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 - Susanna Leppänen

Being as an Erasmus student on summer semester 2018.

1. In what country and University are you studying?
I was in Czech Republic, Pilsen (Plzeň) in University of West Bohemia.

2. In what Study program are you studying at Centria?
Business Administration in Finnish.

3. What are the courses like at the host University?
I was studying at faculty of economics. I took courses mostly about marketing. 
A habit of way teaching was sometimes quiet boring. Some courses was lectures so only listening and looking at the board where was PowerPoint. I had two courses where professors were asking many questions, I like it but I didnt want to be involved in conversations because something always happened in lessons and I totally forgot how to speak English. 😁

4. Describe the study culture? / What is the corporate culture like?
I think czech people are very dedicated to study. I didn't meet many Czech people at classes because many czech students hadn't take courses in English. I met some Czech girls and guys and they are very shy about speaking English. Otherwise, I think Czech people are pretty similar with Finnish people. Like we do have our personal spaces. We don't hug people when we meet at the first time. But I did this to my buddy (tutor) because I thought it's polite but she was surprised. 

In markets and shops it depends how they act. In markets i got first hey from the cashier, but of course they spoke to my in Czech. I started to say greetings in Czech and I was able to answer for the questions yes or no. Czech is so hard! 😅

5. What is your study group like?
We had a very multicultural Group. From Europe and Asia. I think there was around 100 Exchange students, part of winter semester and we new students for the summer semester. There was 5 students from Finland included me. Two from Turku and two from Oulu.

I recommended to go for abroad not with the friend. You'll have change to get more friends and you are not hanging out only with your friend there. Unfortunately there was people who came with friend(s) and they were only groups and barely i saw them.

6. Please describe what the everyday life is like in your host country? What do you like in particular?
I had three days of week lessons (from monday to wednesday). So my weekends started much earlier. Everything was close in Pilsen. Public transportation was easy to use. Tramstation and bus stops were next to our dormitory. We had a pub next to our dormitory, so we were there every monday. playing table soccer, talking and drinking. There was ESN Pilsen = Erasmus Student Network, which organized to use some events for example trip to Prague and bowling, and events which I liked the most was Culture Evening. Winter wasn't long in Czech Republic so after snow and temperature gets more warmer, we went to park which was also next to dormitory. Borsky park is so big and there is so much Place to play soccer, baseball and frisbee and much more. We also did picnics.

Cathedral of St. Bartholomew

In Pilsen

Okay this sounds I havent studied there. But yes, I studied there and i spent so many hours with my laptop just doing assignments. We had Group tasks almost in every course so we needed to meet at library and do presentations and seminar papers. 

7. What has been challenging? Why? 
During  the whole exhange the difficulties was the Czech launguage itself. In the capital city, Prague, everyone speaks English there but when you are going to another city or town, they hardly speaks English. This situation made many things harder. Only in restaurants they spoke English but it was also struggeling sometimes. Professors spoke very good English except for a few. Anyway we always survived somehow. Luckily I had my own buddy like a tutor who helped me with everything what I asked. 

Sitter in the dormitory didn't speak english if you wanted to wash the laundy, I needed to use a google translator or to ask my roommate for help me with the Czech part. Sometimes sitters were angry at me because I didn't understand Czech and they didn't understand English. 

8. What has been the highlight of your exchange so far?
The highlight in my Exchange period was to have so many friends from so many countries. I got also two best friends from there. I haven't been this glad ever. You get to know them and their culture which was one of my wishes to have in abroad. 

Letter Home - Arthur Maya

1. In what country and University are you studying?

- The polytechnic university of Mondragon in Spain, or as the basques call it: "Mondragon Goi Eskola Politeknikoa".

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

- I'm currently an IT Engineering student at Centria.

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

- I'd say that the courses are quite standard in terms of the way they are planned to be and the way the teachers execute their learning. They are presential, and do not require the need of books as an obligatory back-up, although it i recommended to attend the library or use some sources from the internet to complement.

4. Describe the study culture?

- The study culture is a little bit more strict than in Finland. Students are expected to be not more than 5 minutes past the class starting time, and assist every day to class although they are quite flexible when something has popped up and you can't go to class.

Specifically at the Engineering department in Mondragon, mostly computers are used, with some slight use of notebooks and sheets of paper for note taking and paper excercises.

Exams are on Paper, usually, but sometimes, depending on the course that you're taking, use of computers is required.

Student life is very visible in the Basque country, as it is the young people, students, who are out in the streets living the student's life mostly.

5. What is your study group like?

- My study group, and all of them in this case, is a very closed one. Even though it was the Engineering campus, the "engineering is for men" stereotype was not visible at all. It was quite mixed in terms of the students.

They are pretty quiet and calm, although there are some moments when the energy in the atmosphere spikes. They are quite educated as well.

I can say that in general terms, students here are good (including my own study group).

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

Everyday life here in the Basque Country, is quite different to that of the rest of Spain. Although most of Spain is different in these terms, the Basque Country is special.

Although everyday life is similar the that of the rest of Spain, there are many things and details that are unique.

The scenery is very beautiful. Rolling green hills, miles and miles of pristine coastline, snow-capped mountains, lush valleys, lakes, rivers, forests… It really is beautiful!

Here they have what they call "Txikiteo" which is bar hopping for Pintxos and sips of wine. Pintxos consist of small slices of bread on which an ingredient or mixture of ingredients is placed and fastened with a toothpick, which gives the food its name "pincho", in Spanish, meaning "spike.".

La Kontxa Beach - Donostia / San Sebastian

7. What has been challenging? Why?

- I'd say that the most challenging part of my exchange, was the language. Even though Spanish is one of my mother tongues, The accent in Spain, is very different. Sentences are phrased in different structures, different conjugations are used, and more. But not only that! In the Basque Country, and in Mondragon specifically, people most usually speak Basque, which is the official language, and yes, It is very hard to adapt around it.

The second most challenging thing was the classroom itself. The teachers and the students usually speak in Basque between themselves. The classes were in Spanish, but when someone asked the teacher a question , they'd usually do it in Basque. This made it hard to socialize with everyone. People there also are pretty closed between themselves and can get quite exclusive.

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

I'd say that, I am not able to highlight any moments of my exchange. Every part of it was a highlight. But if i would have to highlight something, I believe I'd say that the friends I made.

I got to meet people from all parts of the world. This helped me open my mind and grab a different perspective of the world. I killed stereotypes, and confirmed others.