Exchange year: Joanna ja Ola

Who are you and what are you doing here?

Joanna: I’m Joanna Szadkowska. I’m here at ICT-City waiting for exchange students’ orientation info.
Ola: My name is Ola Bakowska, I’m also going to the same orientation.

That sounds exciting! Where do you come from?

Joanna: We both come From Poland, a town called Szczecin. It is situated in the north-west corner of Poland near the German border.

What do you study?

Ola: We both study Physiotherapy. This is our second study year, and now our exchange in Finland is starting. We stay here in Turku four months. I have a feeling we might be the only exchange students here at Physiotherapy studies! We will see next week – we have only had orientation meetings so far.
Joanna: This is actually our third day in Finland! It’s been cold enough, but when we left Poland it was also -10 degrees there. It’s not that big a difference between Polish and Finnish winters in my opinion.

How did you choose Finland and Turku?

Ola: Applied University of Turku was chosen for us, because our home University co-operates with Turku University of Applied Sciences. We both are in Finland for the first time, and we are quite excited!

What do you do when not studying?

Ola: I love dancing! It would be great to go to a dance studio also during my exchange.
Joanna: My sports is running. It might be just a bit too cold now, but I’m going for a run in a few days for sure! I’ve heard there are good sports opportunities at TUAS (Turku University of Applied Sciences) so we both go definitely there, buy the sports fee and try different sport classes.

Have you already done any sightseeing?

Ola: We have been here a couple of days. We are looking forward to get to know Turku better. The campus here looks fine, I like the bright colors here at ICT-City. Most of our classes will be held somewhere else though.
Joanna: We live in a student village apartment in Varissuo. Buses go often to the campus and to the city center. We have already checked the city sights online and the Turku Castle is the first in our visiting list.

Thanks Joanna and Ola! Enjoy your exchange!

Joanna and Ola were hanging out at ICT-City.