Stories about NESU – Janina Korhonen

Last fall, when I was representing NESU-SHS at a fair in Hanken, a freshman came to our stand and asked if it was worth to join NESU and when did I start in NESU. This was the first time it really hit me. Yes, it is definitely worth it and that I also joined NESU as a freshman, which is already over 4 years ago. Time really flies when you are having fun.

It was in the autumn of 2014 when I went to my first NESU sitsi-party at Casa. I was immediately sold to how fun NESU is. This event made me more interested in NESU and I wanted to go to a NESU sitsi-party soon again. Later the same autumn I already went to my first ulkkari-sitsi at NESU-KY without even being 100 % sure what NESU really was. It was after that party I was asked to join NESU-SHS as an active member and I was glad to join when I understood what it was

NESU has played a huge role in my life ever since that. Not only because I felt the NESU-love and found my boyfriend from NESU during my freshmen year, but also because of all the people I got to meet and events I got to both attend and organize. After being over one year as an active member I told a few of my friends I will apply to be the president of NESU-SHS 2016. Said and done, I applied and got chosen, even if I was the only candidate for president that year. With me I got an amazing crew of board members that I still can call my friends today. During the year we organized a record amount of sitsi-parties and even if I had to be sober at each and every one of them, it was totally worth it. Our year was not a dance on roses all the time, but we managed through it with great success because we all worked together.

A great thing about NESU-SHS is that you can always do one more year in the board and so I did. In 2018 I did a comeback as treasurer and got with me again a fantastic board to work with. In 2018 I was also part of the NESU Spring Conference team and together with the team we organized an unforgettable week in Helsinki. Sadly, my graduation is getting closer, so I could not apply to the board of NESU-SHS in 2019, but I am not sad at all because we got an amazing board to keep up the work that me and the other NESU-SHS members have started. One last task was still given to me in the summer of 2018 as I will be responsible for making Kesämöksä 2019 unforgettable as the head organizer of the event. This will probably be one of the last events I will organize during my time as a student, so I hope many of you will join me and make it an event to remember.

NESU has given me so much during my student life that I am truly happy that I joined NESU back in 2014. I have never felt so much as a part of anything and you can feel that NESU has some kind of magic that can’t be explained, you have to experience it. It is truly unique how you can feel so strong commitment to a community this big. When I am talking about community I am not only talking about NESU-SHS but also about the whole NESU family that goes all the way from Iceland to Estonia. During my time in NESU I have also learnt important skills like leading a team, networking with people, talking alone in front of a huge crowd, organizing events but also how to enjoy the student life to the max. I am grateful for all these skills and I believe they will be important also in my future carrier.

After reflecting about all these years in NESU and how much they have given me, I am sure I would definitely do it all over again. Could I do an omstart? Haha no, I think my time has passed in NESU as a student after this year and I am more than happy to give over to a younger generation of NESUits. But the next time somebody ask me again if it was worth it, I will show them this post and let them decide for themselves. But the short answer stays, YES!

Janina Korhonen
NESU-SHS

Photo: NESU-KY