Steaks & Strangeland Anthony Gerace www.a-gerace.com
AMUSED
Leaving home and starting a new life, is one of the scariest and hardest things someone could experience. But what is like coming back home after you found a new one? Leaving your new life to go back to the old one. Which one feels more like home? We asked three students to share their memories and feelings about moving to Helsinki, Finland for half a year. Words by Yolanda Pantazopoulou
the reality issue
In the memory of Lucy the perch, who found terrible death by a french girl in Inari Lake, Lapland and Alfred the squirrel; the best company someone could ask for while cooking pancakes in Koivukyl채.
issu e n u mber on e
One shared experience
AMUSED
Full Name Yng Chern Age 22 Hometown Vancouver Field of study Fashion Design Where are you at the moment? At home in my apartment, in Vancouver
the reality issue
issu e n u mber on e
One shared experience
AMUSED
What is like moving abroad? I cried on the plane from Vancouver to London. I couldn’t sleep even though everyone else could. It was my first flight alone where nobody would be waiting for me on the other side. I had also just left my first serious boyfriend I was dating at the time at home. It was pure “homesick-ness” and I thought of home everyday for the first month abroad. Best thing about moving away The complete unknown. I could start a new and temporary life. What did you miss the most from home? My friends My family My boyfriend at the time
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Helsinki: First thing that comes to mind looking back to your time there All my friends I made there and the life I made there. Favourite place Lapland. There’s something magical about our time in Inari/Ivalo Favourite thing Sunday morning brunch Least favourite thing Saying goodbye to all my friends How did you spend most of your time there? My friends and I cooked. A lot. We also walked around the city quite a bit, taking photos, browsing shops and adventuring museums and parks. Any mingling with the locals? Mostly with students we met in class. Kristiina is my friend whom I met while I was studying in Vancouver, she lives in Helsinki. I also met a few people going out at night. Did you adopt any Finnish habits? A yearning for salmiakki and saunas. Most memorable moment Our Lapland dance parties followed by sauna sessions followed by surprise northern lights. Actually, all of Lapland. Something you’d rather forget Nothing at all. Memory (or memories) you’ll cherish for life Any moment I had with friends. Whether we were going out, having a movie marathon, dancing or cooking and singing in the kitchen. Would you rather be somewhere else right now? A group hug with my friends from Finland! Although, I’ve learned to love my life in Vancouver again. I’ve found new loves.
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AMUSED
Full name Lida Koutromanou Age 21 Hometown Volos, Greece Field of study Graphic design Where are you at the moment? On my way to Athens What is like moving abroad? Exciting, scary, empowering. In exactly that order. Best thing about moving away Endless possibilities. It could either be the worst or the best of times. What did you miss the most from home? Procrastination.
the reality issue
Helsinki: First thing that comes to mind looking back to your time there Friends. Really really good friends. Favourite place We found home in Inari lake. It was the cosiest wooden house, with a separate sauna cabin in front of a massive frozen lake. Reindeers were walking by our kitchen window every morning and we pretended we could listen to bears at night. Favourite thing All of it. Least favourite thing Life in Finland felt so nicely structured. Friends, studies, free time. Everything fitted so well together. So, leaving was rather unpleasant. How did you spend most of your time there? Cooking, dancing and travelling. We had our rituals. Sunday brunch, Tuesday dinner & movie, barbeques, long walks, strange after-parties. We also studied of course. Any mingling with the locals? In school mostly. I’ve had met Eetu in Athens right before I moved to Finland. We also went ice-skating with Tiia a few times. Did you adopt any Finnish habits? Sauna and excessive coffee drinking. Most memorable moment One night in Lapland, around 2 am and after our usuals; dinner, sauna, rolling in the snow, drinks and dancing, someone noticed something outside the window. We all rushed in the centre of the lake. Everyone just shutted up and sat there looking at the northern lights. A few days after we went on a road trip from where we were staying in Inari Lake to North Cape in Norway. The scenery was breathtaking! Everything was snow-covered white but the blue-black Arctic Ocean, with some colourful wooden fishermen’s houses every now and then.
Would you rather be somewhere else right now? It’s Sunday, so I’d like to be at Yng’s and Sara’s place, cooking pancakes with Michelle and having brunch with some lovely people.
Something you’d rather forget If there was, probably I’ve already forgotten about it. Memory (or memories) you’ll cherish for life Countless! Some of my favourite memories were created in Finland with some of my favourite people in the world.
issu e n u mber on e
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AMUSED 4–5
Full Name
Markus Heidrich
Age 25
Hometown
Hildesheim, Germany
Field of study
Classical music (piano) & mathematics
Where are you at the moment? Halle, Germany
the reality issue
issu e n u mber on e
One shared experience
AMUSED
the reality issue
What is like moving abroad? It’s like you go into an aeroplane and fly away. And where you land, there’s so much new things, you don’t know where to look at and what to do. Like a child in a colorful circus. There’s a lot of laughing and love, but also crying. Time flies by. And all of a sudden, you sit in another aeroplane and fly back. And then, you feel kind of strange for a long time. Then, everything moves on and you’re almost back to normal, but you’ll never be. You start writing sentimental texts like this. Best thing about moving away You’re somebody else. Not because you pretend to be somebody else. Because nobody knows you and nobody expects you to be like you’ve been two or three years before. And also because you meet people from all over the world, so that social codes and looks don’t count that much. All of this makes you more free. And of course all the people and new friendships. What did you miss the most from home? My friends back home. I haven’t had as much contact with them as I wanted to (and, at least with some, as I should have had), but at times, I really missed them.
Helsinki: First thing that comes to mind looking back to your time there Tough question - it’s always something else depending on what makes me looking back. Right now probably, because it was nearly one year ago that I flew to Helsinki: The moment I stepped out of the luggage section into the arrival sector in the airport, when I first arrived in Helsinki. It was 10 in the morning, I haven’t slept all night and was in a really strange mood as you can imagine, leaving home, going to a strange country. And then there was Tanya, my tutor from university with a paper with my name on it waiting for me. I started to put on a big smile and knew it’s going to be good. Just because I felt, that I’m welcome. Favourite place Lapland, just somewhere in Lapland. In a cozy wooden house with a lot of beds for all the friends I made in Helsinki, a sauna and a frozen lake right next to it. Favourite thing Sauna with some nice people and a cold beer. Least favourite thing Clubs closing at 2:30, no beers in the metro and stuff like that. There was too much regulation from the state.
How did you spend most of your time there? During the day: practising the piano. During the evening: cooking with my wonderful roommates, having fun with them (going out, playing risk, watching movies, ...) During the night: Finding the right place to celebrate. Any mingling with the locals? Not that much, but I made two friends. And if the saying about finnish people is right, they are friends for life. Did you adopt any Finnish habits? I adopted more habits from other foreign countries than finnish habits I guess, for example cooking pasta the italian ways. When I thing about it, maybe I am now more quiet and I like to be on my own more than before I went away, and these two things are definitely typical finnish. This is strange, because it started to be like that back in Germany and was quite different in Helsinki. Most memorable moment I can’t decide, really. Something you’d rather forget There were some uncomfortable or embassaring situations but nothing worth mentioning. Memory (or memories) you’ll cherish for life Ok, here’s a few, but definitely not all. Driving with the car seven hours forth to and seven hours back from Cape North, which is actually not that astonishing, but the road trip was awesome (“No Maria”). That one afterparty in the home of the romanian girl Corina. In her little room, at least in my memory, was only one air matress and some tree brushes. We were dancing all together far into the morning and founded a tree brush band. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the name. Another really good memory is coming back from Germany in May, where I went to play my entrance exams for piano studies. I knew, that all went fine, I got through the entrance exams and achieved what I really wanted to and what I worked my ass off for for one year, and then I arrived back in Helsinki at 9 or 10 in the evening, you couldn’t tell, because sun is up so long in summer, and it was nearly 20 degree outside. I realised that summer was coming and I was happy. Very happy.
issu e n u mber on e
One shared experience
AMUSED
Would you rather be somewhere else right now? Yes.
the reality issue
issu e n u mber on e
One shared experience
AMUSED
Special thanks to: Artemis Skeva Synergastirion Yng Chern Markus Heidrich Lucy Alfred
the reality issue
issu e n u mber on e
One shared experience
AMUSED
THE BAD NEWS: NOTHING LASTS FOREVER THE GOOD NEWS: NOTHING LASTS FOREVER