How is life in Finland? Marlene Massons, student at Windesheim, is currently living in Jyväskylä, Finland. She’s blogging for WIN about her experiences studying abroad.
The last weeks in Jyväskylä passed so quickly, and soon my Erasmus semester will come to an end. Even though the days are getting much shorter here, my friends and I try not to let it influence our mood too much. With the sun usually rising at 10 am and setting again at 2 pm, I quickly learned to appreciate even the smallest ray of sunshine and make the most of the few hours of daylight. As I have been reminded many times here: Do not forget to take your supplementary Vitamin D!
Mood booster
We even had our first snow at the beginning of November, and I was super excited about it! My friends and I went outside immediately and had a small snowball fight in the middle of the night. Even though I caught a cold afterwards, it was definitely worth it. Also, everything being covered in snow and shining in the sun is a true mood booster. Sadly, the snow did not last and melted away after a few days since the temperatures are fluctuating a lot this winter. So often the snow stays for a few days only before it is too warm again, and it gets mushy because of the rain.
Moomin Museum and sauna capital
My first trip was to Tampere with my friends (I still cannot believe we managed to get nearly all of us together). With the train, Tampere is only about one and a half hour away from Jyväskylä. And the train connections in Finland are super easy and accessible. And with a student card, you even get a discount on your ticket price!
Tampere is the third biggest city in Finland and is known as the sauna capital. As you may know, going to the sauna is a big part of Finnish culture. Here, basically every (residential) building has at least one sauna! Yet, my highlight in Tampere was the Moomin museum, in which all the art around Tove Jansson’s children’s books about the fictional Moomin characters is shown.
Since I love reading and art, seeing the author’s sketches and learning more about the backstories of the books and how they are also connected to her life story, was fascinating. If you ever find yourself in Finland, this is definitely worth a visit!
Fun fact: You will find something Moomin-related in every Finnish household. Whether it is a mug, plate, poster, or book, the Moomins are literally everywhere, and there is probably not one person in the whole country who does not own something related to Moomins.
Deadlines and new courses
Next to my trip to Tampere and also meeting my two best friends from university, who are currently doing their Erasmus in Norway and Sweden, I have been busy completing my first courses and also starting some new ones. Here in Finland, the semester is split into two periods, which last around six to eight weeks each. Even though I have two courses spanning the whole semester, most of them are either in the first or the second period. So by now, I have already completed two courses and will start three new ones soon.
As a GPCM student, I am very lucky and can choose from all the courses that are from the faculty to which I belong here. Many of my friends need to substitute certain courses at their home university, and because of that, they do not have a lot of freedom in selecting their courses.
For this semester, I did not focus on one specific theme, but I am exploring many different topics or diving deeper into some that I liked during my previous courses. So, my courses range from Survival Finnish and Spanish to Gender Studies and Dynamics of Migration. And I am really enjoying the diversity of topics I work on every week!
While there are only a few days left for me here in Finland and goodbyes are coming closer and closer, I still have some exciting things planned. Especially my trip to Lapland during my last week here is something I cannot wait for. For now, I will focus on finishing my assignments and staying warm in the snow!
