I’m Francisco, I’m 20 years old, and I come from Spain. I study tourism in Tenerife, and this is my third year in the Tourism career. To end the routine, I decided to go on Erasmus to learn languages and study abroad to open my mind.
My trip to Finland began on August 11 2022 – and not very well, my flight company lost one of my suitcases. Later, while I was claiming my loss, I missed the trains that were taking me to Pori, the city where I was going to stay during my Erasmus. And finally, that night I couldn’t stay in my room, and I had to ask for help at midnight so I wouldn’t stay the night on the street.
A total chaos that made me think that I would not like Finland, but everything changed the next days: I managed to get into my place, I received my lost luggage, and from this point, the adventure was about to begin.
I started going to class, visited many interesting places from Finland like Yyteri, Tampere, Helsinki and Lapland. Destinations that I loved by the way! Doing tourism is always good, but studying in SAMK and being part of the Finnish education system was amazing.
Here I discovered much more about working and studying independently, a new way to learn and to organize myself, a system without fixed or monotonous schedules. In a few days I will return to Spain, but I will never forget the friends I made and the experiences I lived.
This is not a goodbye, but a see you soon. I am sure that I will return to Finland, a place that after these four months I consider my home!
Text and photo: Francisco Diaz-Gonzalez, an Erasmus exchange student from Universidad de la Laguna