the time we got a delivery of new books on fish dissection. Or the time the two of us ran around like mad people since she had a truly brilliant idea on how to improve a workshop that was about to start in less than an hour. We were absolutely stressed but ignited by the idea. You should have seen our faces once we realised that the kids wouldn’t figure out that the code they needed for the box is printed in huge numbers hidden on the back of the puzzle. But as long as Heidi was happy, I was having a great day.
Watching her rescue dogs at work, searching for mushrooms, sauna, good food and kind people apparently are the magical key to my happiness, who would have thought.
Then there was the trip to Kajia’s farm that she invited me to in order for me to feel less lonely. Kind of in a panic, I baked some muffins since it isn’t really usual to invite a complete strangerto one’s house just to lighten their mood in my culture. Since I had no idea on how to repay her kindness, I figured that homebaked goods where always appreciated. Truly, looking back at it, it was probably the most eventful weekend I spend in Finland. Watching her rescue dogs at work, all the animals of hers, searching for mushrooms, sauna, good food and kind people apparently are the magical key to my happiness, who would have thought.
Nature school definitely brought out my adventurous side and showed me what I was capable of. International department on the other hand felt like home. Whether it was Sarianne, Emilia, Varvara, Ashten or Roy, someone always had time to listen to my worries and help me out. My heart on the other hand belonged to the kitchen staff since Joni, Jessica, Kimi and Brian always provided me with good food, stories and lots of knowledge, especially on reptiles.
We ran through Villa Elba in our pijamas during the nights just to get to the best places to see northern lights.
A few months in, my italian roommate, Margherita, moved in. If you live in a house in the middle of a finnish forest and share a room, you automatically grow close. Honestly, we didn’t click right from the start but we soon became inseperable. Do you remember our clay figures, Margherita? Gosh, we spent hours on them since we bought way too much clay and it started to dry out. We did so many that we started to curse them. On other days, we ran through Villa Elba in our pijamas during the nights just to get to the best places to see northern lights (PS: all the birdwatching points are pretty great for that). We did countless small trips and two bigger ones up to Oulu as well as the Power Park. Margherita always started work a lot later and therefore, came home later. Her favourite place to sit was outside or the kitchen. Though, as soon as I started cooking dinner, she would join me in the kitchen since, according to her, there was nothing more entertaining than watching me cook since I mastered improvising and working some magic on whatever food was left in my fridge.
At the end of January, I visited a fotographic exhibition whose title was “Fortune favours the brave”. As somebody who loves to write, the title caught my attention but also made me think. I started wondering if Law was truly what I wanted to do or whether it was just the easy and secure way out. Funny enough, my plan was about to change, I just didn’t know it yet. My family visited me and after some days in Helsinki and Kokkola, we went up to Ivalo. Since it’s not every day that one is in Lapland during winter, we decided try our hand at husky mushing. I have always had an extreme love for working with animals so obviously, I loved it. Hence, I was chosen to go again taking my dad’s spot since he came down with a fever. Afterwards my mom and brother picked me up and we cuddled our huskies for the last time before leaving. Seeing how my eyes lit up whilst working and cuddling with them, it was clear that it was my dream come true. Even before going to Finland, we discussed my plan B. Thinking it should be something without an entrance exam to take the pressure out of the process. Guess what? I decided to make one of the thoughest studies to get in, together with human medicine, my plan A. I decided that I want to try to get into the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna. 200 out of 1600 applicants would get in, but fortune favours the brave, right?
Kitchen talks with Margherita turned into her coming over to my desk next to the big window to check in on me and my studies after work. Early mornings turned into even earlier ones to get the first session over with before work started at eight. Visiting other friends and volunteers turned into rigerously planned trips in order to manage spending time with them, visiting the cities and villages they lived in and still getting the studying done. Work on the other hand showed me that “gross” things could become interesting ones and that fears would dissapear once you dared to do it.
Fortune favours the brave, right? That’s what Finland taught me
Guess what? I beat the odds and came in third. I got an appartement in Vienna. Fortune truly favours the brave, that’s what Finland taught me. Vienna is my next stop, what about you? And no, Brian, I am sorry but I will not become a herpetologist. Fears are human. And snakes are the one fear I have yet to overcome.
This European solidarity corps project was funded by European union. The European comission is not responsible for the content of this publication
