University of Helsinki

Finland is a beautiful country - very clean and safe. If you have a strong desire to learn Finnish, you may wish to consider schools in Turku, Tampere, or Oulu, where knowledge of English is less common. If you're finding it hard to meet local students, at least take advantage of the international student activities. You may not meet any Finnish students, but you will definitely make friends from all over the world (and find new countries to visit - I ended up traveling to Sweden, England, Estonia, Russia, and Austria, plus many other countries. Also, take advantage of the cruise ships going to Sweden and Estonia - they are a blast! Good luck and happy travels!

Travel tips: You have good access to all countries around the Baltic sea; especially try to visit the Baltic states, and (I regret it was not possible for me) Russia. Also the north of Finland, Lappi, is really beautiful, especially in autumn. And don't miss to rent a cottage ("mökki") with your friends in the lake area, with sauna, swimming, incredible nature. It's the best!

I would recommend to have a visa, so that you could go and visit Russia, which is an unforgettable experience! The erasmus students have Finnish tutors, which is a good way to learn a lot about Finnish student life and places to visit.

You can travel to Estonia, Russia and Sweden because of its nearest location. There is a foreign-student list via email that lets you know about activities, events... even you can ask and somebody always answer your question. FOREIGN-STUDENTS@HELSINKI.FI is an e-mail list meant for distributing * * information among foreign students at University of Helsinki and other * * interested parties maintained by the volunteers of ESN-U-Helsinki. * * * * To subscribe or unsubscribe send an email to: * * Majordomo@Helsinki.FI * * * * Instructions are available at the ESN website: * * http://www.helsinki.fi/hyy/esn/eng/lists.html *