by EunsuNamKung
I’m a Korean living in Finland.
Korea is a competitive society. Competitive society is a Korea.
The level of Korea is serious as to where there is no competition in society or country. I was put in Korea’s competitive society when I was 13. When I took the exam, I got my rank. At that time, I was separated from my close friend because of only one exam rank. At the age of 18, I had to prepare for the university entrance exam throughout the year. At that time, I only slept 4 hours a day. I studied whole time except when I slept. It wasn’t over to enter university. I need to graduate with good grades to get a good job. It’s a competition again. Endless competition and accomplishments. After living like that without a break, I was tired when I turned 23. I suddenly thought that I should leave Korea for a while. So, I made money from a part-time job and saved it. So, I became a Korean living in Finland.
When I said I would be a Finnish exchange student, the first thing my family worried about was racism. This is because racist crimes against Asian people have become more serious since COVID-19. Fortunately, I haven’t experienced racism yet. Rather, I met more tenderness people in Finland. People who looked a little blunt (to me) helped me kindly, always smiling, whenever I looked in need or asked for help. When I first time came in Finland, I took the wrong train. I took the train what is didn’t stop at Hyvinkää. The inspector kindly explained that I can get off at Riihimaki and take the train back to Hyvinkää. When I was wandering in Riihimaki, he came to me first and told me the right platform. One day, I wanted to buy coffee on campus, but I was scrambling because I didn’t know how to pay. Then a student came to me first and told me how to pay. I visited a bookstore one day. I was looking around in there, and next to me, a child who looked about 3 years old was staring at me. I was just thinking, ‘Yeah, it might be interesting because I look different from you’ but after a while, the child’s father came to me and apologized. He said he was sorry that the child’s staring me might have made me feel bad. I thought he is such a delicate man.
And I became friends with one of the Finnish students. We have the same interests. She knows Korean culture quite well, and we like to make videos. She took me to a salmon soup restaurant and showed me around fortress of Suomenlinna. She gave me a scarf as a present before the cold weather in Finland.
Now, about 3 months after living in Finland, I feel like I’m out of breath. I really wanted to write this sentence while writing this. ‘I like the tenderness of decent people.’ Come to think of it, there are a lot of decent people around me. ‘decent’ means ‘to apply a small object, or thought or behavior is correct without being crooked, inclined, or thinking bent’. Most people I met in Finland ae decent people. My friends and people around me are also decent people. Then am I a decent person, too? I still often think and do things that are crooked and slanted. Whenever I did that, I felt like it was always decent adults who set me right. They are all decent adults to me, even if they are not adults with a huge age difference, but people who are a year or two apart. I also think I should be someone who knows how to be tenderness and decent after them. The space of Finland, the people here make me a better person.
Suurin osa Showcasen blogeista on toteutettu osana Laurean opintojaksoja. Koko koulutustarjontaamme voi tutustua nettisivuillamme. Tarjoamme kymmenien tutkintoon johtavien koulutuksien lisäksi myös paljon täydennys- ja erikoistumiskoulutuksia sekä yksittäisiä opintojaksoja avoimen AMK:n kautta!