Category Archives: Finland

Trip to Kuusamo (Finland)

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The previous week-end, I went to Kuusamo, a city in the northeast of Finland known for its natural park.
The program: hiking in the great park of 270 km and a weekend in a big cozy cottage: Chill and Sauna !

Our house for the week end !

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The team in Oulanka

 

Above, you can see our house, surrounded by one of the thousand lakes in Finland. In Finland, it’s common to rent a house with some friends for a week-end, it’s called “Mökki Week End”. During this week end, we enjoyed a hikking trip in the natural park of Oulanka and we had greats moments in our house doing BBQ parties and explore the lake with the little boat we had at our disposal. Note: Next time, take fishing rods.

… And YES, SAUNAS ! Not one but two saunas in our house ! Finnish people are in love with them.
So after an exhausting 12 kilometers hiking, we experienced several times Sauna and jump into the, pretty cold, lake ! We went from 80 degrees to 3 degrees in less than 10 seconds. Good for cardiovascular system they said, hum hum… despite the fact that we could not feel our feet, what an amazing experience !IMG-20160918-WA0003

 

This photo was taken after a little nap on the dock of the propriety, the nap was definitively advisable after this wonderful week end !

 

Below, you can have a panoramic view of our house, in the middle of nowwhere in the Northeast of Finland !

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Lake – House – Sauna -Wood stock shed for the sauna – Lake again !

 

Arthur Leblais

Hailuoto Island

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 Erasmus Student Network (ESN) is a non-profit international student organisation. Its mission is to represent international students in many countries, thus provide opportunities for cultural understanding and self-development under the principle of « students helping others students ». ESN Oulu organized lot of events, as for example different trips in : Lofoten (Norway), Saint-Petersbourg (Russia), Lapland (Finland)… But ESN create also parties, or activities. Since september, we have been able to attend at food festival, city tour, conference on the coming winter, cooking specialities from Finland, team game or orientation. This association also organized weekend around Oulu city to visit the region and hiking. We paid 10€ to have ESN card and receive discounts for certain events.
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Fishing village

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Way to go to the beach

 In september, we went for one day on a island near to Oulu. Hailuoto Island is the pearl of Bothnian Bay. Situated in the North of the Gulf of Buthnia, in the face of Oulu, the municipality is totally an island. Hailuoto lies within easy access. Various means of transport can be used : come by car, board a bus, sail a boat or fly over. Ferries ‘ Meriluoto and Merisilta’ operates regularly between Hailuoto and Oulunsalo (Oulu). In winter an official ice road connects the island to the mainland. The distance between the island and Oulu should fill (over the centuries to come), and to disappear since sea levels will rise.

 

Marjaniemi is the westernmost point in the island at the end of the road in Hailuoto. Marjaniemi is endless open spaces with fishing boats on the harbor, restaurant, café, artisan shop, museum and beach. The importance of fishing for the fishing village and villagers is still present today.  Even today, considerable amounts of herring, whitefish and salmon are unloaded from ships in the harbor. One of the most popular attractions in Hailuoto is the Marjaniemi lighthouse, built in 1871. On the top, we have a beautiful view of the ocean.

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Marjaniemi lighthouse

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Harbor

Floating Sauna

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The sauna takes an important place in the Finnish life. Finnish people goes in the sauna from their youngest ages, and most of them take a sauna at least once a week. As the old saying goes: “first built your sauna, then your house”.

During the summer time, you can find in Oulu a floating sauna. What is it? The floating sauna is a sauna which is on the water. The concept is simple, you stay a long time in the sauna and when it’s really hot and you sweat a lot, you can jump in the river. After that, you start again!

I wanted so much to try this ritual, so with some friends of mine, we went in the Oulu floating sauna, it was a great experience. After the sauna, I just felt wonderful, relaxed and refreshed.

Inside the sauna, you can find a ladle of water, and if you add some water on the hot stone, the sauna temperature increase. At the beginning, I didn’t know, so I added copious amounts of water. The temperature in the sauna rose by about 10°C… It was a bit frightening.

I think I will remember this experience. Next step: floating sauna in Lapland on the frozen water…

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The sky of Oulu

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We are lucky with the weather of Oulu, Almost sunny every days, although, it’s a little bit cold, for example, yesterday, the 5th of October, the weather was sunny but minus 4° Celsius.

However, there is something magic with the sky of Oulu :

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Oulu’s harbor

 

During different times of the day, the sky changes color from light blue to finish on a rose, passing by a gradient of orange during sunset. This makes it an attraction for residents of Oulu who do not hesitate to go to the beach Contemplating the sunset during a sausage’s barbecue party for warming the body and chilling with their friends !

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Nallikari beach: BBQ place!

If we are lucky enough we can see, during the night, Northern lights!

How Northen light are made ?

When charged particles released by the sun and carried by the solar wind reaches the Earth’s atmosphere and collide with gas particles, the “crash” create colors, dominated by green and ethereal roses.
These colors dancing in the sky during 20 minutes, it’s really beautiful ! 😉

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Northen lights  from Oulu’s lake !

Arthur Leblais

Oulun Yliopisto – University of Oulu

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Monday 25th August, me, Arthur and Mattéo climbed our bike and have to cycling until the university of Oulu (situated at 3,5 kms our accomodation), as most of the finish people do it.  We put the feet for the first time at the university « Oulun Yliopisto ». This university is immense and is located in the middle of one thousand fir trees. It’s very easy to be lost, that is why they created an application, where it’s possible to find a way and to be guided towards the classroom.
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 To be clear, the university of Oulu is  one of the biggest and most multidisciplinary universities in Finland with a focus on innovation, internationality and notherness.
University welcome several pole like business school, faculty of science, education, humanities, medecine, technology. To facilitate the service during the lunch, with 16000 students, the university propose ten restaurants (like a Subway for example) for an average price of 2,60 €, which is totally reasonable. There are also a zoological museum  within the structure, a stationery store, a post office, a cloakrooms to put his jackets…
And do you know what is else? If I tell you that there a room for seepling, you can’t believe me but it’s true. The « quiete room » is present. And many space are reserved for group work.
After a few hours of lessons, it’s complicated to find his bike in the middle of other hundreds bikes, located on parking for bike everwhere around the university. I let you watch the video to discover more about the building.

Video editing: Audrey Brousseau
Music : Evelina (finnish singer), honey ft. Mikael Gabriel

University, Finnish excellence.

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Matteo, Audrey and I are exchange students in Finland, during Fall semester 2016, we study in Oulu, one of the biggest city in the North scandinavia.

  • Why I have choosen this country ?

Finland has one of the best educational systems report by a multitude of ranking.

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– 66% of students entering higher education, the highest rate in Europe.
– The difference between the weakest and strongest students is the smallest in the world.
– 93% of students pass high school.
– Since 2001, Finnish children arrive in the top positions of international rankings in science, reading and mathematics.

Fact about the teachers:
– They are in class 4 hours per day, and 2 hours of training per week.
– All teachers have a master’s degree, fully paid by the state.
– They are selected among the best 10%.
– Their social status is comparable to doctors’ and lawyers’.

  • The University

In Oulu, we Sans titre 2study in “The University of Oulu” founded in 1958, one of the largest universities in Finland with 16 000 students and 3000 staffs including 251 professors. We are 600 exchange students during this semester.
The University of Oulu is divided into six faculties, my faculty is “Oulu Business School”. With 1400 students and 100 staff members, Oulu Business School is responsible for the University level Business Education in the whole of Northern Finland: the provinces of Oulu and Lapland; an area covering half of Finland.

This Business School is accredited by AACSB International (The Association to AdvanAACSB_accredidationthumbce Collegiate Schools of Business). This accreditation provides internationally recognized, specialized accreditation for business and accounting programs at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral level. This accreditation is considered a label of excellence, to get-in, schools must complete 21 criteria such as academic teachers, student recruitment process, to ensure that it provides top-quality education.

Arthur Leblais

 

 

Welcome to Oulu

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Oulu is the most important northern city with a population of 198 804 inhabitants. The City is known for its urban culture and its proximity to the nature. Oulu is located on the edge of the Bothnia bay and it is a vibrant economic hub. This city is an exotic destination for visitor, thanks its proximity to nature and waterways. If you take a walk around the city, you will see the important role that nature plays in the city.

Oulu is known for its many cycle tracks; people ride bikes all year round. The city owns the most important cycling network. Don’t forget your bike if you will go to Oulu. The city center is warm, and along the promenade you will find a variety of cafes, restaurants, malls and souvenir shop.

We will describe with more details the city and surrounding in our future articles.

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Oulujoki

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Oulu market place

Tervetuloa Suomeen : “Welcome in Finland”

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Called “Suomi” by finnish people, the Republic of Finland is chated by Sauli Niinistö since 1 March 2012. Finland is a parliamentary democracy, and the prime minister is the country’s most powerful politician.

Finland numbers some 5.4 million people and has an average population density of 17 inhabitants per square kilometre. This makes it the third most sparsely populated country in Europe, after Iceland and Norway. About 85% live in towns and cities, and over 1.4 million people live in the Greater Helsinki metropolitan area. In Arctic Lapland, on the contrary, there are only 2 people to every square kilometre.

The official languages are Finnish and Swedish, but English language is important in Finnish education. Finland is a top performer in numerous metrics of national performance, including education, economic competitiveness, civil liberties, quality of life, and human development.

The Euro as their currency, but Finns don’t use the 1, 2 and 5 cents. They round off the amount in the upper euro for example if it’s 2,99€. As regards the cost of living, it’s rather expensive in comparison to France.

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What can we make in Finland?

– There are 3 main sports practised in Finland : hockey, baseball and football. But people love outdoor activities range from Nordic skiing, golf, fishing, yachting, lake cruises, hiking, and kayaking, among many others.

– Hiking on national parks : Much of Finland virgin as it contains 37 national parks from the Southern shores of the Gulf of Finland to the high fells of Lapland. Finland is often called the Land of a Thousand Lakes. A modest name, considering that there are, in fact, 188 000 lakes in the country (bout 10% of the country) and a similar number of islands. As many of these lakes are very large in size, a great part of Finland is covered in water. In this nature, we can see lot of animals like reindeer or bows bear (the king of the finnish forest).

– The Real Santa Claus : Everyone knows that the only Santa comes from Finland. His official hometown is Rovaniemi, where he greets visitors all year round.

– See Nothern lights : One of the most remarkable features of Finland is light. When the endless sunshine of summer gives way to dark winter, the Northern Lights appear like magic and lighten up the sky.

– See Midnight Sun : The white summer nights are perhaps Finland’s most iconic natural phenomena. In the very northernmost parts you can experience a full Midnight Sun from May to August, and the sun stays above the horizon for over 70 consecutive days.

– Finnish Sauna : Sauna forms a great part of their country’s heritage and culture. It is estimated that there are over two million saunas in Finland, so approximately  one per household. The sauna experience, is an important tradition which purifying both body and mind, and relax Finn.

Our exchange Erasmus takes place in the North of the finland, to Oulu. You will be able to follow our avantures in next articles. So, see you soon!