ESN HELSINKI Survival Guide by Annika Punkari Dear international reader, Exchange period makes it possible to become more independent, network with people around the world and get once-in-a-lifetime experiences in a foreign country. Remember that the journey itself is important and educative, not the studying part only. This guide was written for the incoming exchange students of Aalto University, Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences Ltd. and University of Helsinki. Have an amazing time in Finland! Annika Annika Punkari, 2015 Cover photo by Visit Finland CONTENTS ESN & EXCHANGE PERIOD Metropolia (UAS) ESNcard Finnish grading scale Culture Shock HELSINKI FINLAND Attractions Language Banking Weather and climate Events in Helsinki What to bring with you Health care DOCUMenTATION & InsURANCE Housing Residence permit Most popular sights Health insurance Night life Travel insurance Pharmacy Travelling from Finland Public transport b Personal ID-code a Shopping, food, alcohol c k Working Sports t STUDYING CITY TRIPS o Student card Porvoo s t Haaga-Helia (UAS) a Turku r t University of Helsinki Tampere Aalto University Tallinn & Stockholm ESN & ExchaNgE pEriod ESNCARD Erasmus Student Network (ESN) is a non-profit international organization and the With the ESNcard you become a member of ESN and get thousands of discounts biggest student association in the whole Europe. ESN represents international all over Europe. You can find the discounts from here. students and help them to understand different cultures and develop themselves. If you purchase the card you get to participate to the events and trips of the local The whole network is based on the idea of ”students helping students”. ESN sections with cheaper prices. There can be for example 20€ discount from ESN works in local, national and international level. Voluntary the Lapland trip for the card holders. students work in 452 local sections around the Europe in 37 Get the card from the office of your ESN section. countries welcoming 180 000 international students every year. The idea of the organization is to help the new exchange CULTURE SHOCK students with their problems and make them feel like home In a new country you face different values and ways of behaving. Culture shock in the new environment. All of the ESN sections have elected originates from the contradiction of your expectations and the reality. boards which plan and organize social events like movie nights, trips and parties for students with the help of other ESN active members. Usually sections have a four night trip to St. Petersburg, Russia; one week or more in Lapland, Finland; Pirates of the Baltic Sea -cruise to Stockholm, Sweden. Get to know all of the events and trips by visiting the webpage and the Facebook group of the ESN section. Local ESN sections of Helsinki are ESN Aalto (for Aalto University students), ESN HELGA (for Haaga-Helia students), ESN Metropolia (for Metropolia students) and ESN Uni Helsinki (for University of Helsinki students). Get familiar with these four ESN Helsinki sections and the Universities by reading the chapter “UNIs”. b a c k t Lauri Rotko/www.visithelsinki.fi o Useful links: Culture shock is not a weakness – it is totally normal experience and it is a part of s ESN Internationalhttp://esn.org t the adaptation process. a ESN Finland http://esnfinland.eu r t Identifying the symptoms of the culture shock (like loneliness and helplessness) To avoid the culture shock try to control your feelings in situations where you get and dealing with them is crucial to avoid long-lasting negative emotions. annoyed because of the locals. You can have a certain time every day when you think about the uncomfortable moments. You might realize that you got annoyed It is important to understand that in a new culture people don’t behave incorrectly, only because you expected the locals to behave like people do in your own culture. they just have a different way of doing things. After all you are the one that most After some time you will be ready to take the last step of the cultural understand- of the people think is acting weird. ing – expect the locals to behave like they behave. At first it is not bad for you to hang out with the people of your own country but Keep in touch with your family and friends to help with the stress and remember after some time your group isolates itself from the locals. After the isolation it is that you can talk about personal problems with your teachers and study advisors. harder to get familiar with the local culture or the local people. During your stay in the foreign country you might feel better and worse periods or you face three steps before you adapt to the new culture: Interesting literature about the subject: 1. Everything feels exciting and you are open and curious. Marx, E. 2001. Breaking through culture shock: What you need to succeed in international busi- 2. You feel insecure, stressed and angry. You might not know who you are anymore ness. Nicholas Brealey Publishing. London. without the familiar social circle and the well-known habits. Storti, C. 2007. Art of crossing cultures. Intercultural Press. Boston. 3. You recognize the problem and solve it. b a c k t o s t a r t FiNlaNd In Finland you can get rare experiences like swimming in ice water, meeting the original Santa Claus, sweating in the real sauna and enjoying the clean nature. Finns are said to be very honest, quiet (no small talk), proud of their own products (like sauna and Nokia, which was a Finnish mobile phone company) and they have BASIC WORDS: “sisu” (=having guts, doing something again and again despite of the repeated fail- kyllä = yes olut = beer ures). After the exchange period you can decide yourself what is true and what is not. At least I have heard that in parties after a few drinks Finns really start to talk… joo = yes (spoken Finnish) kuinka paljon? = how much? Finnish dishes often include fish, various vegetables, mushrooms, wholemeal prod- ei = no ucts (like rye) and berries. We usually drink milk or water with meal. ehkä = maybe, perhaps moi = hi THINGS YOU MIGHT see: hei = hi Työnnä = Push terve = hello Vedä = Pull WC = WC hei hei = bye Miehet = Gentlemen Soili Jussila/Vastavalo Jussi Hellsten/Visit Helsinki moi moi = bye Naiset = Ladies If you are interested to find out more about Finland try these out: nähdään! = see you! Vapaa = Vacant - http://finland.fi Varattu = Occupied b - http://visitfinland.com kiitos = thanks Epäkunnossa = Out of order a kiitos paljon = thanks very much Tupakointi kielletty = No smoking c k LANGUAGE ole hyvä = you’re welcome Yksityinen = Private t Official languages: Finnish (90% of the population), Swedish (6% of the population) anteeksi = excuse me/sorry Ei sisäänkäyntiä = No entry o Sámi is spoken in the Northern Finland s t Most of the Finns are fluent in foreign languages and English is the most popular a one. r Is Finnish a hard language? Check yourself from the next page (short version)! t English: A dog. English: This must be a joke... koirassammekaan, koirassannekaan, koirinennekaanko, koirasikokaan, Swedish: What? Finnish: Aaaand... koirasi, koirani, koirallanikaan, koirallasikaan, koiranikokaan, koiransakokaan, koiransa, koiramme, koiranne, koiraani, koirallansakaan, koirallammekaan, koirammekokaan, koirannekokaan, English: The dog. koiraasi, koiraansa, koiraamme, koirallannekaan, koirananikaan, koiraanikokaan, koiraasikokaan, English: Two dogs. koiraanne, koirassani, koirassasi, koiranasikaan, koiranansakaan, koiraansakokaan, koiraammekokaan, koirassansa, koirassamme, koirassanne, koiranammekaan, koiranannekaan, koiraannekokaan, koirassanikokaan, Swedish: Okay. We have: En hund, koirastani, koirastasi, koirastansa, koiraksenikaan, koiraksesikaan, koirassasikokaan, koirassansakokaan, hunden, Två hundar, hundarna. koirastamme, koirastanne, koirallani, koiraksensakaan, koiraksemmekaan, koirassammekokaan, German: Wait, I wan’t to try it too! koirallasi, koirallansa, koirallamme, koiraksennekaan, koirattanikaan, koirassannekokaan, koirastanikokaan, koirallanne, koiranani, koiranasi, koirattasikaan, koirattansakaan, koirastasikokaan, koirastansakokaan, English: No, go away. koiranansa, koiranamme, koirananne, koirattammekaan, koirattannekaan, koirastammekokaan, Swedish: No one invited you. koirakseni, koiraksesi, koiraksensa, koirinenikaan, koirinesikaan, koirastannekokaan, koirallanikokaan, koiraksemme, koiraksenne, koirattani, koirinensakaan, koirinemmekaan, koirallasikokaan, koirallansakokaan, German: Der Hund. koirattasi, koirattansa, koirattamme, koirinennekaan, koirasiko, koirallammekokaan, koirallannekokaan, English: I said go away. koirattanne, koirineni, koirinesi, koiraniko, koiransako, koirammeko, koirananikokaan, koiranasikokaan, koirinensa, koirinemme, koirinenne. koiranneko, koiraammekaanko, koiranansakokaan, koiranammekokaan, German: Ein Hund, zwei Hunde. koiraannekaanko, koirassanikaanko, koiranannekokaan, koiraksenikokaan, English: Those are words for a dog??? Swedish: Stop it! koirassasikaanko, koirassansakaanko, koiraksesikokaan, koiraksensakokaan, Finnish: Wait! I didn’t stop yet. koirassammekaanko, koiraksemmekokaan, German: Den Hund, einen Hund, dem There is still: koirakaan, koirankaan, koirassannekaanko, koirastanikaanko, koiraksennekokaan, koirattanikokaan, Hund, einem Hund, des Hundes, eines koiraakaan, koirassakaan, koirastakaan, koirastasikaanko, koirastansakaanko, koirattasikokaan, koirattansakokaan, Hundes, den Hunden, der Hunden. koiraankaan, koirallakaan,