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 from any place I had ever visited before. Also being from Namibia, Finland seemed like the opposite of my home country.
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 for a while. Here, in the Middle of Knowhere, Kuopio, we, and Finland in general, were in fairly good shape during and after the pandemic. Therefore, we are truly happy to welcome back to the University of Eastern Finland an international one-day ERASMUS+ Meetup, to be held on the 7th of June at the Kuopio campus, Canthia building. We are also pleased that, after several years, Prof. David Morton from the University of Utah, School of Medicine (UUSOM), Salt Lake City, will be able to visit us and deliver a lecture again.
Writer: Szabolcs Felszeghy
Summers in Finland are all too short. Time is therefore precious, and one must strive to use the available time well. COVID-19 is still impacting our lives, as everything had ground to a halt and is now trying to start up again. Hence, there has never been a better time to dream up a bucket list of things to do than now. There certainly is something about the Finnish summer that just brings the joy of life to all of us, isn’t there? Like the all-encompassing LIGHT and the white NIGHTs! As SUMMER is now in full swing and we have begun to crawl out from our home offices at University of Eastern Finland, why don’t you open the door and let your imagination fly over FINLAND? Perhaps it is a good time for you to look for future COVID-19 safe activities for your BUCKET LIST in Northern Savonia?
So, the question is: if you do not have your own mökki around…
Continue reading “Finnish summers – short, but full of joy of life”
Writer: Pracheta De
Master’s Degree Programme: Biomedicine
“Namaste! Hello! Terve!” has become my usual greeting when I introduce myself at any event these days. It makes me feel great to embrace all the cultures around me and that is part of the reason why I came to study here in Finland.
Choosing to study Biomedicine at UEF, Kuopio, was one of the best decisions I’ve made as it gave me an opportunity to meet people from around the world, study in a fair education system, and have good work-life balance. Not only have I learned to live independently but I can also handle adversities better now.
Continue reading “My tips to balanced student life in Kuopio”
I posted my last blog, when I took my winter BOOTS of, now I feel we sort of have to take those back, soon as first minuses just behind us….. to discover the beauty of this season we are facing for.
Autumn at Finland is one of my favorite season ever (though to be honest I’ll probably be saying the same about summer as soon as it comes around /if it rolls really with sun and hot…./). Sitting with a steaming cappuccino and a blanket by the beach of Kallavesi I’m just getting excited that we are finally facing to RUSKA, again.
Like, there are so many evoking things to do during autumn and if you are able to do at least some of them it might be be the best season ever. But be prepared, as you just blink and suddenly it’s -10 degrees and half meter high snowpacks arrive outside…..
My experience in Finland ended just over a month ago, but I still miss that Country, so different from mine but so magica and evocative. I’m a 24 years old Italian girl and I have been in Finland for two months, February and March. I came to Kuopio for work, thanks to a collaboration between the University of Pavia (where I studied and graduated in Pharmacy) and the University of Eastern Finland in Kuopio. I left Italy full of curiosity and I returned with a bag
full of good memories and friendships, that I’ll try to maintain despite the distance.
I truly enjoyed this great experience being on a one-week staff mobility at Kuopio campus of UEF, together with two colleagues from our home university, the Pharos University in Egypt.
The host university is gorgeous, I loved all the surroundings. Academic staff we met are so kind and amazing. Hopefully my pictures tell more.
Nancy Bedwani
It was a sunny afternoon somewhere towards the end of august in Amsterdam, being approximately twenty-two degrees and thus quite okay for a Dutch smelling-the-end-of-summer-day. Nonetheless, I found myself wearing my ultra-hot ski-jacket, winter boots and 2 layers of clothes as I entered the airport of Schiphol, holding my backpack firmly to my chest. The content of it: my warmest sweaters and trousers, carefully selected pictures of family and friends, a Lonely Planet that I bought only one day ago and, last but not least, some Vitamin D supplements.
You could have guessed it by now: I was standing at the beginning of my Erasmus semester, land of destination, FINLAND!
A couple months back I decided to do my Minor in Biomedical Sciences in this beautiful, but relatively undiscovered part of Scandinavia, at the University of Eastern Finland, or UEF. I remember navigating through UEF’s website for the first time and stumbling on their headliner: ‘University of Eastern Finland: In the middle of (k)nowhere!’. Serving as background of the website were some pictures of mirror-looking lakes, stunning landscapes with countless-tree-containing forests, more lakes and more trees. It was therefore not wrongly placed that the campus I wound end up, was defined by the UEF as their ‘Lakeside Campus’, located in Finland’s beautiful lake district, Kuopio. Continue reading “The Finland experience – Exchange Maastricht to Kuopio”
First of all, I have to admit that I knew no more of Finland than it was a country of lakes, there was Lapland, from where Santa Claus came, then Kalevala, Alvar Aalto, Sibelius, Merimekko and obviously NOKIA – and probably polar light can be added, which is said to be sent to the Earth by the spirits of the dead according to the local legends. Well, if someone wants to become acquainted with this country in more details, and hit the road without becoming deterred by the short, freezing cold days and long, gloomy nights, Finland is probably one of the perfect destinations even during winter. In addition to the features mentioned above, one can experience the feeling of the genuine, untouched wilderness for the pacification of the mind: Lapland in the north and the central part of Finland, i.e. the region of thousands of lakes, or the islands of South Finland with a multitude of picturesque faces enchanting visitors in the winter. This is the youngest northern country, which is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its independence this year, and is becoming broadly known for its gradually growing “intellectual import” in addition to her natural endowments. Hundreds of internationally recognized researchers arrive at the universities of Finland from all corners of the world for shorter and longer study periods. I have also been given the opportunity to conduct research here at University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio campus, and experience the Scandinavian lifestyle with my loved family. Continue reading “Welcome To Finland”
