Going to Paraguay

When I was 17 I met a gorgeous Italian exchange student in Seinäjoki, Finland. He had dread locks, just like I did at the time. I actually don't know if we had anything else in common, but still, he was the cutest hippie guy I had ever met and I was head over heels with him.

When he, Roberto, went back to Italy, I had this idea of leaving my home country as well. I mean, I had been living in Finland for 17 years, wouldn't it be time to experience in a completely different country for some time?

I already experienced a big problem about being an exchange student: my age. It takes almost a year to get everything ready for your year abroad, and the younger you are when you leave, the better. This is because ages of education differentiate between continents, and for a lot of countries I was "too old" to go there as an exchange student (because when the time comes for me to leave abroad, I'm already 18 years old). Eventually I was left with three choices:

1.  Belgium

2. Mexico

3. Paraguay

I thought that Belgium is way too close to Finland. If I'm gonna leave I'm gonna leave good, right?!

"Mexico? Yeah, sure, why not" I thought to myself.
But then, where on Earth is Paraguay?

I didn't know anything about Paraguay, and it's even further away than Mexico! If I had gone any further I'd already be coming back to Finland!

I was extremely excited about my upcoming year abroad. I mean, Paraguay! Beaches, palm trees, warmth, great food, new culture, the Spanish language... And there would also be a well-off host family waiting for me consisting of a farther, a mother and a sister who is the same age. I could not had been happier.

TIme went on and finally it was the date of my departure towards a new adventure across the globe. I was 18 and I felt like the world was opening it's arms to me.
It was september of 2007 and I was ready.

It was me, and another girl from Finland, called Maria. It was great that I didn't have to travel by myself. We had connecting flights in Amsterdam and Sao Paolo before arriving to Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay.

When we said our goodbyes to our families in Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, little did I know what I was about to endure during my trip to South America...

-Johanna