One year in Finland

This post should be used to give further information, some comments and a little rating of the bus system in Turku. Me as I live in the student village depend mostly on buses 50, 51, 53 and 54. These lines connect the student village to other buses or to the city center of Turku. The buses of Föli are mainly yellow but sometimes there are also some other colored buses but these buses show then the Föli sign in the front. With the Föli unlimited card, it is possible to use all these buses as often as you want. But there are as well other offers. With the Föli card, it is also possible to use the yellow Föli bikes. What surprised me the most was that almost every bus is perfectly on time. At my home town, a delay of 5 – 10 minutes is just the basic delay and normal to everyone. I really appreciate the timing. The Buses also leave very frequently (approx. every 10 – 15min – every day). This offers great opportunities to people without a car. The bus system enables me to disc

This blog post should be used to tell you a bit more about the Finnish train system and what you can expect from it. My first contact with VR was at the Vantaa airport when I took the local train to the central station of Helsinki. My first impression was good. The trains were modern and very clean. The ticket machine at Vantaa worked well and was easy to use. The system with the different zones and the shortcut function for travelers to the central station are very good. In Helsinki I left the P train and went to the next ticket machine to get the ticket for my next train. There I was a bit confused because I did not know that Turku and Abo is the same. But it was no problem at all because I just went to a girl In the green VR jacket and she helped me with the ticket. Great service and it was totally for free. This is something that should exist in Germany as well. Both trains were perfectly on time and also very clean. Something that I also appreciated very much was

Vantaa airport was the destination of my flight from Germany. The connection started in Frankfurt and took around 2 hours 40 mins. We arrived in Vantaa perfectly on time and could leave the plane without any delay. Stepping into the airport for the first time in my life, I instantly felt comfortable there. Big signs everywhere and LCD-screens showing all the necessary information. (e.g. baggage claim) When I went to the baggage claim, my luggage was almost there as well. I just had to wait 5 min – very fast service. After I got my belongings, I was looking for the signs that guide me to the train station. Following these signs, I ended up on the longest escalator I have seen so far. At the train station, I bought a ticket and took the P line train to go to the central station. I like the concept of Vantaa airport because it seems very organized and makes traveling easy and comfortable.

When I arrived in Finland in August 2019, this was the first time that I went to northern Europe. My trip to Finland started at my home. From there I had to travel approx. 20min to the international Airport of Frankfurt. Since I choose Finnair for the Flight, I went to Terminal 2 there and did all the necessary stuff. (security check, …) In the airplane, it looked pretty much like in every plane. When my flight arrived in Helsinki Vantaa Airport, I felt quite comfortable because the Airport is not that big and there are lots of signs so that it is easy to find the right way out. I went to the baggage claim and received my luggage really fast. After that I had to walk to the train station and took the P train to the central station. There I took and IC-train to go to Turku. The train rides was comfortable and both trains were perfectly on time. The ticket prices were pretty fair – especially the prices for students are really affordable. In Turku, my tutor was waitin

When I came to Finland I had no clue at all what I should expect from the university system in Finland. I already heard that there is a bit more work during the semester but nothing further. Due to that, I was very excited about the system and what will come up in university. On the first day in university, we were introduced a little bit to what is coming up. That was very helpful for me to get a bit more relaxed. The lectures are comparable to the lectures in Germany. In both lectures, there is a lecturer who teaches content. Students are welcome to interact with the lecturer. This makes the lecture a bit of a big conversation and less a monologue of the lecturer. Another similarity is the cafeteria, the food offers are in both of them international and the prices are comparable as well. For the Finnish meal, I had to pay 2,60 €. For the german meal at home it is 2,50 €. Something that is pretty different is the number of assignments and the projects. At my home unive

When I arrived in Finland, I was very happy to know that there will be a place where I will live for the next year. In my case, this place is the student village west Yo-Kylä. The student village is well organized and I would say the perfect place to live for students. The bus connection is good and running nearly all day long. For me it is nice to live together with people from a large variety of countries. In the student village, I met people from nearly all over the world. (e.g. France, Netherlands, Spain, Wales, Germany, Thailand, Japan, India, …) The common kitchens are the meeting points of each floor. They are perfect to cook together or just sit together and relax or have some drinks there. A great offer of TYS is the Sauna in nearly every building. Especially in the winter times or when there is bad weather outside, it is really relaxing and enjoyable to sit in the heat for a while and warm up and just enjoy. One negative aspect is that the laundry had to be

The industrial management and engineering studies is the field of studies that is connected to my studies at my home university in Aschaffenburg. They are pretty closely related. My studies in Germany are a bit more Sales related and the studies here in Turku are a bit more in general about all that management stuff but still, I see a big number of connection points. The leader of this field of studies is doing a great job. She really puts a lot of effort into her work and makes the whole thing run smoothly. If there is an issue, she always has an open ear and tries to support as much as possible. She gave the class capacity planning and control which was one of the best courses I attended in TUAS. It was an eye-opening course that really influenced my way of thinking about the work in a production. The Sales teacher is a really experienced but still funny guy who knows how to attract the attention of people and how to gain interest for a certain topic. The procurement ma

Talking about the Sepänkatu Campus, I have to say already in the beginning that this will probably be the first Blog post that is not really positive. Before I wrote this post, I had some conversation with other exchange students if my impression is too negative and found out that I was still more positive than most of the others. Since this should be an honest Blog, I will just write my impressions. After two days at ICT-City, we entered Sepänkatu for the first time. Looking at it from outside the building, it was quite obvious that this building is older than ICT-city. At this point I was still positive because we also have older buildings with quite good infrastructure inside at my university at home. (Some of my classmates were already a bit shocked.) When we entered the building, the names of the rooms were quite easy to understand. That was something positive. Our first lecture took place in room C03, I think I do not have to describe what the rooms in C0-wing are like.

I want to continue my little report about the campuses of Turku AMK with the Lemminkäisenkatu and Factory campus. These two campuses are right next to each other. They are both very modern and well-equipped. The cafeteria in Lemminkäisenkatu is good. In the factory campus I had classes for my product development course. It was the perfect environment for this sort of course. In the factory, everything you might need is available to everybody. The machinery that is available there seems to be in good condition and up to date. When I first entered the Lemminkäisenkatu campus, it was very nice to step in the bright entrance hall. This is really welcoming you inside the building. The auditoriums and normal study rooms are nice and quite modern. Some of the student organizations are based in the Lemminkäisenkatu campus. At ESN for example, exchange students can pick up their overalls. The eduroam connection in both campuses is very good which makes it quite easy to work

ICT-City was the first of the university buildings I entered. It looks very nice and modern and is a very good place to study. On our first day at TUAS we had to gather at the Auditorium Alpha for some general instructions as well as some activities to get to know the other students. It was a very well organized and an excellent program to get to know the school and other exchange students. The first day was some kind of an ice breaker. It made us all more relaxed and open towards each other. The cafeteria at ICT-city is good and offers some nice food. The rooms and auditoriums there are modern, clean and well-equipped. Especially the eduroam works very well there compared to other of the campuses. There is also, a lot of space for students to study or do team meetings for assignments. I really appreciated this space because it made the bigger group assignments easier. I am really hoping for the students that are currently studying in Sepänkatu campus, that the new

I want to use this Blog Post to give some more information about my university here in Finland. In Turku, it is possible to choose different schools for further education. It looks to me that there is something for pretty much everybody. For me coming there only one option here in Turku. Since Turku AMK is one of the partners schools of my university in Aschaffenburg, I had to take my courses at TUAS. But I see that as an advantage because the close collaboration offers a stable environment for my studies. Especially the double degree program between Turku AMK and Aschaffenburg UAS is a great chance for both sides. It is a great advantage compared to other universities that TUAS and AUAS have closely connected study programs and guarantee that ECTS points will be accepted after the semester or year abroad. When I arrived in Turku it was great to know that there are people waiting for me and who know the city already. This made the start so much easier. I was very lucky with my