Helsinki...
I will try to gather all the collected memories from the capital of Finland. Like I said in the last post, we were six students traveling together. First by train from Vaasa to Helsinki (4,5 hours and 48€ for return ticket). We have booked the Stadion Hostel which is located right in the Helsinki Olympic Stadium, for 16€/night. First night we shared the room with three Japanese students (because we were in the room for 12 persons) and the other two nights we were alone.
So that’s it about the hostel. First day we were too tired to go see any places, but we had enough strength to go out in the night – what I surprise?!. So we went to the hottest spot in Helsinki at the moment (at least the girl who was standing in the looooong entrancing line before us, was pretty sure about that), the Lux. And let me tell you, this is really amazing place for discotheque, I’m just sorry that I didn’t had my camera with me. However I immediately agreed with Finnsih girl from outside that Lux is the hottest and the best place to go out in Helsinki (of course you can imagine, that the price was suitable to the location).
Sunday – you remember one of my first posts from this blog – It was unbelievable? Well the Sunday in Helsinki was pretty much the same. We had had really luck with weather – sun with no clouds. We visited some of the fames spots in Helsinki, like Helsinki Cathedral, Senate Squere, Market Squere, Uspenski Orthodox Chatedral,…
Monday – we took a ferry to the beautiful island Suomenlinna. It was amazing – I never experience traveling with a ferry thru a see full of frozen ice rocks. And the island was just magnificent. So, what else, later we spent some time shopping (or more exactly just looking – at least I did)… After pasta carbonara and poker in hostel…
Last day – first we said goodbye to Nicola, because he went back home to France and the rest of us visited a special (underground) church - Temppeliaukio Church. After a long time searching for the right bus, we visited a Finland photography museum – it was also really nice with some good photos, but honestly I expected more.
So this was really short version of our trip in Helsinki. And here are some photos:
Labels: My life in Vaasa
Helsinki here we come!!
I just have time to write a note that we (Me, Lea, Floriana, Frank, Jean and Nicola) are going to Helsinki for 3 days. We will be back on Tuesday in the evening. So more impressions after…
Seeya
Labels: My life in Vaasa
Finished with Survival Finnish
So, yesterday I had my last lesson of Survival Finnish and finally I earned my first 2 ECTS points here in Vaasa. The lessons ended without any exam; just participation at classes. I still think that Finnish language is pretty hard and difficult; anyhow I know some words and phrases:
How are you? = Mitä kuuluu?
- Kiitos hyvää = I’m fine thank you.
Anteeksi. = Excuse me./Pardon./Sorry
Olen pahoillani. = I’m sorry.
My intention is not to have Finnish lection here... so I will stop now. To summary I learned some basic words and phrases in Finnish (months, days, numbers, some phrases for daily conversation, shopping, transport…).
However English will defiantly stay my first language here.
Labels: Studies in Vaasa
Fish your Plumber - Superstereo
We waited for this Tuesday to come for quite I while… And finally it was here – a gig of Fish your Plumber in Superstereo…kind of Erasmus – Finnish rock group. What to say… they were great!!! Here are some photos that I took...Labels: My life in Vaasa
Survival Finnish
I’m still convinced that we should have Survival French instead of Survival Finnish. I think that almost half of Erasmus students here in Vaasa are French and Finnish language is anyhow too hard and too difficult to learn and as well most of the Finnish people speak English pretty well, so you can normally survive just with English. On the other hand – you know what they say about French…
Okay, now I will be serious. So first some basic data about the course:
Credits: 2 ECTS credits
Objective and course content: The course offers students some basic knowledge of the Finnish language needed in everyday life.
Methods of study: Lectures and exercises 20 hours
Requirements for the credit units: Active participation in lectures and exercises
Literature: Provided by the teacher
Language of instruction: English
I took the course organized by Vaasa Polytechnic. So what can I say about that… Well it’s definitely not just the stereotype that Finnish language is hard, believe me, it definitely is! I admire every Erasmus student who is able to speak and understand Finnish. It’s hard to find similarity with any other language. But like I said in my personal message on the first page… some of the Finnish words I really like. For example, numbers:
“Kaksi” in Slovenian language (especially in Maribor’s dialect) means “how are you?”, so it’s pretty funny to listen this, me and Lea still laugh to this.
Anyway I don’t get Finnish grammar quite yet – it’s too hard. But I know some differences like:
- no gender
- lots of endings and suffixes instead of prepositions or other words to express different meanings. So you can get really loooooong words!!
- Some differences in short and long sounds
Example:
- Tappaan = to meet
- Tappaa = to kill
Okay enough of Finnish. I don’t want that you hate me! I will write more about Survival Finnish when the course will be finished.
Labels: Studies in Vaasa
Why Survival Russian?
I choose Survival Russian because I decided to go the excursion to St. Petersburg which is organized by University on 22nd to 27th of April and I think it’s good if I learn some basics before going. I really would like to go on this trip. But it is quite expensive (~ 400€ - The price includes accommodation in hotel Moskva, breakfasts and busstrip) so many students decided not to go or to go on their own. However I think it’s a good opportunity to go with University. First of all it’s definitely safer, I don’t have to worry about visa (University will take care of everything necessary) and we will have the opportunity to see some Russian business companies. But more about this trip later…
SURVIVAL RUSSIAN
So now when you know why I choose Survival Russian I can tell something more about the course.
Course content: The course provides students with the minimum language skills and cultural background for communication in everyday situations: basic pronunciation reading skills: essential knowledge of Russian etiquette, grammar, vocabulary and typical phrases for everyday and social settings.
Methods of study: Lectures and exercises 20 hours
Completion of the course: Active participation in lessons, tests
Literature: Material provided by the lecturer
Credits: 2 ECTS credits
We started with classes last Wednesday and we begin with Russian alphabet. I discovered that Slovenian and Russian language is even more similar that I first thought. This course will be definitely easier than Survival Finnish. So, here is Russian alphabet:
Russian is written using a modified version of the Cyrillic (кириллица) alphabet, consisting of 33 letters.
Old letters that have been abolished at one time or another but occur in this and related articles include ѣ /ie/ or /e/, і /i/, ѳ /f/, ѵ /i/ and ѧ that merged into я. The yers ъ and ь were originally pronounced as ultra-short or reduced /ŭ/, /ĭ/, actually [ɪ], [ɯ] or [ə̈], [ə̹].
This is all for now...
Labels: Studies in Vaasa
I have i bike...
Ok, like I promised I will write something from the first month in Vaasa. So, I decided to tell you something about my new (old) bike. I bought it from my neighbor, German guy Fridtjof. Well actually the bike was in property of one girl from the last semester and Fridtjof just helped her to sell it. Anyway I paid 60€ and it was worth it. I never thought that I’ll bicycle at -28°C… but I think here everything is possible. But I really believe it’s better to go out with bike, because you spent less time on cold air... However sometimes is hard, especially when we go near the see, because wind there is really strong.
Labels: My life in Vaasa
Our apartment
We are just so lucky. We have the apartment 216 in
Tekla II. Supposedly me and Lea have the best apartment in Tekla II (this is one of the students apartment buildings of
VOAS). We get this information from students who were here already in last semester. And especially Maria (girl from Greece) who lived in my room before me, she is really sad because she lost it. Well, now she lives in the room 206 in Tekla II, but we still get her mail here (even though that on the post mail is written her new address – room 206, she still gets the post here – I don’t know what to think about Finnish postmen). Anyway, we have to thank her in her ex-roommate for keeping this apartment so clean and nice. You should seen some other apartments…ufff.. Now I know why all are saying that we have the best apartment. And not just that, my room is also the largest room here – 32,5 square meters!!! But it’s got to be some catch here… Yes of course… something must be wrong… And surprise surprise, it’s the price… Well, I don’t know why I am so shocked. It’s kind of normal that the prettiest and the biggest apartment is also the most expensive. So like I mentioned before, for 32,5 square meters I’m paying 258,84 € per month. Yes, Finland is definitely expensive… but I’m not going to complain, I knew that even before I came here.
So here is another video. But I have to warn you… it’s in Slovenian and no subtitles are available on the internet. So for those who don’t understand Slovenian I’m really sorry and for those who understand, please don’t laugh… Well who am I kidding, I know that you will all laugh… Enjoy!
Labels: My life in Vaasa
Learning in Networks
In Slovenia I changed the course Principles of distance learning with this one. The professor is the same as in the Introduction to Multimedia Authoring System Ms Juuli Savola. But it’s funny because we are just four students at this class and three of them are from Slovenia.
So the goal of this course is:
In this course we will discuss the current and new paradigms concerning technology and learning and the characteristics of a successful online student.
At the conclusion of the course, you we will be able to:
1. Demonstrate a thorough understanding of the online learning environment
2. Navigate a learning management system from a student's perspective
3. Demonstrate the skills necessary to use online technologies including WebCT to enhance learning
4. Demonstrate ability to participate and facilitate an online discussion
5. Demonstrate the ability to perform basic student management and assessment in an online environment
So we also use the moodle system here. It’s pretty simple to use, because is well organized. Each two weeks we have a new task to do. Usually we get the written material which we have to read and after that write a message and discuss about it on the forum. I think it’s interesting how you can really learn like that, with reading and comment others students opinion. You can really widen yours knowledge range like this.
Labels: Studies in Vaasa
Introduction to Studying Multimedia Authoring Systems
This was my first course here in Vaasa. The professor is Ms Suvi Isohela. It is kind of an introduction for studying MULTIMA and I will get 3 ECTS credits for this course.
We had some tasks to do online; more exactly we were using
Moodle.
So, the first one was, to read an
article and then to answer what is the purpose of the text and what is on my opinion, the most important thing in the list and why?
The second one was to surf the net and look at portfolios and blogs where people tell about their studies. Than choose one portfolio or blog that we like and tell about it and also comment other messages.
And right now you are reading my project for this course. That’s right; the task for this course is, to create your own student portfolio with stress on our stay here in Vaasa, our studies and experiences here. And I have to say, that before I thought that I don’t like to write blog, but now I see that this is quite interesting and fun. So I hope I will continue with writing posts on this blog in the future as well… I just hope I will have some readers, well otherwise I will just write it for my soul.
So in the end of February I will get a mark regarding on how well I will do my blog and also how well I did the first two tasks. I will let you know about it.
Labels: Studies in Vaasa
Let's talk about school…
For the beginning I have to tell, that except of the course Introduction to Multimedia Authoring system, for which I’m writing this blog, I didn’t had any other classes yet… Well except survival language courses for Finnish and Russian. And also I had one lesson of the course Learning in Networks which is on-line course. So I’m still waiting for other 3 courses to start.
So here are all my courses which I chose to take here in Vaasa:
- VIES1301
Introduction to Electronic Publishing - VIES1303
Project - TITE3070
Analysis and Design of human Computer Interaction - VIES1300
Introduction to Studying Multimedia Authoring Systems - VIES1302
Learning in Networks -
Survival Finnish-
Survival RussianLabels: Studies in Vaasa
Finnish food
I like it! Is it strange? Definitely! But if you have just a little bit of imagination and you are not too tight up than you can really enjoy in diversity of colours in Finnish food. They mix fruit with vegetable, sweet with sour… I think they are really cooking with their eyes. So up to now I tried pineapple with curry and chicken (delicious!), numbers of different salads, like pumpkin with watermelon and paprika or cucumber with melon… They also do a lot of inventions with bananas. Last week we had opportunity to try bananas with onion… Hmmm… what can I say? Maybe I have a lack of imagination, but this is one combination that I really don’t get it. Banana + onion…. I don’t think so. But this was like the only bad experience with Finnish food.
However, I need to mention Finnish sweet desserts. I will start with my favourite – Original Finnish chocolate – Fazer…njami!! Especially Geisha, this is a milk chocolate with soft hazelnut filling… So right now they have an action price in K-market and you can get 4 Geishas for “just” 2 €! Yeeeeeej… Me and Lea very happy!!!
So after this unbelievable good chocolate I have to mention the best yogurt ever – Yogurt with nuts produced by Pirkka, but you can only buy it in K-market, because Pirkka is their brand. Not even so expensive, because it only cost 0,79€/400g! Like it!
I don’t want to be too long and boaring so I will just say that everything (except banana & onion combination) is really good.
And here is the video of the restaurant at the university – Mathilda, where we eat lunch almost every day. Hehe, don’t be surprised – but I really like this restaurant too! Every day you have different fresh salads and almost every day they offer a fresh fruits. Daily they have like 3 to 4 different main dishes and a soup. Finnish bread is also really tasteful and and usually everybody is having bread with butter at lunch. The only thing that I don’t get it is the milk. All Finnish people are used to drinking milk for lunch regardless of the type of the food. So you can choice from variety of different sort of milk. Well I will stop now… enjoy in video!
P.S.: I can’t make videos with my camera, so the videos are from Frank’s camera! And I still learn how to make a good movie. So, I hope after a few videos my videos will be better.
Labels: My life in Vaasa
It's unbelievable!
Ufff… It has already been one month since I arrived in Vaasa. I just can’t believe it. Time goes really quickly here. Well I don’t know if I will write everything that has happened in January because I think it would be too much. But I will try to put down my new experiences from Vaasa. However, you should check up my msn space, I have some photos there. I will also try to do nicer on-line gallery where I will published more of my photos…
Just to start… IT’S UNBELIEVABLE!!! Really it’s amazing here. So many new faces from all around the world, new cultures – not just Finnish, new way of life, different (way colder) climate, amazing atmosphere! I don’t know where to begin…
I’m still deciding if I will write something about the first month here or not… I kind of think I should do it; you know what they say the first impression is the most important.
Labels: My life in Vaasa
More about me...
So, ones again, welcome to my blog. First I think it would be good to introduce myself, because I think many of you don’t know me quite well.
So, I’m from Slovenia, more precisely from city or village Logatec, which is 30 km out of Ljubljana (the capital of Slovenia). I graduated at High school for Design and Photography in Ljubljana in the 2002. However, for the last 4 years I’m living in Maribor (160km away), where I’m studying at University of Maribor, Faculty for Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, course of Media Communication. Now I’m in the last year, so after this Finnish Socrates Erasmus experience I have to write my Diploma and then I’m finished. But I want to study more, so I was thinking about doing postgraduate studies – but I didn’t exactly decided yet what and where. I was thinking about taking major in public relationship. Well I think I would like to o combine photography with expression of different media. Maybe after Finland I will have clearer picture about which area of media I want to study more and after work in it.
Labels: My life in Vaasa
