Honours Student Abroad: Finland
Get to know the experience of going in exchange to Finland from our lovely Marit!
How was the feeling of experiencing a different educational culture?
The main difference was how courses are chosen. Personally Marit thought that was really exciting to choose your own courses and it really enhances the exchange experience compared to taking a pre-set module. In Finland the year is also split up differently; they have 5 periods of 6 weeks instead of 4 modules of 10 weeks, as at the University of Twente. An autumn exchange student only joins the first two of these five periods.
Was there any association that you could join as a student?
There are a lot of student associations, and it was fun that engineering students in Finland have a lot of fun traditions and activities. Wearing different coloured overalls depending on your study program (pink for mechanical engineering at Aalto University), and you get patches for joining different events for example. Also, in Finland if you are a 1st year student and you are sufficiently part of the student associations and student life (e.g., trying sports, doing something for your well-being); then you are able to earn a teekkari cap, showing that you are highly active in the student life around there. Marit went for it and she got the required points to get it, but she will not be there to retrieve it personally as these are handed out in the spring term =(sad feelings for all the readers). But a friend will send it to her.
What you like the most and what you didn't like about going on an exchange?
The experience was really great, you get to meet new people, interact with different cultures, and get to know new places. Academically, she really enjoyed getting to explore different areas of interest within her study. On the downside, there is a lot of documentation and paperwork that has to be done ( too much bureaucracy =( ) and it is sometimes difficult to know who exactly needs to sign what paperwork. But apart from the bureaucracy she recommends everyone who is thinking about it, to go abroad at least once.
Is there any special place you recommend to visit in Finland?
Recommendations to go to Lapland, in the North of Finland. Going to explore the nature in Finland is also always a good idea. Specifically in Helsinki it is recommended to go to Suomenlinna (a nice island fortress).
What about the weather?
Helsinki is colder than the weather in Enschede, however, you get used to it through time. You can enjoy more snooooooow!!
What stays with you from Student Culture?
In Finland they have sitsits, where you have a three course dinner but also telling stories around the table and drinking, of course. There are also many ‘rules’ to adhere to and Finnish phrases to know, the one most commonly heard:
Phrase: “Mellan sup!”
Translated to: “You are going on too long, I just want to drink”. This is yelled when a story is taking too long and once yelled everyone takes a sip of their drink.
Pictures by Marit 🙂
