Moikka - Kuku sinä on?

Moikka - Kuku sinä on?

Moikka!

My name is Nora and I am from Switzerland. I am 22 years old. Currently, I am doing an exchange semester in Turku, in the southern part of Finland.
I am studying Social Services at the University of Applied Sciences in the faculty of Health and Well-being. At my home university I am attending the university of Teacher Education. My focus is to become a primary teacher.

I enrolled for the courses Get Finternational, Finnish for Exchange Students, Cultural Experiences, Client-Oriented Social and Health Services, Multicultural & community work and I am also doing a practical training in client work, more precisely in the primary school called Luostarivuoren koulun Martin yksikkö.

During my stay abroad in Turku I will tell you more about the differences between Switzerland and Finland, my experiences and the most important things to know. 

I hope you will enjoy reading my blog!

New Year, new home

New Year, new home

Right after New Year’s Eve I had to take my flight from Switzerland to Turku. It was a hard goodbye. So I came to Turku the 1^st of January 2020. 

I had a stopover in Amsterdam for three hours and had another flight from there to Helsinki. By train I went from Helsinki to Turku. The journey took me around 14 hours. I was glad that another girl from my home university also came to Turku to study for the spring term so we could do the journey together.

The first night we shared a cosy Airbnb in Turku because we couldn't move into our student housing because of an official holiday in Finland. We haven't got a long rest because the next day the orientation day already has started in the early morning. 

The first two to three weeks were really busy and challenging. I had to organize a lot of different things like the bus card, membership for the gym, the schedule for university and also my practical training place and move to my apartment in Student Village. 

The most difficult part was actually to get the information from my university in Turku about my courses. At the moment I have arrived in Turku till the end of January I haven't got any information about the courses, like at what day they or on what time they will be. It made it really difficult to schedule my stay here. I also felt kind of disappointed because I arrived so early and all the courses started around one to two months later. 

I had a lot of time to finish tasks for my home university, exploring the city, get to know new people and for doing a few trips which was also nice. But if you are also study at the University of Applied Sciences in Turku, I would recommend to move to Turku not that early and just skip the orientation days. There were a few information but you can also get it on another way. 

The first month I also needed to get familiar with the city and everything. In the early beginning of February I felt like I finally had arrived in Turku and my new home.

Turku - Åbo

Turku - Åbo

Turku is located in the region of Southwest Finland next to the Baltic Sea. It's a popular city to live and study. Approximately 20% of Turku's residents are students. Around 184'000 residents are living in Turku. 

You can go almost everywhere in Turku by foot or bike. In the beautiful city you can find plenty of restaurants, shops, bars, historical attractions and other free time activities. Around Turku you can explore the famous Finish Saunas and an incredible nature for example the Archipelago.

In Turku there are four different university: University of Turku, Åbo Akademy University, Turku University of Applied Sciences and Novia University of Applied Science. All the campuses are located near city center. In Turku are studying more than 40'000 higher education students and over 4'000 international degree students or exchange students every year. 

Before 1919 today's Finland belonged to Sweden and Russia. Turku was Swedish territory. That is the reason for the Swedish speaking residents in Turku. Nowadays, 5.2% of Turku's residents speak Swedish as their mother tongue. The city is called Åbo in Swedish and Turku in Finish. A lot of shops, signs and other things are written in Swedish.

Housing Opportunities in Turku

Housing Opportunities in Turku

There are two different Housing options in Turku for exchange students: Retrodorm and The Student Village Foundation of Turku (TYS). In TYS you can also choose between a Shared apartment in Iltakajo (which is located around 6km away from the city center of Turku but not far away from a beautiful lake and nature) or Small studio apartment with shared kitchen (you will share it with 10 habitants in your floor) in the Student Village West. I decided to live in my own small studio apartment with shared kitchen. All those information you can find on the website from TUAS (https://www.tuas.fi/en/study-tuas/exchange-students/accommodation/).
For getting a housing offer you can create an account and sign in at the TYS platform (https://asukassivusto.tys.fi/en/login/?url=%2fen%2fdefault.aspx). After you have except the housing offer you will get an apartment there. 

In Student Village West, in Finnish Turun Ylioppilaskyläsäätiö, are living a lot of young people. Mostly, they are students. Some residential blocks do have their own Sauna. Inhabitants can use it 4 times per moths for free. There are also 3 laundries in different houses. But unfortunately, there is always a lack of laundries. You should book it one week in advance. 

Suchergebnisse

Webergebnis mit Sitelink

Living in a new culture

Living in a new culture

I used to travel quite a lot and already saw different countries as well as cultures. Finland is in Europe as well as Switzerland, so there is not a really big difference between it. But the culture is still a bit different. 

The thing which I miss the most here is the way people say hello. In Switzerland we use to give a hug or a kiss and here you aren’t that close to each other. It is something which makes a distance between people. The people in Finland are kind of cold and they show not so many emotions. For me that’s a big difference and I kind of miss it sometimes. 

Also it’s hard to get in contact with other people because Fins are shy and don’t start to make a conversation. On the other side the life here is so much more relaxed. It seems that people are not so much in a hurry and they are just enjoying what they have.

Living costs in Turku

Living costs in Turku 

The living costs in Turku are less than in Switzerland. The monthly rent for my apartment is EUR 358.55. Groceries are cheaper than in Switzerland, but alcohol is more expensive. The cheapest bottle of wine is around EUR 10.- and beer is the same price compared to my home country. 

For grocery shopping I spent around € 260.- each month. The investments for my apartment's decoration as well as cleaning equipment were around € 160.- in total. The monthly card for the public transport "Föli" costs € 40.-. 

Expectations vs reality

Expectations vs reality

At that time, I picked Turku as a destination to study I didn’t notice that here are no mountains. I imagine my exchange semester like this:

I can go skiing and snowboarding every day or at least do cross country ski. I have also heart that it’s possible to do ice skating on the frozen river. When I arrived here I saw no mountains and there was also no snow! People told me that it’s an exception that they do not have any snow this winter and the temperatures are so high (it’s was still cold but not under 0 degrees). 

I also made a trip to Lapland of course as all the exchange students do here. I wanted to see the Northern Lights. I didn’t know as well that it is so hard to catch them. There are not visible every day and the sky has to be clear to see it. In addition, you can’t see them when there is too much light for example from a city or street lights. When there is a clear night you have to know that the temperatures are increasing a lot as well. So I was searching for the Northern Lights by walking during the night for more than two hours and the temperature was minus 25 degrees. It wasn’t that easy to see them as it seems.

Wanhat

Wanhat

On this special day in February, all the second graders celebrate that they are the oldest of the university because the third graders already had the long holidays for studying for their final exams. During the weeks before Wanhat all the second graders have learnt a lot of traditional dances in gymnastics with their teachers.

On Wanhat, all the students show the old fashioned dances in front of the other students, parents, teachers and other guests. All the girls are dressed up really nice. They wear beautiful dresses and make up as well their hair is made perfectly. Also the boys are all wearing tails. 

The dance choreography is being danced for almost one hour. It is a very big event for everyone and in my opinion a very special Finnish tradition.

Naantali

Naantali

One of the most beautiful town in Turku area is Naantali. You can reach it by bus. The bus leaves in front of the library in Turku center to Naantali more than one time an hour. You can use your normal Föli ticket to get there without paying an additional fee.

I went to Naantali with other exchange students from my university. Naantali is famous for its Moomin-world. This is an island next to the town on which the houses from the well-known Moomin characters are built. It is also a museum. I recommend to visit Moomin-world in spring or summer.  

During wintertime there is a trail where you can go ice skating on the frozen sea. Rental services provides skates for little money. 

This area is also very nice do a long hike along the little islands you can find there.

Cultural exercise routes Turku

Cultural exercise routes Turku

The culture and sports department of Turku provides 8 different routs through Turku. On the map you will also learn new things about Turku by reading the explanation of every location on its route.

You can find the maps for it at the library of Turku or download it here: https://www.turku.fi/en/culture-and-sports/culture/cultural-exercise-routes

I really recommend this Cultural Exercise Routes to everyone who wants to explore Turku. I stayed in Turku for 2.5 month and I even explored new places by following this route. The information which are written next to the maps explain a lot about the history and other things and it’s really interesting. 

Basics of Finnish design

Basics of Finnish design

There are two simple things to remember about Scandinavian design: There are a lot of Finnish designer who stay for simple but amazing design. The Scandinavians designers use to say: “Buy something and keep it forever.”

Alvar Aalto is a well-known Finnish architect and designer. Aalto means wave in English. He loved to create wavy things.  Alvar designed Finnlandia house in Helsinki which is located next to the train station. He loved constructions in the color white. They have to repaint the buildings in white a lot. Alvar Aalto also designed all the furniture and glassworks like lamps which were inside of his constructions.

In Helsinki there is also a stone church. It is famous for the acoustic and light. It is built into a hill. The light is changing every time, it depends on the daytime as well as season. It's worth it for a visit for sure.

Eroa Saarinen designed the Flight Center in NYC. Nowadays, inside of it is a luxury hotel. Furthermore, he designed Gateway Arch which is located in St Louis. You can reach the top of it with an elevator. 

The library in Tampere was designed by Reima Pietilä. It is a very special building because it doesn’t have any corners. I already visited this library but in my opinion it wasn’t that special.

Armi Ratia was the founder and manager of Marimekko. She was a very clever business lady and a very famous person in Finland. She is also well-known in Japan. A fun fact is that the airplane which fly from Finland to Japan has also the brands’ famous flowers on it.

The brands’ idea was to bring brightness and equality to the world. After the war everything was dark. With those colorful flowers on the designs she wanted to change it. Also, the equality was very important to her. Marimekko’s cloths are designed for everybody. It doesn’t differ the gender.

Oiva Toikka is famous for his birds made of glass. Those birds are quite expensive and getting even more expensive because Oiva Toikka won’t be able to do new hand-blown birds because he passed away last year. He told his secret how to make these birds just 10 glass blowers in the world. That’s the reason why the market of his glass birds is so small. I’ve also learnt that glass is made of sand. It is quite hard to find sand in those colors he made those birds.

I like Tapio Wirkkala. He is the designer of the old currency of Finland as well of a vodka bottle. Money and Vodka are very important to mostly everyone. He designed an everyday bottle which suits in your pocket. 

Fiskars is a small town not far away of Turku. This brand is producing orange scissors. The shape of handle is perfect made for everyone. The story behind the color was that they just had orange plastic in their factory. Furthermore, it was so easy to find it in a store because of their bright color. 

Angry birds were lanced by Rovio. Those birds were designed by Jako Isolo. 

Tove Jansson draw the Moomins. Some people think she was Swedish but actually she was Finnish. Tove also draw oil paintings and did other works but everyone is just remembering her about the Moomin.

Timo Sarpaneva designed famous Glöög glasses with the waste of zips. It is a very good and also ecological idea. 

Lapland

Lapland 

As Dalai Lama once already said, happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions. The one-week trip to Lapland taught me this lesson; I got so many different feelings during this week such as grinned like a Cheshire cat, overwhelmed with emotions, excited, bubbled over with laughter and I was just happy. At the same time, I got annoyed, tired, sleepless and sick. It was a big rollercoaster.

My bag pack brimmed with homemade sandwiches, cookies, cucumber, tomato and a thermos flask the journey has started. By “Onnio-Bus” my friend and I enjoyed the calm ride through the breathtaking scenery from Turku’s area to Helsinki.

Two coffees, a Chai tea latte, some hours spending in a fancy shopping center and new knowledge about Italian’s food and places the journey finally continued. A white “Lentimäki” coach headed to Levi with many curious and sleepless travelers. The day has passed, and a new day has come. With it a couple of turbulent sleep and some more coffee breaks at the gas stations. I woke up in a snow surrounded ambiance and found myself at the magical “Santa Clause Village” in Rovaniemi. As every good tourist I made the experience to cross the Arctic circle while listening to Christmas songs.  

After a 22h bus ride to the deep north of Finland the bus finally reached our target. A cozy cottage with a fireplace, beers and lovely company awaited us. The four days I got in Lapland were scheduled pretty tight. The first day in Levi I did everything to check a lot of bullets on my bucket list:

I arranged the superior for alpine equipment which included a pair of boots, a helmet and fancy snowboard. As early birds always are, I was the first on the slopes. More than one meter of snow, ice cold wind, wearing five layers of cloths, 15 degree under zero and a little bit of sun made the adventure on the 43 slopes at Levi ski resort unforgettable. Catching some powder snow behind the slopes and watching the amazing landscape of Lapland – that was one moment I will always remember as this perfect moment in life.

After six hours of Snowboarding I found myself sitting in a sledge pulled by a crazy reindeer. At this point I want to share; reindeer are small, half-wildlife and insane animals which got ways too large feeds for their size.

To finish my almost perfect day as an absolute perfect day, I ignored the temperature which was 25 degree under zero and went out again to catch some Northern lights. I was told that the perfect spot to see it it’s the frozen lake next to Levi. Armed with the flashlight of my Phone, we walked around for hours and nothing happened. I almost quit any hopes to see them and this was the moment the sky begun to turn into green. The day finally turned into one the best days in my whole life!

The rest of the week was loaded with other different activities; taking a dip in the Arctic Ocean in Norway, eating waffles and reindeer burgers, buying souvenirs, take a walk through the wilderness around Levi and a making husky safari.  

I’m sure I could create my own happiness there and I will never forget this week in the pure winter wonderland in Lapland, above the Arctic circle.

Campus Sports

Campus Sports

To keep me healthy and active I got the membership from Turku university’s gym the first day I arrived. Especially during wintertime in Scandinavian with those short days it’s hard to do something else than sleeping or watching Netflix..  The membership cost 44€ for the whole semester. There is a small additional fee (8€) for the key tag which you need to get into the gym. You can use it from January till April during the spring term. The gyms are open every weekday from 6-7am till 10-11pm and on weekends the open a little bit later. There are five different gyms where you can different equipment to do exercise. My favorite gym is ASA gym because it’s bigger than this one in Educuarim and just a few minutes apart from Student Village, where I live. Sometimes the gym is crowded. But one thing I’ve noticed is that Finn prefer to go jogging outside instead of using the equipment from the gym even it is very cold outside.  Moreover, they provide almost 100 hours of instructed sports classes weekly and over 20 hours ball sports shifts. You are able to reserve the classes online a week before it take place. 70% of available places in each class can be pre-reserved and 30% are available on a first com, first served basis. I wanted to try every course they offer to us. I like Pump, bubble football and Twerk the most. Pump is really intense and in a big group (around 50 people). Bubble football is so much fun, it’s always about to push others and not about the ball or the win. The twerk class is quite difficult (well, I’m a bad dancer but anyway). The sports classes are a good chance to get to know new people as well. Furthermore, you do something good for your body! So I would recommend to get the membership to anyone which is staying in Turku for a longer time. It’s definitely worth the money.

Pikkulaskiainen

Pikkulaskiainen

After a long winter, the big day finally arrived. In front of Heidi's bierbar there was a little spot with artificial snow for the Pikkulaskiainen race. Because of the lousy winter, there was no snow in Turku at this time of the year. I definitely had the great festival feeling; the sun was shining, the face coloring was on point, music, beer and good friends. People from all over Finland, mostly students, travelled to Turku to see the famous race in Turku. The race isn't all about who arrives first the target line, it's more about how the participants are dressed and performing with their sleds. All the sledges are self made. The themes of it are different and it's about the creativity of each team. Unfortunately, my friends and I did't get a spot to participate the race itself. You have to apply for a spot for the race. Even the tickets for the event are rare. To get the tickets my friends and I were standing in a queue on a rainy and cold morning in January. It's a very popular event.

At 2 pm the event has finally started. There were a already a lot of people. The first sledge went down the slope and it crashed the blockade really hard. I realized that it is kind of dangerous to do it. But also fun. The ambiance was very enjoyable and fun. A jury voted the teams. After the race itself a famous Finnish singer had a concert at the market place. At this time, the patch collecting in Turku's bars and restaurants also has started.

Around 12 pm the afterparties in Turku's clubs opened their doors. I had one of my best parties there with an amazing DJ. It was an amazing experience.

Official Aftermovie 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8g_A4s7DtY

Winter in Turku

Winter in Turku

Scandinavian countries are famous for its long, dark and cold winter. So was the Finnish winter supposed to be. But actually, it was much more pleasing that I expected. When I arrived in Finnland in January it was a big difference for me, of course. The sunrise was in the late morning, around 9.30 am and the sunset was around 3 pm. This was a really big change in my daily life for the beginning. I felt tied a lot and the days felt really short as well. At 6 pm I was already totally tired.

But all the things I had to organize and in general to settle in let me be active and I did quite good with not being that tired I guess. In addition, I did a lot of sports. The day I arrived I bought a membership for the university's gym (campus sports) and went there almost every day. For me it was really helpful to stay fit and do something, than otherwise I would just sleep because of the dark.

Unfortunately, the winter was also not that cold than expect and we just had 3 days of snow during my exchange period in Turku. Locals told me that usually the whole Aurora river is frozen during winter and you can do ice skating on the river. In winter 2020 it was impossible. But it also had it's bright sides: I could go everywhere and anytime by bike and make a lot of hikes because there was no snow.

The colors of Turku

The colors of Turku

Going out and wearing an overall. I would never had imagined that I will also be dressed up and with an overall for a party once in my life. But I did.

There is this very famous tradition in Finland to wear an overall to party. Students gets a patch every time when they attend a special party or event such as a pub crawl. You can also buy the patches in tourist office (headline is “kiss my Turku”), souvenir shops or student unions. You sewed the patch you got on the overall, so the more patches on the overall, the more parties you participated in, which is so cool.

Something unique about it is that every degree at university gets another color. Because of it you can always recognize that someone is studying by the color of the overall. Sometimes you also see a two-color overall. This is self-made fashion by couples. They are cutting their overall into half, exchange one half and stick it together again.

A really big benefit of wearing an overall when going out is that it keeps you warm during the cold Finnish winter. It is also waterproof which is very useful if someone’s drink spills out on you. Besides, the overall has huge pockets in which you easily place your bottle of vodka, wallet and other things.

I like this tradition very much and it makes me think that Finns are very creative.

Sauna

Sauna

The Sauna is invented by the Finns a long time ago. It is really important in their lives. Finns use to go to the Sauna minimum twice a week. In almost every house you will also find a Sauna, even in a holiday cottage or a rental house. Here are a few facts about the Finnish Saunas:

1. Sauna is good for everybody. Only newborn and persons with serious illnesses as open wounds or heart problems shouldn't go to a Sauna.

2. The Sauna is a place for cleaning your body and your soul. Take time for yourself and just enjoy the Sauna.

3. An invite to a Sauna is an honor. Through a common visit to a Sauna you will get a special connection.

4. Colorful lights, aromatic scents and relaxing music has nothing to do with a Finnish Sauna. Real Finnish Sauna don't have a lot of lights nor music. Finns don't use aromatic scents, they just use fresh birch wood for a good smell.

5. There are two different types of public Saunas. There is one mixed Sauna in which you also have to wear your bikinis and another one in which you are naked. In this one the genders are separated from each other. So, before you go to a particular Sauna inform yourself about their rules first.

 6. "Vasta" is a bundle of fresh birch twigs which you can use to gently beat yourself. This sounds strange, but it's very good for your skin. Your skin will becomes smooth and soft.

7. You will sweat a lot in the Finnish Saunas, especially in the public Saunas. Finns will put water on the stove like every third second. Because of it the temperature is really high. If you don't like it that hot you should place yourself on a lower bench or far away from the stove.

8. After the Sauna terms you should drink plenty. Water is probably the best, but Finns prefer to drink beer and cider. I experience that Finns also love to eat frying sausages in aluminium foil directly on the stove or over an open fire while using the Sauna.

Turku City Library

Turku City Library

The Turku City Library is a place to be. A lot of students are meeting, studying and working there. Older people meet there to read the daily newspaper. You can find retiree reading the newspaper there any time of the day. The newspaper are provided to read for free.

There is also a little caffe where you can grab a tea or snack inside of the library. The library got almost every genre of books. As a student you can get a membership for free. You have to register at the front desk. It's also possible to lend instruments.

I think the library provide a great service to all the inhabitants of Turku and it's also a very nice place to study. I definitely recommend this place to every student in Turku.

Timetravels

Timetravels

If you want to travel around during your stay in Finland, you should definitely know the travel agency called "Timetravels". It is a company which provides the cheapest trips for students in Finland as well trips to the surrounded countries like Iceland, Russia or Sweden.

There are different destinations as well activities which you can book through Timetravels. For a trip there is always the basic price for the trip which include mostly just the transport to the location and an accommodation. You can add activities to the basic trip for example a visit on a Husky farm in Lapland. For this extra activities you have to pay an additional fee. The costs for a trip depends on the activities you choose. You are also able to organize your own activities, so you don't have to book any of it.

You will always travel in a big group (there are mostly more than one coach which is driving to one location). The accommodations are mostly also shared apartments. It's possible to book the trips for groups.

I went to Lapland by Timetravels and it was an amazing trip. It was totally worth is for its money and I will remember this experience forever. I totally recommend it.

Northern Lights

Northern Lights

The Northern Lights are also known as the "Aurora". Usually you can see the Northern Lights between the months September to March in Scandinavian. They are not visible every day and the sky has to be clear to see it. In this weather conditions, the temperature always drop a lot as well. I didn't know that it is so hard to catch them. I imagined that as soon you stay in a Nordic country you are able to see the Northern Lights. The truth hit my hard; In Turku there were no Northern Lights at all. I was told that you can see it from time to time also in Turku but it's very rare. 

The chance to see it in Lapland is much higher because it's located more in the north. I stayed in Levi (Lapland) for almost one week. Every  clear night I went outside, the temperature was always around minus 25 degrees during the night, to try to catch the Northern Lights. You have to stay at a dark spot to see them, there should be no artificial light. There are more comfortable things to do than staying in this cold and waiting for some Aurora. I recommend to wear that many layers you can wear to keep yourself warm more or less. 

Finally I had the chance to see it one in my lifetime; I stayed on a frozen lake and waited for more than half an hour. Suddenly, there were kind of clouds on the sky visible. After a few minutes this clouds turned into green lines - the Aurora. The Northern Lights stayed at the sky for around 30 seconds or even some minutes and then they were gone again. After some minutes new clouds were on the sky and another Northern Light was visible. I was also able to hear them. Yes, it's true, sometimes you can also hear the Northern Lights. It sounded like the cracking noise of a fireplace. It was just magical!

University of Applied Science

University of Applied Science - TUAS

My host institution is the university of Applied Science (TUAS) in Turku where I am studding Social Services. The name in Finnish is "Turun ammattikorkeakoulu". Back home I am studying Teaching Education. There are no courses for Teaching Education at TUAS. I felt lucky because I got a practical training place at a middle school in Turku. The organization and the information I got from my host university were bad. On the first and second January there were two orientation days which I attended. After these two days I haven’t got any courses till the end of January. To get this information I had to write a lot of e-mails with different teachers, supervisors and coordinators. It seemed that nobody knows when the courses will start for exchange students. Finish students got the information about their courses very late as well. For me it was completely complicated, and I was used to get information about courses at least one month in advance.

There is an App designed by TUAS which is called "TUUDO". You will hear this name a lot from all the teachers. All the teachers would say you can find everything on TUUDO. For me it was not that necessary to use it. One big benefit of this App is that you can find a map with all the rooms for studying and this makes it much easier to find everything.

In addition, I had a lot of online courses which was great because I could manage by myself when I want to do something for it. On the other hand, it was very hard to meet any new people at university. I had just two classes which I had to attend; the Finnish course and Community work. This course was a course from the social services degree. So, this was totally not my field and I didn't had any knowledge about social services which makes it difficult to follow the classes.

My beloved bike

My beloved bike

Right after my arrival I was looking for a bike. I am a passionate biker and wanted to do a bike tour along the Archipelagos around Turku in spring. So, I found a "bike dealer" on Facebook who was very cooperative.
The bike cost only € 40.- and it has three gears. It was an old white lady bike and perfect for Turku. Everywhere I went, I went by bike. I recommend to ride around with a bike and you can explore so many spots with it.
If there is no snow you even don't have to use the bus. You are so much faster to go somewhere by bike because of the bus route, the bus always needs more time. By bike you can reach the city from student village within 10 minutes. Whereas, by bus you need around 20 minutes.
During winter time the cycle tracks are always in a very good condition; the frozen and snowy paving is treated with salt and little stones which makes it easy to ride on it.

Tip culture in Finland

Tip culture in Finland

In Finnish restaurants you don't have to pay a tip. It is not common to do it at all. Finnish students often go to the students restaurants and if they go to a non-discount restaurant it is something big. During lunchtime you can find cheap meals in the restaurants in Turku. Mostly, you can choose between three different meals and they cost only around € 10.-. After 4 pm you can order from the menu card and it's the time the price for the meals also are higher. There are also no "real" waitresses in Finland. You have to order and pay at the bar and they will just serve your food. Free water is always provided for you and it's not rude not to order something to drink if you eat something. I really like this concept. Eating at the restaurants in Turku was always a really good experience.

Turku's honeymoon is over

It has been a month since I came to Turku. I just realize how time flies and I want to spend every hour here meaningfully.
At the first beginning, I was totally unadjusted to everything here. I did not know how to buy basic stuff, how to communicate to others neither how to get a bus. But gradually, I'm getting used to the life here day by day. I like the way Finnish people say "Moi" or "Moikka" and "Kiitos" to me everyday. I also know now how to get a bus to everywhere I want to go. Furthermore, I feel like my cooking skills were improved from a 5 to a 9. I'm glad to see all the improvements I made. I feel more independent now.
After this first month here in Turku, the "honeymoon" has passed but I want to keep the curiosity and enthusiasm to Turku. I hope I will grape every moment during my exchange life and have millions of beautiful memories.

Country cooking

Country cooking

During my exchange stay in Turku I improved my cooking skills in so many ways. I love to cook and finally I had enough time to cook almost every day. Besides, I also learnt how to cook food from foreign countries such as Poland, Russia, Mexico and France. In our floor we used to do a "country cooking" once or twice a month. My floor mates cooked each a very well known dish from their country.

My Swiss friend and I started with our country cooking and we cooked "Rösti and Spiegelei". The French friends made delicious crepes with different toppings, Russians made their famous Russian salad, Pizza and Scharlotka (that is a Russian apple pie), my Polish room mate prepared Pierogi and from Mexico I tried self-made tacos and enchiladas. It was always so much fun to cook together and see how it works to prepare this dishes.

Sometimes, on a Sunday afternoon, we also tried to cook real Finnish food, for example cinnamon rolls which were actually pretty tasty.
I love to explore food from other countries and it was the best way to get to know it.
At home I already tried to recook the dishes but it was still not that good that it should be. I have to improve my skills a little bit more.

Home Sauna

Home Sauna

Another habit my floor mates and I used to do was the Sauna term on every (almost every) Sunday evening. In Student Village you can use the Sauna four times a month for free. The best thing about it was that the Sauna was just two upper floors than ours was. So, it was pretty easy to go for a quick or either long Sauna term. We were just dressed up with Flipflops, bikinis and a towel to go to our Sauna. The Sauna in our building was big enough for 8 people which was very comfortable. For me, it was the best thing after a great weekend spend some time in the Sauna to cool myself down and do something good for my body.  Also, it was great to talk to the others and exchange stories from our weekends. After the Sauna term we also had our traditional "tea party" in our kitchen. It was always a very relaxed atmosphere and we had good talks.

Trip to Tampere

Trip to Tampere

Tampere is a city in the South of Finland. It is one of the biggest one in Finland. It count around 226’000 habitants. It's about a 2 hours ride from Turku to Tampere. You can reach it by car, bus or train. The cheapest way to go there is by Onnio Bus. One way costs around 6€ (depending on the time you will go). To use the bus in the city of Tampere I recommend to buy the tickets through its App system called Nysse Mobiili. It around 2€ cheaper than if you buy it from the bus driver. If you love to walk, it's also possible to explore the city by foot.

My first trip I made in Finland was to Tampere. A couple of friends and I rented an Airbnb for two nights. It was a charming house not far away from the city with its own Sauna. Tampere has a lot of interesting museum, churches, an amusement park and a great nature. Next to the lake there are two Saunas. It was my first lake Sauna I experienced and I recommend it to anyone. There were just locals in it and it was great do have a dip in the lake. Even the water temperature was around 0 degree. 
Also, I recommend to go to the viewpoint Pyynikki. You will have an amazing view over the whole city.

Breakfast Club Stockholm

Breakfast Club Stockholm

For all brunch lovers out there, I really recommend to eat at Breakfast Club in Stockholm. It's a small and very popular restaurant in the area of the main station of Stockholm. On Weekends, there is always a big queue with people waiting to be seated. But it's worth it to try it out! The dishes are big, freshly made and tasty. You can also have good beverages as coffee, smoothies or tea. It's signature are its "freakshakes". Those are fancy milkshakes. I had the "donutELLA" which is stuffed with Vanilla ice cream, milk, Nutella, topped with cream & hazelnuts, crowned with a donut! I'm sure that was the best milkshake I ever had in my life. Go, and convince yourself.

Stockholm by ferry

Stockholm by ferry

From Turku to Stockholm there is a ferry which goes every day. Usually, you book a round trip. This means you go from Turku to Stockholm by ferry, you will have a rest in the harbor of Stockholm for one hour and after it you will go back to Turku. All in all it takes 24h. A lot of pensioner do this cruise. I recommend to book also a round trip even you go to Stockholm and stay there for a few days because it's cheaper than you book just one way. You can book a bunk in which four persons have space. If you are planning to sleep inside, it's space enough for just two people. It's quite comfortable to stay in this bunk. There is also a TV, a separate shower and toilet, a mirror, table and a little wardrobe. The check- in works like at the airport and you also have to do a security control.

On the boat there are also duty free stores, clubs, bars, restaurants and a casino where you can enjoy yourself. The alcohol used to be much more cheaper than on the mainland years before but nowadays, it's almost the same price. Big amounts of beer or long drinks are cheaper but the strong alcohol is the same price. There are also restaurants on the ship which offers "all you can eat (and drink)" menus. It's worth it.

Don't wash your face!

Don't wash your face!

Something very strange I want to share with anyone who wants to stay in a cold country such as Finland; Don't wash your face if the temperature is under minus ten degree. You better not put on some make up, suncream or other cremes. If you do, your whole face will be frozen in some minutes which make you feel like it's even much more colder than it already is. In addition, your skin produces a natural grease film which protect it from the cold. Whenever you wash your face, this grease film will be wash away as well. I didn't washed my face for one week as well and it felt surprisingly good - better than I expected.

Inhabitants from Lapland do not wash their face during the whole cold period in winter. Furthermore, they wear woolen socks instead of the "normal" synthetic socks and loose cloths. The reason for it is that the air between the skin and the cloths can warm up and it keeps you warm as well. If it's freezing cold, you should also wear different layers. Those are my advices for staying alive in the cold!