Arrival in Vaasa
I am studying Master in Green Energy Technology at HiØ and I have been an Erasmus + exchange student at Novia University of Applied Sciences Vaasa, Finland during my 3rd semester (Autumn 2022) of my degree. Vaasa is situated on the west coast of Finland and is known as a student city. Even in the area of my host university, there were six universities and colleges. All the universities had their own campuses but students were allowed to roam around. They had one common library which all different university students had access with their own university credentials.
One student buddy was allocated to me. She was very nice and helpful. She picked me up from the airport upon my arrival at Vaasa, took me to the grocery shop for my very first shopping in Vaasa, picked up my student survival kit and house key on my request as I landed on weekend, and helped me to figure out some basic daily basis stuff and information about surroundings.
I felt warmly welcomed and met other exchange students from different countries. We had two orientation days where all were introduced to required information such as seeking help, different facilities for students at university, study format, getting familiar with different student apps, settling in Vaasa comfortably, etc. Moreover, we had a guided tour of the city center, nearby places, library, and laboratories. We were also guided to the population registrar's office for our visa permission in Finland (however I had my valid visa already) also we were shown different activities and opportunities to explore in Vaasa.
Study in Vaasa
I have selected courses of 30 ETC from two different specializations namely “Energy Technology” and “Automation Technology” but my large proportion of credits comes from Energy Technology. All the courses were taught in English therefore I was not required to take any language course. However, if one is willing to learn the local language, Vaasa University provides different free-of-cost language courses and it is possible to enroll through their common platform “HAKA”. In Finland, practical education is more emphasizes, almost all my courses had certain kinds of practical assignments to implement the theory. Also, I was part of a sort of structure like laboratory work as a group but with individual theory parts, one group assignment with individual assignments, etc. From my perspective, the workload was low to moderate throughout the semester, classes and exams were held almost as per the schedule and due to this, I think the workload did not seem too much at one particular point.
Since Vaasa is also called “The Nordic Energy Capital City”, I was curious and excited to get a broader perspective of my subject knowledge and I believe I was able to achieve that at a certain level. As I had the opportunities to participate in different career fairs, industrial visits, meeting subject experts, and relevant networking.
Stay in Vaasa
I signed an agreement with the local student housing society (The Student Housing Foundation in Vaasa – VOAS) for the same period of my exchange semester. They have different options, in short, I will say it is more like SIØ (Studentbolig Østfold), especially in renting houses as they also provide shared or studio apartments, family apartments, etc. However, they offer housing at different locations, the city center was a bit far from the university so, I preferred a house near to university campus. Also, the housing society offers free Sauna facility which is very popular and an important part of Finnish culture.
Additionally, I observed cycling is very common in Vaasa, most of the students had bicycles for their transport to nearby places like the university and the city center. Even electric scooters were not very unknown, the popular brands were the same, Bolt and Voi. I found Vaasa a bit cheaper compared to Fredrikstad. However, it depends on the item where other factors for instance, location, store, etc. matter a lot. Moreover, prices show large differences whether it is bought from a small store or from a large mall. The local markets had price differences still products could buy cheaper at their larger stores. I observed, mainly two stores that are most popular in Finland namely S-market and K-market for daily use groceries and it is not so difficult to find some same known brands in Norway for example, Class Ohlson, Jysk, Normal, Cubus, etc. even found most of the brands there except some local brands like Prisma and Lidl. Anyway, one can easily find good-condition second-hand stuff at different second-hand stores at reasonable prices for their temporary stay such as bicycles, mattresses, etc.
Social Life in Vaasa
One thing I liked the most was that they had multiple restaurants in the area where lunch was served at student price (3.20 Euro) on the showing your university student card. All students were allowed to select any listed canteen of their choice. During lunchtime, one could easily expand their friend circles and get familiar with others as there was a large number of students from different streams as well as from different campuses.
There was almost every day at least a certain social activity was happening either from one of the university campuses or their student groups, sports events, or private weekend events (popular as SIT SIT parties). As I mentioned Vaasa is called a student city so, even for other local events, concerts, sports activities, etc. city authorities were sponsoring and organizing events and in some cases they were collaborating with universities for courses like entering into Finnish work culture, exploring job opportunities, etc.
There are different ways to get updates about these activities, especially from social media as every group had its social media pages, so it is a good idea to follow their social sites. For example, I joined ESN (Erasmus Student Network) Vassa Facebook group to start, and then explored and became part of other groups. Additionally, downloading the Aurora app is a good idea to track northern lights if one is interested as they mostly were visible from nearby walkable distances.
Exchange in Overall
I believe it was a good decision, I received valuable knowledge, people experience, and a good network. These all boosted my confidence and openness, I met and talked with different people which was good exposure and had positive impacts.
Taking an exchange semester is highly recommended. It is an opportunity where one can explore a different culture, language, food, and different cities in another country. You meet, learn, and expose yourself, expand your knowledge as generic and subject expertise which helps in both your personal and professional life. I think this is the purpose of introducing the exchange semesters in academics.