Assignment 1

// Kati Kotka & Emilia Törnqvist

Letter home - Sointu

1. In what country and University are you studying?
- I'm studying in La Rochelle, France. The University is Groupe Sup de Co La Rochelle, or La Rochelle Business School.

2. In what Study program are you studying at Centria?
- In Centria I'm studying Business Administration.

3. What are the courses like at the host University?
- So far I've been studying French, International strategic management and Cost and budgeting management. The courses have been interesting.

4. Describe the study culture?
- Studies include lectures. In addition to that we have case studies to solve and discuss, and scheduled e-learning. And of course homework.

5. What is your study group like?
- The study groups have been nice. The groups are not too massive and are generally calm.

6. Please describe what the everyday life is like in your host country? What do you like in particular?
- The everyday life is quite similar to Finland. Maybe the most noticeable difference is lunchtime. People take time for lunch. Around 12 to 14 o'clock most of the offices etc. are closed. And the cheek kisses as greeting. La Rochelle is a nice coastal town. I like the atmosphere here.

7. What has been challenging? Why?
- I'd say the most challenging part was the beginning; getting an apartment and all the paperwork sorted out. Luckily I got help and things are getting easier as I get to know the language and culture more and more.

8. What has been the highlight of your exchange so far?
- I can't really choose one particular thing. I'd say the highlight so far has been getting to know more about the city, country and the language.

Letter Home Jesse P.

1. In what country and University are you studying?

I’m studying in University of the Highlands and Islands. I’m living in Inverness, capital of Highlands, which is northern part of Scotland.

2. In what Study program are you studying at Centria?

3. What are the courses like at the host University?

My study program in my home university is Electrical- and Automation Engineering, and here I’m taking a part of Electrical- and Mechanical Engineering courses. Studying at UHI’S courses are pretty much self-studying, and we see teacher only 2 hours per week within every subject.

4. Describe the study culture?

In UK, it’s very common to students do they courses and have a part-time job.

5. What is your study group like?

I’m studying with my Finnish mates, sometimes we do school stuff in the computer class at university and sometimes we are studying in our accommodation. It depends on the subject, if we need computers or not.

6. Please describe what the everyday life is like in your host country? What do you like in particular?

On every weekday: I wake up at 8 am. Eat breakfast and drink my morning coffee and start studying at 9 am. Eat lunch at 12 am. Finish studying at 4 pm. Eat a dinner, maybe go to the city centre with a bus or do some sports like jogging or going to gym. Skype to my girlfriend. And go to sleep.

Urquhart Castle which sits beside Loch Ness

On weekends: We are trying to go visit as many local attractions as possible. Castles, National parks.. etc.

7. What has been challenging? Why? 

The most challenging part was finding myself to the right courses. We planned 4 courses before we came here, and 2 of them do not start until January and 2 of them are full mechanical, so we had to change all of them, few times really.

8. What has been the highlight of your exchange so far?

Highlight of my trip was definitely this one Saturday, when me along with group of other international students, went to see this sport event, called “Highland Games” to Ardgay. There were genres as log throwing, bagpipe playing and Céilidh (Scottish rational dancing along with bagpipe music). 

Letter Home, University of the Highlands and Islands

Assignment 1

Q1. In what country and University are you studying? /

Where are you doing your internship?

A1. Scotland, University of the Highlands and Islands.

Q2. In what Study program are you studying at Centria?

A2. Electrical and automation engineering.

Q3. What are the courses like at the host University? or What has your work placement been like?

A3. Some of them are really tied together and require ”so and so” courses to be completed before attending that said course. This has been an issue for us in someways, due to the lack of past experience.

Q4. Describe the study culture? / What is the corporate culture like?

A4. A great portion of the studying is done at home, our outside of class. For example we’re doing this course called ”Dynamics” for 2 hours per week and it’s basically a new subject every time and calculations related to that, that means we have to get familiar with the subject before the next class by ourselves and that can be tricky sometimes.

Q5. What is your study group like?

A5. In a few courses we are a group of 5-8 people, the teacher has more time to focus on helping each and every individual if something comes up during the class.

Q6. Please describe what the everyday life is like in your host country? What do you like in particular?

A6. Basically i try to live my everyday life here like i would do back in Finland by going to the gym and doing sports, that helps me focus in my studies. Scotland is the perfect example for ”peace of mind” when i need a break from studying or just feel like doing something completely different I just go outside and walk around in this beautiful landscape, there’s so much history in this place and so much to see and so, exploring has become a part of our everyday life here.

Q7. What has been challenging? Why?

A7. I was hoping all the paperwork and fighting with bureaucracy would become less by the time we got here and began our studies. Im of course speaking for myself, i find it very distracting to fill in any other types of assignments with deadlines, while also studying something new and difficult in our courses.

Q8. What has been the highlight of your exchange so far?

A8. Even before i got here i checked online to see if there’s any good bands touring the UK, because there are many bands that announce an European tour but never visit Finland. One of my favourite bands called ”All Them Witches” started touring around the UK in october and so i bought my tickets online, booked a bus to Glasgow and went for the gig! It was really worth all the waiting and to be honest, it wasnt all that expensive, one night in a decent 3/5 star hotel, tickets to the show and buses to Glasgow and back set me back only a 100 pounds in total! This has been the highlight of this trip so far.

Letter home Milla

1.       In what country and University are you studying?

The Netherlands, Saxion University of Applied Sciences.

2.       In what Study program are you studying at Centria?

Industrial management, courses in Finnish language.

3.       What are the courses like at the host University?

Interesting. I study Business Engineering here and it’s so far different from the Finnish schedule I would have had.

4.       Describe the study culture?

We get a lot of homework compared to Finland. We are expected to read hundreds of pages theory every week and do multiple assignments for each class.

 There is lot of groupwork and studying is quite independent, the assigments are mostly done outside classes. During classes we have conversations on the theories and we are allowed to ask questions if something in our independent studies was incomprehensible to us.

5.       What is your study group like?

I think we have people from 14 different countries. Surprisingly we have about the same amount of men and women, which is unusual in engineering studies.

6.       Please describe what the everyday life is like in your host country? What do you like in particular?

I spend most of my time at school and at our flat, because of the amount of schoolwork. 

The food in shops is a little cheaper than in Finland, but the food at cafeterias and restaurants unfortunately isn’t.  I like the Unioncard student card, which grants me free swimming at a local pool and the possibility to join student sport associations at University of Twente. For just 30 euros extra fee, I now get to train boxing 3 times per week for my entire 6 months stay. 

Our flat is also quite nice, but the rent for this one room in a flat with 3 other students is 500 euros, which is more than I would pay in Ylivieska for a flat for myself alone.

7.       What has been challenging? Why?

The amount of schoolwork and meeting the expectations of the teachers, which seem to be set a lot higher than in Finland. In Finland I was able to get a top grade by showing up in all classes and doing all assignments in time, but in here, it doesn’t even guarantee passing the course. I am making some Averko courses to Finland to ensure I have enough credits, because in here, we are also allowed only one re-take of exam for this whole time!

8.       What has been the highlight of your exchange so far?

My roommates surprised me on my Birthday – they had secretly decorated our flat with balloons and a ”happy birthday” banner before I woke up in the morning! It was the best surprise I ever had on my birthday and I didn’t expect to celebrate at all.

Letter home Joonas N

LETTER HOME

1. In what country and University are you studying? 
I am studying at University of the Highlands and Islands in  Inverness Scotland.

2. In what Study program are you studying at Centria?
At Centria I study Electrical and Automation engineering but here in Scotland my courses are from Mechanical and electrical engineering studys.

3. What are the courses like at the host University? 
I've had some problems with my courses, many of the originally planned couses were moved to semester two and for that reason I've had to change most of them. Now my courses have been sorted and all is fine. I've got two courses that are planned to last two semester but after talking with teachers I will be able to do them in one semester as long as I do a lot of private studies at my accommodation.

4. Describe the study culture?
Study culture here is different compared to what I'm used to.
At the first days intruduction our tutors told us that one hour in class mean 3-4 hours work at home. To me it is a hard thing to do so much work at home and then just listen teacher talk in class, as I prefer doing things in classes so I can ask if I have a problem.  I think that my university is really modern university and it has really good softwares,websites etc.
It is easy to study from home when you can access all study materials easily.


5. What is your study group like?
My study group changes per course, so I haven't really got to know them. I have made many friends from other international students, every friday night we go out together and have some food and drinks together. We've also went to see some castles, Scottish sports and events together. 

6. Please describe what the everyday life is like in your host country? What do you like in particular?
Everyday life in Scotland is much like in Finland, only thing very different compared to finland is their eating habbits. In my eyes they eat lot of unhealthy food and snacks, they also use paper plates in cafeteria. A decent lunch with salad costs around 5-6£ so I mostly make my own lunch in the accommodation with my friends. Allthough you can get really good food here if you are willing to pay little money for it.

7. What has been challenging? Why? 
Scottish accent of course! Their language is sometimes very hard to understand especially if they get excited. 

8. What has been the highlight of your exchange so far?
My highlight so far has been our trips to various places with other international students, as places are nice but to me it's also important to get to know new people while I'm here.
Upcoming highlight for my trip is going to be this Saturday when my fiancé is coming here and I'm going to travel around the Scotland with her.

-Joonas