Introduction of J-M Katajamäki

Hey there.

I'll be heading off to Momoyama Gakuin University for the upcoming spring semester. The university is located in Osaka, Japan.

While I am quite familiar of Japanese surroundings and "fun things" through my previous journeys there, I am now looking forward in learning about the business side of the country.

That's about it.

Thank you for reading.

Introduction: Clint

Hi, I am Clinton Chia, a Business Administration student at Centria's campus Allegro, Pietarsaari. Originally from Cameroon, I hope to be studying at Chungbuk National University in South Korea throughout the Spring semester of 2019.
Asian economies notably China, Japan and South Korea are pulling great economic strides. I therefore hope during my time there, to be able to learn a few things about the overall business climate and their secret ingredient for such resounding success.

D-I-E Sami Hänninen

D-I-E

1. Describe

I think the most confusing situation during the exchange period was a situation with one group project, when we did not succeed to return a teamwork on time. We had a big project we were working together. We divided the project to parts and everyone had certain part of the project to do. Everything was okay until the deadline day came closer.

During the last night I got information from another team member, that we are not going to get the project done on time and he asked me to send an email to teacher. I did send email, but answer was strict. He said that deadline was deadline, and our group is not going to get any etc from the course. Christmas vacation was starting on the next day, and the reason why we did not finish the project never actually came out. That is still confusing me and it’s a shame, because I really would have needed the etcs.

2. 2. Interpret 

We really had lots of time to finish the group project, so we kind of made the problem with too tight schedule ourselves. We had problems starting teamwork in the beginning, so we postponed that week after week. I had used to be a team leader in the past, so this time I thought that let others lead and I’ll just do my part. I saw problems coming but I did not want to take bigger role, because I wanted to let others lead. 

We had also big cultural differences about how to proceed with the group project. It’s a bit challenging to try to understand each other when your common language is not so fluent with all members of the team. That might cause misunderstandings and so it did. Sometimes we agreed together that how to proceed and next time we met, we did not always understand what everyone had done. However, we finished first part of the group project but the second one we did not.

3.  3. EVALUATE: 

I think that we all saw problems coming but we all had lots of other things to do as well, so nobody was not eager to bring problems to the table. We had few meetings with the teacher about the projects during the semester, but even that did not save us from failing the course. I was very disappointed to myself after I found out that we are not going to finish the project. That course was one of the courses I had really focused at and after that failure, I really had not much to bring home from exchange period. After failing the course it was very challenging to continue studying normally. 

As a student, I could not imagine beforehand how much energy it would take to move to another country and study in different culture. I wish good luck to everyone who is going to an Erasmus student exchange program.

Assignment 1 - Letter home

1. In what country and University are you studying?

Hi, im Sami Hänninen, 28-years old student from Kokkola. I was studying in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. My university was Inholland university of applied sciences. My study program is bachelor of business administration.

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

I am studying business administration in Centria.

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

Courses are a bit different compared to Centria. You are expected to study at your own a lot. In the beginning there was just few hours of lectures per week. That was a bit challenging, when you expected daily lectures. Also studying in groups with different projects was big part of studying.

4. Describe the study culture?

The exchange period is only six months, so the study culture is a bit intensive. Study group contains students from different cultures and that has an influence on studying. Lectures are bit intense but there might be lots of self-study days between lectures. That’s why it is important to study daily even if there is no lectures.

5. What is your study group like?

My study group was great. There were people mainly from western Europe, but also people from for example Brazil and Russia. In the beginning of the exchange period I was a bit nervous if I get any new friends at all, but every exchange student is at the same situation.

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

Netherlands is almost just like Finland, but just less snow. Prices and infrastructure is almost similar. So if you’re going to Netherlands, you’re going to have big culture shock at all. Dutch people are more open-minded than people in Finland and it’s okay to talk to people you don’t know before. I started to play volleyball in two different teams with another exchange student from my group. I think that was the best thing happened to me during the exchange. I saw lots of different cities during the away games we had and met lots of new people. I still have contact with them, from time to time.

7. What has been challenging? Why?

I think the most challenging part is to understand different cultures. When you have to work with people from different cultures, sometimes it’s hard to understand each other. Then you just had to try to explain yourself a bit better and do it number of times if necessary. Working with people from different cultures becomes easier day by day. But in the beginning, it can be challenging, even if you all want the same result. 

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

Highlight of my exchange period was absolutely playing volleyball with two teams. First one was students sport organisation in Erasmus university. Second team was local sports team. Both teams had local Dutch people and players from other countries. That was nice to get to know also local people, not only people from my study group.

D-I-E, Bulgaria

1. DESCRIBE

Throughout our stay in Varna, we had quite many confusing moments when ordering something from restaurants, going to the stores, using public transportation etc. The service was often very rude. By rude I mean that the waiter, for example, would not necessarily reply anything on any language when we ordered. Many times they even rolled their eyes and just looked like we ruined their day by coming in. The taxis wanted to take the benefit of us being foreigners, and tried to get double prices for the rides.


2. INTERPERT

Coming from Finland, we are not even used to having too friendly service. It is quite normal for us that the service is lame, compared to Southern Europe or the U.S. for example. So it really was a surprising to find even less friendly service from Varna. Well, the taxi thing was expected because that happens all over the world in tourist resorts, but I mean everything else was a bit of a surprise.

I believe the rudeness had many times something to do with language barrier. We learned that Bulgarians are very aware of their language skills and shy to use a foreign language, if they don’t feel like they handle that 100%. One reason for the rudeness might also be that they have so many tourists there in the summer season that they get tired of foreigners. Another reason could also be that they would have expected us to greet them in Bulgarian, and thought that we were rude by going straight into talking in English.



3. EVALUATE

Talking to other foreigners in Varna, we found that we truly weren’t the only ones getting bad service. We learned pretty soon that it is not that much personal, so we just ignored the quality of the service and concentrated in the good things, like the good food and good prices. Putting a bit more effort into the interaction ourselves (meaning, greeting in Bulgarian, smiling more), helped sometimes as well. Positive attitude is always a good idea, no matter what – because even if you wouldn’t get better service right there with that extra kindness, it will make you feel better anyway. Of course there were days when it made us really frustrated and even mad to get treated poorly when needing service, but most of the time we didn't take it too seriously.

From the local’s perspective I actually understand getting tired of foreigners. Golden Sands, the tourist resort close to Varna, and Varna itself is a very popular destination among young adults who come to party hard. Working as a waiter, with very low salary, being too buzy and feeling underappreciated, it is surely tiring. The drunken tourists who trash and don’t respect the locals ruin the good service for many decently behaving foreigners too. That’s sad.

To balance the negative, I have to mention that we also had at least as many very good experiences, with very kind and polite service. And even more of that lame kind of ok-service that we also get in Finland. So we cannot say that all service is bad in Varna – but the level of the service surely varies a lot.

 We often visited this beach restaurant because of the decent service, good prices, family friendliness and the location. 

D-I-E Basque Country

1. DESCRIBE: The main challenge when you go abroad for a year is basically a communication issues. What do I mean? I mean that after a first semester you make a lot of good friends and then it is hard to get on well with others. You feel that there are no better people that those you met during the fall semester. I have noticed this issue even at Centria, watching our exchange students.

Using my Polaroid to capture one of the best evenings ever:)

2. INTERPRET: That issue might happen because the new incoming students at the moment of their arrival have a lot of things in common: they have just arrived, and they need to get used to the local environment. They start to explore the environment and facing the challenges together. That really unite them, as it had happened with me during the fall semester. At the same moment, me and other “oldies” had already completed this stage of acknowledgement.    

3. EVALUATE: Speaking about locals regarding this situation, they do not notice the split in the exchange group. They just enjoy getting to know other nationalities and cultures. As for me, I became really picky in terms of choosing people to talk to. I started to notice only negative aspects of people. Moreover, two students from Centria had arrived in Mondragon, so I started to feel more comfortable in my Centria squad. Now, I can give a good piece of advice: never stick to the past.   

Letter Home - Alina Lukina

Before going abroad, I had chosen Spain as my destination. I didn’t care whether it would be a big city or not. Therefore, a year ago I landed in a wonderful place called Basque Country. Here, I would like to highlight the importance of the independence of it from Spain.

The view from my window. Center of Mondragon.

The university I was studying in was private. Moreover, it is an important part of Mondragon Cooperation (a group of local cooperatives). So here we go, the name of this educational institution is Mondragon University.   
At Centria I am studying Business Administration and Management. Therefore, indeed, I have completed a year studying the same program in Mondragon University.

Speaking about the studying process, I did not notice any significant differences. There they believe in the importance of practical knowledge alike Centria and other UAS in Finland. Furthermore, courses were almost the same as in Centria. Nevertheless, the courses were covering some too specific aspects. In comparison, at Centria we have just a broad look at the studying business field. 

During my exchange I was living and studying with other exchange students. Indeed, they were my team mates in all the classes we had. That was great because other students (locals) were not really easy-going. However, I have to say, most of them are truly hardworking and dedicated to studies.  

Besides classes my everyday life was totally awesome! I will never forget this Spanish/Basque custom to drink coffee with your friends, buying freshly baked bread and eating a lot of fruits, vegetables, sea food and meat every day. Everything is just so relaxing. However, I was not bored at all! Even though the town was small we could always find some activities to do: travelling, hiking, sunbathing, swimming, etc.

The only challenge I had was to combine the fun with my studies. The attendance is highly important there. I even needed to drop some courses due to overlaps.

To wrap it up, I should highlight the fact how important is it to make an investigation about a country before going there. The thing that I expected and what I got in the end was totally different. However, I was not disappointed at all! I am very happy with my exchange experience and I wish I could do it again:)

Letter Home - Nguyen Le

1. In what country and University are you studying?
I did my Double Degree Program at Sup de Co, La Rochelle, France

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

3. What are the courses like at the host University?
In France, there is more student per class than in Finland, sometimes it can come up to 120 students in the class.There are courses about major study where we were divided into smaller groups and French class is compulsory for all the exchange students. 

4. Describe the study culture?
I would say the study culture in France is more formal and more tense than in Finland. For exapmle, we had to call the teacher as professor, monsieur or madam with their last names. During the class, no drinks or food are allowed, even coffee or tea, we had to finish before the class. The study pace is super fast, some subjects are finished within only a week (5 days a week, 6-7 hours a day studying only 1 subject) with a lot of homework and assignment, so it was a bit overwhelming and stressful for me at first but by the time, I got used to with it. However, 1 weird thing i found in France that een it was a quite professional and formal environment, the teacher sometimes cancel the class or allow us to go home early because "the weather is so sunny and beautiful today to stay in class".


5. What is your study group like?
We were divided into 2 groups, French-speaking class and English-speaking class and most of my classmates are also exchange students. The class is really international: 50 students come from nearly different 20 countries. We are pretty close to each other, partly because of we are all new to La Rochelle.

6. Please describe what the everyday life is like in your host country? What do you like in particular?
Most of my days went around the university, the supermarket, the beach and home. On the afternoon which we did not have class, me and my friends will go swimming or sunbathing on the beach with a bottle of wine. On every Thursday, we had the student night so everyone went out to the bars and parties. In the weekend, I mostly met with my friends, cooking dinner, chilling on the beach or drive to Ile de Ré (the beautiful island closes to La Rochele). I also spent good time with my host family, they taught me to cook French food and some French language, I taught them to cook Vietnamese food and sometimes we drove to another city to shopping.
I really like the French way of life. Even though sometimes I complained about their laziness and bureaucracy, the French people really know how to enjoy the life: They love good food (dinner can last 3-4 hours), good wine, balance life-work and having fun with friends. I love discovering new things with other exchang students and adpat into the French lifestyle.

7. What has been challenging? Why?
I would say that language is the most challenging thing during my exchange. Not many people in France speak in French, therefore, it is neccessary to learn basic French for the daily tasks like eating out, doing groceries, paying bills, emails, etc. Sometimes, even the teachers had some trouble speaking English and a French student in my class had to translate. 

8. What has been the highlight of your exchange so far?
I think the most highlight during my exchange is the people I met in La Rochelle. Since we are all exchange students, we are quite close with, always try to help each other when in needand we continue to keep this bond after our exchange period. They literally made my Eramus exchange better.
My second highlight is that I can choose my study major in Sup de Co. And I chose 'Luxury Marketing' since I think it's such an interesting opportunity and not many countriy or universitity offerred this major. I had chance to work with many experts in the luxury field in France and I have learned a lot during my exchange.

Letter home - Emilia Syrjälä

LETTER HOME

1. Where are you doing your internship? 

I am doing my internship in Varna, Bulgaria. My internship is divided into three parts; working in three different NGO’s in 3 different fields. The first one offers after school care for children and especially for children with learning problems and special needs. The second one is operating in the field of child protection, offering alternative care for children that need urgent replacement. The third one offers recreational activities for the elderly women.  

The beautiful city of Varna, photographed from our balcony.

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

I am studying social services in Ylivieska.  

 

3. What has your work placement been like? 

Macaroni art with kids at working pracrtice 

My work placement has been everything from confusing and challenging to interesting, rewarding and heart-warming. 

I have had a chance to experience a lot due to working in these three different organizations. It has been interesting to understand how different the field of social services can be within the limits of European Union. Bulgaria is the poorest and most corrupted country in the EU, and the social welfare system is way far from ours. But at the same time, the education of the social sciences seems to be at the same level as it is in Finland, and the educated people that I have met and who work in these non-governmental organizations are usually enthusiastic about changing the country!  

My teacher from the local University has been very active and helpful. She has taken me to conferences and to visit different organizations that provide social services. That has helped me to get a better picture of the current situation here and to understand what kind of knowledge there is despite of the challenges in the society.  

4. What is the corporate culture like? 

All of these three organizations are different when it comes to the corporate culture. In one of the organizations it is very obvious, that the hierarchy is very strict. Over there the atmosphere between the employees is mostly negative and competitive. It seems that no one feels respected and that results in undermining the others. At the same time, in the other organization the corporate culture is mostly pretty social; meaning that there is trust and respect among the workers and between the employees and the workers. They openly discuss about problems and there is room for innovative thinking as well. The workers as well as the employees pay high attention to keeping the working atmosphere good and warm.  

 5. What is your study group like?  

I don’t attend a study group on a regular basis, but have had the chance to meet some Bulgarian students of social services a couple times, which has been great. They have been nice to me, offering their help.  

 

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

Everyday life in Bulgaria seems to be pretty easy-going. Well, at least our life in Bulgaria is easy-going compared to our life in Finland. After I come home from working practice, we go either to the beach, amusement park or to the playground with the kids. Eating in the restaurants is affordable, so we don’t even have to cook so much at home. We walk a lot, exploring the neighborhoods and I guess that is what keeps us so happy here.  

Compared to Kokkola, the public transportation also runs well over here. So, it is easy to survive without a car.  We have also enjoyed living close to an open market area, where we can buy fresh vegetables and fruit.  

And, of course I’ve got to mention the weather, because it’s just perfect. We all are glad that we could escape from snowy Finland to this nice, promising spring weather.  

 

7. What has been challenging? Why?   

It was quite challenging to get everything organized before our departure. We moved to my parents’ a month before, so that we could get our house rented. And then there was that packing for the four of us, getting vaccinations, finding a suitable family apartment from Varna, me trying to finish some school assignments, Joonas working and driving 160 km every day for work... Yup, that was a lot.  

During the exchange, the challenges have been among communication in the working practice and generally just seeing and understanding the level of poverty in which so many Bulgarians live. The poverty is visible everywhere, and it is saddening to see how it effects everything from the birth of the child till the end of one’s life, as well as the environment.  

 The sad side of Varna

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

There are so many highlights, but I guess the brightest one is simply the very nicely balanced and smooth everyday life that we get to live here and to see how the kids enjoy spending time with their dad and to get to do things together as family so much more than usually.  We have also had the chance to travel a little around Bulgaria, which has been great

From the internship itself, I want to mention a couple great moments. One was when I got to plan and accomplish an English class for the older women together with American volunteers as well as with my mother in law (who was visiting at that time). It was good team work, and so lovely to see that the ladies really enjoyed having us there.  

Another good one was when I finally found a way to reach connection with some of the teenagers in the child protection organization. I had been told that they wouldn’t want to participate in any kind of activity, and it was a difficult task for me to “sell” the idea of participation to them, since we didn’t have any common language. But I wanted to try, and when it finally worked, it was worth it. Having those rebellious teenagers all excited about foot massage or painting the sidewalks with chalk paint, instead of just watching horror movies the whole day, made me truly happy.