Why I have expatriated me to the cold Finland ?

I’m called Thibault, and as this name lets guess, I’m French. I have studied foret harvesting and also marketing of wood products in France. After that, I decided to go 1 year to Finland (in Erasmus program) because my school had good contacts with the forest unit of Seinäjoki university. I thought that would be great to go abroad to discover what happens there before I get a job and other life obligations. Moreover, that has been a kind of dream, for the forester I am, to visit the most woody country in Europe.

 Being abroad at the begining

As exchange student, I have discovered the Finnish forestry and culture. Quite… different. Forest harvesting is really industrialized and dynamic : that was great to see and learn how that works and it has provided me many ideas and opinions about my own forester life. It’s also funny to deal with cultural shocks : « But we have time. Why can’t you stay longer than 5 minutes at coffee break ? » ; « Don’t go to this sauna, it’s more than 100°C, you’re crazy ! You’re going to boil ! » and so on.

Nowadays

At the end of the Erasmus contract, I’ve passed the examination to continue to Finnish Forest Engineer Degree. A kind of challenge ! Now I study for 2 years ago as Finnish student, with Finnish classmates, in Finnish language (hmm, and still sometime English…) and learn few other foreign languages. That would lead me to become an international wood procurement agent quite surely.

I often manage international programs and take care about foreigners coming here. That interests me well to get some contacts with new people everytime. That offers so much opportunities !

I spend my free time in sauna, walking or skiing on trails (there are a lot of natural areas around !), play games with friends… And I try to teach them to stay sat at the table in front of some French dinner for few hours, but here I still fail. Last Christmas, I’ve been elected as representative at the university’s students organization. I try to advance student life here, there are everytime some things to get better. I hope I’ll do this job right !