Tag: Student Stories
Incoming Student Story: Dakota Daenen from Belgium
“I did my exchange semester at Metropolia in the autumn semester 2022, in the field of Health Care and Social Work. I study occupation therapy back at my home university PXL university College. We had a lot of countries to choose from and most of my fellow students wanted to go to Africa but Finland was the number one destination for me. I love Nordic countries but I had never been there before so I wanted to explore the country. I’m also a rower and there are a lot of lakes in Finland so I thought I could keep doing my hobby in a very cool environment. Before I even applied to Metropolia I downloaded Duolingo and practiced a lot of Finnish. I did a placement internship at Metropolia, so I didn’t do actual courses. First two months of being in Finland I had a lot of free time and I was writing my thesis. In October my internship started at the HyMy Village on Metropolia’s Myllypuro campus. The concept is really great and we were also given the chance to work on our own ideas. I’m used to having one placement at a time but here we had like five different projects and the variation during the placement was very nice. I got to work with Finnish students and Finnish patients and in the end learned a lot of Finnish. Teachers were very nice and approached us as colleagues. During my free time I went to the gym and to rowing practice. I also participated to events organized by tutors and did different activities with other exchange students, such as playing board games in Oodi and went for a dinner. I also got very close with my tutor, we were meeting weekly to do winter swimming. I’m so thankful for her! Unfortunately, I missed the HOAS apartment application deadline so I had to search an apartment on my own. I lived together with two other people and was very happy about the accommodation. I made a lot of new friends from around the world and learned a bit of the Finnish mindset. People in Finland are more relaxed and take more time for coffee, sauna, walking and being in the nature. I feel connected to Finland and could imagine living here in the future! Maybe in the future I could become and entrepreneur and return to Finland through that. I loved everything in here!” Tips from Dakota: Be flexible: you will go out of your comfort zone and not everything will be nice. Being flexible makes it easier. Explore the nature and the surroundings in Finland Visit Lapland
Incoming Student Story: Ben Caufield from Canada
“I spent autumn semester 2022 in Metropolia doing my exchange semester. I studied in the field of Culture, in the Degree Programme in Music. I had a couple of friends who had done their exchange earlier at Metropolia. They spoke really highly of the program, country and the city so it was no-brainer for me. My home university MacEwan University has a fantastic team of international coordinators and they gave me a bunch of things to look up for, such as weather, political situation, cultural norms and language. It was very helpful in preparation for coming to Finland. Studying at Metropolia has been a good experience overall. Teachers have good knowledge to share and the atmosphere is very open. Arabia campus for the field of culture is new and it was nice to study in such a nice facility. There were a lot of rooms for students to work with what they want. Some of the courses at Metropolia were a bit different than what I’m used to. One course focused on clinics and people such as composers were brought from outside to Metropolia and we worked with them. I participated in an ensemble and that was made into a course. The best thing about my studies at Metropolia was for sure the private lessons with my instructor Tommi Rautiainen. He is a great musician a I learned a lot from him. Music students could also apply for access to the campus outside the normal opening hours which was great in order to have time for practicing. In addition, I ate at the student restaurant every day, the food was very good and also cheap. As I was a music student there were jams pretty much every day, so I was often in jams in the evenings. I was also walking a lot around the city especially before the snow fell. There were lots of events going on. I went camping in Porkkala with another international student in November and also traveled to Tallinn with a ship. Tallinn’s old city was fantastic. I didn’t really have a culture shock but I noticed that people in Finland are generally a bit more reserved than in Canada and I had to get used to that. I got to know Finnish students through jams. Teachers in Metropolia were also pretty relaxed. During my exchange I learned to live in a different culture as an outsider, that was a very valuable experience. I have to be grateful for people speaking English and dealing with misunderstandings. I would recommend the future exchange students to do as much planning as they can while they’re still at home. Stuff will go wrong and luckily, I had all the necessary information on my phone or on paper. This way you can enjoy your experience and don’t have to worry about things. In the future I would love to do more traveling, in exchange or otherwise. I would also really encourage others to do exchanges like this as it was a life-changing experience.”
Incoming Student Story: Benedikt Rothe from Germany
“I’m studying international industrial management as a dual study back at my home university HWR Berlin. I did my exchange semester at Metropolia Business School during autumn 2022. The Finnish education system has a good reputation and I wanted to check it out myself. Also, the courses that Metropolia offered for business students matched quite well with my home university’s requirements and the semester dates were fitting for the schedule of the dual study program. Studying at Metropolia has been quite different from home. I would say that studying in Finland works better for me than in Germany. I didn’t have any exams in the end of each course, but graded assignments during the semester. Being a University of Applied Sciences, Metropolia brings in the practical connection: We were not just working with the theoretical frameworks, but instead worked on case studies with connections to real companies. For me, the best thing about studying at Metropolia was the atmosphere: It’s quite informal but still respectful. This feels very friendly and open and takes away a bit of the pressure. It was also nice to work together with my classmates in different projects. I had some online classes and the organization was a bit challenging in the beginning. But throughout the semester I learned that everybody at Metropolia is always happy to help you out. In the beginning, the course enrolments were a bit of a challenge. It was not clear if I would be able to get in all the courses I wanted to. But luckily, it all worked out in the end. The campus is very well designed for the sense of community. I always used the student restaurant and sometimes came to campus just for lunch with friends. Everything is very digital and it’s easy to book rooms in the library, for example. Usually, my classes started around eleven, so I had quite relaxing mornings. Unfortunately, I was not able to take the Finnish course for exchange students, but I did try to learn some Finnish through Duolingo. It was very easy to manage with English in Finland, especially at school it worked very well. In my free-time I did a lot of different things. In the beginning of the semester the student union METKA organized a lot of events, parties, and trips. This made it easy for me to connect to many other students naturally. I became friends with my neighbors – a lot of other exchange students lived at the same place with me. We also travelled together, for example to Iceland and Lapland. I also went to the sauna in my building very often, which was new to me but I really enjoyed it! Helsinki has a lot to offer – such as the Oodi library, restaurants, and several tourist attractions. I also went to the nearby Nuuksio national park quite often. And I can say, Finland changed me a little: Before coming to Helsinki, I didn’t drink coffee at all. But studying in Finland can really make you a coffee person – The Finns love coffee! During the exchange I also learned a lot about myself and about what I want to do in life. I was able to take a step back and see which parts of my everyday life in Finland I want to include in my life back in Germany. Talking to other students who were a bit older than me, also showed me new perspectives. Seeing all the different paths that everybody had taken, encouraged me to try something new after finishing my degree and start studying landscape architecture, which has been a big interest of mine. I probably wouldn’t have made this decision without the exchange experience at Metropolia. I also learned a lot about different countries and cultures and made very good friends from all over the world. I am sure, I will take this new network with me into the future.” Tips from Benedikt: Trust your tutors – they are experts in making the most out of studying in Finland! Try to get a HOAS apartment. It’s affordable and a nice experience to live with the other exchange students. Try to connect with your neighbors – it makes organizing activities and trips so easy! Enjoy your time in Finland and don’t worry about uni too much – it will all work out in the end.
Incoming Student Story: Assumpta Siamangaba from Zambia
“My home university Lusaka College of Nursing and Midwifery and Metropolia have an agreement for an exchange programme. Students are selected based on the results and grades and I was very excited that I was one of the selected students. I had never flown in my life so traveling to Finland was very exciting. I didn’t know much about Finland beforehand but a friend of mine who had been in Finland before told me a lot of different things. Before arriving to Finland, I figured out what the time difference is and where Finland is located. I knew it’s going to be very cold and that I should prepare for that. I studied in the field of Health Care and Social Sciences and took courses from the degree programme of nursing at Metropolia. One of the courses I chose was Gerontological Nursing which was a good experience as back home we don’t learn so much about gerontology. In the courses we did simulations where we got to practice procedures in different situations. You learn a lot during the simulations and observing them! Everything related to the studies was clearly organized in the intranet OMA. There I was able to see what I’m supposed to do for my assignments, what to do before classes and all the presentations. Myllypuro campus is very big and the labs have a lot of equipment. I ate lunch in the student restaurant and tasted different kinds of food. In the beginning it was difficult because there were a lot of different apps to use for different things but I managed! In my free-time I went outside to walk. I also did trips to Porvoo and Joensuu. In Joensuu I got to try ice swimming and skiing. It has been amazing to see a lot of snow, this has been the first time for me seeing it. My tutor was very helpful, he also showed me a second-hand store where I could get more warm clothes. It gets dark here very early in the winter so vitamin D is important, in Zambia it’s not necessary. I would advise the future exchange students to be active: take part in class activities and in-school program. It will help to interact and to make friends and to feel like you belong.”
Incoming Student Story: Lejla Škobić from Slovenia
“I did my exchange semester during autumn 2022 at Metropolia Business School. I study management back at my home university, University of Ljubljana. I had heard a lot of positive things about Finland and was very happy to be selected to do my exchange at Metropolia. I had read about the school system and how good it is, so I wanted to try that. I also wanted to come here because of the weather and the environment, I don’t like heat so I wanted to go to the Nordic countries. I like being in the nature and even in Helsinki you can just sit in a bus and go to a forest, there’s not too much tourists. When I arrived to Finland my tutor picked me up from the airport and showed me around. She had been also in touch with me already before I arrived and gave me tips on the weather and what to bring with me. My exchange started with orientation days. They were organized well and I got all the information I needed for my time here. I loved studying at Metropolia! The study system was like made for me. I got most of my grades through assignments, research and group work. Back at home it’s more studying theory and the courses end to a final exam. The courses at Metropolia felt like they are preparing me for future work life. I needed to match half of my courses with my courses at home and the rest I could choose freely, so I decided to focus on marketing. In Digital Marketing course we focused on website creation and in Marketing Design we took photos and used Photoshop. Now in the end of the semester I feel more confident in myself as I have done things myself and feel better about the future. This semester made me feel more encouraged to do a Master’s degree in marketing! During my free-time I spent a lot of time in the nature. I went for example a lot to forests and used the campfire sites to make fire for sausages and marshmallows. I also did a road trip with four other exchange students during which we visited Koli National Park and saw Lapland in t he autumn colors. I also traveled to Lithuania, Latvia and Sweden. In Helsinki I visited a lot of museums and found some really nice second-hand stores. I also got to swim in the see when it was still just 15 degrees warm! I lived in a HOAS apartment in Helsinki and spent a lot of time with my roommates. I also tried to learn to crochet, because so many people knit and crochet things here. I was first a bit scared as I would be living first time completely alone. I’m very proud of how I did, I managed everything really well. I didn’t really experience a culture shock but I did miss Slovenian food. I learned how to be more independent and gained a lot of confidence in myself. I really love Finland and the people and the experience her, I’m so grateful I got to come here!” Tips from Lejla: Don’t be scared to go - you will gain a lot of new experiences Don’t be afraid of new people
Incoming Student Story: Yannick Levermann from Germany
Yannick Levermann did his exchange semester at Metropolia Business School during autumn semester 2022. Yannick does a dual study program in his home university Hamburg School of Business Administration, meaning that half of the semester he is studying and the other half working. Choosing Finland as an exchange destination was rather easy: “I wanted my exchange to see something very new and different and experience a full winter. I also really wanted it to be in the Nordics and I had heard good things about Metropolia as an exchange destination”. Different ways of learning and supportive teachers Yannick enjoyed his studies a lot: “At my home university the courses are fixed and have to be done in a certain semester, so it was nice to be able to choose the courses from a pool of courses. I also had to build my schedule and be accepted for the courses I chose, that was new”. Studies were well organized: “This semester I did not have any exams, only presentations and assignment. Like this it was easier to learn instead of binge learning.” Yannick was also happy that sustainability aspect was considered in the studies. However, biggest thing that made him feel comfortable in his studies w as the interaction with the teachers: “Teachers were very helpful and talking to them on first name basis made it feel more comfortable and approachable. You could always ask them for help if you had any problems”. Teachers were also treating everybody equally. On some courses Yannick was the only exchange student and on some everybody was an exchange student. “Overall compared to the busy study system at my home university, being here was like a holiday with studying”, Yannick concludes. Road trip through Finland and eye-opening experiences During his free-time Yannick traveled a lot: “I did a road trip with some other exchange students in Finland. We rented a car and drove to Kuusamo in the North and then came down and visited a lot of cities on the way”. He also traveled to Stockholm and Riga and in the end of his exchange to Lapland. Otherwise Yannick tried to do things that he would otherwise also do: “I was walking around the city, studied at the Oodi library and met with friends for coffee”. He also participated in events organized by the tutors and student union METKA. Yannick had time to learn things about the Finnish culture: “I really liked the student overalls and I also got to watch the Independence Day handshaking from TV.” Some things were also very different: “I was unfortunately sick a few times during the semester and had to visit a doctor in Finland. Health care system is very different, but it was also a good opportunity to see how I react to being sick in a different place than home”. All in all, Yannick is very happy with his exchange experience. “I haven’t had time to process everything I experienced yet. I came here to see how it is to live abroad and saw that it is possible and I can do it even though there were challenges”. He found a new way of studying and new friends: “In the beginning I was nervous because I was the only one from my university. But I got along very well with people and was able to make good friends, we are planning to see each other soon again!”. In the future Yannick might do a Master’s degree abroad: “This experience helped me to understand how it is to live abroad and really opened my eyes”. Tips from Yannick: Apply for HOAS apartment as soon as possible Don’t be afraid for not having connections and friends, it’s easy to make them. Once you approach Finnish people they are helping and supporting you. Studies are doable and teachers are open for changes. If you have any problems you can ask the teachers and other staff members, they are very understanding and helpful. Enjoy the time and get to know Finland as a country Be quick with the course enrolments
Incoming Student Story: Sophie Vorgerd from Germany
Sophie Vorgerd did her exchange semester at Metropolia Business School during autumn semester 2022. Back in her home university HWR Berlin, Sophie is doing a dual study: half of the semester she is studying and half working in a company so finding a suitable exchange destination was a bit trickier than normally. “I had to find an exchange destination where the semester times were fitting. The locations I found were either Metropolia or a university in Netherlands. I had always wanted to study in the Nordic countries, that’s why I chose to apply to Metropolia.” New ways of learning and being creative Sophie took six courses in Metropolia and was excited about the selection. “I really enjoyed studying at Metropolia! Two courses, Marketing Design and Digital Marketing, were especially interesting. We got to practice using Photoshop and doing a marketing campaign”. Biggest differences to studying at her home university had to do with the course structures. At her home university students take an exam in the end of the course. In Metropolia students are doing several smaller assignments during the semester, and there are usually no exams in the end. “We got to do more creative work and presentations, I could express myself better and actually learn and create”. Another difference to German culture was the relationship between the students and the teachers. “In Finland everyone uses the first names and the students could speak with the teachers from a friendly starting point”, according to Sophie. In addition to this, most of her classes were starting early but they also ended early and left her time to experience things during her free-time. Free-time: traveling and students-clubs Living in Helsinki offered Sophie many opportunities for traveling: “I did a weekend trip to Riga and visited Stockholm. “I also traveled 4-5 times to Tallinn with a ferry because tickets were so cheap and the trip so short”. Sophie had also time to travel within Finland: “I visited Tampere, Turku and Porvoo. I also went to Nuuksio national park and in the end of my exchange I did a trip to Lapland”. There was also a lot of things to do in Helsinki: “I was meeting with locals and other exchange students in karaoke bars, restaurants and for boardgame nights”. Sophie also participated to some events from student union METKA and participated in METKA’s Dungeons & Dragons club. Sophie also signed up for a tutor from METKA and got a lot of information from her before and during the exchange. A great thing was also to get an apartment from HOAS (foundation for student housing) “Location was great, close to both the campus and the city center. Services were good and rent was about 430€”. Overall Sophie had a great study experience in Finland. In addition to living in a different country and culture she learned a lot: “It was great to see a different way of studying!”. After living in Finland Sophie would like to come back, maybe to do her Master’s degree. Tips from Sophie: 1. Apply on the courses as soon as possible - they get full quickly especially in the autumn semester 2. Apply for HOAS also as soon as possible, so you don’t need to find an alternative option
Singapore, an Asian roundtrip in the city state
As a part of the Metropolia UAS and Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) joint project Dosis, we were the lucky ones to have the chance to attend an intensive exchange week in Singapore. There were five of us students and three professors from Metropolia UAS who traveled to Singapore for a one week express exchange. In the Dosis project students from both Universities work together to create scoping reviews on various topics. The express exchange to Singapore was the culmination of our joint article projects and a dedicated time for face-to-face workshops and learning experiences after working together remotely for a year or so. *We met some of the students and the SIT professors earlier in the spring as they were visiting Finland on their behalf. Eventually it turned out that the four months from the approval to attend to the express exchange turned out to pass quite fast, and finally on 12th of August we arrived in Singapore. After the weekend of getting to know our way in Singapore, the actual intensive week started by an introduction to SIT’s Dover campus. We were given a tour of the SIT campus where we got to see our Singaporean fellows’ studying facilities. We also got to see some innovation and learning empowering tech. Later on, we workshopped some focal points of our article manuscripts, expected to be submitted later this year. During the intensive week, collaboration among Finnish and Singaporean health tech enterprises and the participating Universities was promoted to foster the possibilities of new joint projects. Relating to that objective SIT organized a seminar with Finnish and Singaporean enterprises and other health care and technology related keynote speakers. They brought out their views to the current state-of-the-art and future perspectives of advancements in health care digitalization and in health tech. The collaboration between the health tech industry and Universities also included company visits to Phillips's, Siemens Healthineers' and SenseTime's Singaporean headquarters and showrooms. During the visits, the health tech companies demonstrated their visions of developing technological solutions in improving the patients' experiences during treatments and stay in hospital and creating more seamless care pathways from home to hospital and back. The companies presented the possibilities of technologies such as virtual and augmented reality in training the future health care professionals to get acquainted with the technologies before moving on to actual clinical practices. SenseTime provided us with an overview of the use of artificial intelligence technologies centered more to our everyday lives. For understandable reasons the practical demos were focused on the technologies that are already applied, rather than the technological advancements that are possibly emerging in the future. The visits and seminars before and during the intensive week have enlightened us that the scoping reviews and other investigatory work conducted related to the Dosis project is operating at the cutting edge when it comes to advancements in health tech. The project overall has provided us with fair insight to the application of artificial intelligence in medical imaging and other medical applications, that are state-of-the-art or just emerging somewhere in the near or distant future. Cultural exchange Alongside the official project program, we experienced Singapore and its corners through local eyes. The students who visited Finland earlier in the spring treated us with genuine Singaporean hospitality and guided us through experiences we would not have experienced relying only on the typical tourist guides of Singapore. Singaporean food, sightseeing and souvenirs - our friendly Singaporean hosts shared tips and helped us get the most out of our stay. Thai style steamboat dining experience, best hawker food courts, hipster shopping streets, best underground places to try out Singaporean and Asian specialities such as frog porridge, chili crabs and durian fruit, you name it! We will never forget the hospitality of our Singaporean fellow students, some of them who had already graduated, and still came to meet us, thank you Shawn, Darren, Melissa, Chris and Zhuo and the professors Frank and Cheryl, and other SIT staff (special thanks to Desmond and Charmaine). ❤️ Blog post written by the Metropolia students: Ella Lonka, Janina Saarinen, Arttu Sundell, Emilia Larmala ja Mika Nieminen
Incoming Student Story: Mayamiko Kasonda from Malawi
Mayamiko Kasonda did her exchange semester in Metropolia in Spring semester 2022 in the field of Health Care and Social Sciences. She is studying nursing in Daeyang University in her home country Malawi. Mayamiko’s university has an agreement with Metropolia within which students are chosen to come to Metropolia for an exchange period. Mayamiko was hoping she would be selected and when she got the information she was excited about being able to make her dream come true. Study experience at Metropolia Mayamiko loves learning and describes studying in Metropolia as fun. Nursing studies in Metropolia consisted of theory and lab classes. Theory classes in Metropolia were more interactive than Mayamiko was used to. Lab classes were organized during the exchange on multiple different topics. Mayamiko got to practice emergency care, incubation, CPR and pediatric nursing, to name a few. Teachers have been very encouraging and guiding students throughout the courses. Being punctual is important in Finland and Mayamiko has also noticed this: “I like how people stick to time. Back home classes were extended easily and this hinders other plans”. Workload in Metropolia has been manageable, although assignments have been hard. Despite of this there has been more free time here than back at the home university. Best thing at Metropolia was interaction with other exchange students as well as Finnish students. Free-time and Finnish Experience Mayamiko arrived to Finland in March when it was still winter: “Weather was challenging at first, when we got to Finland there was still some snow. With time I got used to it and was really nice to see snow!”. Despite the weather and staying warm indoors, Mayamiko was visiting places on the Helsinki Metropolitan area: “The HSL public transportation card allows to travel around, that was really good”. Mayamiko visited Suomenlinna Fortress Island, Café Regatta and Helsinki Central Library Oodi, to name a few. Mayamiko also applied for a tutor at Metropolia, who was helping her especially in the beginning by guiding her to the apartment and introducing to others. Biggest challenge during Mayamiko’s exchange was the language. She picked up some words but that was not enough for a conversation. Finnish people are known for good knowledge of English and this was also helping Mayamiko during her stay a lot. She also learned to interact with people in a diverse way and to understand differences. Tips from Mayamiko: Be open-minded to others Be open to learning new things Have fun!
Incoming Student Story: Carolina Hurtado Arias from Mexico
Carolina Hurtado Arias did her exchange semester in Metropolia during the academic year 2021-2022 studying International Business. Her original exchange destination was Japan but due to Corona, it was postponed and finally canceled. She wanted to go somewhere very different than her home country Mexico. Carolina had heard good things about Finland being the “Happiest country in the world” and its education system and public transportation and was curious of experiencing it herself. Metropolia was her home university Universidad Panamericana’s partner and the choice was then clear. After the acceptance Carolina did a lot of research on studies at Metropolia as well as on things to see in Finland. She was not nervous about coming alone to Finland: “I read that people can speak English very well and that Finland is a safe country to visit”. Upon arrival to Finland weather was the biggest shock: “It was so cold and a lot of snow in January! The daylight was also too short! This kind of weather does not exist in Mexico”. Also Finnish people seemed a bit cold and serious in comparison to Latin cultures but if you asked help for anything, people were always nice. Study Experience at Metropolia Some course topics in International Business were already familiar from home while some were completely new. Courses involved a lot of group work and Carolina got to work together with some Finnish students in addition to exchange students. Relationship between the students and teachers was very different than what she was used to: “In Finland we did not need to use any titles for the teachers and everything was more casual. Some teachers even took their shoes off when they came to the class to be more comfortable”. Carolina got to experience the specialty of University of Applied Sciences while doing a project in Corporate Financial Management, where they had to choose a company and everything that was learned throughout the course had to be applied to the chosen company. Deadlines for the end of the semester were given already in the first weeks and students were given freedom to work within these deadlines. Free-time and Finnish Experience Carolina was actively doing things during her exchange: “I rested only on five days. The other days I was studying and on free days I just checked the map and went to visit different places”. Carolina visited a lot of different parks and museums in Helsinki and traveled also around Finland in some bigger cities such as Lahti, Tampere and Turku. She also went to Lapland where the highpoint was swimming in the Arctic Ocean. Traveling to Baltic countries and Sweden was also very easy from Helsinki. Carolina applied for a student tutor for Metropolia and said it was very helpful. Her tutor was helping her a lot in the beginning of her stay and they also became close friends and were hanging out together during her exchange semester. Exchange semester in Finland was an eye-opening experience for Carolina. She got to see a completely different culture and see how different things are to her home country. Especially important was to see how universities in Finland can be accessed for free and how government is supporting students financially. Public transportation system HSL was also functioning very well: “Back in Mexico transportation system has no schedules and the driver decides if they want to stop or not”. Exchange semester also taught Carolina things about other cultures and how to communicate with different people in a different language. After concluding her studies in Mexico, Carolina hopes to be able to come back to Europe to continue her studies. Tips from Carolina: Don’t be scared - Helsinki is a very international city and everyone seems to be happy to host you in their city. Don’t stop doing what you want even if you would be alone. You will find someone who is in the same situation as you and I am sure you will become good friends. Get out of your comfort zone!
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