Exams and more

Dear all,

The last couple of weeks have been very busy. Because I decided in the beginning of the semester to do more than half of the credits in the first period, I had many exams. They were however quite easy. The question that were asked were quite obvious and were only about the core of the texts that we had to read. For one course the teacher even begged us to come to the exam because it would be so easy. Without reading anything I got the highest grade. The grading system here is also different than back home. I don’t know exactly how it works but I have the feeling that they compare the exams of the students. For what I wrote I would normally have expected to get something in between an 7 and an 8 at Tilburg University but here I received a 10. And for another exam the teacher wrote us that you would receive a 10 if you had 90% of the answers right. This makes it quite easy to get high grades to heighten  up your average.

For most of the courses attendance in class, active participation and assignments are also included in the grade. According to me these were also pretty easy and did not take much of my time. From other students here I however heard that their courses are quite tough. Most of them are taking master courses and a lot of work has to be done for those. I did not do any economics courses here and I also took courses from other faculties than the School of Economics. Although the courses were not challenging they were quite interesting. Especially those from other faculties where I learned about for example Finnish culture.

Because I did so many courses in the first period I only have 2 courses for the second. That means that I have a lot of time left. With a family visit of one week, one week in Lapland and some citytrips planned that is very nice.

Besides the exams a lot of other things have happened here in Turku. We organized a surprise party for one of my friends here which was great. And the best thing was that it was indeed a surprise for her, she didn’t expect anything that night! The same week we had a Halloween party from ESN. It was my second Sitz party (with food, drinks and singing songs, kind of like a beercantus) and the party afterwards was great. Almost everybody was dressed up. We also made ourselves a Finnish dinner, guided by a Finn. The karjalanpiirakka, juustoleipä, salmon, mashed potatoes, korvapuusti and glögi were delicious!

With my Finnish family I went ice-skating and to the theater. Back home I am a member of the student speed skating association TSSV Braga and I miss it. The skating here was different because I had figure skates and it was in a ice hockey ring, but still it was very nice. The theater was in Finnish but because it was a child play and the parents translated some of the text for me I could understand it. The friendship program is for me a big success and gives me a lot of insights in Finnish daily family life.

Three of my friends here study at the medical faculty of the University of Turku (UTU). Two weeks ago there would be a cruise for medical students of the UTU. A cruise consists of a ticket for a cabin on a boat that goes from Turku to Stockholm and back. In Stockholm you don’t get off the boat. It leaves in the night, there is a big party in the club on the boat and  in the cabins and the next day you just hang around on the boat, sleep or party. Shortly: 24 hours on a boat with medical students and lots of alcohol. The Finnish girl was already going and one of the German girls also wanted to go. Eventually they sneakily pushed me and the other German girl to go too and I have to admit that I’m very happy that they did that! The party on the boat was great and with nice company the second day time flies. The coolest thing was that everybody was dressed up. There were Angry Birds, pencils, Super Mario, LMFAO, Barbie dolls, marshmellows, people dressed up like Steve Jobs and many more characters. ESN is also organizing cruises like this, but then with exchange students. These must be fun too, but I’m very happy to have been on a real Finnish student cruise!

Heipä!