Student exchange - is it worth it?

I have always been interested in global issues, multiculturalism and exchanging cultures. I had always dreamed of having an exchange year in Japan, but it wasn't possible when I was in high school. When I applied to the university, my first and only opinion was the University of Turku because of its good exchange connections to Japan.
On my secong university year I was able to go to Japan as an exchange student, and that really was of a year of my dreams. I enjoyed everything. I already knew a lot of about Japanese culture, but I learnt a lot of new aspects and things, and especially my spoken language skills got a lot of better. I had studied Japanese language in Finland for years, but I hadn't had a possibility to speak Japanese that much. During the exchange I spoke only Japanese, so it really helped. I also got couple Japanese friends, who have became my dearest friends during the years that have passed after my exchange.
After the exchange I have travelled to Japan once. The trip was quite long, and I stayed there almost three months. After that COVID pandemic started, and I haven't had a possibility to visit in Japan since it. I really miss the country, and can't wait to be able to go back.
Exchange year was really a game changer. I got a lot more self confident. Before my echange I had travelled a lot, also in Japan, and had worked in UK for one year. Travelling, culture shock or new experiences weren't new for me, but I still can't believe how much I learnt about myself and about the world during my year in Japan.
Even though I really enjoyed my echange, I know it's not for everyone. For example in Japanese universities the exchange year is a mandatory part of studies. That has made it a thing that students are afraid of. One of my Japanese friends had to go abroad during the COVID pandemic, and he spent half of a year in Germany. It was really hard time for him, because he really couldn't travel anywhere or see anything, and most of the studies were online classes. He was alone in a different culture, and when I talked and messaged with him, he seemed always sad and depressed.
So is it better to have a mandatory exchange year, that could be a thing that would change one's life, but it can also be horrifying, unwanted thing that stresses the students during the time of their studies. Even though I'd recommend everyone to have an exchange year, I know everyone wouldn't enjoy it. As I have used to travelling and being far from my family, the exchange year wasn't so difficult. But for someone it can be the worst experience of their lives.
I still would recommend having an exchange year. It doesn't have to be a country like Japan, which is really far away from Finland. A year or a half, or even a couple months during the summer in different culture can be really interesting and wonderful experience. Even though for example Sweden is not so far away from Finland, it will definitely be different kind of place to study.
Finland is known to be a really good country to study. Studying is free and teaching is very high-quality. It's interesting to see different countries and how the teacher there do their job. Finnish really can't understand how good our education is if they don't have a country which they could compare it. If I compare Finnish and Japanese school system, or Finnish and German, I can recommend Finnish one from my heart. The teachers are very highly educated, school building are modern and healthy and there are not so big differences between different schools when it comes to quality of teaching or results of learning.