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.
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