大三出國、全英語課程 - 國際視野 : 淡江大學大三出國通報及學分採認系統

:::

2018大三出國輔導通報系統 - 留學心得報告[編輯]

語言 405810085 　劉書文　　留學學校：土庫大學(芬蘭)

(一)基本資料

For my junior aboard exchange year, I went to the University of Turku in Finland. Turku is a city on the southwest coast of Finland and it is actually the oldest city as well as a capital city before it was moved to Helsinki. Univerisity of Turku has covered its faculty of Humanities, Social Science, Medicine, Business and Science Engineering. I am still studying English in Univeristy of Turku, but also choosing Business and Social Science and some courses about the culture of Finland and the Nordic countries.(88字)

(二)課程學習

【照片說明：English Group Discussion Skills】

My favorite class of all time is English Group Discussion Skills and English for Working Life. Both of these two classes are under the faculty of Language Communication. It both emphasize more on negotiation and speaking skills, which helps me develop my logical expression in English. Through these courses, I can also know more exchange students from different countries, and through discussion let me know more about their countries' culture and accustoms, while I'll introduce to them more about Taiwan! These two courses obtain presentation for each student, but due to the easy-going atmosphere in the class, I consider myself to have better performance in the presentation. While I am in Taiwan, I usually will feel nervous before presentations and easily to stutter and forgotten my speech, but there is no much problem when I am presenting in these class, in contrary, I feel relieved and work on more eye contact and hand gestures interacting with audiences. The other class that I felt a stressful and a sense of accomplishment at the same time is Fiction and Poetry, it is one of the classes that is similar for my major. During the first class, the teacher separates us into different group and asked us to meet up once in a week to accomplish the assigned worksheet he gave. It is an impressive memory that before our first meeting, I was working so hard on reading all the given poems and fiction novels, but as our group starts making discussions, I can’t say out any point of view and opinions, which depressed me a lot afterward. But as the more discussions we have, my situation turns better, I started to throw out different views and get to really exchange thoughts with my group members. Whenever my members give me a compliment, I will feel myself having a good contribution to my group. (312字)

(三)生活環境

【照片說明：從宿舍看到的極光 Northern Lights!】

The institution that is in charge of exchange student's accommodation is called TYS. Although Turku is a small city, it has all you need for living. There are plenty of supermarkets (including three or more Asian markets), restaurants and shopping malls. For me, I applied for the dormitory in Varissuo, where is located 20 minutes away from the city center. There are around 4 buses and more for transport to the University and city center so it is also pretty convenient. I lived in an apartment with two of my roommates, we owned our own room, but share the common bathroom and shower room. The apartment is not big but comfortable and contains everything we need! University of Turku provides Student Package for exchange students, containing pillow, blankets and all the things you will need for cooking. So, instead of spending money to buy items you are only using for a few months, Student Package helps out and create a sustainable lifestyle. What is special about our location of dormitory is that we can actually spot Northern Lights around sometimes in the year, which is so incredible and fun. Finland is located at a high latitude, so this means that insolation duration in summer and winter is totally different. In the winter, the insolation duration is less than six hours, which can lead to the deficiency of Vitamin D. Finland is famous for the Nordic winter, it can get really cold and dark during the end and the beginning of the year, but every room are installed with a heater, which is a life-saver from the serious snow outside. (267字)

(四)自我成長

【照片說明：與中國、泰國、美國朋友一起聚餐】

Exchanging in a whole new country alone with different culture background can be a challenge for some people, not only leaving your comfort zone is really hard, but also trying to adapt in a new language environment. But you will definitely grow in different aspects, learning how to pay your rent, standing on our own feet without your parent's assistant. There is also a special thing that I learned, is to get along with ourselves. Through this year, I get plenty of opportunities to travel by my own, even though it is just a couple day of traveling, it is so unpredictable for what might happen during the journey, it is crucial to learn how to overcome difficulties on your own. I was always afraid of making mistakes and it gets on my nerves, but realizing that all people makes mistakes, it’s fine to make mistakes, but importantly to learn from it and avoid it from happening again. The stereotype of Finnish is being interior to people and strangers, I wouldn’t say that Finnish people is indifferent, they just have the beauty of distance between individual and individual. This can be pretty exhausting at first, but Finnish people is always helpful and nice when you reach out to them. Due to Finland’s education system, they are taught in three different languages (Finnish, Swedish and English), since they are in a small age. That is why I don’t feel that left out in Finland, because there is always people talking in English! (255字)

(五)大三出國建議

For advising anyone who is going for junior exchange, you really have to do not only some background research of the University but also the country they are applying/ exchanging for. There are cultural differences in every country and I hope that you can find one that you really interested in. Before you came to the country, I strongly recommend to scan up your important documents on your computer or printed out in the paper. This can avoid you from losing your passport or important ID, but there are still documents to prove your identity while you are traveling in Europe. After you arrived in your exchange country, it is normal to encounter things that you are not used to, instead of complaining I hope you can adjust your mentality and embrace the cultural difference. Lastly, I encourage you to be more outgoing which I haven't been that active while I just arrived in Finland, there are not a lot of tourist attraction in Turku, but still many natural landscapes worth exploring. Don't forget to experience the Finnish Happiness by going to sauna and ice-swimming after in the lake, it sounds horrible, but always feel refreshing after.(197字)