For our final EOTO activity, we decided to take a small city tour together. We walked through different parts of Tampere, such as Keskustori, Koskipuisto and the Finlayson area, and also stopped by the Food Market Hall.
While walking, we talked about our experiences in Finland and what we’re still looking forward to. All of us really enjoyed the semester here, partly because the workload was less than expected. This gave us the chance to get to know people, explore the city, and even travel. Some of us visited Lapland or nearby cities, and others took the opportunity to go to places like Lofoten or Stockholm. Many of us were also happy to have ticked off typical “Finnish experiences,” like seeing the Northern Lights, going to the sauna and jumping into the lake, or trying activities such as kayaking or biking. We also compared the Finnish school system with the systems in our home countries. Although our view is limited as exchange students, we all felt that the workload here was less work than what we had been expected before coming. In Germany, for example, the structure is much stricter: courses usually last the whole semester, end with a big exam, and involve less group work. Etty mentioned that the Dutch system is similar in terms of workload and organization, but group work and practical tasks are much more common there than in Germany. Courses often involve projects, lab work or fieldwork.
Overall, it was interesting for all of us to see how differently academic systems can be organized. The flexibility of Finnish courses, some of them lasting only a few weeks, was unusual for us, but we appreciated experiencing another approach to studying while still having enough time to enjoy the Finnish culture and travel.
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