Anni Keisala, a student from Vaasa University of Applied Sciences, travelled across the globe to study. The capital of South Korea, Seoul, was chosen as the exchange destination. The trip was supported by a grant from Riitta and Jorma J. Takanen Foundation.
Anni Keisala, 25, had dreamed of studying abroad ever since she was little. In secondary school, she dreamed of a language trip, but it never materialized. When Keisala was accepted to the International Business degree program at the Vaasa University of Applied Sciences, she decided to make her dream come true and apply from exchange studies.
- I had been dreaming of an exchange for a long time. Last February, when I was finally sitting on a plane at Helsinki-Vantaa airport and was about to move to an unknown country all by myself, I had a momentary thought in my mind: “What an Earth am I doing?”, Keisala laughs.
Keisala chose Seoul, the capital of South Korea with over 10 million residents, as the exchange destination. She would be taking her major and minor studies for the spring semester at the Kyung Heen University.
- One of my criteria for choosing the destination was that I wanted to go outside Europe because Europe is more convenient to travel to. I think exchange is a great opportunity to go further afield and spend a longer period in a new country. At the Vaasa University of Applied Sciences, I had been a tutor for exchange students and befriended with several Koreans in the process. I was intrigued by the culture of the country, which seemed quite approachable to me, Kaisala recounts.
Dreams come true
It will soon be a year since Keisala left for the exchange. She recalls the moment before the exchange as an exciting time. Sudden changes to living arrangements added their own spice to the preparations for departure.
- I had booked a room in a private hall of residence near the university, where I would have had my own room. I chose this option for reasons of comfort and privacy. However, in January I received a message that the place had gone bankrupt. At first, I thought, “Help, is my whole going to fall apart?”, Keisala recalls.
- I only had a month to arrange new accommodation before the departure, and I contacted the exchange university’s international office to see if there was still a vacancy in the university hall of residency. Two weeks before the departure I received a message that I had been given a cancellation place. The news was a huge relief.
Fortunately, other memories of exchange did not cause the same kind of heartbreak. On the contrary. Keisala got to experience living in the pulse of a metropolis, but also to see other amazing places on her travels.
- Once I was in South Korea, I wanted to see other places as well. It was great that we exchange students became a group of friends who travelled together.
In early April, Keisala and friends travelled to Busan, the second largest city in South Korea and one of the world’s busies port cities.
- It was a great trip. The atmosphere in Busan was different from Seoul, which is faster paced. Busan was calmer and you could clearly see that the city lives on tourism. Being from a coastal city myself, this made Busan feel much like home, Keisala accounts with a smile.
The highlight of June was a trip to the Island of Jeju, where Keisala spent nearly a week. It was a memorable experience. The volcanic island had everything from stunning sandy beaches to spectacular waterfalls.
- I recommend familiarizing yourself with the destination and its culture before you go. I studied Korean already in Finland before the departure, which helped me in adapting to a new country. Many of the Asian countries have their own writing system, so if you know a little bit about it, you might not be so culture shocked.
