For most people, living abroad is more than just taking a step up the career ladder. This new and exciting experience may offer many possibilities, but will also confront you with entirely new obstacles and issues.

First days of our stay here in Finland were particularly stressful. When you don’t know your way around the neighbourhood yet, you may be overwhelmed with this new experience. Once we have figured out where the nearest bank or post office and some shops or markets are located, and once we began to pick up the local language, we started to begin to feel at home while living abroad.

Getting to know different cultures always felt intriguing to me. On the other hand, living in a foreign country can cause quite a bit of cultural shock. Eventually, you embrace all the little differences and begin to feel comfortable and familiar.

I haven’t been to many different countries, but anywhere I went it was just for a short period of time. One month of being away from home can sound pretty scary at first, especially if you have to travel alone. Luckily, I’m here with three other students so I’m neither scared nor bored.

Sure, there are moments when you feel homesick, but texting and calling makes everything better. Besides, living in such a great country isn’t so bad…I could even get used to living here. It’s only been two weeks and we already feel like locals. I hope the next two week will be even more exciting and interesting than the past two, now that we got the hang of it.