MoikKa! Arriving in Finland
From having received our acceptance letter onto the Erasmus exchange programme and boarding our first flight towards our home for the next 4 months, 22 weeks, 6 days, 4 hours and 36 minutes had passed... not that we were counting. It’s fair to say the entire team was ready to leave on this adventure together and discover the country of our host university, Finland.
Finland has a population of 5.5 million with a density of 46.6 inhabitants per square mile, more than 3 times less dense than Scotland. The official languages are Finnish (spoken by 87.9%) and Swedish (spoken by 5.2%). Both these languages are known for being extremely difficult to learn, so it made sense when we were told roughly only 500,000 people outside Finland speak the language.
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The country is known for many attractive things. Its beautiful landscape, with vast forests covering over 70% of the land and approximately 188,000 dramatic lakes ensuring a scenic view is never far away. Finland is also home to the mysterious land of the Moomins and the present delivering, sleigh riding legend we all know and love, Santa Claus. With appeals such the northern lights and the amazing Sauna culture, it’s easy to understand how the country holds the title of happiest country in the world.
Descending to land into Turku Airport, spirits were high as we all took in the outstanding views of the flat, forested Finnish landscape. Although we had packed to be able to survive a week long, -15°C snowstorm the weather was surprisingly warm and welcoming. We were lucky enough to arrive just before the end of the Finnish summer. Meeting us from the airport was two students from our host university, Turku University of Applied Sciences (TUAS), Santeri and Valtteri. They helped us with getting into the Turku central bus station using the local bus service (Föli) finding our accommodation.
After settling into our accommodation we were excited to explore and make the most of the last weeks of summer. Although our initial mode of transport was walking, this quickly turned in electric scooters. All around the city electric scooters are available for hire, through companies such as Tier or Voi. These are a great way to quickly get around and are a lot of fun, and as everyone gained confidence operating the scooters, bunny-hops and drifting became a common occurrence. We visited some popular attractions around Turku, such as the main cathedral - Turun Tuomiokirkko. This was initially constructed during 1276-1300, but was unfortunately damaged in 1827 during the Great Fire of Turku. Thankfully it was rebuilt and stands in the centre of the Old Great Square. We finished the day by stopping at the boat bars on the river Aura, to sample the local beer and watch the sunset.
Later in the week we were invited to the beach Ruisallo for a BBQ by Valtteri and Santeri. This was great opportunity to explore more of the nature surrounding Turku. We enjoyed playing beach volleyball and taking our first swim in the Baltic Sea, which wasn’t as baltic as you may think. That same week, the Erasmus Exchange Network (ESN) hosted a welcome beach party at Ispoinen Beach. This involved some beach games, our first experience of a beach sauna and an opportunity to mix with Finnish students from TUAS. The Finnish are generally known as being introverted people, but we quickly learnt that this doesn’t apply after a few drinks as we entered the final round of a Scotland vs Finland beer pong game.
The river Aura flows through the centre of Turku, coming in from the archipelago sea. It is approximately 43 miles long and has a distinct brown colour. The team took a walk along this in our first few weeks in Turku, to see the vast amount of recreational, service or military boats docked along it. We also experienced a canal boat cruise along the river, into the archipelago. The captain was kind enough to switch the external lights off to let us enjoy the breath taking display of stars above us. A perfect way to close off the final weeks of Finnish summer.
