Study Abroad in Tampere, Finland

First of all, to those of you who subscribed to my previous blog and are randomly getting an email about this post, my apologies. If you have found this post otherwise, welcome! I used this website during my gap year to document my travels, and was too lazy to make a whole new blog, so I'm using it for my semester abroad as well. I am so glad that I have those posts from my gap year to look back on, so I wanted to document this period of my life too. I also think it's a good way to keep anyone who's interested updated on what I'm doing.

I arrived in Tampere, Finland two weeks ago! I chose to come to Finland as its education system is globally known for being one of the best, and what better way to study it than from the institutions that train the Finnish teachers? I thought it would be great to get to learn about education from a different perspective and see first-hand how it looks in practice. I also chose Finland because, after living in Barcelona, I wanted to try somewhere different than most of the rest of Europe. Since being here, I have found both reasons to be very valid. I have learned so much about the education system here (and why it works so well) and it is definitely different from anywhere else in Europe that I have been.

I live in a student housing building where each student has their own room and bathroom and each floor shares a kitchen and common room. My room is just enough space for me and I have learned that I really enjoy living by myself (although I miss my roommate, Megan, dearly). It's been pretty difficult meeting people because all classes are remote right now, most events have been cancelled, and pretty much everything in the city closes by 6 pm. Nonetheless, I have still met a decent amount of other students in my building and a few from my classes from all over the world.

I am currently in three classes, only one of which is synchronous. My synchronous class meets once a week on Zoom from 9:15-11:45. My two other classes are completely independent, so I have a couple of due dates, but for the most part I do the work when and where I want. I have really loved this flexibility and have found myself actually getting more work done and being able to prioritize better, rather than feeling like I'm just rushing through busy work for the next class.

Overall, I have absolutely loved my time here so far. I spent the majority of my past two semesters of college (and the summer) taking a heavy class load, working a lot, playing soccer, and overall not having much time for myself. Since I have been here, I don't think I have ever in my life had more free time. I have been sleeping in, exploring the city, journaling, meditating, doing my physical therapy, reading, and overall really taking care of myself pretty much every day.

I am really hoping to travel as much as I can in the next several months (I am here until the end of May). Travel is pretty restricted out of the country right now, but I'm hoping that it gets better soon. In the meantime, there are lots of really cool things to explore in Tampere and the rest of Finland. So far, I have gone skating on the lake next to my apartment, hiked to a lookout tower with a view of the city, explored Tampere University's campus, and much more!

I can't wait to see what the next four months have in store.

Much love,

Hannah