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Tampere Newsletter No.2
Peter Maurer, Student of International Management, currently studying in Tampere, Finland, writes about the specialities and exciting casualities of this particular country.
Contents: Love-hate with Swedish; In touch with the rest of the world; IPO: A Finnish Website?; Hot &endash; cold; Alko; Studies; Finnish lesson 2 for students; Helpful Links
Hello my dear newsletter readers!
Your numerous positive feedbacks to my first letter motivates (and obliges) me to continue my newsletter series. Thank you all very much for your encouraging comments! It's my pleasure to keep you informed about experiences out of my student life in Tampere.
Unbelievable but true: it's almost two months since I started my exciting exchange semester in the southern part of Finland. So here are some hopefully interesting aspects that I collected over the last few weeks. Wishing you fun and entertainment while reading these lines!
One of the first things I learned here in Finland is that Finns are by law obliged to learn Swedish! The situation is comparable to the one in the German part of Switzerland where everybody must learn French at school. As you may know from your own experience, all the "must do" things in life are not really loved. How can you love something you absolutely must do? So, the consequence is that the majority of Finns have some resentments learning the language of their "rival neighbors" Sweden &endash; for not saying they hate it.
In the beginning I didn't really care for this minor language detail. But it soon came to be quite important for me. You wonder why? Well, how about shopping and cooking "in Finnish"? Let's say the cooking instructions of some sauce (yes, I sometimes do buy ready-made stuff) read: "Sekoita kylmään veteen". Got that? No? Well, neither did I! What about this version: "blanda med kallt vatten". In English: "blend/mix with cold water". You see, my big lifesavers are all the instructions given in Swedish! Yes, with a healthy portion of imagination a halfway linguistically talented person can actually figure out the meaning of the Swedish texts!
Note well that of course I don't tell any Finn that I love the Swedish language…
In touch with the rest of the world
Some of you wondered why we sometimes know more about the current situation back home as the ones do who are still or again at home. The answer is straightforward: we're in touch with the outside world by watching the news online (www.sfdrs.ch/news) and reading Swiss newspapers online (e.g. www.azag.ch or www.espace.ch/medien/bz/). Yep, the new technologies rule our exchange world!
As we learned somewhere in our Oltner classes, communication is always a two-way process. Therefore Kilian and me have a little surprise for you. Here's the copy of an e-mail which some of you received last week already:
(Note for non-business people: IPO usually stands for Initial Public Offering and means the time when a company is going on the stock market for the first time)
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Subject: IPO: A Finnish Website?
Hello folks,
If there's one thing you shouldn't miss, it's the IPO of Cheeseheads.com! - Yep, you heard right, IPO of the Cheeseheads.com
Never heard of it? Don't worry, neither did we till two weeks ago. Our e-commerce class inspires....
So, here's the deal: IPO stands for INSANE PEOPLE'S OUTING! Wanna learn more about this once-in-a-lifetime IPO? Check their website:
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As you see, Kilian and myself managed to get to the web. So who's next? I started to search the web because I thought: If I can make it to the web, you all can make it too &endash; here we go. Believe it or not, you're ALL in there:
Okay, now you need some more serious stuff. For this matter I would like to let you all know that from now on my newsletters will be available online (link at the end of this newsletter)
Some like it hot!? You've been wondering how we can survive in the cold of this oh so northern country of Finland. Well, in fact this is also quite easy. As I mentioned in my first newsletter, sauna is omnipresent. This tradition was &endash; as some literature explains &endash; NOT invented in Finland but no one can for sure say where it actually has been invented. The point is that it perfectly compensates the cold temperatures! At least we (Kilian, my girlfriend Beatrice, our Finnish friends Aarre and Jussi) were badly longing for a sauna when we froze our butt (and not just that…) during our visit to the World Championships in Nordic Skiing in Lahti. Watching the amazing ski jumpers was a highlight! Drinking "Salmiakki" was mandatory in order to keep us warm, standing in the bitter cold of &endash;21 C for six hours!
The 100 degrees difference to a sauna would really have been warmly welcome. Not as extreme as this but still extreme enough to be worth mentioning are the fast weather changes. Here's an example: Within the first week of February the we recorded a temperature change from Thursday +2 C to some chilly &endash;28 C on Sunday just to bounce back to a hot +4 degrees the next Thursday! It is also not unusual to see sunshine, snowfall, sunshine again, fog and rain all in the same day. Amazing weather patterns!
Greetings to our classmates in Perth, Australia…
Some sharp tongues have been asking me about the alcohol problem in Finland. Is it really so serious?
Here's some insights I collected for you: It is true that there's an alcohol monopoly in Finland. First of all be advised that anything below 4.7vol. % is not considered alcohol in Finland… Then you need to know that (real) alcohol is only sold at the State-owned (yes, government-owned) shops called "Alko".
Next, I learned that some Finns have their own "Finnish Ramadan". This means that they actually are abstinent for a whole month, often January because they have to recover from the huge New Year's Party… But is alcohol consumption really a serious problem here in Finland? Form your own opinion: a Finnish friend of mine explained this phenomenon with a very Finnish rule: "I only drink on days that start with a "T" - Tuesday, Thursday and Today!!!!…" So much for the drinking problem in Finland…
Here are some spontaneous remarks about school issues, just to make my classmates feel better and correct our "around-the-clock-partying-image":
First of all, Kili and I have the pleasure to read not just 100 pages a week. In fact - and this is not a joke, yes, it's not even fun anymore - we have academic reading assignments for just one class that easily adds up to anywhere between 100 and 200 pages per WEEK!!!! Well, you all know how much I like reading and I can honestly tell you that I do not always enjoy that stuff. Anyways, it gives us some good insights into the topic called "New Developments in Management". Note well, that the Head of the International Business Program teaches this class. Consequently, we cannot fool around and take it e z or skip classes as we wish!
Okay, it's not like this in every of the 26 weekly lessons we take. In some classes it's easier going because there is quite a lot of things we've already seen before. This has its good sides, too. We actually realize that what we were taught in Olten so far, has been very useful stuff and that we were given a wide spectrum of different subjects, all somehow fitting together when considering it from a little distance.
Furthermore, as far as the English level is concerned, I've been more than surprised. Finns taking the International Business program speak not only good but excellent English. Sometimes it's getting scary. My English is just about average here. Yep, I'm facing some serious challenge here.
That's all dudes! I look forward to keeping you updated!
All the best from Siberia west!
Pesche
My mobile for SMS and calls:
+358 41 560 8419
Finnish lesson 2 for students:
- Nimeni on Petteri = my name is Peter
- Ruoka = food
- Myymälässä = in the shop (notice the tricky post-positions)
- Myymälään = to the shop (notice the tricky post-positions)
- Ravintola = restaurant
- Yksi munkki ja kahvi, kiitos = A coffe and doughnot, please
Advanced level ;-)
- Sinä olet kaunis tyttö. Männänkö meille vei teille?
= You are a beautiful girl. Do we go to your place or to mine?
www.euphora.com/nicola/finn_de.htm (Wissenswertes über Finnland in Deutsch)
http://www.dict.leo.org (best online translator Deutsch-English-Deutsch)
www.freedict.com/onldict/fin.html (translate Finnish-English-Finnish)
www.internationalmanagement.4mg.com/home.htm (Newsletters online)
www.cheeseheads.moonfruit.com (Website of Kili & Pete)
Tampere Newsletter No.1
Contents:
Getting started / The people / Parties / Weather again... / Ammattikorkeakoulu / Finnisch lesson 1 for students / Links of the week
Hyvää päivää / Good afternoon / Guete Nami
HELLO FOLKS!
This is my very first newsletter from my "temporary home", Väinämöisenkatu 11 E 274, 33540 Tampere, Finland, Scandinavia. Because it is difficult to stay in touch with all of you at the same time, I figured it would be easier to send one mail to all of you. I know this may be a little bit impersonal, but it's still better than not sending anything or just sending everybody more or less the same information again and again. So, here I sit, in the computer room of Tampere Polytechnic, thinking of how I'd best annoy you with stories, observations, and experiences of the past two weeks (huh, it's two weeks already?!) ;-)
Kilian Meier and me had an excellent start here at Tampere. The very first thing we noticed when getting off the plane at the small Tampere Airport (twice the size of Belpmoos) was that it is NOT as cold up here as everybody said. In fact our Finnish friends and "predecessors" Daniel and Tom were right: the rather dry Scaninavian coldness makes the minues temperatures feel a lot warmer than in Switzerland.
Pick-up from the airport was - just as almost everything else at this school perfectly organized. Two very kind and curteous Finnish students (Outi and Hannu) picked us up and introduced us two the city of Tampere after a some orientationless driving around...
My apartment is not exactly what I expected: it´s a huge, old apartment complex with about 200 apartments... First time I entered my apartment, I had to fight hard to keep a smile on my face: what a dull, empty room this was. Well, things changed a lot meanwhile and after arranging furniture, getting my suitcase unpacked and decorating a little bit, it now looks just fine. I have quite a nice room including bathroom and "shower". Almost nobody except for two brothers from Bangladesh seem to use the totally unequiped common kitchen. All other people - mostly Finns I haven´t seen yet.
In fact, I realized that living at "Old Domus" (as they call this building complex) is a real privilege. Some people are on a waiting list for these apartments for two years! Why? The answer is simple: it is perfectly located because everything is within walking distance. Food shops, swimming hall, bank, post office, Hesburger (not McDonalds), school, town center (20 minutes), and what have you! This convienience usually has its price, but fortunately not so at "Old Domus". An essential detail: when there are no buses running anymore after parties at two o'clock in the morning, it is very convenient to live withing walking distance of downtown - especially so when it is bitterly cold outside...
Those of you who have already been up here in Scandinavia probably know it already, but I think it is important to mention anyways: Finns are extremelely but I mean really VERY hospitable (gastfreundlich) and kind. They help wherever they can. For example another student offered me to use all kind of furniture and cooking equipment since I had almost nothing. So after this meeting my apartment looked already a lot more comfortable than at the beginning... Generally this very open-mindedness of the Finnish people has been the most unexpected experience in this past two weeks. To me it is a mystery why the central Europeans think that people from Scandinavia - and especially from Finland - are close-minded and distant. The opposite is true!
I think it was less than five minutes that we arrived at the airport when we were invited to the first party already! Wow, Finns are really party-goers! We started with a party towgether with 15 exchange students from Korea, Malaysia, France and Germany along with a very outgoing, funny crowd of some 10 Finnish tutors (students showing us the ropes of Finnish life). This particular party - as many other ones - didn't end till late after midnight... When I look at my incoming e-mails I can see at least seven or eight more invitations to parties or events organized by the school! Amazing what these guys here organize for students and especially exchange students! There is absolutely no way I can get bored up here!...
All right, I know, you all wanna hear that I'm freezing my butt?! Okay, I actually I did freeze much more than just my butt on my two hours "hike" last Sunday when it was around -10 C and I unfortunately forgot my warm winter cap at my apartement... But, nope, the weather hasn´t been as bad as I expected. The -2 C felt like +5 C in Switzerland. Yesterday we got the first "snow": some 5 cm or so. The sun rises around 9 o´clock and settles around 4 pm. This is quite strange and especially after about three or four hours of darkness I think it should be almost midnight, but in fact in only is 7 or 8 o´clock - it´s kind of strange but I think it's something I can get used to.
This strange word stands simply for "school". Tampere Polytechnic Business School is located in a historically important building complex(first building with electrical power in Scandinavia around 1832). This red brick industrial building from the outside looks like a very old manufacturing plant of the good old industrialization times. Inside it is a little bit different. Many things witness from the manufacturing times: big doors, pipes, high ceilings and big windows are just some examples. In contrast to these times I realized the quite up-to-date electronical equipment - all carrying the label of Nokia! For those who don't know: the hightech town of Nokia is located right next to Tampere!
All right, that's all for my first newsletter. I could of course fill pages and pages with experiences and stories of my first two weeks in Tampere. Nevermind, I'll tell you more in my next letter in a few weeks. I gotta run and get ready for our weekend trip to Finland's capital Helsinki!
Love from the country of sauna, lakes, endless forests and parties...
Pesche
Finnisch lesson 1 for students:
- Ammattikorkeakoulu = University of Applied Sciences
- yliopisto = University
- yksi olut = one beer
- hei = hello
- mitä kuulu? = how are you?
- kiitos = thanks
- have a nice day = no translation! it is never said in Finnish!
www.tampere.fi (get acquainted with Tampere)
www.tampere.fi/elke/mato/deutsch/index.htm (Info in Deutsch)