Flip Solutions did a learning journey to an Ecovillage in Keuruu. In another essay titled “Deep Dive Into Ecovillage Life”, I opened together with Ella and Jemina about what an Ecovillage is, how it operates and what plans they have for their future. In this essay I’ll focus strictly on sharing my personal journey going there, all the specific learnings I had and what were the effects to our team?

Before you start reading, note that this is not a normal essay, but an experiment including not only written text, but also audio and visual content. To truly understand everything, you should check the videos, listen to the audios and read all text. I have decided this into three sections: The Beginning (What happened before learning journey), The Middle (Learning Journey Starts) and The End (Learning Journey comes to an end). Are you ready? Hit Play on The Beginning below:

The Beginning

“UGH, this learning Journey thing really sucks, I don’t know if I’m even gonna go. It’s like some Ecovillage and we’re not even getting payed for it! Feels like this is something we just do because we have to and there is not even any learnings involved.”

“I’ll try a happier approach. At least I’ll get 5 credits if it’s total waste and suffering. Be positive and open-minded is what I keep telling myself. We’ll see how it goes. At least I’m packing my own food, so I won’t get hangry.”

The Middle

“This is not so bad. A bit like grandmas place, if grandma would live in an apartment building and have rooms for all relatives to stay in at once. The only thing I’m worried is the toilet, but I already fixed that problem by using the one outside. No need to carry poo or pee, if you’re not producing it to that toilet.”

“Working on this orientation file is actually super interesting. I had no idea how this type of community works and how to consider ecological point of view in everything in your life. I think this can be very eye opening.”

The End

“This was actually super fun. What was I bitching about? I felt so much closer with the team and got some stuff sorted out along the way. We laughed so much on Thursday night, it was amazing. If I ever need a theater show, I’ll get Esme and Veikko drunk and laugh for their overly dramatic performance. It was simply great.”

“Facing your fears is not so scary when you have people around you, that you can trust to pull you back, if you drown (literally).”

Thank you so much for jumping into this crazy essay. I hope you enjoyed this new way of opening my feelings, learnings, and overall experience. Comment below what did you think and did you catch me reaching my expectations for this Learning Journey?

Written By: Emilia Parikka