Category: Welcome to UH

Hello everyone! This is the Student Union of the University of Helsinki (HYY for short) welcoming you to the community of university students at UH. The Student Union is a 143-year-old interest and service organisation for approximately 30,000 students, which you can join by paying the membership fee. And why should you join? Let me tell you about some of the benefits available to our members.

About half of the membership fee is the health care fee of FSHS, Finnish Student Health Service. They provide general, mental and oral health care services for undergraduate students. General health care is free of charge and dentist appointments come at a reasonable price. The health care system alone is good enough reason to join the Student Union! Doctoral/PhD students unfortunately can’t use the services of FSHS but their membership fee is of course smaller by half.

In Finland students get a lot of discounts – but only if they have a student card. Only members of the Student Union can get the student card, also known as the Lyyra card. With the Lyyra card you can get discounts such as -50% of public transport and cheap lunches at Unicafe in addition to more than 1000 discounts all over Finland. For more information about Lyyra, go to www.lyyra.fi and apply for the card before you arrive in Finland. If you have trouble paying the card online, you can also pay it at the Student Union’s Service office.

And a special note to all exchange students; if you want to join the Student Union, you have to do so by 31st of August OR within five working days of your arrival to Finland. If you arrive late, you need to visit the Student Services in the Main building of the University before coming to the Student Union’s office.

More information about the membership fee and member benefits on the Student Union’s webpage.

Make sure that you get the best out of your stay in Finland – join the Student Union!

Emma Ronkainen
Office Secretary

Not too long ago I was contacted by a journalist who asked me if I knew of any research as to the consequences of studying abroad. A surprisingly simple question I thought first, but after a while I had to conclude that there really is no solid research as to how people are affected if and when the study outside their home country. This is very surprising because practically all universities are sending and receiving students from abroad and millions of students are undertaking full degrees or exchange periods in foreign universities. Why do we do it, and why do you?

Do not get me wrong, I am not questioning your decision to come to Helsinki. Quite the opposite. I am just saying there is no scientific proof of what this will do for you. I was an exchange student in the US for a year when I was in high school. And apart from learning English I really cannot pinpoint how I was changed as a result of this experience. But I am very convinced that my life would have been very different without having spent the year away from home. Maybe I would not even be writing this blog entry…?

You are just about to be exposed to the Finnish way of life, the learning environment and fellow students at the University of Helsinki. You will meet people you probably would not have met without having opted to study with us. You will of course learn things in classrooms or laboratories but I would still guess that you will learn an equal amount outside classes. I am not advocating skipping classes but rather that you open yourself to all kinds of new opportunities and make the most of your time at the University. And hopefully you look back ten or twenty years from now, you can be as convinced as I am based on my study abroad experience that I would not change it for anything.

Welcome to be changed for life!

Markus Laitinen
Head of International Affairs

One more month and then you will hopefully be on a plane/train/bus/boat to Helsinki. The first not-to-be-missed opportunity to get to know the University and the Campuses as well as to get all the official matters out of the way is the Welcome Fair.

The Welcome Fair takes place on August 30 to September 1, 2012, and the venue is the Language Centre of the University of Helsinki (address: Fabianinkatu 26). Continue reading “See you all at the Welcome Fair!”

Have you noticed that the University of Helsinki has its own YouTube channel? If you haven’t checked it out yet – then you should!

The address to the University of Helsinki channel is http://www.youtube.com/universityofhelsinki and you can watch videos on student life, lectures, teacher education at the UH and so on.

 

Midsummer (juhannus in Finnish) for Finns means celebration and the long, white night which is said to be the “nightless” one (yötön yö). In the Helsinki region the sun sets at about 22:50 and rises again already around 4:00 o’clock in the morning. In the Northern Finland the sun does not set at all! The nightless night of Finnish midsummer gives a great contrast to the darkness of the winter time.

Many Finns leave the cities for Midsummer and spend time in their countryside cottages. Midsummer celebrations traditionally include bonfires, sauna, good food, possibly swimming and of course spending time together with family and friends! For many Finns midsummer is the time when the summer holiday starts and for some families this means moving to the summer cottages which are usually located by the sea or lake.

Bonfires (in Finnish juhannuskokko) are very common and they are burnt at lakesides and by the sea.Sometimes two young birch trees (koivu) are placed on either side of the front door of the house to welcome visitors. Swedish-speaking Finns also celebrate around a flower decorated midsummer pole (in Swedish midsommarstång, majstång, in Finnish juhannussalko).

In Finnish tradition, Midsummer Eve and the long, bright, nightless night has always believed to have magical qualities. Still some people do spells and charms with a twinkle in the eyes. Most of those spells are in some way, linked to ones love life. For instance, if you put seven different flowers under your pillow on Midsummer night you’ll meet your future spouse in your dreams… Why don’t you give a try!

The celebration of Midsummer starts on Midsummer’s eve and many workplaces are closed (also shops close their doors at noon). If you’re already in Finland, please keep in mind that grocery stores are open on Friday 22.06. (Juhannusaatto, Midsummer’s eve) only until 12:00 – 13:00 and grocery stores are mainly closed on Saturday 23.06. (Juhannuspäivä, Midsummer Day). Some small stores might be open though.

If you’re in Helsinki but you don’t have the possibility to visit a Finnish summer-cottage, there are also some midsummer events in the city area:

Seurasaari Midsummer Bonfires will be organized for the 57th time by Seurasaari Foundation on 22.06.

Retrojuhannus (Retro Midsummer) at Piritta on 22.6 (free entrance!), live music by Kaipuun Kukkatarha, starting at 20:00 o’clock.

Juhannus in Pihlajasaari
Friday 22.6.2012, starting at 21:00 when the bonfire will be set on fire. Also grilled food and traditional dance music. Location and how to get there –instructions can be found here. (Last ferry back from Pihlajasaari leaves at 2:00 o’clock in the morning).

Hyvää juhannusta!

 

International Exchange Services

 

Every once in a while the hard working back office people of the UH student services go out to the world in attempts of attracting foreign students to come to Finland and our university. My turn was in early May when I had the honor of attending student mobility fair at the University of Melbourne, Australia.

The dreadful memories of a night of horror due to a bad sushi faded away the very minute when the first student arrived at the fair.  Soon, the place was packed with smiling Australian mates. University of Helsinki stand was strategically located right next to the entrance so no student could possibly have entered the building without having me feed them with info on study opportunities at UH together with some Finnish chocolate. Fortunately, many of them actually seemed to be interested in my promotion mantra and even challenged me with some great questions. Especially students in arts and natural sciences seemed to stay at my stand a little longer than the duration of my monologue. One young lady even revealed to be a Finland fan.  This, of course, deeply warmed the heart of a dusty back office official whose wonderful days in Melbourne had converted her a big fan of the land down under.

The top two questions Aussie students asked me were about the weather and the language. They wanted to know whether it was ok to come and study in Finland without knowing any Finnish language or possessing any winter clothes. For the first question the answer is a definite yes, for the latter one I suggest googling  “winter in Finland” and making a judgment of your own.

For the Aussies, Finland is actually a pretty cheap place to live in. Housing costs maybe a half of what the students in Melbourne pay and there is no tuition fee except for the summer school (www.helsinki.fi/summerschool). The one thing  that Aussies and other foreign students however ought to be aware of is that they should not count on finding a part time job during their studies in Finland. There are some jobs for non-Finnish speaking people particularly in the restaurant field but for most foreign students, restaurants stand for a place to spend the money rather than earn it.

Whether it is for a semester or duration of an entire master’s program, coming to Finland is surely worth the investment. Where else in the world can you enjoy the Nordic culture, meet the Slavic culture and taste chocolate with salmiakki*? Come to Finland and enjoy it all!

Jelena Santalainen
from the UH International Exchange Services

 

*salty chemical fix us Finns call “candy”