Article About Being An Exchange Student In Raahe (Kuulumisia magazine)

My name is Andoni Albizu Martikorena I’m 22 years old and come from Basque city called San Sebastian. Those that don’t know where the Basque Country is, can find it on a map in a region situated between France and Spain. Finland is a good example that the Basque country should follow, some years ago few people spoke Finnish but nowadays almost everybody knows it, I hope in our case independence is also the solution for our language.

That’s my 5th year studying Computer Engineering; I just need 21 ECTS credits and the final project (thesis) to finish my career so it was easy for me to decide about staying abroad for one year, I wanted a break before start working for a company. Finland was my first option. I knew that I would rarely have another chance like that in my life so I wanted to go a completely different place. Other reasons that help me decide were music and girls; the first one because I was amazed how could be possible to be so many metal bands (that’s the style I enjoy most) in a country with so small population, the second because, you know, I had heard there were plenty of beautiful girls in Finland.

The academic year started in late august but I couldn’t arrive until mid October because I was doing my practical training in a Basque Technology Center called Tekniker. Just after arriving we arranged a party in our house, it was a great chance to know people, Iñigo helped me a lot those first days. Since then, we have made more parties in the Garden House; it seems to be the only way to have some fun in Raahe. On the end of November I went on a trip to Rovaniemi and it was great, actually it was my birthday so I don’t think I will never forget it. With the Christmas break Iñigo and the French guys (they were living with us) went back to their home countries so I was alone. Hopefully I met a Basque girl in Oulu and we deiced to stay for some days together, I went to Otokyla for 10 days. We were lucky because a Finnish girl I knew invited us to spend Christmas Eve with her family in Kuivaniemi so that’s another thing I won’t never forget in my life. With the new semester a new student came home, Krzysztof, and I can say we are much better now than before. Now we have more contact with people in Oulu and that is helping us to enjoy more our stance in Finland. Now we have a chance to make a group whenever we want to do something special, right now for example we are planning to go to Nordkapp during the break between 3rd and 4th periods.



What do I think about Finland, Raahe, Oulu Polytechnic …

Institute Of Technology And Business: lessons are more relaxed that I used to have in my home university and as courses are shorter they seem to be easier to pass. The amount of students in class in low and that makes possible to have contact with other students, I didn’t expect to know so many Finnish people here, There are few exchange students so we have difficulties to make a group to travel or doing activities. Lot of people from all around the world to study the whole career, it’s a great experience know about people that live so far. One of the things I like more about the University is its student union Osako, it organizes very interesting activities and gives you opportunity to visit many places and know people for Oulu.

Raahe: it’s sad that I can’t see anybody walking on the streets, it makes me feel alone and there are no many pubs/bars to go out at night, I would appreciate more variety. The house we are leaving it’s perfect: cheap, close to the campus, big and well equipped. I don’t know about the south of Finland but here the distances are very large, not only between different villages, but inside Raahe you can find many places there is nothing, it would be better to be all together.

Finland: I’m not going to talk about the coldness because it’s obvious were are not here as worm as in the Basque Country, what it has affected me more it has been the darkness, December was very hard month for me, we have sunlight for few hours and the light didn’t have so much power so I spent most of the time at home. At the end of December the snow start melting and that made the floor slippery cause there was ice on there, very dangerous, I wouldn’t recommend to come here to any old woman. The biggest difference comparing to my country is that here there are not mountains, it’s completely flat, that’s make life easier but sometimes I miss to look up and see something else than the sky. One thing I really about Finland is that almost everybody understands English, I can go anywhere without talking suomi, that’s a great help for foreigners.

People: Finnish people have a serious problem with an alcohol, they don’t know when to stop drinking and then at the end of the nigh you can see many wasted people. It’s amazing how does Finnish girls dance in bars, I don’t usually dance in my country but here I can’t stay sitting down, I want to be as close as possible of them! Before arriving to Finland I thought that it would be very hard to know Finnish people and talk to them but I was wrong, they are not so different comparing to Basques.

http://andonisuomi.blogspot.com/ (mostly in Basque)
www.flickr.com/photos/andonisuomi/ (just photos)