Joensuu, the city of the river

Being an Erasmus Mundus student, I had the opportunity to travel to many European countries, and see the insight of their culture, traditions and their ways of enjoyment. For me, my experience at Joensuu, a city of Eastern Finland in the heart of North Karelia, was unexpressable. I was there last semester from Sept. 2009 till January 2010, and I experienced the every drop of that beautiful natural city.

Joensuu Yliopisto (University of Joensuu) is the only university in the city, along with a couple of polytechnics. It’s a small city with around 50 000 population, and more than 40% of them are student. So you can imagine the student atmosphere there. Most of the students I met there were from Poland and Spain. In fact, Polish and Spanish people were so much that I was wondering if all the Spain and Poland has come over there.

One of the most delightful things about the system of education there was, you are allowed to take any course from any faculty. That means that if you are studying law, but you want to take a course from the forestry department, you are more than welcome to do so. In fact many Erasmus students had taken a forestry course because as part of the course, they take the students to free excursion to nearby forests for free.

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I would also like to describe my experience with the ESN there. ESN is the most active student community there, and it organizes some amazing trips. I will have to mention the Sea Battle, a cruise journey, when you are on a cruise for 3 nights, and visit Sweden and Estonia during the days. An unforgettable journey in every sense. With more than 2500 students on the ship, it’s all about party there. They drink a lot, they sing a lot and they dance a lot. And what is more important, it was only for 40 euros. Yes that’s not a mistake all that fun on the cruise was for only 40 euros. Plus there are some interesting competitions on the cruise to keep the spirit alive.

Another trip to St. Petersburg was organized which was very much affordable. We had spend 5 days in St Petersburg, with all its beautiful architecture and very famous clubs.

At Joensuu, the best thing is that, everybody speaks and understands English very well. You don’t really need to worry about learning the Finnish language, as you will be able to manage everything with English only, though it is always good to know a new language and especially when you are on the Erasmus exchange abroad.

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I still miss the parties that we used to have during my stay at the Latolankatu, by the JoensuuElli student housing company. If you ever have the choice then I would recommend you to get the accommodation at Latolankatu. It is a true party place, where you will only find Erasmus students around you. For the clubs, the best I had been to were the Gigling Marlin, and the Night. Though, both of the clubs are very good, but I liked Gigling marlin more than the other one. ESN also used to organize parties in different clubs, and outhouses almost every other weekend. Regarding the parties and enjoyment, I would rate Joensuu as the best city I had ever been to.

If you like natural beauty, then there is lot to see. Everybody in Joensuu used to ride the bicycle, so if you be there, then do not think of the bus, just take a bike on the rent and use it, as it is always good to transform yourself into the local environment. And of course they have separate bicycle tracks everywhere in the city, and I really mean it by everywhere. So you simple do not need to bike within the main traffic. Snow has a beauty of its own, and that you will come to know, if you visit Joensuu.

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Joensuu is closest Erasmus destination to Lapland, the home of the Santa Clause, and there you can also see the rare north lights. You can have rain deer meat also freshly served to you in Lapland. ESN organizes trips to Lapland as well, so that also can be a good reason for going to Joensuu as the Erasmus student.

Apart from that, in Joensuu itself, you can play with snow as much as you want, you can make snowman, and perhaps simple just make snowballs and throw at each other. The best part of all this is that, you feel very warm inside your rooms, even warmer then how you feel in Spain at 15 C. The rooms are always centrally heated and the walls are always thick enough not to let you feel cold inside.

The other amazing thing about Joensuu is Sauna, a traditional Finnish hot bath. The Finnish way of taking sauna is going completely naked in there, but most international students find it very strange and reluctant to do so, but believe me I can assure you from my personal experience that you should try at least once doing it the Finnish way. You do not feel cold after the sauna, even if you stay only in a towel at -20 C outside, so in December, many people tried ice swimming, yeah that’s true, digging a hole in the lake of Joensuu and swimming. Don’t try it without first going into the sauna or you will be freeze.

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So guys, that’s all was my experience. Though I have tried to cover all the possible topics, however if you have any questions or need any guidance just drop me an email.