Letter home

I study Environmental Chemistry and Technology at Centria and I spent the autumn semester studying in Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen, Netherlands. The program I joined was project intensive, with 22 out of 30 credits dedicated to project work. The project work involved a lot of independent work though we also had a project coach that we could consult if we got stuck. The project work was quite similar to the ones we have at Centria so we had to write a project report, had a mid-term and end-term presentation and we had to make and present a poster. I only had two theoretical courses and I found them tough but at the same time interesting.

I spent the majority of my studies mainly with my project group members. My group members were diverse and so it happened often that we clashed because of different cultures and different work ethics but in the end we had a successful project. I find the study culture in Netherlands similar to Finland in that the teachers encourage and expect independent study. The teachers are also on a first name basis and are very approachable.

For me, everyday life involved about 6km bike ride from my hosts home to school (if I happened to have a class or group meeting). I often enjoyed these bike rides except when it rained (which it did a lot). The Hanze campus is merged with the University of Groningen's so there are many buildings in that area. After my class or project work, I would then head home or to the shops. The ESN (Erasmus Student Network) also organized many activities so I participated in many of these during the week as well as the weekend.

The most challenging me for me was the courses which I found quite tough. Most of it was new to me so I had to study quite a lot independently. However, the highlight of my studies was meeting so many interesting people. Groningen is a student city with up to 20 000 students so I ended up meeting people from all walk's of life.