From the Middle of (K)nowhere – Winter – to the Middle of Europe – Summer: Back to Alma Mater, My First Day Experiences…
I’m so excited to write a short story about the first day of my recent ERASMUS trip. If you’ve been following the VR-Haptic Thinkers on our Website, you’ll know that I’ve gotten to stay at Debrecen again.
However, you might first be interested to know why I visited Debrecen, my Alma Mater.
Let me assure you it was not to escape from winter (-8° Celsius with 40 cm of snow) to arrive to summer (+26 °C), as I personally love the snow and Finnish Lakeland, Kuopio, the Middle of (K)nowhere…
Winter in Finland
My name is Agathe Aslanides and I started studying at UEF in 2021. I’m part French and part Greek so moving to a cold country that has “real” winters with cold temperature was a big adjustment for me. I wanted to write a few lines to, hopefully, explain my own experience of Finnish winters and a few tips I have picked up along the way. A list of advice is available at the end of this page if you want to avoid having to read it all and just want to get the grips of it.
The longest dream I’ve ever had
I’m Carla, and I’ve spent my whole life in this small city in Catalonia. Since I was a kid, I’ve always had this desire to live abroad for a while. So, as a microbiology student in Barcelona, I got this chance to do an Erasmus program for my final year. I picked Finland cause I wanted something completely different, and Finland is known for its breathtaking natural landscapes, innovative education system, and unique culture. So, off I went!
A cold but warm place
Writer: Gebhardt Kanime I decided to apply for the ERASMUS program after hearing about it from a friend. As a 6th year medical student in Hungary, I could do part of my final year abroad as a traineeship through the program. From the list of partner universities available, I chose UEF as Finland was different […]
Back to the middle of knowhere
An interview with Professor David Morton Preamble Life turning towards normalcy, it seems, feels practically like a shake-up to the “new normal”… It was three years ago that the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 to be a pandemic. And now, even cities and countries with the strictest coronavirus precautions have been rolling back their restrictions […]
Finland – the happiest country?
Writer: Tamara Kudaibergenova My first impression upon arrival in Finland was a sense of calm and security. I got the impression that there everything was made for the sake of people, e.g. easy transportation, and reachable conveniences. Not only technical aspects, but also clean air, bright sun, green forests, blue lakes, and friendly people in […]
ZERO TO A HUNDRED SO FAST
Writer: Mina Poku-Agyemang With all the excitement and expectations, leaving home (Africa), for the first time was like a good dream. I took all I thought I needed, including the warmest clothes I could get in Ghana, only for me to leave Accra with a temperature of about +28° Celsius to arrive in Joensuu at […]
Winter school in Uusimaa
Writer: Seira Duncan In order to participate physically in a winter school (talvikoulu) to earn the remaining three credits necessary to complete my doctoral programme’s required 50, I boarded a plane to the Finnish capital. One of the first cultural references you run into at the airport is Tove Jansson’s Muumi. It’s popular among residents […]
From the ambient Alps to parasol pines: a journey through cultural Italy
Writer: Seira Duncan As doctoral researchers, we sometimes get carried away with our projects and lose sight of other areas in our lives. Occasionally, we need to tell ourselves that we are more than our doctorates. While I research cultures in the Circumpolar North in the Social and Cultural Encounters programme, it is important for […]
My traineeship story in Marketing team
Writer: Minju Kang From the May of 2021, I have been working in the marketing team of University of Eastern Finland as a trainee. Since I worked at an admissions office in an international school before coming to Finland and worked closely with the marketing team there, I was interested in recruitment of students and […]