Facebook friend requests

In Turkey I asked from few female Erasmus friends if they received many Facebook friend request from Turkish men and they replied that every week they received friend requests from Turkish men and they confirmed that they received more friend requests in Turkey than in their home country. I decided to ask if female Erasmus students receive many Facebook friend requests from Finnish men. They said that they have not received that many friend requests from Finnish men. Somehow Erasmus students seem to be a bit isolated from Finnish people and are not able to make friends with them. There might not be any Finish students in the same class for example. In Turkey I received more than 100 Facebook friend requests from Turkish people as exchange students in Finland receive less than 20 friend requests in Facebook. I think this is one sign that Finnish people are less social than Turkish.

Spanish group dynamics

I had a discussion with one Spanish guy who have been living for few years in Finland. In his opinion Finnish are much more independent than Spanish. I have also noticed that Spanish like to be more in big groups than Finnish. I have witnessed during all the previous semesters Spanish forming one big group in Finland and in Turkey. But last semester Spanish exchange students did not form one big Spanish group even there were at least 15 Spanish exchange students in Kuopio. All the Spanish knew each other but they never formed a Spanish group. As there is not one big Spanish group I have been speaking less Spanish than in previous years. Often I have been speaking English with my Spanish friends.

Comic of cultural differences between Spain and Finland

Main characters of the comic

I have been thinking about creating a comic about cultural differences between Spain and Finland. I have written down a bunch of story ideas and finally I have found somebody to do the art work. I have been working with Sab_ca who is drawing the stories. The project has been just started so releasing will take time. There will be two main characters Spanish Fernando and Finnish Timo who will be facing different everyday situations. My inspiration has been my exchange year in Alcalá de Henares, internship in Madrid and all the Spanish friends I have got to know during last five years.

Top posts 2012

Reindeer in Lapland

I have collected five posts which I liked the most from the year 2012.

1. Students in Turkey live in a different way than Finnish students
2. Great story how to travel by hitch hiking in Turkey
3. Research to answer question if students in a relationship cheat on their partners during exchange period
4. Getting to know the less modern part of Turkey in a roadtrip
5. Unexpected move by the bus driver in a high way

Here top posts from the previous years 2010 and 2011.

Temperature inside

Finland is well known for being a cold country and Spain is well known for being a hot country. Is it more comfortable to be inside regular Finnish house when it is - 30 degrees outside or  in Spanish house when it is 30 degrees hot outside? Finnish houses are well prepared for cold weather so inside a Finnish house you are comfortable in - 30 degrees. In Spain you can definitely feel the heat of 30 also inside a house you are not fully comfortable because of the too hot weather. Based on my experience Finnish houses are better prepared for typical extreme temperatures of the country.

Movember

Mustache

This year I decided to participate Movember campaign and let my mustache grow for whole November. I previously put photo of my one week beard growth and my one month mustache is not even close my Turkish friend's one week mustache.

My Facebook friends

This is my 5th year hanging out with international people. Therefore I decided to find out where are my Facebook friends from. The most of my friends are from Spain, Turkey and Finland. From each of these countries I have around 100 friends. Then I have around 30 friends from Germany, Italy, France and Poland. Having friends from many European countries makes definitely feel more European. In total I have friends from 46 different countries.

Break in theater

In turkey I saw a theater performance and a movie in cinema. Turkish student theater I saw in the beginning of my stay and as it was in Turkish I could not understand much. Therefore I enjoyed the most singing and dancing parts. In theater it is common to have a break in the middle of the performance. In Turkey we were surprised in the cinema when they stopped the movie in the middle and announced that there is a break. At least in Finland there are no breaks in cinema.

Finding accommodation

I have followed discussion about finding accommodation in the city of your host university. Each year few hundred exchange students start studies in Kuopio and Joensuu but student housing company is not always able to offer accommodation for all the foreign students. Finding flat for one semester or two semesters from the private market is complicated in Finland. Even after one month stay some students are still looking for accommodation in Joensuu.

When I went to exchange I decided not to stay in student dormitory. I took a risk and went to my both exchange destinations without knowing where I will be able to live. In both cases I was able to find myself permanent accommodation from the private market within 24 hours.

Dormitory for women in Turkey

One big student dormitory for women in Ankara

My Bosnian friend Amer wrote about his fairly positive experience in dormitory of men in Turkey. I talked also to Bosnian women about their experience in dormitory of women and their experience was not as positive as Amer's experience.

Turkish women were not open to foreign women who were staying in the same dormitory. For example Turkish tried to get foreigners expelled by claiming that their foreign roommates were having lesbian orgies in the dormitory. In that particular dormitory 50 % of women wore a scarf. I was told that they did not take shower regularly and when they removed their long coat the smell was very bad. I did not really hear positive about the dormitory for women.