It’s been a crazy few days here getting settled in to life as an exchange student in Helsinki, Finland! I’ve battled jet lag, lost luggage, phone issues, and of course struggling with a completely new and confusing language. I’ve been overwhelmed, stressed, afraid of what’s to come. But despite the whirlwind of these past few days, I remain excited for and eager to pursue the opportunities that lie ahead for me here in Helsinki.
Helsinki truly is a beautiful city and the local Fins have been more than accommodating with my poor (read: non-existent) Finnish language skills. The city has a cool mix old Russian architecture in its historic buildings, but also more modern Scandinavian influences can be seen in the museums and expansive shopping centers. I was also truly impressed with the network of green space through city parks and along Helsinki’s extensive Baltic coastline. As a runner, I’ve already enjoyed a trying to navigate my way through these many walking/bike paths. I’ve run a few extra miles than intended, but I’m slowly learning my way around the city! Getting out to run and explore the city has been a great way to not only learn the lay of land, but also relax, and clear my mind from the stresses of arrival and orientations days.
Speaking of those orientation days, wow were they exhausting! Thankfully the University of Helsinki student tutors/orientation leaders have been so helpful and supportive, or else I think us exchange students may have had a some mental breakdowns. While the exchange student group in my faculty is relatively small, the university as a whole has many many international exchange students. So when the entire exchange student population is being shuttled through a small building to fill out various forms and receive information, it can be quite overwhelming! On top of the large number of people, the university was having some network and IT issues that help lines even longer. The combination of jet lag, long lines, and communication barriers was very mentally exhausting for myself and many other of the exchange students in my faculty.
The next day, technology issues continued, and stress levels hit a breaking point for many when it came time for course registration. There were apparently some organizational shake ups across the university over the summer so there was much confusion on what and when courses were being offered. To make matters more confusing, the course times vary greatly from what I am used to back at Northeastern. Most of courses only meet in the first half of the semester, and there is no day to day, or even week to week consistency in when courses meet. Since the online registration didn’t have a planner to visual course meeting times, we all had to frantically scribble down course times for the next four months and hope none of them overlapped! It was comforting knowing I wasn’t the only one that thought this was abnormal, the whole registration ordeal ended up being quite the bonding experience for the exchange students in my faculty.
Despite the stress, lack of sleep, and adjustments to a new city, I was surprised by the enthusiasm that still remained in my fellow exchange students. It was refreshing, reassuring, and makes me eager to see what adventures and experiences lie ahead for us this semester. With classes starting next week, I hope we can all relax and sink into our new lives as exchange students at the University of Helsinki!
