2015-16 SPRING EXCHANGE PROGRAM AALTO University & Finland, Helsinki Jinsong KIM [EXCHANGE REPORT]
2 Table of Contents PART 1: Monthly Activity Log.....pg.3 PART 2: General Exchange Information...pg.5 PART 3: Items to Bring (Checklist).........pg.6 PART 4: Useful Links and Contacts.......pg.6
3 PART 1: Monthly Activity Log 1) January I arrived Helsinki on 3 January at around 3PM (Helsinki time). It was pretty cold on that day, but still tolerable. The tutors from AALTO University came to pick me and other exchange students up at the airport and took each of us to the accommodation. After few days, the weather got really cold, and could not travel around Finland as the temperature dropped to minus 25 degree Celsius. There was a one-week event in Helsinki called LUX Festival, where you can see all the signature buildings in Helsinki at night with colorful lights. 2) February On the first week of February, other exchange friends and I travelled to Lapland, which was organized by KY student organization exclusively for exchange students. It took almost 13 hours from Helsinki to Lapland and vice versa. However, it was worth it. The place we stayed was Levi Ski Resort. With my friends, I did a cross-country skiing, climbing a snowy mountain, and luckily could also see the northern light on the last day. On the way back to Helsinki, we visit Rovaniemi, which is famous for Santa Claus Village.
4 3) March ~ April March and April were busy months, entire March was filled with classes, projects and learnings. April was also busy due to exams and submission of assessments and reports. I took Digital Marketing and Consumer Psychology, which are postgraduate courses. Although the requirement and assessments were harder than those of UG courses I took in HKUST, I really enjoyed learning in the university with great professors and intelligent classmates. In the mid of April, my friends and I visit Tallinn, a capital city of Estonia for one day by cruise. It was worth it to visit there despite the weather was cold. We visit old medieval village and walked around streets and castles. On the last day of the April, there was a huge national festival called Vaapu, which celebrates upcoming Spring. People go partying and mingle to celebrate this day with friends and family. They wore a special clothes and hats to show their identity and group they belong to. 4) May As May was my last month of the exchange life, I travelled around other countries with friends. I visit Turku, which is another famous city in Finland; it s located around 3 hours away from Helsinki by bus. It is calm place compared to Helsinki. I also visit Norway, Austria and Italy with other friends.
5 PART 2: General Exchange Information Visa Procedures As exchange I was going to stay in Helsinki more than 90 days, I was supposed to make residence permits instead of visa. I handled the residence permit in Hong Kong. Since it usually takes from minimum 2 weeks to maximum 1month (in my case, it took around 2 weeks) for issuing, I visit the Consulate General of Finland right after I got the email from the host university. In order to register for the residence permit, you need to submit the application via first. Then you will be able to schedule when to pick up the residence permit and get an email notification from the Consulate. Orientation Activities there were two orientations in Töölö Campus and Otaniemi Campus. The first one was held on Töölö Campus (4 Jan), mainly regarding the academic related information. Not many people have attended the orientation compared to the second orientation which was held on Otaniemi Campus (8 Jan). The latter was more about general speeches by the Deans and other school administrators, covering from campus life to Helsinki life. International Services & Activities There is almost no discrimination to international students in service-wise for university students. You can use services or purchase goods at the university student discounted prices as long as you have AALTO university student card. Also AALTO university always welcomes international students who need helps; you do not need to worry about communication even though you do not know any Finnish since you can communicate in English. There are also a lot of activities held by not only the university but also student unions; you are always welcomed to join and enjoy activities with local students. Accommodations I signed a contract through the website called DOMO. At this website, you can choose types of houses you would like to stay with different options such as rent fee, types of houses, locations, and other facilities, etc. Courses Registration Unlike HKUST, it is not as competitive as HKUST s course registration. You can find the course information at the AALTO website. Then, you can register the courses you would like to take through the website called WebOOdi according to the registration schedule written next to the course name on this website. Although I am a bachelor student, I could still take master courses. When you look for the courses, please make sure the medium of language of the courses and the period of the courses. Also, make sure to register for examination as well; class enrollment and examination of that course are two different things. Teaching & Assessment Methods As I only took master courses, the teaching and assessment methods require quite a lot of readings, mainly academic papers. For Consumer Psychology course, in order to successfully complete the assignment, I was supposed to read a lot of papers as I had to hand in reflection papers and design experiment reports which require knowledge to critically think about the topics. For Digital Marketing course, I also had to read a lot of assigned academic paper readings. However, it was a really
6 great experience as I had no chance to seriously read through the academic papers when I was in HKUST. Furthermore, both Digital Marketing and Consumer Psychology had group projects; Digital Marketing course especially put a lot of emphasis on the group project which was really similar with Capstone Project. Also, some courses have no exams and some have. In my case, there was no exam for Consumer Psychology course, but there was for Digital Marketing course. Sports & Recreation Facilities The university joins with the sports facility organization called UniSports. The administrator from UniSports will give more details during the orientation day (in my case, UniSports spokesperson introduced to the exchange students during the orientation on Otaniemi campus). If you are a member of the UniSports, you will get to access to all the University UniSports facilities in Finland. It also provides sports classes such as aerobic. Cost/Expenses Except for the first month and last month in Helsinki, I spent approximately 450 Euros per month, including transportation fee, basic living things, and rent fee. I did not make bank account; I also did not find difficult or uncomfortable. Social Clubs & Networking Opportunities There are numerous activities held by AALTO student unions as well as business student associations. They organize not only trips but also lots of interesting activities you can join by paying just a few euros as an entrance fee. Also there are different types of social clubs. If you want, you can join school sports team and participate official inter-schools matches. Thus, there are a lot of networking opportunities in which you can meet a lot of new people and participate activities you are interested as AALTO students and university itself is really open-minded to foreign exchange students. Health & Safety I did not go to hospital as I was not sick at all. Yet, in safety wise, Helsinki is indeed one of the safest cities I have ever been. Security guards are almost everywhere and people overall are really calm and soft. I have never seen any fights, rude behaviors or any other dangerous or antisocial situations. Food You can find a lot of Sushi places, which also sell Chinese cuisine. However, they are quite expensive. The good thing is that due to Finnish government s sponsorship, AALTO university provides decent food with fresh vegetable and milk with bread only at 2.6 euros for students. Breads are unlimited and they are really fresh and delicious. Milk is also unlimited. Thus, I had almost no problem in terms of food. If I want to have some Asian food, I either go to Sushi restaurant or go to Asian markets. Transportation Once you go to the university orientation, the tutor will lead you to HSL office which is located in the central railway station. You can then make a travel card exclusive for students. However, the transportation fee varies depending on the zone. Helsinki is located in Zone 1, while Espoo is located in Zone 2. In total, there are 3 zones. Each zone costs different,
7 and Zone 1 (Helsinki zone) is the cheapest. In general, students pay for monthly seasonal ticket despite there is 2-week ticket. Climate It is really cold from January to February, as a temperature drops to minus 25 Celsius in Helsinki. However, the weather starts to get warmer starting from the mid of March, although there were some days where a temperature still reaches minus 1 or 2. However, starting from the end of April, the Spring comes and you can see the green grass with sunny weather. Unlike Hong Kong, it is not humid but a bit dry. During day time on May, you can walk around with long sleeve with a cardigan. Communication Finland uses Finnish. However, most of the people can speak English very fluently so there was almost no problems with communication. Cautionary measures Make sure to keep the receipts in case you need to submit when you come back to school (this applies to your boarding tickets as well) In my case, due to the time and hot temperature, the ink on one of the flight boarding passes was removed. Thus, it will be safe if you keep a copy of it just in case. Other notes Lidl is the cheapest grocery store in Helsinki. You can save money if you shop at Lidl. You can drink tap water in Helsinki, so there is no need to purchase water. Helsinki has several good museums and galleries. Every month, each of them has free entrance days or university discounted price tickets. Thus, it will be helpful if you check those dates and services before you visit as you can save money.
8 PART 3: Items to Bring (Checklist) Items to Bring ü heating pad ü clothes for winter ü blankets (optional - you can buy in IKEA) ü pillow and pillow cover (optional - you can buy in IKEA) ü bed sheets (optional - you can buy in IKEA) ü clothes for spring (thin long-sleeve tops and long pants) ü a formal suit or clothes (in case of doing presentation or attending formal seminars etc.) ü swimming suits (if you want to try sauna) ü medicine ü USB ü camera ü chargers ü adaptors ü pens, pencils, erasers, notebooks, and etc. (Finnish stationery is quite expensive.) ü some exchanged Euros (for few days in case of emergency) ü passport ü residence permit ü copy of your acceptance letter PART 4: Useful Links and Contacts - Visa Application website: https://enterfinland.fi/eservices - Address of Consulate General of Finland: 10/F Club Lusitano, 16 Ice House Street, Central, Hong Kong, Tel: (852) 2525 5385 - DOMO Accommodation application website: https://domo.ayy.fi/ - AALTO website: https://into.aalto.fi/display/fi/etusivu - WebOOdi course registration: https://oodi.aalto.fi/