Accomodation in Jyväskylä

I arrived in Finland on September 2011. One month earlier, I had already reserved my student room at one of the students' villages of the Jyväskylä.
I am quite satisfied of the way the University has managed and helped in finding the suitable flat in the suitable area for me. KOAS which is the company in charge of student lodging has also been quite good. Even if, again, I would acknowledge that the prices are relatively high (my room costs almost 240 Euros), for a student coming from a developing country, and not having any financial support (be it from the government or from my home University or any other support) like me. But I was fortunately well prepared for this trip, and planned it two years in advance.
I was welcomed at the train station by my tutor Maria (will tell you about who tutors are later), who was there few minutes earlier before the arrival of my bus. We then took a taxi (bran new Mercedes car) with all my luggage to the students' village where my room was. Maria had far in advance got my keys from KOAS and prepared my welcome survival kit as well (the survival kit is a set of first needed things that the students union offers to new comers to help them cope with the first days in the city, it comprises cups, spoons, a condom ;) and some other things I don't remember. I also got two bed sheets, pencil etc. it was really a warm welcome.
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Monday 17th September,
In a few hours, I will be traveling to Konnevesi Research station for the Introduction Session for the new students in the Aquatic Master's Program (AMP). We will spend two days there, accomodation is free of charge, but we pay for meal if we want to eat at the research station's restaurant.

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How is studying here like

One of the major reasons that brought me in Finland was the education system. I read and heard a lot of good things about Finnish education system, but could not really get what all of that was in reality until I got here and experienced it.
The most surprising thing here is that the student is not pressurized to give good results in minimum time. Once you register to a program, you plan it by yourself: how you will undergo it, which sources you will take (of course there are some few mandatory courses which make the backbone of your field), how long you want to do this program. Students are driven by a self learning process. This does not mean that there are abandoned to themselves without no supervision, in the contrary every thing is at the disposal and it is an obligation the teachers and supervisors (in case of research) to assist and there are truly committed to that.

Second thing I noticed is that Finnish students do not discuss a lot in a classroom. They barely ask questions, make comment or say anything, but still they perform well. May be the reason the they don't talk in class is that they know they have all the book and material available at any moment and which they can read and learn by themselves. Indeed self learning is said to be the best way to learn and build a good educational carrier.
 
Finnish government financially support University (and education in general) a lot. Almost all what I need for my studies is free (lab equipment, materials, computers etc...). Personally, since I arrived here, I never bought a pencil, a book, an agenda etc... (the student union gave me an agenda, a pencil, a printing key), and I got some other few things from my tutor. Now I can print all my documents for free (because of my research), but normally we have a key that we refill by buy recharge at campus libraries and then use it for printing. To make things easy an flexible, all the printing machines are interconnected to all the computers of the University an every body (students and staff) have a printing account.

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Why University of Jyväskylä

As I said before I am an environmentalist and for me the best place to study life sciences (and may be other studies as well) is where you have the maximum green areas and natural environment as possible.
As I was looking for the best University in Finland, I looked at the map of Finland on Google maps. I was looking for

      -    A place from where I could join all the other parts of the country without spending a lot of money and time on transports; not surprising that Jyväskylä is part of the Province of Central Finland

      -  A city where I would have a lot of lakes and rivers but still very developed with all facilities that one could get in a big city. Jyväskylä is just surrounded by lakes all over, and with the two largest lakes in Finland.

   -  A quit place, where major Administrative and commerce buildings and places are closed and where I could move around by bike easily. A friend gave the information and I confirmed upon arrival that Jyväskylä is actually this king of citiy.

This is a simple and quick video I made about this subject : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPPKMPkNOTs


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Finland is world first in sustainable development

I was have a class on Renewable energies when a good friend of mine sent me this nice news about the Failed States Index (FSI).
The FSI focuses on the indicators of risk and is based on thousands of articles and reports that are processed by our CAST Software from electronically available sources. It evaluated and rated 177 countries around the world and Finland appears to by best best performing country in terms of sustainability and other development criteria.
When I read this hot news I remembered that a similar index on states' transparency published every year always rates Finland among the first 3 countries, and these are one of the keys indicators that brought me in Finland.

Details about the FSI index could be consulted here :
http://www.fundforpeace.org/global/?q=fsi-grid2012

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Eating like a student

One of the most amazing things I like in Finland is food and food quality...oh..I have no words to describe how clean and healthy is Finnish food. Just dial on Google and you will read a lot about it.
Anyway I like cooking myself and usually bake my own break in my student's village flat situated in Roninmäemtie (this student's village is one of those own by KOAS, the company in charge, you will probably contact them for a room when you will plan to come here for studies)

I have added a video about baking bread at home, you could find the ingredients online and make it yourself. very easily, I find it funny and relaxing.
You can also eat at the student's restaurant. Personally I find the food there expensive, so is life in general in Finland compared to other european countries, so be prepared for that if you happen to come here.
 

Why choosing Finland ?

Many critical arguments obviously brought me to choose Finland as the place to pursue my education career:

Because I grew up in a family of farmers and traders, I was educated in this mindset with a high respect in natural resources. One day I red a news about my country: the government was deploring the fact that our coastline waters were becoming more unproductive in terms of sea food and Cameroon was importing more that 120 thousand tonnes of fish per year to satisfy the internal market demand. Then I said to myself "why not specialize myself in fish farming ?". Then I was sure I wanted to deepen my knowledge in environmental sciences and aquaculture, the next step was to find the suitable program in Europe.

- Of all the emails I sent to program managers in Universities, I noticed a clear sign of humility and pro-activity from the ones from Finnish Universities. Even though everything was written in the web pages of the University, my "stupid" and "obvious" questions always had humble and professional answers, and I am very sensitive to this kind of attitude. Mails from from other countries were really different

- Finland has more than 180 thousand lakes: suitable place for me to study fish and Aquatic sciences

- I read a lot about the Finnish environmental laws and policy and felt so amazed. My dream was to come and learn how they do this in practice and how they organize themselves to make the perfect equilibrium between economic development and environmental protection.

One important reason (and may be the most important for somebody like me coming from a financially modest family) why I decided to choose Finland is that studying in public institutions in Finland is free and absolutely free of tuition fees (though there is a registration fee you should pay in the beginning of each year, I paid nearly 90 Euros as a Master’s student). So you study for free, in well equipped classroom and labs, you attend seminars for free, practical and field work are all free; using computers, libraries and all study facilities is free. And behold all those facilities are of high quality and updated regularly. But unfortunately the only thing I wanted to be free is not: meals in student’s restaurant…Yes meals; I enjoy the food served in restaurants of the University of Jyväskylä, for the cleanness, richness and respect of individual dietary restrictions and preferences. I think I should create a completely different message just to tell you about Finish food and dietary system. 

Finnish government and politics

I have been always fascinated when hearing about Finland in international news and foreign affairs. I mean the way Finland is governed and how Finland chooses the future it wants. Only good news dominated all what I read and heard. Always among the top first countries in terms of transparency and good governance, human rights, women empowerment, social security system, environmental protection, education system (many people still wonder why Finnish children start going to school very late -7 years old- but later perform better than others who started school much earlier). Besides these elements I knew Finland is not an economy-driven country and that it is not easy to get a job in Finland, but that was not my preoccupation and as I said the first arguments dominated, even more I believe if you have a talent and the perfect education, job is not that much a big deal.

My Presentation

Hi / Salut / Saludo / Terve (En, Fr, Sp, Fi), 

I am Polain NZOBEUH, I am 30 years old and I'm from Cameroon.

My educational background is in Biology and Environmental Sciences. In fact I got my Master's in Botany and Ecology in 2006 and traveled to South Africa for one month, then to Morocco where I spent 4 years and got a higher Degree in Quality Management. Then I felt unsatisfied with my studies and decided to apply for studies in Europe, and the choice of Finland came.
Coming from a developing country like Cameroon, I have always been fascinated by Finnish economic and governance model: Very environmental friendly country, top level in democracy and transparency, powerfully supported social security system, free access to education to every body and no or few engagement in war and international conflicts. All these elements contrasted with most of other potential target countries and therefore the choice was clear for me : I had to go to Finland.
Because I have so much to say about myself I will let you ask questions, feel free.

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