University of Helsinki
Last Sunday, about one hundred Helsinki Summer School students found their way to the Kumpula Botanic Garden, to the Finnish Oddities Event. Weather was gorgeous with sunshine and perfect little breeze of wind to cool us down. I was happy to see that so many students came to the event and seemed to be fully enjoying the “odd” Finnish activities of Humppa dancing, Nordic Walking and Mölkky outdoor games. Also pea soup and Finnish style donuts i.e. munkkis, were according to the comments, tasty. Continue reading “Spicing up your life with Finnish oddities”
Tutors, your friendly guides to university life
As you’ll be starting your studies here at the UH in a couple of weeks you can be sure to find a lot of friendly faces and helping hands to make the start of your studies as easy as possible. One of the most important people you’ll encounter are our student tutors.
All our degree and exchange students will be assigned a tutor by the faculties and you will meet your tutor in the beginning of the orientation week. Each tutor will take care of a group of students, so you’ll also get to know other students from your field of study at the same time! Continue reading “Tutors, your friendly guides to university life”
Reflections on the HSS student lounge Kontti and Think Corner
Before the Summer School started, our HSS team went to the empty small “cube” in Porthania for decorating it. We put the world map on the empty wall, placed the Finnish comic books and played a little bit of table hockey. On the opening day, Tuesday the 6th of August I went to look at the place again. The empty room had converted into students’ lounge Kontti and it was full of people: there were plenty of postcards and greetings from different countries and everybody was chatting with each other inside and outside. I was amazed; the place was lively and definitely intercultural. The idea of Helsinki Summer School as an interactive and international community had become true in Kontti! Continue reading “Reflections on the HSS student lounge Kontti and Think Corner”
Smell the Light: A Finnish emotion.
In my Erasmus experience in Barcelona, ten years ago (sic!), some of my closest friends were Finnish. Thanks to them, I got to know some aspects of the Finnish Culture: food (Karjalan Piirakka!), the openness of Finish people, drinking (mmmh… alcohol?!), some funny words (perkele 😉 and the strong attachment to their land.
Now I finally understand this last point. When I landed at the airport, on the way to my new place (very close to the beach!) I saw, smelled and felt the greeness. And the blue, and air, and water. Continue reading “Smell the Light: A Finnish emotion.”
The Helsinki Summer School Kick-off!
Yesterday was a wonderfully hectic day for the Summer School staff. After registering and helping out dozens (if not hundreds?) of students, the staff, students, course coordinators and the Rector squeezed themselves into the Great Hall for the Opening Ceremony. The event was joyful and relaxed. It started with the speech of Programme Manager Pauliina Mikkonen, who talked shortly and then made the students stand up when their country was called out. The visibly largest country group were the Chinese, who stood up en masse, which seemed to cause a bit of a surprise in most people. Continue reading “The Helsinki Summer School Kick-off!”
Behind the Scenes
Here we have gathered some odd facts about Helsinki Summer School:
- The first Helsinki Summer School was organised in year 2000.
- It takes one and a half year to make one summer school happen.
- Number of HSS staff during November: 2
- Number of HSS staff during August: 11
- For 3 team members this is the first summer school year. One of the team members has worked for HSS since 2001.
- Most of the staff cycles from place to place in the summer time.
- Total number of students 408
- The oldest participant of HSS 2013 is 59 years old, the youngest one is 18.
- The majority of the students are born in 1992.
- Total number of courses is 18 in 2013:
- 12 courses by the University of Helsinki
- 5 courses by Aalto University
- 1 course by Hanken School of Economics Continue reading “Behind the Scenes”
Helsinki Summer School – The learning experience of a lifetime.
The 14th annual Helsinki Summer School starts tomorrow! This year HSS programme includes 17 fully credited courses combined with a wide range of cultural and social activities. The courses are arranged by three universities: University of Helsinki, Aalto University and Hanken School of Economics. During the past few weeks the HSS team has worked very hard to get all the arrangements done and now we are finally ready to welcome our students to Helsinki. This year our courses have been extremely popular and we are expecting 400 participants from over 60 countries. I’m quite sure that the upcoming three weeks will offer us all a good deal of new experiences and unforgettable memories. Continue reading “Helsinki Summer School – The learning experience of a lifetime.”
See the 3rd Line come to live with Kallio Block Party 2013
Kallio neighbourhood, known as the urban heart of Helsinki, will act as a stage for bands, dance acts, poetry recitation and several other activities this weekend as the annually organized Kallio Block Party closes down the entire Kolmas Linja Street for the whole day tomorrow, the 3rd of August. The free of charge city festival (see programme and map of festival area) organized by the Kallio-liike is open for all and has something for everyone. Continue reading “See the 3rd Line come to live with Kallio Block Party 2013”
Printed version of the Orientation Handbook for International Students now available!
You might have already gotten to know the online version of the Orientation Handbook 2013-2014. Now the book is also available in printed form and if you are already in Helsinki you can come and get your own copy from the Student Services at the university main building (Fabianinkatu 33, ground floor). For those who will be arriving in Helsinki at the beginning of the academic year, the handbook will be handed out at the Welcome Fair 28/8-29/8. Until then we advise you to use the online one.
The handbook contains a lot of practical information that will help you get started with your student life and to navigate through daily life. It includes for example general information about living in Finland and studying in the University of Helsinki. It’s the ultimate survival guide for new students so browse through and also let your friends know!
Greetings for the summer from Queer Students’ Association OVI ry!
Ovi is an association for gender and sexual minorities and it works under the University of Helsinki Student Union. Ovi holds weekly events where everyone is welcome. In the early spring we received a grant from the University of Helsinki Student Services for organizing a project, and now we want to share with you our experiences of this project’s early stages.
The project is an international queer conference. Participants will come from our umbrella organization ANSO’s (Association of Nordic and Pol-Balt LGBTQ Student Organizations) member organizations around the Northern Europe. The conference will be held in early August in Helsinki. The point of the organization is to provide organizations a chance to network and cooperate. For individual participants the conference will teach and offer more information and understanding of queer politics, accessibility and spreading acceptance and community. Continue reading “Greetings for the summer from Queer Students’ Association OVI ry!”