Spring period in Jyväskylä

March – April: Beginning of Finnish’s Boreal spring: Snow has just melted out even though some blocks of ice can still be seen here and there. Rivers are reborn, trees and plants are still leafless, insects and others animals are coming back from their winter sleep. In a couple of weeks, everything will be green and flowering and life will come back. 

Studies at the University of Jyväskylä are still on going but soon students will be preparing for their last exams. Exchange students will be leaving soon and new excited ones will be coming in for Summer School organized by various faculties.

For more information about Summer School in Jyväskylä, please go to: https://www.jyu.fi/science/JSS23

Summer School at the University of Jyväskylä

Have you ever thought of what you would do during your vacation period ?
Do you want to do domething that would both merge having vacation and gaining knowledge in a field of study you are interested in?
Want to visit Finland, the country of lakes, rives and large boreal forest?

If the answer to the above questions is yes, therefore summer school at the University of Jyväskylä is the best choice for you.

At the moment of greens and plentiful of outdoors events, Finland opens its doors to thousands of international students to come in and combine vacation and short term summer classes.

I have always attended summer courses since I arrived in Finland and what I have experienced has changed my life for ever. The people I met and the knowledge I gained will ever be kept in my mind for several reason:

1. Each of the classes I attended were always diverse and multicultural classes

    We often found ourselves been part of a class made up of every body having a different nationality. Fifteen to twenty nationalities discussing, sharing ideas, collaborating during group work and class workshops etc...

2. Summer classes in Jyväskylä are particular in the fact that students are really at the center of both the teaching and the organization.

    We had our class mates who were chosen to be like tutors and guides during and after classes for extra curricular activities. I think this has help lots of international students to open up, socialize and make the best use of the time they spent over here.

3. Many activities were always planned for us


   It is amazing to see how organized the committee was. Every day there was an even after classes, either initiated by the summer school staff or by the students themselves (we usually agreed via Facebook and mailing lists).


I took courses in :
- Optimization of Bioenergy Use
- Limiting Factors on Renewable bioenergy
- Creating and Leading Communities of learners
- Data Documentation in Biological Research
- Collaborative Leadership through Coaching

All those course are not that closely related to my field of study, but I am interested in them and I think they will be very useful in my future career.

I feel grateful to attend summer classes every year and this text is to encourage all those who are still hesitating to take their courage and try these courses at the University of Jyväskylä for you never know amazing and life-changing an experience would be until you try it by yourself.

Some of my sweet moments here

It's 00.30,
I feel tired of a long studies' day but I still want to write this before I forget it.
I just fell in a sort of nostalgia and my heart was full of instant humility and internal heart travelled through my whole blood stream when I started thinking about some particularly sweet moments I have had since I arrived in this city. here are some of them.
As I sometime work as a part time job distributing news paper in house holds, I once was surprised when just after droping the news paper in a flat's mail box, an old woman immediately opened the door and followed me for about ten meters with a tablet of chocolate in her hands. She smiled to me, taped me gently on the arm and said Jyvää Joulu (Merry Christmas). I felt very happy and grateful, answered to her and humblely accpeted her gift. I think the lesson I kept from this encounter was that we are never alone even far from our relatives.
I can never forget all the amazing moments I spend with kids over here. Though their habits and education are quite different from cameroonian kids, they also share the same basic caracteristics that all children have. I have learn to understand them and from being chy with me at the begining, I am nowadys their best friends and several times their parents use me to make pressure on them. They full my heart of joy and bring light to my weekends helping me to overcome the absence of my lovely son who is far from me thousand of miles away.
I can't end this (evening if I am almost sleeping on my keyboard ;) ) without mentioning how king and friendly (I would even say "sweet") are some very particular finnish friends (especially girls) at the university. I am speechless about how amazing they are to me. I will not mention their names here, but I hope if they read this they will recognize themselves.

I apologize if you happen to dislike so private issues, but I have to write this down for my proper sake as well. Never mind me about some mistakes in the text, I will go through it later.

Goood night, grrrrh grrrrh

Riding a bike in Jyväskylä

Hi again, 

I am just back home after a pretty hard study day, and wanted to write something really touching to me as I just realize it: It's about cycling in Jyväskylä. 

As you arrive in this city, one of the first and striking things you will notice is the importance the city reserves to cycling, through road facilities. Every single road is constructed with well built cyclist ways often on both sides of the pavement. I addition to this, you will notice how extended is the age structure of the people who use the cycling ways, from early ages (parents cycling while pulling their baby trailer and young children with all additional safety outfits) to elderly people. 
I am just amazed to see these lovely scenes every day even during this present winter time ! 
The simple fact of being able to cycle on a well built pedestrian ways, at any time (I often come back home very late), in complete safety and serenity is a chance to anybody, no only me. If you, reading this message, have the same chance, then you are in the list of the top most privileged people of this world, believe me or not, it is true.

Since I arrived (in Finland), I have always used second hand bikes, which are relatively cheap and easy to find, either from friends or in bicycle shops just near the main campus, you won't miss them, their are unavoidable. By time to time you may need to oil your bike, change a tire, add some air, check your brakes, fix front and back lights, get a helmet etc. You will definitely find all what you want in those shops.

Personally I visit the bike shop at least once in a semester. Quite understandable because I always use second hand bikes :D Any way, the guys at the shop are very nice and I changed my brakes there last week as well. Some times, a friend may even borrow me his bike (a sign of solidarity) when mine is broken. It’s easy and more convenient to always have one backup bike.

Hey ! I forgot my bike several times without locking it ...but found it on the same spot each time. I could never have the same chances in many other places, I am sure about that. People in Jyväskylä (or may be in Finland as a whole) say : If you like a lost object on your way, leave it on the spot and the owner will retrace his steps and pick it up. It is a "tradition" here. I often see lots of lost things along streets and have learned to leave them on the spot, or making them more visible by hanging them on tree, fences etc... 

Now that I have got a driving license, I wonder if I could see those things again since I might be cycling a bit less ;)