In the morning we left from Retrodorm to Helsinki to catch our bus to Lapland for a week  trip with Timetravels.

After a lot of hours in then bus (which was really difficult for me but still excited) we stopped in Kemi to see the Kemi snow castle. This castle was completely made of ice, with beautiful ice sculptures in the interior.

snow castle

Afterwards we stopped in Rovaniemi to visit Santa Claus village ( see special opinion blog about santa claus village later on). This was a unique experience, especially as we crossed the arctic circle.

Santa Claus village -20 degree

After the snow castle and some more time in the bus we finally arrived at the cottage. It was a  small, cosy wooden cottage wich we were going to share with two people from Catalonia Paula and Juan.  Our friend Anna which is Catalan to was really pleased about this.

Greetings from the snowy and very cold.

Olivia x

I chose participate in this workshop because I did not have any clue what LinkedIn is. I learned that Linkedn is a social network for professionals! I found it a really interesting lesson and I liked the fact that we were able to make our own LinkedIn accounts. I had a lot of difficulties in making my own account, however I was able to do this with support. I took a picture in the workshop especially to put on my LinkedIn account. It is important to remember to always keep your LinkedIn account accurate and up-to-date as future employers may look at this and it could impact upon your chances of getting the job. In addition to this it is essential to only ‘link in’ with people that you know and want to be ‘linked’ with.

Greeting from the snowy and cold Finland,

Olivia x

Me , Marcelina and Anna

I went to the outdoors ice skating rink near the ICT-building.
I borrowed the ice skating of a friend especially for this event, because i left my own ice skating shoes in my home country.
It was a really nice experience we went with different friends to ice skate it was really funny because one of my friend was always clinging on me and asking me to learn how ice skate because she knew I’m a ice skating tutor in belgium. I learned her the basic we stayed on the ice skating rink for a good hour we went away because that day it was really cold!!

I should not be so surprised of the fact that the ice skating rink was free to use a finnish friend told me that nearly every Fin has his own ice skating shoes. I must admit that i’m still surprised about the fact it’s free use if you have your own ice skates or else you need to rent them for a little price. I heard that in most schools the have a place where you can ice skate that wonderful!!I’m secretly really jealous and admirative about that !
My finnish friend also told me the ice skate on frozen soccer or basketball field/ ground. That’s very clever in my opinion.

Greetings from the snowy Finland.

Olivia x

We were asked to tell what we think we saw on the picture.
I would like to tell the think is really important in the sentence above we can assume what we see really is what we think it’s is.
like the picture with the girl with a smile masker, it’s look like she is smiling but she could literally putting on a mask. we don’t know what is hidden beneath the mask.

the teacher asked us a question what does a smile mean to us? and that we should discuss this with the person sitting next to us.
for me a smile can mean everything depending on the situation, cultural influence,etc.

I told the the experience I had, had previously in the day.
I was smiling because I was really nervous and stressed out my mentor at the internship was confused and asked why i was smiling i explained here i was a bit stressed and nervous about the situation that had happened. I was really grateful she asked why I was smiling because it gave me the opportunity to say what the smile was at that moment.

conclusion: If you are not sure why someone is doing something or not doing something you should always ask! So that misunderstandings are avoid. I found it a really interesting lesson and really appreciated the link with there previous lessons about the iceberg and onion metaphor.

Greetings from the snowy Finland.

Olivia x

This lesson we started the course with a quote which everyone needed to think about and then say which to opinion they had about it.

The quote:”I’m an individual, not a representative of any
culture.”

onion metaphor

I personally found it hard to agree or disagree!
I’m an individual that for sure, but i ‘m a representative of the culture i have been in contact with.

In the course the onion was the metaphor that we as an individual consist out a lot of layers which can be added :
for example: meeting someone new which brighten your view on a subject or getting in contact with another culture ! in this case for me this erasmus experience added multiple layers on my onion or petals at my flower.

Or even lost:
sometime you lose sight of one of your layers and need to get in touch when it when the time is right

but the most important is to understand is that the core of the onion /flower still remain the same. you are still you at the end of the day with different layers for sure but that what make us individuals.

My group and myself found it very hard to work together because we all did not have a good sight about our own layers but talking together made use get a better sight on this.

we used the flower as a metaphor for our group task.

conclusion:
I’m conscious about the fact that each culture I been in contact has made me who I am and is part of my story which is still being written.
i found it a really interesting course where I learned a lot about myself.

Greetings from the snowy Finland.

Olivia x

I had my first Getfinterantional course on the 29 february. It was interactive course : we talked about the exchange experience and stereotypes it was very fun. I met a lot of people from other countries and it brighten my knowledge about different things:
1. Stereotype are stereotype you should never take is as granted everyone is different (in some case stereotype can actually turn out to be true but as said before its different for each individual).
2. some stereotype i heard about Belgium (i found it really funny to hear them):

– Belgium speak only  flemish actually are a country with three different languages            Dutch, French and German.
– Belgium can’t drive.
– Belgium only drink beer !! actually:Belgian beer is justifiably world
famous for its diversity and quality, there are many other drinks the
Belgians are good at making. Jenever and roomer is a good
example of it!!!
– french fries come from belgium right? yes it does!! you should call
them belgian fries :)!!!

3. i learn that you need to look past stereotype or at least try so that you can eachother better and have a great experience!!

conclusion:
This Get finternational course was a really nice moment who brighten my vision on many different cultures.

Greetings from the snowy Finland.

Olivia x

In the fourth week I was able to try out, and get to know, some techniques in the hobby room. I had to choose one of the techniques to give to a group. In the end I decided to make a leather bracelet because it was the best medium to work on the objectives of the different participants. This week I broadened my knowledge in the Semmes-Weinstein monofilament and tested it on Niels. This week I have attended four group therapies and performed three therapies.

greetings from the cold Finland.

Olivia x

In the third week I performed several interventions, including two of them with Pablo.

I have been able to attend two goal setting meetings this week. This agreement means that the goals of this rehabilitation period are set. At the end of the rehabilitation, the goals are evaluated (in the final appointment / evaluation) with the multidisciplinary team that took care of the particular patient and the patient himself. This week I have also been able to follow a final evaluation of the patient and I took an assessment with (The Box and Block Test). The language barrier still occasionally causes some difficulties but nothing that is insurmountable.

Greetings from the cold finland.

Olivia x

The second week I learnt many different new techniques in touch including leather crafting, glasswork, etc. etc. In the second I also got acquainted with Pablo! Pablo is a computer program that is used in the rehabilitation of arms and hands. Pablo is multifunctional and negotiating is also an assessment device. I got the explanation of how to set it up and try it myself to experience how Pablo works. In week 3 I have to perform various interventions with Pablo.

greetings from the cold Finland.

Olivia xx

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