Jyväskylän Yliopisto (JYU)

PLACES Tuesday nights:Domino/Blaze Club(pub)- Meeting point of any exchange student during the whole year and of some local addicts. Place is nice and dark, music is good thanks to DJ. Week end: Elohuvi (night club)- Best place to go, this is one of the biggest discos in Finland. Special spot on the upper floor (finnish bands) Day time: Memphis/Coffee House- Same place for two different concepts, you can find either huge selection of different coffees and good food or amazing coktails. The atmopshere is nice thanks to the music and youth public. EVENTS during winter, visits organized by the Student Union (companies, cities, abroad) several concert on live when the summer comes 1st may: Vappu - a chance to see finnish way of partying 21st june: Juhannus- Celebration of mid summer in the whole country and do not miss sauna experience all over the year (especially in winter with ice or snow bath)

i was first very impressed by the organisation (reservation, office, tutors...) made by the host university. Then, I really appreciate the facilities in the student village(laundry, shops, sauna..) and in the rooms (internet access, phone). Although the buildings were quite far from the university/center (especially during winter), there were also nice, safe, had a good atmosphere and were close to lake, forests and skiing slopes.

Knowing how to speak english (even not fluent) is enough to survive in Finland. Some can come back from this country after a year without knowing any sentence, because locals deals so good with foreign languages (swedish also official language, almost all fluent in english, even some know german, spanish or french). But to integrate ourself completely inside the local community, and to keep our mind open, it is really good (not compulsory) to try (at least) to learn finnish (in that sence, lectures at the university are very well made, especially the each one teach one program)

Being a exchange student is probably one of the most wonderful things one can experience in his whole life. I would warmly recommend this experience to anybody clever enough to appreciate such an experience. It is although needed to be able to stay far from home and to be responsible, but gives you a great opportunity to become stonger, and to build up and open your mind .

free internet access inside the rooms of the student village (good to have a computer) financial surprise: difficult to find a job as the same time as studying