First week of internship in Masku:

The first week I mainly observed how the work was done at the internship place and I worked on the internship in a good way. I came into contact with many different diseases. I write every disease that I encounter in a document and look it up when I have time so that my theoretical framework is always up-to-date and I can recognize symptoms more easily.

Greetings from the cold Finland

Today I visited the Turku cathedral, we had the chance to see the choir rehearsal!!

choir rehearsal

So we didn’t get to really visit the cathedral of Turku, this will be for another time when the choir isn’t practicing.

Turku cathedral

But I must say I was strike by the fact that the priest was a woman, I never saw a woman as a priest in Belgium.

So I did my research and this is what I found :

Most Finns belong to the Evangelical-Lutheran Church while a fraction of them belong to the Orthodox Church. The Evangelical-Lutheran Church accepts the ordination of women as priests.

That’s it for today post, see you for the next blog.

Olivia x

When I arrived in Turku I was wondering why the street name had two different names.

So I asked my student tutor why they did that! She smiled at me and said” the street don’t have different names it’s just that the first one is written in Finnish and the second one is written in Swedish”.

She then explained me that there is a Swedish minority in Finland.

Semla a swedish pâtisserie

So it’s important to remember that there’s a Swedish minority in Finland so it’s not that surprising to hear the Swedish language  or to see food from Sweden.

See you for the next blog

Olivia x

Here in Finland they use pebbles not salt for the ice or snow.

pebbles not salt to make the street safer

In Belgium we use salt if there’s snow to make the streets safer.

But I looked up why they use pebble in Finland and it was pretty interesting.

Pebbles don’t make the snow or ice melt but create more adhesion for shoes and vehicle’s.

Pebble are efficient by  every temperature and are not dangerous for the ground and the vegetation.

See you next time for more anecdotes and facts.

Olivia x

Moika- hello !!

My first week in Turku was quite interesting, I’m going to tell you something that surprised me the most this week. I’m used to smiling at people when I walk past them or saying “hello” even if i don’t know them. But when I reflect on this I don’t think they do this here in Finland. When I smiled or said “hello” to someone  I received weird looks or just was being ignored, so I will try to do this less or just be more understanding of their reaction. Its wonderful how cultural differences show in sometimes really little things.

That’s it for today I think I’m getting  to know Finland a little better everyday.

greetings from the snowy finland

view from the Retrodorm

olivia

There I was ready at 9 o’clock in the morning before the enormous board showing the flight’s. It was finally 13th of January, the moment I was looking out for the beginning of  this amazing experience! It was time to leave for Finland. I must admit that I was really nervous , like we say it Belgium ” it’s a jump in the darkness”.  I had a lot of question which I couldn’t answer :  is there a big cultural difference between Finnish and Belgians?  Did I take enough warm clothes with me? Is the food going to be salty or more sweet? etc.

It was time to board. I said goodbye to my family and started the boarding with my fellow exchange students (Mara and Niels).

The fact that I wasn’t alone  to start this fantastic adventure comforted  me. The nervous feeling was slowly fading away and a feeling of excitement and curiosity   was  slowly growing within myself.

The travelling to Turku went really smoothly. I must say when I was on the second flight the view was beautiful it looked like the sky was on fire so many colours  it was truly gorgeous.  The three of us have  student tutors which came to pick us up  at the airport and brought us safely to our accommodation in the Retrodorm.

This is it for today I arrived well in Finland and it’s indeed colder than in Belgium. I will tell you more about experiences as soon as possible.

olivia xx