When I was in high school five years ago, I learned the world’s longest
palindromic word according to Guinness World Records is saippuakivikauppias. It consists nineteen letters and it is Finnish
word for a soapstone vendor. I was like, “Whoa! That is really cool.” And that
is the moment when I became intrigued by Finland. After that day, I started to
learn little by little about Finland. I learned that Suomi is one of the most
difficult languages in the world. I learned that Finland has the world’s best
education system. I learned that Finns are the world’s biggest coffee drinkers.
I learned that Finland also has hundred-thousand lakes, making it as the
country with the most lake in the world.
Those little trivias make me more intrigued by the awesomeness of
Finland.
Indonesia also has strong relationship with Finland. Martti Ahtisaari, the
former president of Finland, and also a Nobel Peace Prize laureate has helped
us to resolve the conflict between Indonesian government and Gerakan Aceh
Merdeka (Free Aceh Movement), a
separatist movement in Aceh. The conflict had lasted for decades and never been
resolved until Mr. Ahtisaari led the peace negotiation between Indonesian
government and Gerakan Aceh Merdeka. Finally, a peace agreement is signed after
seven months of mediation and negotiation. The 30-year-conflict is finally
over. We owe a lot to him, and to Finland.
All those reasons I stated above make me eager more to go to Finland. I
love learning something new, and by going to Finland, I will be able to learn
something new. A lot. My special interest is music. I have listened to music
coming from today’s Finnish musicians. Satellite Stories, for example, is one
of my favorite bands. I like their fun and cheerful music, and in my opinion,
Scandinavian music, especially Finnish music, has distinctive and unique kind of
music. It has different tone that I have never listened from musician from other
countries. I also listen to French Films. Learning languages is my interest as
well. In my opinion, language is the greatest invention that human being has ever
invented. It is impossible to communicate with each other without language. One
thing that never fails to awe me is how can be possibly there are millions of
languages in this world, some even possess their own alphabet system. Even
alphabets amaze me. Alphabets are only characters, but when they are set in
correct order, they can deliver a message and the brain can interpret them. It
is just amazing. I will be more than happy if I get a chance to visit Finland
and learn a thing about Suomi. I read somewhere that Suomi is really hard to
learn, but I regard that as a challenge, as a hurdle that I will tackle down.
After all, challenges are what keeps me moving.
Even if I have stated that my special interests are music and languages, I
don’t mind learning any other thing about Finland, either learning Finnish
folk-dance—even though I have an awkward move, singing Finnish folk-song,
tasting Finnish local cuisine, experiencing Finnish modern lifestyle or anything.
Basically, I crave for learning anything in Finland. That is what motivates me
the most.
One last thing that I need to tell you why I am really intrigued by
Finland. I once told my best friend that I will go to Finland someday. I told
him I will go to Helsinki, settle down there, and marry someone in Finland. I
actually do not know why I told him that, but I often dream of it. It is as if
Finland had magnet that keeps pulling me. There is no particular reason—yet—why
it must be Finland; the place I want to settle down or the place I want to
marry in, but trust me, that dream is real. If I get a chance to go to Finland
from this programme, I guess I will find the reason.
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