The year 2017 has been amazing for me, but to the world it has not been that good. America got an annoying orange thing as their president, there were multiple shootings, tornados, bombings, hurricanes and so many more other awful things that have changed people's lives forever. Let's hope 2018 will be better for our beautiful earth and it's inhabitants.
But before I start depress you guys with my writings, I would like to tell you about my 2017. There are numbers, there are places and there memories embedded inside this post. Sometimes it might get confusing and sometimes pretty boring, but I wish you enjoy it neverthless. So many things happened and there's I no way I could remember all of them, but these are the main ones. I also wrote something quite similar last year and you can find it here. Be aware though, it is written completely in finnish. I might translate it later, we'll see.

In 2017 I..

Travelled by plane 11 times
Travelled in total of about 22,328 kilometres
Got to see 3 new countries which are Germany, South Korea and China
Went to 7 new cities
Lived in 2 different countries, 3 if you count Finland
Learned the basics of 2 languages (which both I'm still learning more about)
Dyed my hair at least 5 times and 3 different colors
Almost failed 3 of my courses
Wrote 59 new blog posts, this one included
Got 1 new piercing
Used 5 different tootbrushes
Worked as a waitress in a German hotel for 3 months
Sang in karaoke 10 times
Met so many new people who became friends and who I wish stay as my friends for a long time
Read 3 books (which is really little but I've been busy)
Slept in 7 beds (not in a way you might think, in a normal way. As in I slept in 7 different rooms this year)

Bought 8 new plants
Watched way too much Netflix (I tried to check from my viewing activity how much it exactly was but I got bored halfway through)

Highlights of 2017

Germany
My summer internship in Berlin, Germany was one of the best summers ever (you can read about it here in finnish). It was filled with laugh, new places, achy feet and so many experiences. I became closer with one of my friends as I had to share a room with her the whole summer, I got to speak lots of English and a little bit of German and Spanish and I got meetso many amazing (and also not so amazing) people. I learned that working as a waitress is definitely not for me. And after my time in Korea I was happy that I got to see Berlin again.

South Korea
I spent 4 months in a different side of the world, studying a major that was not even mine and I loved it. My time there was filled with wonder and so many great people and memories. I will never forget my time there and I wish everyday that I could return to Korea once again. I learned to be more flexible and how to adjust to a competely new culture and what it feels like to be the only foreigner in a subway full of Koreans. There were sad moments, happy moments, normal moments and sometimes even magical moments. There were moments where I realized I was actually able to do this, to go to a different side of the world all by myself. If you want to read about my adventures in Korea, you can find them all here.

If you compare this to my last year's list it obviously isn't as long. But that's because in 2016 lots of different, smaller things happened and in 2017 few big things happened. And also I can't really remember what happened before going to Berlin as memories of Berlin and Seoul have completely taken over my head.

After leaving beautiful Korea behind, I met with my friend in Germany. Specifically in Berlin. This had been our plan since the summer, so that we got to see Berlin even during the winter time.
I arrived to Schönefeld airport in the evening, after 15 hours of traveling. Both of my flights were slightly delayed due to the weather conditions (it started to snow in Korea right in the morning and in Moscow it had apparently been snowing the whole day), but thankfully I still made it to my connecting flight from Moscow. It is definitely going to be last time I ever go to the Sheremetyevo airport as it was really not that good of an airport. There were only 4 passport control desks open, 4 security check points open and people from two different huge planes. I was already so tired by the time I reached Moscow that my head was hurting thanks to the exhaustion. At that point I just wanted to reach Schönefeld as soon as possible. Thankfully I finally got to Schönefeld, met up with my friend and we started to head to our hostel. However thanks to a booking mistake I made, we soon realized that I had booked a 4 person co-ed dorm room. But we really didn't let that get us down and after getting some pizza we just headed to bed. The first and most exhausting day was finally over.
On the second day we slept relatively long, and headed shopping. In the end we found ourselves from Potsdamer Platz near a really beautiful Christmas market. I wanted to buy glückwein since I got recommended to do so by my friend. But in the end I felt too sick to get it so I didn't get one of the prettiest glasses I've seen nor did I get to taste glückwein.. After strolling through the Christmas market for a while we headed to see Thor - Ragnarök.
On the third day we went shopping again and jet lag was really much present. I felt really sick but I kept it to myself as I wanted my friend to be able to do some shopping at least. Though I'm pretty sure she saw that everything definitely wasn't OK. Finally after hours and hours of shopping and me not buying anything, we headed back to our hostel. And shortly after that I realized I couldn't keep anything inside me. Not even any liquids. So I spent my night running back and forth the bathroom and pretty much just suffering. Apparently I had exhausted myself too much and that was my body's way of telling me to slow down.
For our last day I just got some rest for the beginning of the morning, carefully ate something and decided I was feeling much better. So we headed shopping once again for the last of the Christmas presents.
It was really nice to get to see Berlin and to return at least for a while. I however noticed that Korea and Seoul had made a really big impact to my life and I had even forgotten what it was like to spend the summer in Berlin. Of course I miss all those memories in Berlin, but if I keep getting stuck to those memories I probably wouldn't be able to live in the moment that well.

What is it like to be an exchange student in Korea? Well, like you could probably see from the title, I am here to tell you what it is like and a few tips to make your exchange semester/year in Korea easier!

People stare, a lot.

For me this took a long time to get used to. People stare. They actually stare a lot. Especially the older people. But after I visited Shanghai I realized that in Korea they really don't stare as badly as in Shanghai.

If you're not really that into K-pop or K-dramas you might sometimes feel a bit like an outsider with the other exchange students.

At the beginning of my semester this is how I felt. A lot of people kind of knew each other already because they had created fan chats on kakaotalk, outside of the exchange student groups. But you don't have to worry, you will find your people eventually. But be prepared that a lot of people ask you questions like "Do you like BTS?" or "What's your favorite group?". I do watch korean dramas and listen to korean pop sometimes, but I'm not that big of a fan. Or more like I wasn't that big of a fan. Now due to curiosity I have kind of turned into ARMY (BTS fans) trash and I also started liking a lot of different groups after seeing them perform live.

Try to learn the hangul before going

I really wished in the beginning of my exchange that I would know the hangul, "korean alphabet", because it would have helped a little with everyday things. Besides hangul, I recommed learning the basics like "Hello","Thank you", "Goodbye". One of the resources I used when learning hangul was Korean Wiki Project. Of course I also learned quite a lot through my elementary korean, but lots of the time I didn't really listen during the classes.

Be prepared that you will be hanging out with mostly international students - unless you speak Korean

 A lot of exchange students I know didn't really get the change to meet that many Koreans, which meant that they usually hung out with other exchange students or international student. In our university we have e- and f-lounges, which are lounges for korean students to learn english and french. And that's how the native english speakers and native french speakers often made korean friends. For other's you either had to get to know the people in your classes or get to know korean through connections.

It's okay to feel homesick 

I had hard time accepting that I was homesick. After all, I was in one of the biggest journeys of my lifetime, why would I want to be somewhere else? But as soon as you accept that you're feeling homesick, the faster you will start feeling better. I promise that even though it feels awful in the beginning, it will get better.

Try to do something new every week

This is something that I really regret not doing. Usually I would just stick to the same daily routines and eventually it would have gotten boring. I definitely advise you to at least try to do something new everyday. Even if it's something small like going to the library for the first time, or eating something you have never eaten before.

You will probably gain some weight

Oh the harsh truth. You will eat a lot of new foods and you will probably snack quite a lot as well. And that means that you will probably gain some weight. And that is completely okay and normal and it happens to almost every single exchange student.

Remember to study 

I know, you've come to Korea to see the culture and to experience new things. But the thing is, that studying is actually big part of korean culture. A lot of times during exam periods I would see students staying in the library until the morning. They would take some naps at the library, get some food from the library's convenience store (who would have believed that there's a convenience store inside the library??) and just continue their studies. But I'd rather not recommend going that extreme. Just do as much as your home university requires you to do. In my case they only wanted me to pass my courses and they didn't really care about my grades that much.

When you go home everything is still probably the same, but you're not

Sometimes it will probably be hard to understand that even though you're gone, people home will just continue their lifes normally. And when you get back you would expect that things have changed as drastically as you have. But the harsh truth is, that most probably everything is just the same as it was when you left. It might be hard to accept at first that you now kind of have to return to the same old life you had before you went to Korea and probably no one around you won't really understand, because they have not been through the same things as you have gone through during your exchange in Korea. And they might not understand why you keep talking about your experiences there over and over again, but you can still message the friends you made during your exchange. Or if you're lucky enough, you can meet with them and talk about your experiences together and think about the good old days when you still were exchange students in Korea.

I'm back in Finland. What the heck. Everything feels still really unreal, I can't believe the adventure is already over. It felt just like a yesterday when I flew from Finland all the way to the other side of the world, to South Korea all by myself. Even though I hate to admit this, time really does fly.
My exchange semester has been one of the greatest and weirdest experiences in my life. I have made friends from different countries (though it seems that I have surrounded myself with mostly people coming from Germany), experienced a culture completely different from my own, felt homesick for the first time in my life and learned to be more me.
But what does the life have in store for me now? Well, first of all I'm moving in with my friend and I'm planning on going on Interrail next summer. And I continue my tourism studies, which honestly I am very happy about. Studying business in Chung Ang just made me realise how much I actually like studying tourism. Sometimes I was so confused because it just wasn't my major and I honestly couldn't care any less. I only wanted to pass my courses and get the needed credits. Besides studying and travel planning, I've been planning something else as well, something that kind of combines both of those things. But since I'm not quite sure about that thing yet, I won't write that much about it. I might write some kind of thinking of doing this thing, but still not quite sure so here's some reasons why I should do the thing and why I shouldn't - post. But we shall see.

When I was younger I wanted to be a vet, before that I wanted to be an actress and after that I was doing research on how to become a librarian. And just like when I was younger, I still haven't figured out what I want to be when I grow up. Even though I technically should already be a grown up. Right now I want to be a travel guide or a flight attendant, even though I'm deadly scared I'm deadly scared of flying and don't want to give up my nose piercing. What I want to do when I grow up keeps changing the same way it changed when I was younger. I can't seem to be able to decide what I want to do for the rest of my life. Some people keep telling that at my age I should start preparing to settle down and to start figuring out what I want to do with life. But my life is just beginning. Why should I, at the beginning of my life, already know what I want to do for the next 60 or 70 years?

The photos used in this photo are taken from my travels.

It's only starting to hit me that in two weeks I'm no longer in Korea. I honestly have no idea what to do when I go back to Finland. How do things even work in Finland? Do I bow when I go to the store? Do I even greet the worker at the shop? How do I go to school? How does finnish university even work? The other day I even forgot where I live in Kuopio, because I haven't been to my own apartment in over half a year now. I actually had to message my friend and ask her what my address is and what floor do I live in.. And I'm pretty sure she thought I was drunk..
Of course it's nice to go back again and get to eat Fazer's chocolate and proper breakfast again. And I get to cook again! If I still remember how.. I haven't been able to cook or bake since the end of May and it has slowly started to drive me insane. Who would have known that there would be a day when I wish I could cook to myself again. I honestly hated it so much before. Now all I can just about is what I'm going to cook first as soon as I get to my apartment on the 22nd. I can't wait to be able to eat whatever I cook myself.
Now that my return to Finland is getting nearer and nearer I just keep thinking about the things that I miss there. It's funny how previously the only thing I've missed has been my friends and my family, but now I've started to realize that I've actually missed a lot of other stuff. Like normal bread. Bread, that is not sweet but salty. I don't honestly understand how Koreans can eat the "bread" they sell here. It's more like a pastry than a bread. I've also missed cheap fruit and vegetables. Bananas are no longer going to pay me 5,000 won but instead just few euros.
And talking about money.. I don't have to change wons to euros in my head anymore. I can just instantly know the price and whether or not it's expensive. And I don't have to pay to withdraw money from my account! Nor do I actually have to carry cash around or go to the ATM to check how much money I have on my account.
There are so may things I've missed about Finland without even realizing it. But there are so many different things that I'm going to miss about Korea too. Like how my school building right next door and Juicy (oh my dear Juicy please come to Finland) and the subway and the big city and the people I've met here and so many other things. I will miss learning korean and speaking english all the time. I will miss being surrounded by people who have no idea what I'm talking when I speak in finnish. I will even miss those weird guys that ask for pictures with you when you're out with your friends. I don't even know why, I'll just miss them, even though I always found them creepy.
I shouldn't think about the things that I'm going to miss yet, I still have few weeks left. But I can't really help but think that soon I'm out of Korea and I might not be able to come back here in a really long time. My time in Korea has been just amazing, even though sometimes I really haven't felt like that. But it has. I don't really know when it will really really hit me that I realize that this might be the last time seeing most of these people and the last time of me studying abroad (thought at the moment I am seriously considering doing a double degree which would mean a year of studying in belgium).
It still feels so unreal, that after almost 7 months abroad I actually have to return to Finland.
In the beginning of this year I definitely would not have believed how big of an impact Germany and Korea would leave on me and how much would happen on my 7 month adventure.
I still can't believe I'm actually going home.

Today our school organized our 4th, and last, CAU Korea Exploration Program (or shortly CKEP). We left early in the morning towards Paju, which is located at Gyeonggi province. Our first destination was Camp Greaves, former US base know as a filming spot of the korean drama Descendants of the Sun. Descendants of the Sun is one of my favorite dramas, so it was really interesting to go there. And we even got to wear the uniforms, take lots of photos and make our own dog tags. I wrote my name in korean (안니) and Korea 2017 to mine. Visiting the place honestly made me feel like rewatching the drama again since I don't really remember that much about it.

Me and my friend in our military uniforms

After Camp Greaves we ate our free lunch and headed to the 3rd tunnel. The 3rd tunnel is a tunnel digged by North Koreans and it was designed for a suprise attack on Seoul from North Korea. The North Korea however claimed they built it for coal mining, but that is not possible since there is no coal in the soil at that area. We walked down a really steep incline and the tunnel just kept getting smaller and smaller until you had to walk with your head bowed down. At the end of the tunnel we got to see the second barricade. Getting down there was really easy, but going back was a completely different thing. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos in the tunnel, and after coming up I was too tired to even take photos from around and just went back to the bus instead.

After the 3rd tunnel we started heading to the Dora observatory, where you could actually see one of North Korean's cities, Gaeseong and a village called Kijong-dong. It is also know as a propaganda village, since the North Korean propaganda music is played there and the city is empty. Unfortunately the view wasn't the best possible since there was quite a lot of fog. We could actually hear North Korean propaganda music being played from other side of the border. I've also heard that once South Korea got revenge on that by playing known south korean pop from their side's speakers. 

You can't really see it from this photo, but over there in the fog is Gaeseong and on the right is the propaganda village.

We only had 20 minutes of time to be at the observatory since our schedule was kind of tight. When we were done at the observatory our next destination was the Dorasan station. It is South Korea's most northern train station and the first station towards North. It is only used once a day for tourists travelling from Seoul to DMZ area and it was built in hope of the Koreas uniting one day. If the Koreas were to be united the trains would be able to come all the way from Europe to Seoul. I really wish I get to see Koreas unite in my lifetime and get to take the train from Russia, near the Finnish border, all the way to Seoul. 

The station is 205 kilometres from the North Korean capital Pyeongyang and 56 kilometres from Seoul. It is also located just 7 kilometres from Gaeseong.