Exchange Report

The (summer) semester started already in the beginning of January, so earlier than at WU. You should definitely keep that in mind when you are doing courses that last the whole semester and if that's the case talk with your professor early on so that you can find a solution for that. In general you should start planning your semester well in advance especially when it comes to housing. The application for the summer semester at HOAS starts already in October and it can take up to December until you get a housing offer. So be prepared to also look into the private housing market as it is not guaranteed that everyone gets accommodation with HOAS. Of course you should be prepared for the cold temperatures - mentally and physically in the best case.

I didn't really search for accommodation, because I just trusted that I got an offer from HOAS, which is a student residency. Luckily for me I got an offer and so I didn't have any stress regarding accommodation. I lived a little bit outside of Helsinki, but by train if only took me 20min into the city. But it took me around 40min to the Aalto campus, which was fine for me but may not be for everyone. As my location was heavily dependent on the reliability on public transport I wouldn't really recommend living that far away from the university and the city. But for the 5 months I lived there it was fine for me. Important too know is that when you decline your offer from HOAS, it is not guaranteed that you get another one. So if you dont like your offer there you have to start looking for private accommodation or look at other accommodation provides such as AYY or Unity, which could be significantly more expensive or the rooms without furniture.

Aalto University has an amazing and big campus, which offers everything a student can dream of. The classrooms I was in were all relatively modern and had everything needed. There are several restaurants on campus, which almost all of them offer a student discount so you can eat there really good food for only 3,10€. The campus also had different super markets, a pharmacy, different gyms and even a student-run cinema. In the courses I took the grading was heavily based on group work, which gave me the opportunity to work with Finnish students, which was really nice. In general the academic culture and teaching style is more personal than it is at WU. You can call your professor by their first name and usually the class sizes are smaller so it could happen that the professors also know you by your name.

The public transport works really well, no matter if it is heavily snowing or not. I also felt incredibly safe in Finland and the Finnish people once you get them to talk to you they are just lovely. There are so many things you can do in your free time. I for example had a membership with UniSport gym and there you could also go to so many different courses. On the Kide app there are also lots of events and parties, which are not that expensive and you just always have an overview of what is happening. The student organisations also always make events, which you can attend it you want. Other than that in the winter you could go ice skating, cross country skiing and several other winter activies including simply going for a walk somewhere in nature (which is everywhere to be found in Helsinki and Finland in general). In the spring/summer just going to one of the islands and enjoying the sun, nature and the peace which is also just one of the things you can do.

Although doing an exchange semester in Finland wasn't my first choice, I couldn't be more happier that I went there. Helsinki may also not be great to visit if you are just a tourist, but living there is a real pleasure. Everywhere you go you have lots of nature, sweet coffee shops and of course many, many saunas. Make sure to attend the trips organised by the students associations such as the KY Lapland trip, which was just incredible. But what really made my exchange special where all the people I got to know and experience life together in Finland. So although the difference in temperature I experienced over the whole exchange semester (from -32°C to 25°C) still seems crazy to me, Finland is one of the most underrated countries in Europe, if not in the whole world.