Life in Portsmouth has been swell. I liked the city the moment I stepped out of the train and it has been a very rewarding exchange destination as it is a nice smaller town close to the sea, where sceneries are beautiful and small-town people are friendly.
The studies here have been, to say the least, confusing. I had three courses I had to choose, overall and most of them have classes that only last for 60 minutes, while in Finland, I am used to much longer lessons. I have a marketing course, where one has to learn at home by oneself all the case studied, PP slides and online seminars for next class alone and then we go into class just to quickly discuss what we learned at home. I do not think this is a good way fo teaching, as one can fast have confusion or misunderstandings without the support of classmater or the teacher, when learning something new. Another difference here is the obsession with referencing. Of course, in TAMK referencing is important as well, but here it feels like the main thing of learning, whereas I feel like the content of the course should be the thing. The good thing is that I have a lot of freetime, as I only have school three times a week. The bad thing is that I do not like the teaching style here, at all. But it has been a learning experience, me being thankfull I get to study in a school like TAMK, rather than here. Of course, I also did not have as much options of courses to choose from as the students coming here during their autumn exchange, which might also affect the courses and the styles they are taught with! I have enjoyed the marketing course in a sense that it has taught me so much new things about the subject and the teacher is tough, but fair and I like her.
My spare time has been spent a lof on travelling with my roommates. I was super lucky to have three girls whom I absolute adore to live with and we have travelled England a lot during our freedays. We usually have a trip booked for every week. This has been a wonderful chance to travel and see cities, where I might not take the chance of travelling to otherwise, because they are smaller cities or quite far away from normal travel destinations in England. The furthest I have been to was in Inverness, Scotland. This has been an amazing journey of seeing the country and really experiencing the English culture to its fullest. I feel time is flying way too fast!
Compared to Finland, the studying style here is not as good, in my honest opinion. In Finland, I feel more effort has been put into the teaching style and methods and it is easier to learn in class with others, not at home, by yourself. As an international class, I also feel that in TAMK, the english language level has been a bit higher than in the international group here. Still, it has been a nice learning experience personally to live alone in a completely new environment and I have enjoyed the English way of life wholeheartedly. Also, experience with how the teaching in other countries is like is very valuable for me as a student. I will miss the pub culture and the kindness of total strangers, two big parts of the English culture and lifestyle!
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