Posts Tagged ‘Sweden’

Parrot Explosion?!

Aside from having a crazy past week, this week has brought much needed sunshine, warm weather, and spring spirits.

I was surprised to see trees on campus decorated with brightly colored feathers, and asked one of my classmates “did a parrot explode in that tree?”. I quickly discovered that the traditional easter decorations in Sweden are much different than in the United States. While the holiday entitled Easter is still very celebrated in this region, the traditions, food, and decorations are very different from what I, and many Americans, know as Easter. Swedes celebrate Easter religiously, but religion has little to do with it. It’s more about witches, egg hunts, colored feathers and salmon!

Easter wizard and witch. Photo: Claudia Nordström

In Sweden, I discovered that only a few of the Easter traditions I was used to are simliar, like egg painting and candy, but typically Easter here is more similar to an American Halloween. Children dress up as Easter witches with long skirts, colorful headscarves and painted red cheeks, and go from house to house in their neighborhoods, presenting the occupants with paintings and drawings in the hope of getting sweets in return. I discovered that in Swedish folklore, Easter is the time when the witches fly to Blåkulla (the Blue Mountain) to meet the devil. I immediately recalled the Night on Bald Mountain scene from one of my favorite movies Fantasia. This also answered my questions about the small branches and twigs of willow or birch that I was seeing around the Swedish houses, stores, and even on campus – common during the Eater holidays. Påskris are the feathers and other small decorations that are typically placed on and in a vase. Apparently  påskris date back to the centuries; some say their purpose is to hasten spring, but during my research I discovered that they had less than jolly implications… Bound by birch twigs, the påskris was used in the 17th century for Long Friday’s flagellation.

Spring at the SLU Alnarp Campus

In Sweden, a traditional meal on Holy Saturday is a smörgåsbord (commonly called a ‘Swedish Table’) of pickled herring, cooked and cured salmon, Jansson’s Temptation (potato, onion and anchovies in cream), lamb, and eggs. Easter Saturday is also time for treasure hunts to find painted boiled eggs, chocolate eggs and other sweets. This is typical of the Easter’s I experienced as a child in the United states, down to the sweets being in the shape of traditional spring symbols like rabbits and chickens. I was pleasantly surprised to find that in Sweden, the sweets are usually carried in large decorated cardboard eggs which are reused the next year, instead of baskets. Good thing I found this out before mistakenly buying a cardboard egg at the grocery store, only to later discover that they are not chocolate – this would explain why they are so cheap. I will admit, I was almost fooled! The Easter egg itself, påskägget, is very important to Swedish children since Swedes don’t have an Easter Bunny in their celebration. I couldn’t help but laugh to myself while writing this blog, as I reminisced about my childhood Easters; my favorite memory being when my parents used to barricade our living room to keep my childhood dog out during Easter telling me it was so that Gretchen (my best friend and beloved pet) would not attack the Easter bunny – I later discovered that it was actually to prevent her from attacking our Easter baskets filled with sweets!

Finally the flowers and trees are in bloom, spring is here, the snow is gone (with NO chance of returning – sorry Houghton!), and campus is alive again with the sprit of spring, and Easter.

“Easter” in Swedish is Påsk, and comes from the Hebrew word “pesah” meaning passing. Glad påsk! Happy Easter!

Kassidy

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