This is something I never thought about. The “anniversary” time.
And what I mean by that. I mean that now starts the period of the “..one year ago, I…”.
So one year ago, on the 25th of August I went to Sweden and my erasmus started. And since 25th of this August, everyday is an anniversary day. Everyday I can remember what I was doing there, one year ago. Messages from Erasmus friends start coming more often by saying “Do you remember, one year ago we were..” or other messages with just a smile, reminding me the perfect time 
Every date from now on, and for the next 4 months, will be connected with Sweden and with Erasmus.
Cause once you go, you never forget!
Viva Erasmus! Ζήτω το Εράσμους!
Erasmus in Sweden
Describing my daily life and different events through my life in Karlskrona of Sweden!
*αυτό είναι το full version του άρθρου στο τέταρτο newsletter του ESN Greece*
Taken by Amio Cajander on the 16/05/2010 (Spain)
Αφού λοιπόν πήγες αυτό το όμορφο ταξίδι, έζησες αξέχαστες στιγμές, επισκέφτηκες μαγευτικά μέρη, έπινες σαν αλκοολικός, είχες την ζωή πορνοστάρ και έκανες αμέτρητους διεθνείς φίλους, ήρθε η ώρα που όλο αυτό το όνειρο που το λένε Erasmus τελειώνει. Έρχεται η στιγμή γύρω στις 3 βδομάδες πριν την πτήση σου για την πατρίδα, που σκέφτεσαι πως σε λίγο καιρό θα ξυπνάς και δεν θα βρίσκεσαι εκεί που βρίσκεσαι τώρα. Πως η καθημερινότητά σου θα γυρίσει πίσω σε αυτήν που άφησες πριν φύγεις. Πως δεν θα μπορείς να πηγαίνεις με τα πόδια να δεις τους φίλους σου, γιατί θα σας χωρίζουν μερικές χιλιάδες χιλιόμετρα. Αυτό είναι το πρώτο “τσίμπημα” του Post-Erasmus syndrome.
Αυτό που κάνει το Erasmus τόσο ιδιαίτερο είναι το αίσθημα “μοναδικότητας” που σου δημιουργεί. Κατά την παραμονή σου στην ξένη χώρα, νιώθεις ότι είσαι μοναδικός, ιδιαίτερος, σημαντικός. Ότι είσαι και ‘συ part of the world! Οι συναναστροφές με παιδιά από διάφορες χώρες, οι συζητήσεις που κάνεις, οι κουλτούρες που ανακαλύπτεις, αλλά και η μεταλαμπάδευση της δικής σου σε ανθρώπους άσχετους με αυτήν σε κάνουν να νιώθεις πως είσαι και ‘συ κομμάτι του κόσμου διαφορετικό από όλα τα άλλα και ταυτόχρονα με τόσα πολλά κοινά. Και είναι αυτό το αίσθημα “μοναδικότητας” που σου δημιουργεί αργότερα την καταθλιπτική διάθεση. 
Έχεις γυρίσει λοιπόν σπίτι σου και καλείσαι να αντιμετωπίσεις πια την πραγματικότητα. Έχεις μια εξεταστική μπροστά (κυρίως αυτοί που πήγαν χειμερινό εξάμηνο όπως εγώ) και πρέπει να στρωθείς στο διάβασμα. Οι φίλοι που έκανες το τελευταίο εξάμηνο δεν είναι εκεί να μιλήσεις να τους πεις πως νιώθεις (ούτε στο skype γιατί και αυτοί έχουν εξετάσεις άρα ούτε εσύ θα έπρεπε να είσαι!) κοιτάς από το παράθυρο και βλέπεις απλά την απέναντι πολυκατοικία και όχι το όμορφο χιονισμένο παρκάκι που έβλεπες τους τελευταίους μήνες. Και ξαφνικά, αρχίζεις να νιώθεις τόσο ασήμαντος. Σαν να έχεις αποκοπεί από τον κόσμο, σαν μαζί με την χώρα που άφησες, να άφησες και την ζωή σου εκεί. Το μυαλό σου ανατρέχει συνέχεια σε στιγμές του Erasmus, σημαντικές και μη. Είναι αυτό το αίσθημα “μοναδικότητας” που λείπει. Δεν είσαι πια μοναδικός στους γύρω σου, είσαι απλά μέρος του πλήθους. Έχεις τόσες εμπειρίες που θες να μοιραστείς, αλλά δεν μπορείς γιατί όσοι δεν έζησαν την εμπειρία, δεν μπορούν να καταλάβουν τι ακριβώς εννοείς και άλλοι μπορεί να αισθάνονται άβολα περιγράφοντας το πόσο τέλεια περνούσες τις μέρες σου εκεί. Είσαι λοιπόν στο δωμάτιο σου προσπαθώντας να συγκεντρωθείς στο διάβασμα, αλλά δυστυχώς το πνεύμα σου δεν είναι εκεί και αυτό δεν βοηθάει και πολύ!
Καθώς περνάν οι μέρες και αρχίζεις να εντάσσεσαι στην παλιά σου καθημερινότητα, η νοσταλγία για τις ένδοξες μέρες σιγά σιγά φεύγει και ο πόνος απαλύνεται. Οι φίλοι και η οικογένεια βοηθάν πολύ σε αυτό. Υπάρχουν πάντα όμως οι στιγμές που θα μείνεις μόνος σου, και θα αναπολήσεις στιγμές του Erasmus. ”Ήξερα πως κοιτάζοντας πίσω σε δάκρυα θα με έκανε να γελάω, αλλά ποτέ δεν φανταζόμουν πως το να κοιτάω πίσω σε γέλια θα με έκανε να δακρύζω.”
Σύμφωνα με τον κλινικό ψυχολόγο Christophe Allanic, η περίοδος μελαγχολίας-πένθους μετά την επιστροφή από το Erasmus είναι απολύτως φυσιολογική εφ’ όσων δεν διαρκεί περισσότερο από μερικές βδομάδες. Είναι το πέρασμα από τον ιδεατό κόσμο στην ενηλικίωση.
Οι πρώτοι μήνες για έναν Post-Erasmus φοιτητή και ιδιαίτερα Έλληνα, μπορεί να είναι πολύ δύσκολοι. Θα πρέπει να αντιμετωπίσει την πίεση της σχολής, το πολιτιστικό “ξενέρωμα”, και να παλέψει να ξεχάσει γρήγορα τον χωρισμό του από το Εrasmus. Γιατί περί χωρισμού πρόκειται.
Εδώ, κάνει την εμφάνιση του το ESN και ανατρέπει τα πάντα. Θα μπορούσε να το δει κανείς σαν “κέντρο απεξάρτησης” από την μελαγχολία που σου προκάλεσε η επιστροφή! Ανακαλύπτεις ότι υπάρχουν και άλλα άτομα που νιώθουν σαν εσένα, που όταν μιλάς για πράγματα που έκανες εκεί σε κοιτάνε με τα μάτια ορθάνοιχτα και με το χαζό χαμόγελο ζωγραφισμένο στα χείλη του τύπου “ Nαι, ξέρω τι λες! Εγώ όταν ήμουν Erasmus…”. Μπορεί να εκπλαγείς από τους πόσους ερασμίτες από ξένες χώρες φιλοξενεί η πόλη σου. Αρχίζεις να κάνεις παρέα ξανά με international κόσμο, μιλάς και πάλι αγγλικά, παρευρίσκεσαι σε συνέδρια, τους βοηθάς, γλεντάς μαζί τους, ζεις μια δεύτερη, μικρή golden age..!
Με λένε Ηλία, ήμουν Erasmus στην πανέμορφη Karlskrona της Σουηδίας πριν από μισό χρόνο, μέλος του ESN AUTH εδώ και 3 μήνες και μέλος του Graphic Team του ESN International. Το Erasmus για μένα ήταν life changing εμπειρία. Έχει αλλάξει ο τρόπος που βλέπω τα πράγματα, τους φίλους μου, την πόλη μου, τον κόσμο, την ζωή. Πέρασα αρκετά δύσκολους μήνες μετά την επιστροφή μου, το σοκ ήταν μεγάλο. Αλλά ο χρόνος είναι ο καλύτερος γιατρός. Κατα την γνώμη μου ο θεσμός του Erasmus και τα πανεπιστήμια θα έπρεπε να δίνουν περισσότερη σημασία στους φοιτητές μετά την επιστροφή τους. Τότε πραγματικά, το Erasmus θα ήταν κάτι το ιδεατό.
Και τέλος για να κλείσω έτσι ωραία, η ατάκα που βοήθησε πιό πολύ από όλα: Don’t cry cause it’s over, smile cause it happened.
Yeap, like today, 5 months ago, 14th of January 2011, I left from a marvelous country, Sverige! I have to admit that time can cure almost everything, in any case. Everything is much easier.
5 months.. The erasmus period was less..! 4 months and 22 awesome days. It’s amazing how quickly time can go by. There are moments that I try to remember myself in the past, and the first thing that comes in my mind is, what else? Erasmus. Maybe I don’t remember what I did two days before, but I can clearly remember what I was doing everyday up there..! It’s like these 5 months caused a gap in my mind, I cannot focus on something that I did these last months, I don’t have any information stored in my brain about these last months!
The last erarsmus students are leaving from Karlskrona this week. It’s again one of these “tough” weeks, with the Goodbyes and stuff. I talk with friends and it’s like living it, again. For the second time. The weight in the chest comes back. But it goes quickly away when we start organising again meetings and talk about them, when we exchange our local phone numbers and home addresses
Erasmus was maybe the most simple-exciting-easy-best time I spent so far in my life, but I know there will be much more of these crazy moments, that was just the beginning of a new season in my life..! I miss my friends so deadly, but it’s also nice to be back home, to rejoin your friends, to make new ones, tell your storied, hear their’s..
It was a change. A beautiful change.
Like this:
Pre-Erasmus: Do the application, show your interest, be patience, experience the happiest day of your life by being chosen, suffer from filling up applications, count the days with a stupid smile on your face till you leave and pack the suitcase!
Erasmus: Take the chance, discover your wings, meet people, make unbreakable friendships, live unforgetable experiences, have a lot of sex, drink like an alchoholic, be a party animal, take part in every single event, visit unknown places, take millions of photos, do all the crazy things you always wanted to, live life like there is no tomorrow and spend every last penny of your scholarship!
Post-Erasmus: Everything old may seem the same as it was, but everything inside you is new. Rejoin your previous life with the less damage that is possible, keep communicating with your erasmus friends, organise trips, see each other on skype, send letters, print photos, make albums, think of everything you were through and smile happily. Even if there are moment when tears come streaming down your face, don’t feel sad cause it’s over, but glad cause it happened And the “golden age” may come again. When you see all of them one day. Your life is changed. You are changed. Ex-change your life!
Με μιά απλή αναζήτηση στο Google μπορείς να βρεις αμέτρητες ιστορίες φοιτητών που έζησαν την εμπειρία του να είσαι φοιτητής Erasmus σε μια ξένη χώρα. Συγκέντρωσα λοιπόν μερικά.
Ερασμους στην Ισπανια
Στην Φιλανδία (γειτονάκι 
)
Αλλα και χρήσιμες πληροφορίες σχετικά με το Erasmus
Στην εφημερίδα <<To Bήμα>> είχε αναρτηθεί πέρισυ σχετικό θέμα με πολύ ενδιαφέρουσες ιστορίες παιδιών.
Είναι πολύ περίεργο και συγκινητικό να διαβάζεις ιστορίες άλλων ατόμων και να βλέπεις τις σκέψεις σου γραμμένες από άλλα άτομα! Πάντως από όσα διάβασα και απο όσα έζησα, το κοινό στοιχείο είναι ένα: Κανείς δεν μετάνοιωσε και όλοι το θεωρούν εμπειρία ζωής.
Day 33:
"One month in Sweden"
As it was last week that we came here .. The weeks pass like days, unfortunately, Friday comes, when you say “f##k”! already;!
Totally different way of life, calmer. People here study from Monday through Thursday, but when I say study, I mean it! Many assignments every week (not so in our lessons: P). The city is empty after 7 pm, full wilderness! People are not hanging out, they sit inside and study!.. But when Friday arrives, the city removes the mask of respectability and the party begins! Uninvited all literally, when one ear (ours and others) caught the word “PARTY” that was it. No need to say anything about what to do tonight! The beer in your pocket and go for the party.!
We started to get used here .. And we know that the moment will come, when we should go back to the suffering! For us here is like vacations. Wedon’t have many courses, only 3 until the end of October and then just one until the end of the semester. We got used to thinking about what to cook tomorrow, go to the supermarket to go to university that are 3-4 lectures a week, to gather for movies…
4 months left and will drink them until the last drop!
Day 35
"European on Loan - TV stars!"
Since nothing escapes from us, we took part in the program called “European on Loan”. Students from different European countries go to Swedish schools (with students 15-17 years old) – cafes – concentrations and discuss issues concerning their country with their daily lives with language and various other .
We were sent into a Cafe in Ronneby (a small town near Karlskrona) and told us just to get down to talk with customers! What normal person, that calmly drinking his coffee, would like to be annoyed by 2 silly students with black shirts that distribute leaflets with fancy words and phrases in Greek??! However, that was our goal and we have done.! We found a group of men, gave them leaflets and explained some things: how to pronounce a few letters and such. They seemed to be interested, talked for a while and then they left! the shop was empty, so we decided to go to another cafe where there was the coordinator of our school. And once we got there …We met the media!! The video is rediculous!!
We were interviewed by a Swedish channel asking us how we spend our week, how important it is to learn foreign languages and if it is easy to learn the Greek language. Strange, but interesting.! We ate for free from an Italian dish of the restaurant and returned home. Everyone who saw us on television and the internet are making fun of us, tv stars and so! Also Jannike! (Erasmus coordinator)
Another activity of this project was students to read a part from the book “The Pipi Longstocking”, each one in his own language. So in the middle of the shopping centre, speakers were set up, and one by one was reading his part. There were languages like German, Greek (of course), Turkish, English, Spanish, Lithuanian and others. While I was reading my own part, Glykeria of course attracted on her the spotlight and answered a few questions to a correspondent for a radio station. The celebrity is overflowing now!
The good thing about this program is that in the end we will receive a Certificate for having participated in it and told us that we can use it in our CV from now on. There is also a possibility, if there are at least 7 people who want to learn Greek, to teach them, me and Glykeria (with reward of course!). But where to find 7 crazy that want to learn Greek!?
Anyway, we’re everywhere!
Day 49
"Ice-Hockey"!
Day 49 in Sweden and the university gave 30 free tickets to watch a match ice-hockey! Of course,we should support the team of Karlskrona. The experience for me was much more beautiful than a soccer match or basketball!
After sending e-mail a few days before, to register for free tickets, we gathered the afternoon of 13/10 out of Telenor Arena Karlskrona (arena which was built by order of the new Mayor of Karlskrona, because his son plays hockey).
The time that we all learned the motto “DET ÄR VI SOM ÄR KHK” (where is KIK [Karlskrona Hockey Klub] we follow!), we entered the building for our tour. Most of us had no idea about hockey. The only information we knew was from American movies ..! 6 players from each team with sticks to chase the puck! The show was fantastic! As well as the opening ceremony! Click here!
Although the cold, the atmosphere and people were very warm! The announcer of the game, welcomed to us (international students BTH) and 4.000 spectators applauded us with the headlights pointing at us! One of the nicest moments of the evening! The next most beautiful was the first goal of our team! (See video) The whole stadium stood up celebrating!
Of course we didn’t miss the fights!
Unfortunately our team lost, and there was a disappointment on peoples faces when we were leaving, but now we can say we went at Ice Hockey game!
I gathered some goodbye and farewell quotes and I want to dedicate them to my erasmus friends:
Don’t be dismayed at goodbyes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetime, is certain for those who are friends. (Richard Bach)
Missing someone gets easier every day because even though it’s one day further from the last time you saw each other, it’s one day closer to the next time you will. (Unknown)
We only part to meet again. (John Gay)
Man’s feelings are always purest and most glowing in the hour of meeting and of farewell. (Jean Paul Richter)
Sweet is the memory of distant friends! Like the mellow rays of the departing sun, it falls tenderly, yet sadly, on the heart. (Washington Irving)
Why does it take a minute to say hello and forever to say goodbye? (Unknown)
Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes. (Henry David Thoreau)
How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard. (Carol Sobieski and Thomas Meehan, Annie)
Goodbyes are not forever.
Goodbyes are not the end.
They simply mean I’ll miss you
Until we meet again! (Unknown)
The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning. (Ivy Baker Priest)
May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of his hand. (Irish Blessing)
Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Some trails are happy ones,
Others are blue.
It’s the way you ride the trail that counts,
Here’s a happy one for you.
(Dale Evans)
No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other’s worth. ~Robert Southey
Can miles truly separate you from friends…. If you want to be with someone you love, aren’t you already there? (Richard Bach)
Be well, do good work, and keep in touch. (Garrison Keillor)
Only in the agony of parting do we look into the depths of love. (George Eliot)
Love is missing someone whenever you’re apart, but somehow feeling warm inside because you’re close in heart. (Kay Knudsen)
The reason it hurts so much to separate is because our souls are connected. (Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook)
You and I will meet again
When we’re least expecting it
One day in some far off place
I will recognize your face
I won’t say goodbye my friend
For you and I will meet again
(Tom Petty)
Farewell! God knows when we shall meet again. (William Shakespeare)
Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same. (Flavia Weedn,Forever)
But fate ordains that dearest friends must part. (Edward Young)
Promise me you’ll never forget me because if I thought you would, I’d never leave. (A.A. Milne)
Every parting is a form of death, as every reunion is a type of heaven. (Tryon Edwards)
Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation. (Kahlil Gibran)
You’re searching…
For things that don’t exist; I mean beginnings.
Ends and beginnings – there are no such things.
There are only middles.
(Robert Frost, Mountain Interval, “In the Home Stretch”)
If I had a single flower for every time I think about you, I could walk forever in my garden. (Attributed to Claudia Ghandi)
The best things said come last. People will talk for hours saying nothing much and then at the door with words that come with a rush from the heart. (Alan Alda)
The joy of meeting pays the pangs of absence; else who could bear it? (Nicholas Rowe)
I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. (Gilda Radner)
Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened. (Theodor Seuss Geisel, attributed)
I don’t like “goodbyes”. I prefer the “see you soon”s (Me 
)
It’s now already a week that we are back home and I have to say that Sweden just canNOT get out of our minds! We gather with friends and tell our stories, we surf on facebook and see all the pictures again and again… You feel like you don’t want to forget! And ofcourse we won’t foget anything
In my opinion, Erasmus is not only the 5 or the 10 months of studying there. It’s more that this. The period of living and studying in Karlskrona was just the first part of the “Erasmus”. Now it comes the second! And the second is to realise how lucky you were and see HOW MANY PEOPLE YOU MET! You have a bunch of new international friends! Did you ever even think of that? That one day, you would have people that you know from Spain, Germany, Sweden, Austria, France, China? That you would fall in love with a person that doesn’t even speak your language?(I have some examples in my mind for the last one ) For me, the answer is no =) I could never imagine that I would have such good friends outside of Greece! And I feel so happy about it! This is the second part of the Erasmus! The appreciation for what Erasmus gave to you! It gave me friends, it gave me hope, it gave me power! I feel stronger than before! I know now what I am looking for! And I am never going to forget the accommodation there. It was the best time of my life
Karlskrona for ever. Erasmus för alltid.
Just before everybody leaves from the paradise called “Karlskrona”, all the erasmus student gathered at night at the university to record a video.. No one can say it was easy, special for the video director/camera man and his assistant! It last 4 hours, but the result is amazing! Enjoy!
Watching this video, I will remember not only the last (awesome) day, but every moment of pure happiness that I had during my Erasmus in Karlskrona. Congratulations to the director and to everybody that participated! See you guys!
