Erasmus Turku

1.Make a presentation of yourself.

I am from Austria. I am 23 and study law in my 5th year.

2. Describe briefly the place you are from.

I am from a small town in the northern part of Austria, near the Czech boarder. It is a beautiful place surrounded by nature and completely different from Vienna.

3. Tell us how the city where you study is.

I study in Vienna, the capital of Austria. Vienna is perfect for students, a big city with lot of life and even more party.

4. What do you think about your home university? (Before you go on Erasmus) Be honest ;).

The University of Vienna/ Law faculty is one of the best in Austria. But the university has big financial problems due to the amount of students. There are big classes, which are not the best conditions for studying. Moreover the institution makes life not easy for students. They try to kick out as many students as they can with hard exams.

5. What encourage you to go on Erasmus? Reasons, etc...

I wanted to go abroad in order to meet new people and learn more about another culture. I think it`s important for young people to see something else apart from their usual life.

6. When you decide that, what countries / destinations you had in mind and why?

Finland was my first choice, because I read that is was quite a perfect place for exchanges. Furthermore Turku is a good location to start trips to Sweden, Estonia and Russia. On second place was Lund in Sweden. I was mainly interested going to Scandinavia because the educational system is one of the best in the world. I also love the culture and their lifestyle.
On third position was a total different country: Portugal. Although the university was not the best I thought it could be nice spending the summer term next to the seaside.

7. Once you know definitely the destination

a) How did you feel?

I was happy, because I got my first choice.

b) What did you think about the place?.

I did not know that much about the place, only that it was cultural capital 2011. I started collecting information about the city and reading books about the finish society.

c)What your closest people (family, friends, colleagues ...) told you or thought about it?

Everybody told me that it`s going to be cold and dark and that life is expensive there.

d) If you had a choice to choose another one, what would have been?

Not in Europe, Australia

8. For how long is / was your stay? Do you think that's enough? Would you have liked to have stayed longer? / Would you like to stay longer?

I stayed for 5 months; I definitely would have preferred staying longer.

9. How did the paperwork, formalities, etc..? What do you think about all this?

The paperwork was okay, I would say it was of a fair amount and absolutely worth.

10. How is the city where you live or you used to live during your Erasmus?

Turku is a small city in the western part of Finland. Although I thought it would be a bit bigger and little bit more sights, I loved it in the end. Everything which is necessary for a great time was there. ( nature, sports opportunities, shops, clubs) Turku
is a student city (about 10000) used to study there. Because of that it has a good infrastructure, for example: cafeterias, libraries, student discounts, big student village.

11. Where did you stay (residence, apartment, dorm)? Explain how it is.

I stayed at the student village, it was close to the university. There I lived in a room with own bathroom and fridge inside. And a shared common kitchen. It was perfect for me because I either had private sphere in my room or either had fun in the common kitchen with great neighbors.

12. Well, what about the Host University? How it is? What do you think?

The University in Finland was different than in Austria. First of all the classes were smaller, and it seemed that the teachers could get more personal contact with their students. Everybody was open-minded to help in case of problems. Furthermore the courses at the Turku law faculty were not that difficult compared to Austria, although I was quite busy writing essays. In Turku exists a second university- the Swedish Abo Akademi. There the courses were quite difficult and required a lot of study time.

13. Compared to your home university,what advantages and disadvantages do you get when compared to the host university?

The classes are smaller, the students seemed more focused on their studies, the teachers helpful and nice. I also got the impression that the workload is not that high for one exam like in Austria.

14. During Erasmus, it iscommon make trips taking advantage of the staying in other countries and places. Did you already make a trip? Got one in mind? Where do you want to travel? Where have you gone?

During my time in Finland I did a lot of trips. I visited Stockholm twice, was in Uppsala, St. Petersburg, Tallinn and Copenhagen. The trips were definitely one of the best thins while staying abroad. During Erasmus I had the time to make all the trips and moreover was able to make them with all my new friends.

15. Finally, the most important. Tell us as Erasmus generally is in the place you are or were (as applicable). How the partys, the other Erasmus, social life, student organizations, associations Erasmus, are and so on (The more you can write, the better!).

Erasmus was the best time of my life. It is a one in your lifetime experience and no one should miss this opportunity. It changes your personality and it makes you more open-minded to other cultures. During your stay you learn a lot of things: to be independent, manage it to live “alone” without your parents, but you get a new Erasmus family and you stick together. Of course all the parties, enjoying life in general are also important on exchange. In Austria I was always buy with working, studying that I could not go out that often or travel round whenever I wanted. As I already said before, Turku was for me the perfect choice as Erasmus city, because it offered a lot.