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. 

D-I-E Czech Republic

D-I-E, Susanna Leppänen, Czech Republic

1. Describe

Source: 

http://in-control.entriforccm.eu/chapters/chapter-4/addressing-language-barrier/

In Czech Republic people outside of Prague don't speak English. Tourists is the reason why they need to speak English there. In city where I lived, you didn't see tourists, only Exchange students.
People in markets and shops don't speak English. Only younger people do but they are feeling shy about it. 

This was first experience about intercultural communication which came in my mind.

I was in market with my friends and I took fruits and i tried to weight them but there was some problem in machine. I tried to ask help from the salesperson but he said something in Czech and I was looking at him so with surprise face. He suddenly got angry to me and my friends who knows little bit czech told me "he is angry because you can't speak his language."
I didn't know how  to react so saler saw from my face i get little  bit sad and he came to me and tried to ask do i speak german. I said sorry I dont speak. Likewise he tried to fix it how he act to me.

2. Interpret

I noticed in Czech Republic older people don't like when people are not speaking their language. I think older people dont want to talk in foreign language. It depends on people, but they can be nice but also very rude. Customer Service was at times bad because they couldn't help us in English and sometimes it felt they don't want to help. 

3. Evaluate

After thinking this situation, I am not feeling bad at it. I know it's hard to help when you don't know the language and I'm happy about the salesperson. He anyway tried to fix the situation. After this happeningn probably not many people are not trying to fix.