Foreign Exchange Students’ Experiences at Savonia University of Applied Sciences “Thousands of Possibilities” - Foreign Exchange Students’ Experiences at Savonia University of Applied Sciences Edited by Noora Lankinen and Niina Kumpulainen 1 Thousands of Possibilities Savonia University of Applied Sciences P.O. BOX 6 (Microkatu 1 D) 70201 KUOPIO mobile +358 44 785 5023 fax +358 17 255 5043 e-mail: [email protected] www.savonia.fi/julkaisut 1st edition Subject to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no re-production of any part may take place without the written permissions of the copyright owners. ISBN: 978-952-203-079-5 (nid.) ISBN: 978-952-203-080-1 (PDF) ISSN: 1795-0848 http://www.savonia.fi/eng/thousands.pdf Savonia University of Applied Sciences, Series D 1/2008 Publisher Savonia University of Applied Sciences Layout manager/Visual design Tapio Aalto Printing Saarijärven Offset Oy, Saarijärvi 2008 2 Foreign Exchange Students’ Experiences at Savonia University of Applied Sciences Foreword The world seems smaller nowadays. It feels as if countries are closer to each other and that makes for instance travelling easier. Student exchanges have also become more common. Going to study abroad is a good way to learn about new cultures, meet new people and expand one's own way of thinking and acting. There is snow In Finland in the winter time, as well as Northern lights, reindeer, salmiakki, sauna and of course the Santa Cla- us. For many people Finland must be quite an exotic country. Exchange students often consider Finns to be shy and silent people, but once you get to know them they become more open and communicative. As shy and introvert as the Finns are, they still go to sauna naked and it makes no difference whether you are there with men or women. This raises a big laugh with many people from abroad. Savonia University of Applied Sciences encourages its students to meet and experience the world. Savonia has many partner institutions and universities worldwide which it co-operates with. This makes it possible for students to choose between different countries where to go as an exchange student. It is also an option for students to do their practical training abroad. While studying at Savonia University of Applied Sciences we met dozens of exchange students from all over the world and the time we spent with them gave us the feeling as if we were abroad ourselves. We spent so much time with some of the foreign students that we were inspired to write a book about their experiences and possible problems in Finland. We wish that the possible new exchange students read and familiarize themselves with the experiences the previous exchange students had in Finland. We collected stories from 20 exchange students who studied from 3 to 6 months at Savonia during the years 2006 and 2007. The stories tell about their background, experiences in Finland and their studies at Savonia. 3 Thousands of Possibilities This book has been our "baby" for the past few months. We gave our heart to this work, and want to present the readers as real and honest perspectives as possible. It was really important for us that the information we received from the exchange students is unembellished in this book. Because we consider the students and their experiences very important it is great that we had the chance to collect these stories together into a book. In this way the memories will always remain in our hearts. We wish to relate our biggest thanks go to the exchange students who told their stories and made this book possible. We would also like to thank Savonia University of Applied Sciences and especially Ilkka Toroi. We could not have done this book without our English teacher Sanna Latvakoski and our other mentor, the lecturer Iiris Matilainen. This kind of work is a test for any kind of friendship and it was lovely to see that our friendship passed the test. In Iisalmi 2008 Sincerely, Noora and Niina. 4 Foreign Exchange Students’ Experiences at Savonia University of Applied Sciences Stories Iisalmi Joanna da Greaca Menomussanga ................................................. 9 Celso Miguel Abdala Tamele ............................................................ 13 Andrea Plakolm ................................................................................... 17 Christina Schiefermeyr ...................................................................... 21 Tatiana Danchenko ............................................................................ 27 Tomasz Kliber ....................................................................................... 31 Aleksandra Mikicka and Malgorzata Olszewska ..................... 35 Varkaus Peter van Leeuwen .............................................................................. 41 Jarno van Ettekoven ......................................................................... 45 Estelle Baillieux ..................................................................................... 49 Cheryl Pelzer ......................................................................................... 53 Amanda Nellen .................................................................................... 57 Sot Miroslav ........................................................................................... 81 Kuopio Tomasz Linkowski ............................................................................... 87 Siobhan Swords ................................................................................... 91 Isabell Wöhrle ....................................................................................... 95 Agathe Bergeot ................................................................................... 99 Sui Shuang .......................................................................................... 103 Vasilyev Ilya Vladimirovich ........................................................... 107 Anokhin Artem Sergeevitch ......................................................... 111 Multipro ............................................................................................... 115 5 Thousands of Possibilities 6 Foreign Exchange Students’ Experiences at Savonia University of Applied Sciences 7 Thousands of Possibilities 8 Foreign Exchange Students’ Experiences at Savonia University of Applied Sciences Joanna da Greaca Menomussanga, 25 Mozambique Natural Resources and the Environment, Iisalmi 9 Thousands of Possibilities My name is Joanna and I come from Mozambique. My family is quite big as most of the families in the Mozambique country- side are. I have five siblings, four brothers and one sister, and mom and dad. In comparison to European families my family also includes all uncles and aunts, cousins, grandparents, and their families. Our families stay together for a very long time because, for example, girls move away from home when their fathers give away their daughters for the coming husband. Because of the big size of our families, I must say that I was really lucky to have the chance to go abroad. My mom works as a secretary and my dad is an engineer. Dad has travelled a lot because of his work, for example to South-Africa, Germany, Malawi and Lisbon. His travelling also inspired me to take bull by the horns to experience the world. I study at the department of Agriculture and Rural Industries and I must say that it is a lot different than in Finland. Actually you cannot even mention the natures of Mozambique and Fin- land in the same sentence, because they are as much the same as day and night. The final kick for me to go to Finland was the speeches of the teachers of Savonia University of Applied Sciences, who were visiting our university in Mozambique. Can you imagine that I did not even know where Finland was before I decided to go there? I heard that Finland is a country of thousands of forests but I did not believe that it could really be so. I had to see it myself. So I did my practical training in Iisalmi in summer 2007. In practice my training took place in three towns in Upper Savo: Pielavesi, Vieremä and Lapinlahti. It was a super feeling to get to know better organic farming. Studying in Finland was quite similar to Mozambique but the biggest difference was the relationship between the students and teachers. At the beginning I did not realize that I could speak to teachers by calling them by their first names. Warm hugs and a chatty way to act were surprising but more than nice. Funny things happened during my exchange time, but the most remarkable event happened when we were driving with my friends. We were literally in the middle of nowhere when 10 Foreign Exchange Students’ Experiences at Savonia University of Applied Sciences a car tire blew out. It was about 11 pm and there was no help at sight. Mosquitoes were all over us and after some brainstorming the driver decided to go and get some help. A great idea except that it took approximately six hours before the driver came back with help. During those six enjoyable hours in the forest surrounded by mosquitoes we cooked some food by a bonfire and slept a few hours under the Finnish sky. When the sun rose we finally got the help we needed and were able to continue our journey. The mosquito bites reminded me for a very long time from this unforgettable night. During my exchange time in Finland I unfortunately did not learn Finnish as much as I wanted but at least I learned to say "Hyvää yötä" and "Kiitos". Learning other languages was not as easy as I thought but at least I improved