Pack Up Your Life & Go – Part IV: What’s an exchange about?

So, what’s exchange year about?

For me, it’s about everything. From new friends, new home and new hobby called biking to how to cook dinner and find a way to still handle life when my wallet is stolen and there is no mom to call to.

I’ve more or less talked about my new life here in previous posts but what I’ve skipped so far is travelling. My exchange has had a lot to do with travelling and it was also one major factor influencing my thought of an exchange year in the first place.

When I was living in Italy last semester, I lived in Milan which has 3 airports nearby as well as a massive railway Central Station and it is overall the center point where everyone gathers together and then travels to different countries and places such as Switzerland, France, Italy etc. Of course, I could not resist and travelled as well as it was so cheap, convenient and quick. The same lifestyle has continued now while living in Copenhagen.

Copenhagen Airport is the main international airport serving Copenhagen, Denmark, the entire Zealand and a large part of Southern Sweden. It’s the largest airport in the Nordic countries with 29 million passengers in 2016 and it’s also one of the oldest international airports in Europe. It is the third-busiest airport in Northern Europe, and by far the busiest for international travels in Scandinavia and by the way, it’s also only a 10 minute metro ride away from my home. In conclusion, there is no wonder why I have not been able to sit at home when there’s a free weekend, week or just a moment.

During this semester, after my arrival in January, I first went to Italy for a family-skiing trip. The flight was around 2h long without any stops in other airports and cost around 80-100€ as I had to pick my arrival time close to the time my parents got there.

That week was an awesome one. I saw my family, skied the whole week, ate Italian food (which I btw miss soo much – cheap pastas, pizzas, proseccos are all you need for a perfect day), laughed with my little sisters and enjoyed every minute while it was snowing instead of raining which I see in Denmark daily.

After that trip in late February I had to concentrate on uni and a project I was participating in and therefore took a month off from travelling. During that month I had my first exams in Accounting and International Business Strategy (which went really well) as well as I was working on the VWFS and EBS project. That project and the outcome of it actually led me to the next trip I had. It was a pilot project EBS did in collaboration with Volkswagen Financial Services in which 8 Chinese and 12 Estonian students played the role of a consultancy. Our job was to suggest valid and doable ideas for VWFS Chinese market. As we were working for Chinese department, we had the opportunity to present our project outcome in China. IN FREAKING CHINA. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? HOW COOL?!

So, on the 6^th of April, I sat on a plane to Moscow and later on to Beijing to visit China for the first time in my life. To be honest, that trip was very tiring as it was not a vacation and a lot of work was needed to be done in China when we saw our teammates from Hong Kong University but it was also very educating (I learned a lot about myself and what I’m capable of doing when there is literally NO time and how do I cope with a situation in which I go to sleep at 5AM just to wake up at 7AM and so on..), exciting and of course, SOO DIFFERENT.

During those 10 days I got to see the insights of companies working in China, I saw a proper Chinese market, I got an experience of working with Chinese people, I ate Chinese food (nothing close to that Chinese/Asian food you can get in Europe but MUCH better), I partied in a Chinese club, I tried talking to a taxi driver and understood in 3 seconds that they do not talk any other language than their own and I SAW THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA.

That trip was amazing. After it I returned to Denmark for a week to start with my new classes (I now have finished Accounting and International Business Strategy and I only have Statistics and Organizational Behavior left). During the week I already thought about my next trip which was to Estonia. I booked it a month ahead to come to my grandma’s and sister’s birthday. It was a really quick weekend getaway from Friday to Monday but totally worth it. It was a straight flight from Copenhagen to Tallinn and around 100€ again. Good thing about that flight is that it is so short that when you get back to Denmark you don’t even lose time due to the one-hour time-zone difference.

Estonia was great as always. Besides birthdays I got to go to EBS Haba gala as one of the nominees, I had an appointment with my hairdresser (never go to a hairdresser in Denmark, you are poor once you leave) and I got to see people I love the most.

As I had no spring break this year and I had already skipped some classes because of China, I had to return to Denmark asap for my uni that has classes usually from Tuesday to Friday morning. I was in Copenhagen for a week and then left for London, UK. Going there was a very random decision done a few months ago. As I had never been there, I thought why not go AND the return plane tickets were 25€……. wouldn’t you go? As I knew London was expensive and I’m still a non-working student (very poor one after leaving Denmark :’)) I decided to use the help of Airbnb and hostels. I was super lucky with my accommodation, it being just next to Hyde Park in Kensington, the most beautiful area I have ever been to.

I spent 3 nights and 4 days in total in London and loved EVERY SINGLE moment. Loved all those parks, loved people who talked perfect English (shocker, right?), loved all those royal palaces, churches, monuments and just overall loved being there.

Now I’m back to my boring student wake-up-study-go-to-library-eat-train-party routine and my next trip will be going back home in June.

PS! As I am a student, I travel on a very low budget (China was mostly paid by EBS/VWFS), so even though yes, travelling is expensive but if you are willing to cut off from some things then there always is a way.

I know it might sound like a travel addiction and I’m not arguing but if there is something that puts a smile on your face, you should do that, right?