Posts Tagged ‘ATLANTIS’

Alas, it is the end of the school year at Michigan Tech, and thus the end of my blogging. While Michigan Tech’s school year ends the last week of April, school is still in session at SLU until the first week of June! In the next two months I will be participating in various forestry related excursions in and around Sweden, such as: the Skättilljunga sawmill, a non-traditional oak forest in Blekinge, a non-traditional beech forest at Ryssberget, Söderåsen, a beech forest in Halland, and the Bialowieza National Park in Poland.

As I reread some of my entries, I am humbled by how lucky I have been – experiences, health, opportunities, traveling, friends, family, the list goes on. This time abroad has truly changed my life, from my confidence as a traveler to a more globally minded scientist, and everything in between. Though attempted through this blogging experience, words really cannot describe what I have experienced in the past year of my life.

A trip down memory lane...

I thought it would be fun to make a quick list of my favorite things in each country I have visited (thus far),while studying abroad:

• Finland: Free Education
• Switzerland: The Blend of Cultures/Languages
• Germany: The Art - Graffiti and Museums
• Scotland: The Highlands
• Lithuania: KGB Museum and History
• Latvia: Forestland and Local Medieval Folk Rock
• Estonia: The People I Met
• Russia: The EXTREME Culture Shock
• Sweden: The Diversity and Open-mindedness
• Denmark: The Funky Architecture

I would not  feel right if I did not send special thanks to everyone that has taken the time to read my blog over the past year – what an adventure it has been. I would also like to acknowledge some very special people that have made this blogging experience possible:

• MTU ParentNet/IPS/Technical Assistance: Gretta Gustafson, Katie Russell, Michelle Nightingale, Lisa Pignotti, Donna Armistead, & Scott Shannon.
• ATLANTIS Coordinators: (MTU) Dr. Shekhar Joshi, (NCSU) Dr. Bronson Bullock, (SLU) Dr. Eric Agestam, and (UH) Maija Kovanen.
• Photography: Chris Johnson, Elina Inkiläinen, and Shekhar Joshi.
• Professors: Dr. Vilis Brukas, Dr. Kathleen E. Halvorsen, Dr. Andrew Storer, and Dr. Pekka Nygren.
• Flat-mates: Blake, Ivanna , and Marta

To avoid making an enormous list or forgetting anyone, I will keep things short and general – thank you to my friends, family, and especially my fellow ATLANTIS students, (both abroad and at Michigan Tech). My Michigan Tech ‘family’ of friends, as well as my international ‘family’ that has developed over the past year will forever be in my heart. The gifts, travel stories, social events, late nights, early mornings, bike rides, bus rides, dancing, studying, crying, laughing, screaming, frustration, joy and love have made all the difference.

And now, for my final farewell, I will leave you with a quote from one of my favorite authors, Henry David Thoreau:

Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes.

What a busy, but exciting week! Apologies for not posting sooner, but this week was filled with another ATLANTIS thesis defense, Taco Tuesday, three time-consuming assignments (all for this week), an all-day field trip on Friday, a spring barbecue, and a concert in Malmö on Saturday!

Where to start!? Monday was the first day of my new Silviculture course, a two-week section of my current Broadleaves course that deals specifically with:

International Video Conference Defense

• Principles for traditional management of different broadleaved species
• The use and market of hardwood and requirements on timber quality
• The assets and economic potential of broadleaves in the Baltic region
• Traditional management of broadleaves compared to the new concept of “close to nature forestry“

The first day we received three assignments (ALL to be completed this week):

1. Silviculture models for broadleaved species - working in pairs, we were assigned to completely research (from soil requirements to the current market values) a popular tree species in Sweden. I researched birch.
2. Assets and potential of broadleaves in the Baltic region – a group project in which my group was assigned to research the silvicultural and economic aspects of the tree species in the Leningrad Oblast region of Russia.
3. Traditional forestry vs. close to nature forestry – an online discussion/debate in which you needed to prepare a well-researched argument for or against these management techniques, and then interact with fellow students through an online discussion forum.

In addition, my fellow ATLANTIS/MTU friend Margus, arrived to Sweden from Estonia. On Tuesday, April 12, he successfully defended his thesis. Margus’ thesis research was completed during his year at MTU near Houghton, entitled: ‘Tracing the Source of Groundwater for Three Different Coastal Peatlands Along Lake Superior‘. Following his defense, we celebrated by having ‘Taco Tuesday’. My fellow MTU friend and I prepared proper tacos – of which we have been craving since we left the United States. Though Kebab and felafel stands can be found on almost every street corner, Mexican-inspired foods and flavors are not popular in Europe or Scandinavia, (for obvious geographic reasons). It was an especially exciting night as my Russian flat mate and a few of my Russian classmates had their FIRST burrito/taco!

Mämmi

The menu consisted of:

• Chris J’s famous Bacon Black Beans
• ‘Dirty’ tomato and olive rice
• Wheat Tortillas
• Corn chips
• Salsa
• Toppings: Lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and greek yogurt
• Dessert: Double chocolate carmel cake and a traditional Finnish Easter-time dessert called mämmi

Wednesday and Thursday were spent working on, turning in, and attending a discussion on our assignments for silviculture. Friday was an all-day field trip to Snogeholm in which we discussed our researched tree species, looked at multiple management techniques, and learned about current landscape architecture trends. The weather was wonderful, and after a long day of hiking in the woods the students got together and had a barbecue.

To end my week, I was convinced to go see some live music at a club in Malmö , called Debaser. I was absolutely blown away by the band performing that night, a Swedish all-girl band called Those Dancing Days. Interestingly enough, their name derives from the Led Zeppelin song “Dancing Days” They are now one of my favorite bands!

Those Dancing Days

An apology to anyone looking forward to my adventures in St. Petersburg, but  this past week was especially exciting at SLU, and I could not skip writing about it. I will post about St. Petersburg later this week I PROMISE!

Congratulations Arvo!

So what made this past week so special you may ask? Not only did my two Estonian ATLANTIS colleagues visit, (Arvo and Margus), but Arvo successfully defended his Master’s thesis on Warming Alters Photosynthetic Rates of Sub-Boreal Peatland Vegetation. The defense itself was a production, as it was internationally broadcast from Alnarp, Sweden, to Michigan Tech in Houghton, and even to the Umeå Campus in northern Sweden. This entailed coordinating international times, schedules, and advisors. Because of the way the ATLANTIS Programme works, each student has an advisor in the United States and an advisor in Scandinavia/Europe. Arvo’s advisors are Dr. Rodney Chimner (MTU) and Dr. Eric  Agestam (SLU), both wonderful people and scientists. Dr. Eric Agestam is also the SLU ATLANTIS coordinator, and is very active with SLU’s International EUROFORESTER Masters course. This is the course which ATLANTIS students participate in while at SLU. Eric has been especially helpful and active during my time at SLU He has a wonderful sense of humor, especially when I even had to ask him how to write my flat address correctly when I moved to Sweden!

When causally asked during his defense, “what have you learned or taken away from the ATLANTIS Programme?,”  Arvo answered along the lines of “the people and the cultural experience” – I couldn’t agree more. I feel so privileged to be part of the ATLANTIS Programme, and essentially the ‘ATLANTIS family’. The people I have met throughout this program have truly changed my life, the cultural experiences have truly been incomparable, and the people running this program have done an amazing job. I am going to take this opportunity to ‘plug’ the ATLANTIS Program, and highly suggest applying if you can – (check out the ATLANTIS website here) – contact the coordinator in your region and get started as soon as possible! Also, I am more than willing to answer questions about the ATLANTIS Program for current or future students, though my experience in the United States is limited to Michigan Tech in Houghton.

Chris and Arvo - part of the 'MTU Crew'

It was wonderful to have the ‘MTU Crew’ back together again – it felt like just yesterday we were all back in Houghton, Michigan. I pray that we will some how find a way to have an ATLANTIS reunion in the future. I would also like to extend a special ‘thank you’ to Chris Johnson, my fellow MTU ATLANTIS colleague, for allowing me to exploit his love for photography. As I have mentioned before, I am not really a picture person – I am not photogenic and I would rather spend my time living in the moment than behind a camera – thus, my friends have graciously allowed me to borrow some of their pictures for my blog – of which I truly appreciate!

Good cooking boys!

I am extremely excited for my defense at MTU this coming Fall (2011)! It is really inspiring to see other ATLANTIS students starting to finish their programs. Margus (the other Estonian) will be coming back to SLU in April to defend his thesis. In addition, two ATLANTIS students currently studying with me at SLU should be defending this summer. Good luck everyone!

On both a historical and ironic note, Arvo’s defense happend to be on Estonian Independence Day (February 24th)! Thursday evening, traditional Estonian meatballs were consumed to celebrate both successful events! Check out the link to learn all about Estonia’s social and Soviet struggles during their historical quest for independence – very interesting.

Congratulations again, Arvo!

RECENT NUCLEAR DISCOVERY: While browsing the SLU student webpage I discovered that Alnarp, (therefore the SLU campus I study at) is located within the twelve-kilometer danger zone around the nuclear power plant Barsebäck! The webpage also states that “every citizen has the right to get iodine tablets” Oh my! Apparently the first reactor, Barsebäck 1, was closed November 30, 1999, and the second, Barsebäck 2, stopped operating on May 31, 2005. In addition, the last 32 nuclear fuel cells left Barsebäck by ship on December 1, 2006, but I could not find out where they were sent. Interesting indeed!

Keychain Key Card

On an another international adjustment note, in Sweden nobody stands in line – they use Queue numbers! Almost anywhere  you go in Sweden you need a queue number; you push the correct button (for example there are different buttons for sending a letter versus returning store items, which are usually denoted by color), and a paper slip comes out with a number. A large number board shows which customer number they are currently serving, so you know when it is your turn – this can be convenient when you are waiting for a long time, so you can ‘guesstimate‘ when to return for service –  coffee anyone? There are many places that use this system, such as at shopping centers, post offices, banks, railway ticket offices, the systembolaget (the alcohol stores), and even at public offices such as the police station. Luckily my travel skills have made me an expert observer, and I avoided making a fool out of myself when I went to mail postcards this past week – it would have been another story if I had budged in front of everyone by just walking up to the counter or attempting to stand in line behind the customer being served. In addition, I received two letters this week from my family – I absolutely LOVE getting mail. I have found that the Swedish mail system has been much more efficient and reliable than the Finnish experience I had. The Swedish stamps are more expensive though, at 12 Krona each (about $1.85!). In addition, they use the same priced stamp for letters or postcards here, which is nice if you want to send letters, but it gets expensive sending post cards. On an oddly fun, and interesting note, the world’s most expensive postage stamp is Swedish! A mis-colored, one-of-a-kind printed in 1857 sold for 4.5 million dollars in 1996! It was recently resold this past year in May, but the buyers and selling price remain a mystery. Another new interesting item in my Swedish life is my keychain key card. In order to access my building’s front door, laundry and recycling center I need to use my ‘key card’. It is a blue plastic disk, similar to a keychain. Basically you hold it up to the scanner, it identifies you, and the light turns green, opening the door. I really like this system, but I will be mortified if I ever lose my keys!

Valentine's Day Tulips

This past week the ATLANTIS coordinator from NCSU (Bronson Bullock) visited as well, organizing a ‘tour’ day for the current students at SLU.  The ATLANTIS students met in Malmö, and walked  to the Malmöhus Castle where they visited several museums  on history, natural history, technology and seafaring. They then walked to the Stortorget square to eat a late lunch, and  then headed to Rådhuskällaren for a coffee. Unfortunately I had some graduate work to do this weekend, and I had to pass up this fun day with the other ATLANTIS students Priorities. I am pleased to see so much interaction from the ATLANTIS coordinators,  as well as visits from professors from the four Universities associated with the ATLANTIS program.

Homemade Sushi Yum!

This past week I also ‘lost’ a housemate Unfortunately one of the girls I live, well lived with, had to return to her home country for knee surgery and recovery therapy. We decided to have a good-bye dinner of homemade sushi and prawns! If there is one food that I love, it is sushi! Speaking of LOVE…This Monday is Valentine’s Day (February 14th)! As most countries around the world do not celebrate Valentine’s Day, I decided to introduce my classmates to this sugar-filled, flowery, and sometimes depressing holiday. To make sure everyone had a Valentine, I am hosting an Anti-Valentine’s Day evening with a Zombie theme – I have a dark sense of humor. I thought it would be a fun way to get everyone together to eat sugar cookies and chocolates, while watching some classic American love comedies: ‘He’s Just Not That Into You” and “The Wedding Singer“. I am baking scrumptious ‘broken heart’ sugar cookies using my step-mother’s infamous, tried and true recipe –  I am sure everyone will love them! Thanks for the cookie recipe G, and Happy Birthday! (her birthday was February 12th)I might have also bought myself some Valentine’s Day Spring Tulips… Flowers are an easy way for me to brighten my mood and my room. I cannot wait for Spring!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Kassidy

Local Jazz Jam

This past Monday Dr. Andrew Storer visited the Alnarp campus to give a guest lecture and meet with an ATLANTIS student he is supervising. Dr. Storer is not only a prestigious professor at MTU, but is also the Director of Graduate Student Programs. His guest lecture dealt with forest insect ecology. That evening the MTU ATLANTIS students were invited to join him for dinner to discuss the program and our current experiences. To add to the evening, another ATLANTIS student from NCSU plays professional trumpet and invited us to come watch him play with a local Swedish jazz ensemble!

This week I finally got a Jojo card, (which gives me discounts on transportation), and also rode the train for my first time in Sweden! The train system here is convenient and easy, if you know what you’re doing. All of the train lines are color coded, right down to the interiors, and all of the ticketing is done via machine – conveniently with an English option, unlike Finland. The schedules can get a litte confusing as trains of the same color do not always stop at the same stops every time, so carrying a train schedule is essential.

This Thursday (February 1st) was the Chinese New Year, the most important traditional holiday in China. Two of my  fellow classmates are from China, and they brought candy to class as well as inviting us to their house over the lunch break to celebrate. We enjoyed jasmine green tea, coffee, chocolate, and gingerbread along with our lunches. This year is the year of the Rabbit (or Hare), which holds special meaning to me, as I am a Rabbit – the luckiest of all of the signs. Other famous ‘Rabbits’ include: Joseph Stalin, Fidel Castro, King Olav V of Norway, Queen Victoria, Michelangelo, Albert Einstein, David Rockefeller and David Frost. 

This past weekend was very busy! On Friday we had yet another infamous ‘quiz’ on this week’s material: economics. Not exactly my favorite subject… On a brighter note, it was one of my fellow ATLANTIS student’s birthdays and she brought candy to class yum! To celebrate her birthday some of the students went to a local sauna (or bastu) called Bjerreds Saltsjöbad. It is located in a neighboring town called Lomma, right on/in the Sea! There was also a birthday party on Saturday to celebrate not only her  birthday, but the birthday of Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804-1877), as well. Runeberg is widely regarded as Finland’s greatest poet; although he was Finnish, he wrote in Swedish and exerted a great influence on Swedish literature as well. Runeberg’s birthday is recognized as a Finnish holiday: ‘J.L. Runebergin päivä’ in which “Runeberg’s tart”, a delicacy named after the poet, is served. My research dug up that in the 1800′s it was very common to name cakes after celebrity persons – “However it is said that the Runerberg Tart was created by a cafe in Porvoo, where Runeberg had a liking for a little dry bun which he ate together with a glass of punch. Later on the café keeper created Runeberg’s tart from that…(called Runebergin tortut), traditionally eaten on Runeberg’s Day“. What better place to be than in Sweden, with a great Finnish friend, eating homemade Runebergs tarts!

Homemade Pizza!

The party was especially fun because people were asked to bring a ‘traditional’ appetizer from their country of origin. I decided to bring deviled eggs, though I joked about making mini-hotdogs and bite-sized apple pies. I really enjoy that all of the other students are very open about different cultures, and that we can all joke about the stereotypes of our countries – it makes things very entertaining!  In addition, I made my house mates homemade pizza this week – it was daring of me since one of my house mates is Italian and naturally a pizza critic, but  the pizza ended up being a huge success. To my surprise, this was the first time my Italian house mate had had pineapple on pizza before!

As mentioned in my previous blog, my hometown team, the Green Bay Packers made it to the Super Bowl this year! Despite the time zone difference and lack of enthusiasm for American football in Sweden, I managed to stay up late on Sunday evening/Monday morning and watch the game on my computer. If I did not partake in this ‘holy’ day, I am sure that upon my return to the United Sates my Wisconsin residency would be rejected, and my family would disown me. While the first half looked too good to be true, the second half was almost as bad as the halftime show…

In addition, Sunday was one of my roommate’s birthdays, but she went out of town to celebrate, so we decided to decorate her room with balloons, streamers, signs and other delights for when she returns next week. We are also planning a homemade-sushi birthday dinner for her upon her return, with a homemade cake!

Exhausted and weary after a long week of economics, and an even longer weekend of balancing schoolwork and socializing, I am looking forward to writing about my winter travels through the infamous, Mother Russia!

Thinking of you Dad, Go Pack Go!

Kassidy

Private Forest Field Trip

The first week of class is officially finished, and I am exhausted! The first day of class was a field trip to a private forest owner’s property. The owners were a married couple from Sweden, both with forestry backgrounds. Interestingly enough, the husband worked for the timber sector of IKEA. They had a large property that they use for firewood, mushrooming, hunting, an ornamental tree nursery, and rent out some of the land for  farming. We spent the afternoon wandering their property learning about Swedish forestry practices, policy, and private ownership. As a challenge the students were split into groups and told to come up with future forestry and land management options for the couple. It was a fun challenge, and the winning group had even suggested converting part of the property into a paintball field! The long day ended with a much needed bonfire and warm food.

SLU Campus

Juggling class time and homework, it was a challenge to sneak in an ‘official’ campus tour or even welcome for that matter. Luckily I was able to make it to a brief afternoon session to get my networking, computer, and library accounts in order. The system here is very different from anything I have ever had to use before; printers que documents and require double passwords, I also have to put money in an electronic account to pay for copies, faxes, and printing, and if I do not have enough money in my account, I cannot print – no exceptions! Hopefully I will not be printing much this semester. The campus itself is gorgeous, with whimsical looking buildings and a large park. There might have been a few Harry Potter Hogwarts jokes mentioned throughout the tour…

As for classes, it has been intense. The long days remind me of being in high school again, or at the ‘Fall Camp’ that I had to go through for Michigan Tech. I really enjoyed my schedule in Helsinki – I had long days, but they did not start at seven in the morning. I am definitely a night owl.

After a long week, I was invited out with the other new SLU students to go bowling. I have not been bowling in a very long time, and for good reason – I am not very good. I was excited to go out with my new friends, and was even more excited to be meeting more new people. I had to take the bus into Malmö, which costs 22 krona (about $3.40) one way! Not only is Sweden expensive (like Finland), but they use the “Swedish crown” or Krona as their currency. It has been quite the conversion adjustment for me. I miss using the Euro  1 Euro equals 8.87 Krona, which is currently equal to $1.36. Luckily, I kept my NORDEA bank account active in Finland so I do not have to pay common currency conversion fees like most people.

Tastes like home!

To finish the first week myself and a few other ATLANTIS students got together for a hearty brunch. Each person contributed a dish; there was sausage, scrambled eggs, traditional Finnish crepes, fresh bread, lingonberry jam, and someone even bought real Canadian maple syrup! I mad a warm winter citrus salad of grapefruit, blood oranges, and pineapple with a brown sugar glaze. After our spectacular brunch, reality woke us from our mid-morning food-comas and reminded us why we had really gathered, that pesky group homework assignment. It was nice to distract ourselves for an hour or so with brunch though. In short, the weekend and evenings after class have been filled with group assignments, personal homework, and enough take-home reading to kindle fires for a month. This will definitely be a challenging semester!

Next week is the Superbowl! Yes, my hometown team, The Green Bay Packers, have made it to the Super Bowl. It is also one of my Finnish ATLANTIS colleague’s birthdays, as well as Runeberg’s Birthday (a Finnish holiday for the famous Finnish poet). I look forward to writing about the upcoming fun, but busy week.

Kassidy

Studying, Exploring, Experiencing, and Blogging!

After surviving my winter break, and Russia for that matter, I have finally gotten settled in Sweden!

I will re-introduce myself, as my blog has recently changed locations from the MTU ParentNet Student Abroad, to the MTU IPS Student Abroad Blog. My name is Kassidy Yatso, and I have been the ‘student abroad’ blogger for the past 6 months while studying at the University of Helsinki, Finland, starting in late August 2010.

I received my B.Sc. in Applied Ecology and Environmental Science from Michigan Technological University’s (MTU) School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science (SFRES) in December 2009, and chose to continue my education at MTU. I am currently part of an exchange program of American and European master’s students, leading to a dual (double) master’s degree, (in completion, I will obtain two MS diplomas, one from the US and one from an EU university). My Transatlantic Master’s Degree in Forest Resources requires a total of 2 years (4 semesters) across three universities in Finland, Sweden and the USA: 1 semester at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), 1 semester at the University of Helsinki (UH), and 2 semesters (one study year) at MTU.

I have just completed my semester of graduate studies at the University of Helsinki, and am now attending SLU. I will be blogging about academics, culture, my travels, and much more! If you are just joining me, I am in transit between Helsinki, Finland, and Alnarp, Sweden, but my blogs from last semester are archived, so you can go back and read about Finland and last semester’s adventures

Map of SLU Alnarp Campus

After repacking all of my belongings in Helsinki for the move to Sweden, I realized I had some how accumulated more possessions that I thought. Luckily, one of my fellow classmates at UH was willing to drive me to the airport so I did not have to rangle my baggage on the Helsinki public buses. I will forever be grateful. A short hopper flight to Denmark, and I was in Copenhagen in less than two hours. Alone, attempting to navigate the airport, buy a train ticket to Malmö, and manage my baggage, I was taken back by the quiet, calmness and neatness of the Copenhagen Airport. Feeling a bit more relaxed, I caught the train to Malmö Central Station to meet up with other new SLU students and a ‘welcoming committee’. SLU had graciously offered to pick new students up at the railway station and bring us and our luggage to our new addresses, saving time, money, and inevitable frustration. I am currently living in Arlöv, Sweden, which is north of  Malmö, Sweden, and west of  Copenhagen, Denmark.

My Bike "Kermit"

I live in a student flat with two other forestry students; a Russian girl from the Moscow State University, and an Italian girl who is in the Erasmus Mundus  Programme. We all attend the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) this semester, taking part in the Euroforestry programme. I had one day to unpack, regroup, and reorganize before classes started for the Spring Semester. Luckily my roommates are in the same course programme and showed me around campus and the surrounding areas. I live about a 20 minute bike ride from the Alnarp campus, and about 5 minutes from the Burlöv Center (a large mall with a grocery store in it). I was fortunate enough to buy a bike upon my arrival to Sweden, from a fellow ATLANTIS student that was already at SLU. A bike is vital for survival here.

For the first half of the semester I will be taking a course titled “National and International Forestry Policy”. We have class Monday through Friday from nine to four, with an hour lunch break. It is much more reading intensive than my courses in Helsinki, with a more demanding schedule and course load. I think it will be easier to make friends here though, because it is the same 35 students every day, doing the same homework and field trips, with some of us living together as well. I am excited about the diversity of the class; there are students from Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Ukraine, Finland, Sweden, Uruguay, and the United States. A very exciting mix indeed!

I have convinced my house mate to help me further my Russian linguistic skills, as I have just returned from Russia. In the upcoming weeks I will talk about my first week of class in Alnarp, and my adventures in Russia!

до свидания! (Do svidaniya pronounced duh svee-dah-nee-ye) which literally means in Russian, “Until (the next) meeting”

Kassidy

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Being an American holiday, Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Europe. I really missed seeing my family, and gorging myself on homemade delicacies this year! I was in class all week and had an extremely busy week in general. There are only a few weeks of class left, and many things to do, including obtaining a Swedish residency permit!

In order to study in Sweden next semester I must apply for a Swedish residency permit. Luckily, there is a Swedish embassy in Helsinki. This makes the paperwork, payment, pictures, and passport issues much easier to deal with in person.

A few items are required in order to apply for a Swedish residency:

Swedish Embassy

• an official residence permit application
• two color passport photos
• an acceptance letter from the University I will be studying (SLU)
• a copy of and proof of health insurance
• a copy of my United Sates passport
• a copy of my Finnish residency permit
• my physical passport
• an additional letter stating my intentions while in, and after I leave Sweden (entitled ‘Appendix A’)
• 109 Euros to be paid in cash upon applying

The Swedish Embassy is only open from 9:00 in the morning until noon, Monday through Friday. It is located on Pohjoisesplanadi, near downtown Helsinki. Apparently the process of applying for a residency permit can take anywhere from 20 minutes, to 2 hours – unfortunately, I ended up spending about 2 hours at the embassy. There were only two people ahead of me in line, but they were having some extreme issues with their permits, and their tempers. Finally, it was my turn.

To my surprise, when I went to apply for my permit, they informed me that the 109 Euro fee was being waived because I was invited to be a student at a Swedish institution – I was elated! I found it extremely convenient that they have a photo system/booth set up at the embassy so you are not required to bring your own passport-sized pictures; they take your picture, and it is automatically entered into their online/computerized system. This not only saved me money, but time. After turning in my paperwork, I was given a receipt with a tracking number so I can check the status of my application online. Hopefully it will not take very long for my application to get approved and processed. They told me it can take a few weeks or even a few months. From my understanding the embassy just handles your paperwork, the processing and approval does not happen there. They send the paperwork to the Swedish Migration department in Sweden, and then return it to Finland after processing. I will have to go back to the embassy to get my residency permit placed in my passport pending approval. Thus far, there has been no progress on my application according to their online tracking.

I was the first of the ATLANTIS students in my group to apply for a residency permit, and passed on my knowledge to help the other students with their applications. Hopefully we all get our permits in time to move to Sweden!

My next stop was the Russian Embassy! I am planning to spend Christmas in Russia this year and need to get a tourist VISA in order to enter Russia. Unlike the Swedish application, I found out that I needed to leave my physical passport with the Russian Embassy while my application was being processed. Because I am an American citizen, legally, they have to hold my passport for at least ten days. I was unable to leave my passport at this time because I was traveling to the Baltics the following day. I was accepted to ‘study abroad’ while studying abroad in Kaunus, Lithuania! I will have to go back to the Russian Embassy upon my return from Lithuania.

Join me next week as I talk about EU economics and rural development, Lithuanian cuisine, the historic KGB museum, and my explorations in the capital city of Vilnius.

Kassidy

On a side note, Finnish Independence Day is celebrated on December 6th. Finland declared independence from Bolshevik Russia on December 6, 1917. We did not have classes on Monday, and everything in the city was closed.

This blog was sparked by an interesting question I received from one of my professors at the University of Helsinki. In general, he asked: “How is the college education system different in the United States?” Naturally, I responded with a sarcastic comment, something along the lines of the prices in Helsinki (figures just released by UBS revealed that Helsinki is among the top 10 most expensive cities in the world to live in!). Being the only native English speaker in a class of about 35 students, was I to be honest, polite, brutally honest? Where do I begin? What exactly did he mean? I had no idea if I was being targeted, or used as a spokeswoman for the US education system – this question began to rankle me the more and more I thought about it. Thus, this blog was born!

While studying at the University of Helsinki, I have been introduced to a very different education system; course schedules, extremely flexible learning, inconsistent class times, four period years, a numbered grading system (5 to 0 rather than A to F), and ‘ECTS’  European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System are just a few of the differences I have had to get used to. The most surprising discovery for me though, has been that education in Finland is free. You read that correctly, FREE – and not just for Finns!

'Free Education' Poster at University of Helsinki

I was amazed to find out that public Finish tuition is either free or a few hundred Euros a year! I was especially intrigued when I passed a poster at UH that stated “tuition-free, equal higher education is the cornerstone of the Finnish welfare state,” and that “free education makes societies prosper.” These posters were protesting Finland introducing tuition fees and/or increasing existing fees, which is now becoming popular all over Europe. I explored further, and found that the FINLAND Union of Students (SYL) and the Union of Students in Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences – SAMOK were involved with these posters.  They state that “equal access to higher education is a human right and it should progressively be made free of charge”. (For more interesting information, visit their webpage http://www.maksutonkoulutus.fi/). They have some very engrossing information on the subject of ‘Free Education’. To my knowledge, currently, there are little or no charges for college education in Finland and most other European countries. There are some student fees that cover health insurance, school activities, social events, and give student discounts, but these fees are generally less than 100 Euros per year. Interestingly enough, the neighboring country of Sweden has started a trend this year by charging international and exchange students tuition fees. I believe that Finland is starting to feel pressure to do the same, hence the controversy, backlash, and protesting.

Scheduling courses has been interesting in Finland, as many of the course times overlap. The scheduling system seemed a bit disorganized to me at first, but the professors are wonderfully understanding and creative if you need to skip classes to attend other courses. Another tricky part for me, was determining exactly when class starts or ends; the course rubric may say one thing, but the class will usually tend to start 15 to 20 minutes later and end at different times each class period. In my experience in the United States, the class times are strictly followed to ensure a sufficient amount of time for students to travel between classes amongst other things. It is easy to see who the exchange students are though, because we always show up to class early!

At Michigan Tech, we function on a semester basis; this means that there are two semesters in an academic school year (Fall and Spring). In Finland, they function on a period system, with four periods in a year: Periods 1 and 2 in the Fall, and Periods 3 and 4 in the Spring.  Thus, the courses in Finland run for shorter periods of time, but are in larger blocks. For example, a class may only meet 8 times during a period, but the class periods are 4 to 5 hours long.

All EU course credits transferred to Michigan Tech will have a US passing grade of B or better based on the following grade equivalency between US and EU transcripts as shown above.

The grading system in Finland is number based, with 5 equaling an A,  and so on, with a zero failing the course completely. The credit system here is not like US college credits; most European countries use ECTS, or European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System. It has been determined by the ATLANTIS program that 3.3 ECTS in the EU University will be equal to 1 US credit; therefore, the typical US graduate credit load of 9 credits per semester equates to 30 ECTS. This can seem terrifying at first glance, and makes transferring fractions of courses back to MTU very interesting indeed! When I continue my education in Sweden this Spring, I will change back to a letter-based grading scale, though it is still different than what I am used to. The figure to the right does a wonderful job contrasting the grading systems of Michigan Tech, the University of Helsinki, and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU).

The most common questions I have been asked while studying abroad  have been about US education, second only to US politics. I hope you learned something new from this more informational style blog; I was unaware of most of these systems and topics before I came to Finland. Being a student abroad is a life-changing experience, and I think it is especially important to remember that while we are students, we are also teachers.

Kassidy

Info Centre on UH campus, where some orientation sessions took place.

The orientation course was conducted in English for all of the incoming students, and gave us general information on making our studies at UH more successful and pleasant. The orientation is also a great way to meet other international students.  The university gives each department student tutors to help orient the new, incoming students to city and campus life. Basically, the orientation sessions give information on practical matters, language courses, necessary supplies for studies, networks, IT and library services, travel, student services and student organizations. Orientation also involves department faculty, in which they give presentations about their classes offered, how to register for their courses, and an overall ‘meet-and-greet’ with the people working in the department. This blog is going to have more of a ‘daily journal’ format, as it is easier to convey the schedule and events of the week!

Gorilla sculpture made of recycled tires located on the UH campus.

Yummy weekend breakfast!

SATURDAY 4 & SUNDAY 5 SEPTEMBER: The weekend was full of selecting classes, working on some writing and statistical projects that are still in progress at Michigan Tech, and getting basic paperwork organized. I have already started my SLU application for the Spring semester, as it takes some time to get a Swedish acceptance letter, address, insurance, and residency permit. It was a much needed break from the structured group scheduling and group socials. I was in need of some alone time.

Kiitos! Kassidy