1 of the 1001 train journeys to do before you die!

When I was trying to choose a place to travel to for Erasmus I was partly swayed by friends, the country itself and also the courses offered. I had settled on Poland for my first choice as a combination of all three of the above. However as I came closer to the time for submitting to the universities I began to question whether it was such a good choice to travel with just one friend. Sure, having company in a new country would be great, but I was also wary that it might put a strain on the friendship and also make us a little less enthusiastic for meeting new people. So I spontaneously decided on the day of submissions that I actually wanted to go somewhere alone. If I was going to really immerse myself in this new experience I wanted to make sure that I had no choice but to throw myself into every opportunity to meet new people as I would be totally on my own. When I approached my Erasmus coordinator she was very enthusiastic for me to take that plunge. She broached the possibility of Finland with me, telling me that I would be the very first student from my university to ever go there. That seemed like a very exciting prospect. I mean what was the worst that could happen? If I really hated it I could always come home and do some work, so I readily agreed.

When the time came to travel to Finland, I was beyond excited. My parents insisted on coming with me for the first week just to make sure there was a university there and I wasn't just wandering into the deep unknown. I had yet to meet ayone who had actually been to Finland, as it isn't exactly a first choice holiday destination, so I had to agree with them that it probably was a smart move.

First things first, I have to admit that my first impression of Finnish people wasn't overly great. It was a ridiculously early flight of something like 5am from Dublin and as far as I could tell we were the only Irish people on the flight. Dare I say it I found the Finnish to be kind of rude, stand offish and a little bit scary, so I did have a minor panic in the flight queue as I wondered what the hell I was doing! Obviously I didn't telll my parents that and pretended to be as breezy as you like. The flight was Ryanair (joy of joys!) so I wasn't able to bring a whole lot with me. We put two big bags on board and then each of us had a small piece of hand luggage. I have to admit that packing my life into two bags was pretty exhilirating. You realise how little you actually need and it was enjoyable leaving behind all the silly stuff. Also, of course, with it being Ryanair it meant we didn't actually fly anywhere near Helsinki but instead we flew to the beautiful city of Tampere which greatly improved my first imprssion of Finland, even if the airport was little more than a glorified shed! The first thing I did notice when I was flying in over Finland is that it is an extremely flat country. Now my Erasmus coordinator had informed me that Finland was perfect for skiing. But proper skiing, not the croos country lark needs mountains. And Finalnd most certainly lacks mountains. I began to think this didn't bode all that well for the other information I had from her.

However we had one really lovely night in Tampere in a pretty boutique hotel and then we booked a train from Tampere to Helsinki. This was my dad's highlight of Finland. He still gushes about it to anyone who will listen, and in fact this trip is listed as 1 of the '1001 Train Journeys to take Before you Die'. The public transport in Finland is mind blowing for someone who comes from a very lax transport environment in Ireland. The train was a double decker(?) and we were the only people in our carriage so we spread ourselves out to enjoy the two hour trip. The countryside is breathtaking. The greenery, lakes, wooden cottages, wide expanses of blue sky. It was simply stunning. A definite must see if you plan to travel to Finland!

When we landed in Helsinki our first priority was to book a hotel for my parents. Unfortunately we had not bargained for a giant business conference being held and there were zero hotels in the entire city to put them. I was beginning to think I would have to move in with my new housemates with my parents in tow. Highly uncool. Luckily they did have a random 'hotel' the next stop on the train from where I would be living so my parents booked that for two nights and another hotel back in the city for the other two nights once the conference had finished.

Then we hopped on the sweet little M train and headed to Kannelmäki, my home for the next year. We were a little tight on time when we landed in Kannelmäki but fortunately I was the last to book in that day and they gave me the keys to my apartment in Klaneettitie :) My German housemate had already moved in a few days and was a really lovely girl. My Austrian housemate was not far behind me. The apartment itself was a great size. The rooms were big with a single bed, desk, chest of drawers and wardrobe. There was a small kitchen and a good size dining/living area. Ours only had a dining table when we arrived although we did acquire a couch later in the year when one was sitting pretty on the ground floor of building. There was a toilet with a sink and then a seperate shower/wet room with another sink which is great idea for a flat with three girls. I have definitely taken inspiration for any future house I may build and firmly believe wet rooms are the way to go. Such a smart simple idea. 

After moving in I went with my parents to their hotel which turned out to be through a forest, across a main road and in the middle of an industrial estate. When we were asking for directions I was surprised by the fleuncy of the average man on the streets English. They were more than happy to welcome us and again I felt much happier than my first impressions had been. After leaving them in that odd place I headed back to my new home to prepare for my first day as an Erasmus student.

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