The education system in Finland

During one of our courses at university we got some information about the finnish education system.

Finnish children start school at the age of 7 when they attend primary school. Before going to primary school they can attend pre-primary school which is getting more and more popular. After pre-primary school the system has first been divided into a lower level which is from 1^st to 6^th grade and upper level which is from 7^th to 9^th grade. Nowadays the 1^st to 9^th grade is put together and is seen as compulsory education.

From 1^st to 6^th grade a class teacher teaches nearly all the subjects but from 7^th to 9^th grade subjects teachers are teaching the subject they have learnt at university.

After the compulsory education you can go on with high school, apprenticeship training or the 10^th grade class.

High school would last for 3 years and start at the age of 16 where you will graduate with an examination. 

I was highly astonished that there is no special education for children with higher intelligence even though Finland is leading the Pisa studies. In my point of view this could be their reason of success because children will help each other while learning and are able to learn things on their own and from each other. When I was visiting some schools I realised that the pupils are more talkative and that the teachers are not as strict as they are in Switzerland. The lessons are characterised by communication and enthusiasm.

The classroom while doing some activities

English course book

Moreover, I was told by one of the teachers of the schools that they have to

organise 2-3 culture visits per year where they go and see theatre plays, museums, etc. This should help them to get to know their own city and culture better.

What is more, all students eat at the school cantine and are not allowed to go home during lunch break due to the fact that the teacher is still responsible for the children. Lunch is free of charge for all the students.

When it comes to languages, Finland is a multilingual country. Especially in Turku, which is a bilingual city, pupils have to learn Swedish in school. They usually start learning Swedish at 7th grade and English from 3rd grade.

I extremely enjoyed visiting those different schools in Turku and Forssa and even got the pleasure to teach them and tell them a little bit about Switzerland. At one of the visits I asked them about their favourit subjects. The boys like Physics and the girls prefer Arts.

Finnish people

I have already met a few Finnish people and did an interview about what Finns are like with some Finnish students from one of our courses at university.

If the two countries Finland and Switzerland, where I am actually studying are compared, one can see a signifant difference in Masculinity. Switzerland represents more a preference in achievments, heroism and material reward for success whereas Finland stands for modesty, taking care of the others and quality of life.

I was able to experience the willigness to help several times being in Finland. This week my laptop broke down and I was not able to switch it on again. I had to go to a shop to get it repaired. At the shop they told me that they would recommend to send the laptop to the brand's repair center in Helsinki because I still have some warranty on it. Even though they could not fix it, one of the workers helped me talking to the repair center and filling out the form as they were mainly talking in Finnish. He also searched for a package to put it into and send it to Helsinki. I was so grateful about the kindness and willingness to help.

Another experience about how friendly Finnish people are was given to me when being at university. Two of the students studying with me were wondering if I already have plans where to get my lunch. They suggested to come with them and have lunch at the other university and even gave me a lift there. I really enjoyed lunch and had a really good talk with them.

Finns are suppost to be very calm but when it comes to hockey they can become really competitive. Never compare a Finn with a Swedish person. Finns think of Swedish persons to be gay and over-friendly. I was told by a Finnish friend that she thinks Finns are a little bit jealous of the Swedish because they are smart and would smile a lot. In her point of view Swedish men are more handsome than Finnish men and they would also be more talkative.

Lapland - Husky safari and sledging

The week in Lapland past so quick and the last day of our jouney was already there. On the 8th of March we drove back to Helsinki by bus and stopped at different places.

One of the places we visited on our way back home was Saariselkä, where some other students stayed for the week. In Saariselkä there are different possibilities of spending your leisure time like downhill skiing, cross country skiing, sledging etc.

When we arrived in Saariselkä, I first went for a walk around the village with my Spanish and Mexican friends and even had a sandwich with rendeir meat. It was the first time I tried some rendeir meat and due to the fact that everyone told me that it is cheaper in Lapland and in their point of view really good, I had to try it. Rendeir meat tastes like a mixture of beef and chicken and I can say that I quite liked it.

Being strenghtened ,I now was ready for the husky safari, which was my last activity particitpating in Lapland. We jumped on the slegdes (one of us in the front and one of us in the back) and started the ride through the forest on a sledge pulled by husky dog.
I went with Kristina a girl from Mexico and can add here that this ride was one of my best experiences ever. During the ride, we were in charge of stopping the dogs from running by turning down a brake. It was an unbelievable good time. I really liked the dogs as they were really beautiful and also the puppies which we were allowed to pet afterwards were so cute. In the end I wanted to take one husky dog back home with me but was told that the need a lot of training and exercise. This 2 hours passed so quick and it was time to leave back to Saariselkä.

Because of the reason that the hills in Finland are quite small and I didn't want to spend 50 euros more for 2 hours of skiing, I went sledging with some friends of mine. We got some sledges at one of the hotels in Saariselkä and enjoyed our time sledging down the hill and finding out which sledge has been the fastest.
After one hour of sledging and spending time with my new friends, it was time to say goodbye, which was really awful for my as I already locked my new friends into my heart.


I would not want to miss this trip, the experiences I made and also all the people I have met during the trip. We even decided to visit each other although we live quite far away from each other but I can not wait to see them again.

Lapland - Artic ocean

On Friday the bus drove us to Norway where we went to the sauna and had a delicious fish soup. We stopped at a viewpoint on the way to the sauna place and caught a glimpse of the artic ocean and the surrounding nature. We even took a look at the Sami huts and an old church next to it.

Sami huts

church near the huts

At the village in Norway, where we got our lunch, which consisted of fish soup, bread, tea and chocolate we were able to try some caramalised cheese. This Fløtemysost cheese tastes really sweet and can be produced in many different ways. I tried four different types, goat milk, normal milk, the mixed and the creamy one. I could not compare it to any cheese at home and even though it was something completely new, I could not convince myself to buy one as I was not that into it but anyway it was lovely to try it once.

Fløtemysost cheese

We went to the sauna after lunch and the sauna was also a new experience to me even though I had been ice swimming before. They told us there that the sauna has no running water at all because they want to protect the nature.
The woman who was working there was quite old and extremely friendly.
After being to the sauna, we ran down to the beach and jumped into the ocean where we swam for a short time. Doing that was amazing but the water was again icecold. After the swimming in the artic ocean are skin was a little bit salty but totally refreshed.

The Artic Ocean

 In the evening when coming back I additionally managed to see the northern lights because the sky was clear and we had been out to make a bonfire. It can not describe the feeling when I first saw them, it was just overwhelming. I was starring into the sky for almost two hours and gazed the different colours of the northern lights. They had been green, a bit red and orange.
I was so lucky being able to see them because the sky was not really clear the other days and seeing them was one of the biggest wishes when being in Finland.

Lapland - sports

Something you should not miss when travelling to Lapland and spending time there is doing sports.
Lapland is full of snow and as a result of this offers a wide range of winter sport facilities.

During my time in Lapland I tried to do cross country skiing, sledging and ice swimming.
It was my first time trying to go cross country skiing and I absolutely loved it. On this Thursday afternoon the weather was extremely lovely and the sun was shining through the trees as if I was in a fairytale.
After a short introduction and some practicing how to use the skies, the whole group went for a tour through the forest. I liked the silence and spending time in the nature and that is why I continued to go for another tour with 3 spanish guys. For my first time, I managed really well and did not fall down into the snow at all. I am pretty sure I will do cross country skiing again when I am back in Austria.

Our tour through the forest

I met a lot of new people during the trip and built up some new friendships with people from different parts of the world. Together with some French, Belgian, Mexican and the Northern Irish girls we went sledging down a hill close to our cottage. The accomodation provided some sledges which were free of charge. I had so much fun but could feel my butt hurting in the evening.

The sledging was not the only activity I did with them but we also went for a walk and had a snow fight. The snow was a bit powdery and so it was quite difficult to form the balls but we were able to fend for ourselves and took some chunks of snowice instead. They were so heavy that we knocked ourselves over sometimes. But luckily nobody got hurt and we had something to laugh about.

The accomodation also included sauna and ice-swimming in the lake next to the building. After being to the sauna in the evening we jumped into the snow and swam in the lake. The water was totally freezing and so I quickly got out of the water again.

Doing ice-swimming after the sauna releases the body and makes you feel so much more awake and refreshed afterwards. People should not miss the chance to try this amazing experience when they ever decide to come to Finland!

Lapland - santa claus village and the snow castle

One of the most interesting trips was Lapland. Together with two friends of mine, I decided to go to Vasatokka, an area consisting of cottages and housings for tourists in the northern part of Finland.
This week was followed by an immense amount of new sensations, feelings and friendships.

Santa claus village

Taking the Onnibus to Helsinki we got on the bus that took us to Lapland. After about 10 hours sitting in the bus we stopped at the first breakingpoint on our way to Vasatokka which was Rovaniemi. I had the chance to visit the santa claus village and took a picture of santa claus, my friends and me. Santa claus was speaking almost every language and gave us a handshake while asking our names.
The santa claus village is situated in Rovaniemi and is a quite touristic place and contains a few souvenir shops and restaurants. Besides that, reindeers and an igloo can be sighted next to the main building. I really liked the music and atmosphere at the place because it was extremely peaceful and relaxing.

Santa claus is living in here!

The snow castle

Our next stop was the snow castle in Kemi by the Gulf of Bothnia in Finland with a distance of 1 km from the city centre.
The snow castle is a true masterpiece of architectonic snow-work done by local constructors. For the 20th time in a row the castle offers activities to children and adults. Additionally, astonishing light-effects and snow- and ice-sculpters on the walls represent the charm of the snow castle. Within the complex there is a SnowRestaurant, SnowChapel and SnowHotel. The SnowCastle is open daily from 10 to 18. (http://www.visitkemi.fi/en/snowcastle, 28.3.15)
Next to the castle lies the Kemi Inner harbour. The weather in Lapland during this season of the year is quite cold and that's why the lake was frozen. I took some steps on the lake but had to go back after a few meters because I was too scared when I heard the ice cracking.
I was told before that breaking into the ice is a common way of dying in Finland and thus didn't want to take a risk. :)

Temperature inside the castle

Snow castle's café

Finnish friendship programme

During my semester in Finland I was given the opportunity to take part in the Finnish friendship programme. The main aim of the programme is to learn more about finnish culture and living and to get into contact with Finnish people.

The Finnish friendship programme is offered by the Turku university of applied sciences and therefore the first meeting took place at the ICT building. The university provided some pastries as well as tea or coffee. Even though my finnish friend was not able to come, I had a great evening talking to another Finn who is acutally from Åland. Åland is a little island that is situated between Sweden and Finland and the population on the island is mostly only able to speak swedish event though it is part of Finland. That's the reason why Linnea is just talking swedish and studies at the Swedish university called Åbo academy in Turku. Nevertheless, we could communicate in English and her German was also really good.

Having told about the first meeting I now want to introduce my finnish friend. She is called Essi and is also studying in Turku. Essi studies economies at the Turku university and is in her last year at the moment.

Before she came to Turku she was living in Salo which is a city near Turku. Sometimes Essi goes to Salo on weekends to see her family and some of her friends.

Essi and I first met in a lovely café down the riverside of Turku which is called 'Art café'. During a short coffee break we talked about where we are from, our hobbies, families and lots of other things.

I had to laugh when she was telling me that she actually has visited Austria before because she was doing an exchange there and I even realised that she was pretty good at talking German and could tell me some words in the lower Austrians dialect. We had a great time at the café and decided to meet another time after about those two hours of talking to each other. :)

Taking part in the Finnish friendship programme was a great decision. Unfortunately, Essi and I just met a couple of times as we had both been quite bussy with studying and travelling but I really like to spend time with Essi.