Introduction of Niko Metsälä

Hello.

My name is Niko Metsälä and I'm studying in Centria University of Applied Sciences , Kokkola. This is my third year of business studies and I am oriented to financial management.  I'm going to study abroad to Inholland University of Applied Sciences Rotterdam for the next spring semester. The semester starts there in 31th of January and ends on 5th of June. I'm allready waiting to going there, and get to meet amazing persons there. I hope that my spring semester will go as well as this fall semester. I hope that the blog I wrote in exchange for the text explains how profitable it is to go for an exchange to study if you have a opportunity to go.

Best regards
Niko Metsälä

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.