First month in Helsinki recap: week 3

Let’s move on to week 36! We received some information from Laureamko about very nice trips to Saint Petersburg and Lapland! I immediately registered for Lapland. Unfortunately, my passport wasn’t valid 6 months after the trip to Saint Petersburg. I couldn’t use my passport to register because it was invalid for that trip. That’s why, on Monday, 4 September, I had to go to the Belgian Embassy. Don’t worry, I took that opportunity to visit that part of the city, and discovered nice places like the Kaivopuisto park, and its observatory. The Kompassitori Place in the port of Helsinki was amazing with his docks, and the harbor view on the islands.

The next day, we went back to the Nuuksio park with the Forenom Team, and we found the right place! It was an amazing trip because the weather was enjoyable.

Wednesday was a big day. We had our first lesson: an introduction to the Business Management course. Our teacher explained us the “Business in a Digital Environment” part of the course. We also had to make groups with Finnish students (mine is called “Martina & the boys”), and we made a nice introduction video. After our lessons, Laureamko planned the Shadow Freshman party. It’s a big meeting in Leimuniitty park in Tapiola to do some funny activities with the Erasmus Team, and the Finnish students. After those activities, we went to the Forenom Hostel to have a little party before the real one (it’s called “Etkot” in Finnish), and we did some billiards. The bigger party was called the “ESN Welcome party”, obviously organized by ESN (the Erasmus Student Network, known in a lot of countries in Europe). That awesome party was at Club Capital in the city. Unfortunately, I missed my last bus, and had to walk back to my house during one hour that night. Don’t worry, night walks are safe in Finland, and I learned my lesson, I never missed again any other last bus so far :)

Kaivopuisto park

Kaivopuisto park

Kaivopuisto Observatory

Kaivopuisto Observatory

Kaivopuisto Observatory

Kaivopuisto Observatory

Kompassitori Place

Nuuksio National Park

Nuuksio National Park

Nuuksio National Park

Nuuksio National Park

Nuuksio National Park

Etkot

ESN Welcome Party

ESN Welcome Party

Suomenlinna

Suomenlinna

Suomenlinna

Suomenlinna

Suomenlinna

Helsingin Yliopisto

University of Helsinki

Thursday, 7 September, I enjoyed resting the whole day in Laajasalo. I ate another Finnish typical meal with meat bread and salmon. The next day, it was time to do some exercise to clean my body from all those parties. I found a nice place, 20 minutes far from the house, in a park close to the sea in Laajasalo. It’s a very relaxing jogging to go there, and to get back. Of course, my day didn’t end that quickly. We met with the Forenom Team in the evening, and other Erasmus friends to have Etkot, and to play billiard. We left the hostel before midnight to go at the Corna Baari & Biljardi to have an after party. Obviously, it is a typical Corona bar with billiard tables.

Saturday, we had an organized trip to Suomenlinna with the Erasmus Team, our tutors & Laureamko. Suomenlinna is an island called the “fortress of Finland”. This Unesco World Heritage site is a beautiful old maritime military base. Sadly, the weather was awful, and we couldn’t enjoy the place very long because we were freezing, and getting sick. On the way back, I discovered the metro station: “Helsingin Yliopisto” or “University of Helsinki”. My last day of this amazing week was used to rest, go for a run, and do some work out in the nature again.