It all began on July 18 in Rome’s airport where I met three travel companions, the best companions of the world that shared with me these initial moments both exciting and anxious. When I landed, I saw my name on a piece of paper between the hands of a kind woman, who gave me a ride home; we took a photo with her family which was published in the Finnish newspaper!

The first host family had two very young children and for this reason they couldn’t organize many activities; for this reason, they planned to host two girls, so a Turkish girl lived with me during these three weeks in Finland and it helped a lot.
However, I had the opportunity to enjoy the amazing landscape, learn a totally different culture and experience a new way of living immersed in nature.
My favorite day in the first family was the one at the berry farm, where we picked some delicious strawberries in a wonderful location.
Moreover, we learned how to drive the tractor around the wheat fields.
I spent the second week in another family and I have nurtured a beautiful relationship with my host sister; we swam in the lake, I tried the typical sauna and we visited a town called Tampere.

The best part of this experience was undoubtedly the last week, the one in the camp. Although a covid case of a camp mate, we had a lot of fun practicing different sports such as frisbee-golf, ping pong, volleyball...and also sharing our cultures and traditions.
The last day we went to the most popular Finnish amusement park and at the end of the day Italian people prepared “spaghetti alla carbonara” in order to conclude our adventure eating all together an Italian specialty. Despite the fact that it was the last day, we lived in full, smiling each second. From strangers we became a family and I’ll take these memories in my heart forever. I’m so thankful for this exchange experience which changed me in a really positive way.

The irrepressible joy accompanied me all the time as well as the sunlight was always present in the Finnish sky.