Finland, Fun Land (毛悦奇)

Finland, Fun Land
--The memoir of one year exchange life in Oulu

06 International Finance Class1　毛悦奇

Local time 15:00 5th September 2009, with AY51 successfully landed in Vantaa Airport, Helsinki, it opened my 8 months exchange life in Finland. During the 8 months, this land brings a whole new experience to me, an experience that I have never tasted before. After another one hour domestic flight, we finally arrived Oulu, the city our university situated in.

Oulu is the Finland’s sixth large city, also the biggest city in northern Europe. Located on a junction of a river and the sea, Oulu has magnificent waterways as well as beautiful old buildings and lush green parks. So, this is an excellent holiday destination. Before move to Oulu, university assigns a “kummi student” to each exchange student in order to help us dealing with some trifles, such as dormitory keys, campus facilities, banking account etc. So, with their kindly help, we quickly adapted this new environment. Oulu’s autumn is so beautiful, walking in the paths to campus, you can catch the breeze brings the salty of sea to your face, the clouds swim in the blue & transparent sky, birds chirp happily in the tree, such a typical northern Europe picture showing just in front of your eyes.

After short rest, we start our study in University of Oulu. The University of Oulu is the second largest multidisciplinary university in Finland, an international community known for high-quality research and education that provides experts for demanding tasks on both national and international level. My study mainly involved in OBS, Oulu Business School. To exchange student, we can freely to select any course in department of economics, accounting and finance, marketing or management in OBS. In addition, we still can choose whether to study a Finnish language course which is operated by university language center.

The first 3 days is the orientation days. International Relations gave the exchange student some lectures and advices in order to assure students getting a pleasant memory in exchange period. In that situation, it is also an opportunity to meet different schoolmates come from different parts of the world. I totally shocked by the diversity of so many different countries people.

Study in university is also a whole fresh thing. Take the “exam” for example, in University of Oulu, every course each students have three opportunities, you can choose any of the three to take, if you failed once time, you still have two opportunities; If you take all three exams, then the valid score is the one you achieved highest. In lecture, teachers pay much attention to the communication with students, they encourage students argue with them in disputed issues, so it is very common student interrupts teacher many times in one class. What’s more, in Finnish education system, they think the ability of working in a team is very important, in many courses, teacher will ask for team to complete one assignment together instead of judge performance by individual. Finland government allocates many resources to student, not only the free tuition fee, as a student, you can also get many “special welfare”. Every corner in campus the wireless internet is covered, you can use your personal computer to get the newest information as quickly as possible. Sometimes you may feel bring a computer to campus is too heavy, it dose not matter, you can use any public computer if they are free or get into a computer lab. Eating in school is another happy thing. For every meal you paid will get a corresponding allowance from the government, for example, a standard meal the normal price is 4.3 Euros, as a student you only need to pay 2.6 Euros, the government will pay the rest 1.7 Euros. In order to keep adequate nutrition, one standard meal usually includes salad, water, juice/milk, staple, one main course and bread. What’s more, as a registered student, you can get 100 free print quotas each month in campus. Outside campus, student can get discount bus ticket, restaurant discount and 50 percent off train ticket etc. To enjoy all these welfare, all you need is to pay 88 Euros one year to register. So in nowadays Finland, face to fierce employment market, some young person chooses continuing their student life. Another good place in campus is the library. As a report said, Finns average read the most books in the world per year. The quiet Finns put library in a crucial position in their life. There are 4-5 libraries in University of Oulu according to different kinds of books they stored. Some of them cover technology zone, some of them mainly have humanities filed books. The most interesting part to me is the updated newspapers and magazines, sometimes if you are enough lucky, even can find some book relating to China or writing by Chinese. Referring to academic field, it is not a difficult issue to find the reference you want to borrow, usually the library have ample storage to those popular academic books. Borrow, renew and return book is also very efficient and convenient due to the ordered system. Study or work in Library is also very comfortable, according to different demand the library has different function zone. In quiet study area, every student has their own desk and private room to insure them do not disturb by others. In group working area, the round table can improve every individual’s participation.

Apart the time in campus, the rest life is also very amazing during the past 8 months. With the aim to help us know more about the Finnish original culture and custom, at the beginning of exchange period, International Relations have appointed a “Kummi Family” to each one of the exchange student. In weekends or some holidays, the family will invite us to join their family reunion or party, then from such activities to promote the different culture communication. Because of some particular factor, I get contact with my Kummi just one month before I leave. But in this not long period, we both had a really happy time. My Kummi is a single mild and kindly grandma, I usually had a lunch in her address at Saturday, after meal then joined some activities with her families. Through such program, I get an opportunity to look closer about what the really Finn is and how about there usually daily life. In some traditional Chinese festival, our Chinese students also throw party to celebrate. Although Chinese people are limited in Oulu, we never feel lonely, in leisure time we often cook some typical Chinese food by ourselves, then eating and chatting together. If you want to travel around Finland, the university organization ESN will hold many programs regularly, for example Nordic zoo trip, Santa Clause Village trip, journey to Russia etc, the price is very attractive and sometimes only exchange students be entitled in these activities. Living in exchange student hostel is another brilliant experience, different students from different continents, different countries going to one apartment together, we sharing our own culture with each other, getting to know more about the whole society, the entire human race.

In the whole exchange period, there definitely many other precious memories, for example we 3 people started from Oulu, cost 22 days travelled 7 countries in Christmas holiday; alone using a one day round-trip to take a test hold in Helsinki in order to save money; before supermarket closed to buy discount food…

Admittedly 8 months time is can not count as a “long” period comparing to one’s entire life circle. But to me, definitely this experience will influence the rest of my life profoundly. Before university graduation can receive this opportunity experiencing a totally different education, is really unforgettable. Occasionally I wonder if I choose stay in domestic for my last year in university, what about today’s life? Maybe I also get a chance to work, or still on the road to find a job vacancy. One thing I can ensure is that I still do not know what the real thing I want in my life is. I just follow other’s step and keep a not bad position in a competition. During my abroad experience the most important lesson I have learned actually is not the academic knowledge, is the willingness to follow the voice from the bottom of my heart, then dare to chase for it. This is the Finnish education, also the Finland--the most pure land, impart me. I personally think this is the point of education most successful in Finland, too. “Dare to dream”, gradually become the national identity of Finland, a land full of creativity.