While the semester is almost over, exchange students start filling up their luggage to go home again next week. Not only their clothes and other stuff, but a lot of good memories is what they will bring home.
Lauri Piirainen, born in Finland, looks back on one of the best times of his life: “It was an amazing adventure. Not only the studying in London was fun, but I also made a lot of trips with other exchange students I met here. We went to Vancouver, Toronto, Chicago and even Las Vegas. I am pretty broke right now but it was all worth it!”
Lukas Flueck, who is from Bern in Switzerland, recalls what was the most valuable thing of his exchange semester: “The amount of new friends I made is the best thing that happened here for me. There is a special connection between all the exchange students here. I am already planning trips to Poland and Finland for next summer, that is how much these people mean to me right now. My English has also improved a lot. The fact that I studied at Fanshawe will look good on my resume, which is also a big plus.”
Overall, every exchange student looks back at their time at Fanshawe with a big smile. It was nice for them to be able to rely and fall back on each other, and life long friendships have been created. Next summer, some of them will meet up again at a Belgian festival to celebrate their border crossing friendships.
Exchange students on their trip to Chicago
Of course, being away from home for four months is a long time, and most of them can’t wait to be home again. Cato Dhollander from Belgium will miss London and Fanshawe very hard, but is also looking forward to being home again: “I had the time of my life here. I learned many things about myself and I think I am a different person right now. I am going to miss all of this very much, but I can’t wait to be with my family and my boyfriend around Christmas and tell them all the stories about Canada. It feels like my second home here and I will definitely return one day.”
