Wow, I’m so excited right now: in less than a month, I’ll be flying right to Finland! But wait, where are my manners? Let me introduce myself: I’m Cyprien Barbault, a 20-year-old student at ESAIP, an engineering school in Saint-Barthélemy, France.
In ESAIP, all the students in the third year need to go in ERASMUS: it’s the best way to improve our English. Personally, I’ve chosen Finland (a bit by chance… ) over the dozens of destination and I’m going to Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences with 10 other ESAIP students. My journey will take place from the 15th of February to the end of May.
Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences (SeAMK)
I’ve done a lot of things to prepare my departure, including:
Buying my fly and train tickets
Finding an apartment (see picture below)
The halls of residence where I’ll be living for 4 months
But I still have some to do such as:
buying hot clothes (temperature can go as low as -10°C)
learning some basic Finnish
And so much more!!
So I go back to my preparation and hope to see you again during this amazing trip!
Hi again! Today grab your backpack, tie your shoes and follow me to discover Seinäjoki, the city where we’ll be living for the next 4 months and so.
Seinäjoki, a city of beauty
Seinäjoki is the 17th largest city in Finland, with more than 63 000 inhabitants. Founded in 1868, it is located in the west of Finland and takes its name from the river Seinäjoki flowing nearby.
It is well known for its architectural monuments such as the Lakeuden Risti Church, the Aalto Center, the municipal library or the University of Applied Sciences.
Municipal library
Lakeuden Risti Church
University of Applied Sciences
Aalto Center
The theater, the alto center, the church and some other monuments were all done by the famous architect Alvar Aalto.
Municipal Theater
The current mayor, Mr Jorma Rasinmäki claims that Seinäjoki is the “Capital of Space”, a city in constant grow, a city to succeed.
There’s a lot of sport available in Seinäjoki, more than 60. You can swim, go skating, play some ice hockey and even dance as a cheerleader.
And obviously after all this, you can enjoy some silence and some rest in a sauna, with a beer!
Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences (Seinäjoen ammattikorkeakoulu in finnish) is also known as SeAMK. There are about 5000 students and 10% of them are international students (as we are). It was founded in 1992 by the union of diver institutes.
SeAMK is divided in 4 schools :
School of Business and Culture
School of Food and Agriculture
School of Health Care and Social Work
School of Technology
We will be studying in the School of Technology subjects such as:
C++ Programming Language
Object-Oriented Programming
Finnish
…
The real strength of SeAMK is its opening in the world. With about 160 partner school around the world, Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences count about 300 exchange students. In even offers 3 different degrees completely in English. To promote this aspect, SeAMK organise each year some international events like the international week.
Hello! What’s about the transport mode in Seinäjoki?
First of all, we must know that Seinäjoki is a small town. In this urban environment, the short distances between services and amenities make possible to move by foot. But for some pedestrians, it might be too long or too tiring. For those people there are there are some possibilities:
The first common one is to get a bike.
With a bike it possible to reach all the principals services, market, hospitals and the University in approximately 10 minutes left. A new suitable bike costs almost €100 and the citizens have the possibility to rent one at a agency. It’s also a good way to visit some places and make sport a the same time.
The second way is to take the bus.
And it is at the bus station where we can buy a travel pass. There are many packages from the single pass to the monthly ones. The single pass costs €2 per adults the day and it’s for an hour while the full season pass cost only €30 (same in Angers with Irigo) it allows unlimited travel every day. Other packages exist for all age groups (children, young people, elder) or for the number of trips.
At last we can choose a taxi (taksy).
It can be expensive or not depending the traffic flow and the distance. The taxi fare starts approximately at €7 and €1.70 are add per Km and for €40 you can rent the taxi during 1 hour.
I think i will buy a bike or rent one during the trip. It will be exciting experiences to ride and discover new places to share with you.
Yeah, we’re going to Finland! Visiting a new country is always exciting; you prepare yourself to discover so many things. Let me share you some info about Finland.
The Republic of Finland is a country located in Northern Europe. It’s an independent land since the 6th of December 1917. December 6 is therefore a holiday. Finland has been a parliamentary republic since independence from Russia, with Helsinki as its capital.
Finland is a Nordic country like Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. This particularity is visible at the Nordic cross on its flag:
Figure 1. The flag of the Republic of Finland. In the public domain.
As you can see in the map below, Finland is covered by 10% of lakes, rivers or ponds. We can count approximately 188,000 lakes. Furthermore, a quarter of the land is located above the Arctic Circle.
Finnish people are very different as French ones. They are around 5.5 million, mainly in the south of the country. They have a reputation for being very calm and introverted. However, they are very warm and sincere. That doesn’t take away their taste for heavy metal. Finland is the country with the most metal bands in the world!
Finnish food is very simple and fresh. The vegetables are seasonal and the dishes are not spicy. There is no room for frills. Take for example the Lohikeitto. It’s just a Finnish salmon soup with cream or milk and seasonal vegetables. Very healthy!
Figure 3. Pictures of Lohikeitto and Korvapuusti, two typical Finnish dishes. From “Finland Food: The 20 Different Traditional Finnish Food You Must Try” by Evan Kristine, 2020 (https://www.prettywildworld.com/traditional-finnish-food/).
While eating your Korvapuusti (cinnamon rolls), you are probably wondering what to do in Finland. Calm! I’m here to guide you. Finland is known for its landscapes and you’ll probably enjoy doing a ride in the snow with a husky sleigh or hike in one national park; Finland has 40! If you want to go north, you’ll be able to see Santa in his village in Lapland or see the Northern Lights in the sky. And if you want to be a real Finnish, you should try to go in a sauna and plunge just after in a frozen lake. Brrr…
You are now ready to go on an adventure in Finland with us.
Erasmus to Seinäjoki 
