Hello!
Greetings from the Netherlands, Groningen!
I had an opportunity to go on an exchange for the fall semester 2024 in this beautiful city. I studied in Minerva art academy. It is an school of art and design. I am studying fine art and my weekdays consisted of working in the studio painting and visiting different workshops. Minerva has several workshops, for example painting workshop, where you can make your own canvases and mix your own pigments. There are also clay workshop, metal, wood, plastic, printing, photography etc. Minerva had more options to use different mediums in my own art, but on the other hand we had to pay for our own materials there. During my studies, we had professional practices course, where we were learning about different aspects of being professional in the art field. We also visited multiple galleries and museums in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Groningen. We also had individual talks with our teachers of our own artistic approaches.
The studies in Minerva art academy were more free than in Tamk. We could work on our own art, whichever medium, and then we could get feedback and talk about our own artistic approach. In Tamk we have minors to choose from but in Minerva 3rd and 4th year students focus on developing their own practices. People were also working with a lot of different mediums, which was interesting to see in the shared studio spaces.
(Amsterdam, 2024)
During my freetime, I cycled around Groningen, went to restaurants and cafe’s, hang out with friends and visited different cities. Cycling in Groningen was relaxing and the best way to see the area. The cycle lanes were clear and it felt safer to cycle there than in Tampere. Groningen is similar sized city as Tampere in the amount of people living there. It is a vibrant student city. During my exchange period the weather was warmer than in Finland. Even in December and January I could walk around my sneakers, since the weather didn’t go below zero.
Greetings,
Julianna
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