Ebba Andersson, Occupational Therapy Programme, JAMK University of Applied Sciences, Finland

My time in Jyväskylä, Finland

My name is Ebba and I'm studying my fifth semester as an occupational therapist. I did my fifth semester as an exchange student in Jyväskylä, Finland at JAMK – University of Applied Science. I wanted to go to Finland because of a special course they are offering there. My dream is to be an Occupational Therapist that works with children, but here in Sweden they aren't any courses about how to work with children as an OT. But in Finland they do offer courses about it, so that's the reason why I did my exchange in Finland. During my time there I did two courses about children and had three weeks of clinical practice. I had my clinical practice at a private clinic for child- rehabilitation and habilitation. It was three amazing weeks and it was so interesting to see how they can work in a different country. I learned so much, even though I was there just for three weeks.

Here you can see how it looked at my clinical placement

In Finland, I shared apartment with two other exchange students. I had my own room but shared kitchen and bathroom with the others. Our apartment was in a building where only exchange students lived. In the area, it was four building with exchange students and five minutes walks from there were seven other buildings with just exchange students living. So, you always had someone to hang out with and all of my friends were actually my neighbors. The area I lived in was about 15 minutes’ drive from the city center and the university.

Here you can see how the rooms looked like

Living in Finland is not so different from living in Sweden. The cultures are similar, we have the same holidays, the prices are the same and the weather is also not so different. But one thing that I thought was amazing living in Finland was that I met so many wonderful friends that I know I'm going to stay in contact with for the rest of my life. Hanging out with all these people made my three months in Finland to one of the best times in my life. It´s a way to learn so much about different countries and cultures but you also learn so much about yourself and grow as a person.

Going as an exchange student is one of the most interesting, funniest and best things you can do. I would recommend everybody that have the chance to go! It's a great way to get more knowledge about your studies and different way University are. You grow as a person, getting a bigger perspective and getting to know so many new friends.