Exchanged | Maine & Helsinki with Diane

In this podcast episode, the hosts, Kian and Diane, discuss Diane's experience studying abroad in both America and Finland. Diane explains that she was able to study in two countries because she applied for the George Mitchell scholarship, which allowed her to study abroad in the University of Maine system. She describes her time in Maine as a slower style of living in a small town, with opportunities to travel to New York and Boston. In Finland, she chose the University of Helsinki for its academic reputation and the opportunity to experience something completely different from Ireland. Diane recommends applying for the George Mitchell scholarship for arts students studying abroad, as it covers tuition, accommodation, and meals. She also found accommodation in Helsinki through the university, which was relatively cheap. Diane discusses the differences in university life and academic styles between UCC, the US, and Finland. In the US, classes were more intense and intimate, with profes Hello and welcome to the exchange podcast. My name is Kian. I'm Diane and we are the people who study abroad. So I'd like to welcome you all to our very first, kind of second episode. We've one recorded already. Hopefully we'll be able to get that up but it's the first one I suppose we're officially doing in the UCC radio station place. In today's episode we'll be interviewing Diane where she will give her experience studying abroad. So I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to study in both America and Maine and in Helsinki and Finland. Well and I suppose what decided you to pick those places and also to go away twice? Because I suppose once is a huge experience let alone doing it twice. So in Arts International I'd recommend to anyone who is listening who might be in second year and deciding where to go. I applied for the George Mitchell scholarship which allows you to study abroad in the University of Maine system. So I applied for that, I got it and that was the only way I was able to study in two countries because otherwise if you're like me I study economics and history so I don't have a language. So you normally only get to go to one country and you have a selection of maybe ten countries or ten universities that you can pick from in Europe and then there's outside of Europe but for me it would have been financially unfeasible for me to go anywhere outside of Europe without the Erasmus grant. So I got that, it was amazing. I studied in University of Maine at Farmington which was a really small thinking Gilmore Girls style town which was really beautiful. I was in New England in the fall, gorgeous. I would recommend going if you like hiking or kayaking or being outdoors because it's a very, very outdoorsy place. You're going to be really, really bored if you don't like that sort of stuff. And then when I was thinking to go to Finland I wasn't sure where I wanted to go and what sort of Erasmus experience I wanted and the University of Helsinki is in the top 1% of research universities in the world. So I thought I had a really academic side that I really cared about when I was studying abroad that I wanted it to benefit me in the long run and for something that can help me towards getting a career I enjoy. And Finland was a country I'd never been to ever before. So I wanted to experience something completely different which it is completely, completely different to Ireland. It's literally the polar opposite. Right, so that sounds amazing. I suppose before you delve into any further details I do have to ask which did you prefer, Maine or Helsinki? What can you pick? That's a really hard question. They're both really, really different countries. So when I was in Maine I came there and it was 30 degrees in the New England fall, like the month of September. I had only brought winter clothes and I should have been wearing shorts. It was crazy. I got sunburned in my first few days there. Oh no. But it was such a different experience. It was a lot of a slower style of living I feel compared to like Helsinki is obviously the capital. I wasn't even in Portland which is the capital of Maine State. I was in this really, really, really small town that had barely any public transport. Like one of those local link buses that came like twice a day. So the only way, I did get the opportunity to travel. So I went to New York and Boston. Oh wow. When I went there we had to get a shuttle from the university to the bus station which was like an hour away. There was no other way for us to get to the bus station. See what makes points buses look good so in comparison. It was really, really isolated. But then obviously Helsinki had a really, really, like it was really well connected. It's more of an industrial style city though. There was a lot of people listening who had been to Helsinki before. I don't know a lot of people myself personally that had been there before I went there. But it's not a very touristic style of city. It is really beautiful but the novelty of snow kind of wears off a month into it. And then you still have another two months to go where it's snowing every day which is quite different. But the whole Laughland experience is gorgeous. Fantastic. So I suppose how did you find going about finding accommodation in both of the places? So in Maine under the George Mitchell Scholarship I really, really recommend applying for it. If you're listening please just do. It feels like you don't have the qualifications for it but you probably do. So definitely apply. And just to clarify is that just for arts students or can anyone apply or how does it work? I think it's just for students in the College of Arts studying abroad but I'm not 100% sure. So if you have any questions definitely reach out to the International Office because it is a life changing opportunity. But under the George Mitchell Scholarship I had the tuition fee paid for, I had accommodation paid for, I lived on campus. I'm one of those old style American sorority houses. And we also had all of our meals paid for. So I barely had any expense or anything. It sounds really fantastic. It was amazing. And in Helsinki I got accommodation through the university. I would definitely recommend doing that. It was relatively cheap. I know a lot of people who also got full apartments for the same price of rent here for a single room. So it is a lot more affordable than it seems because I know Finland also has that reputation of being quite expensive. And it is quite expensive for food or going out for coffee is at least like $5.50. But when you think about when it comes to living standards, where I was living was about €400, maybe €440 a month including bills and everything. I was a two minute train ride from the city centre. So it was fantastic. It was amazing. And it was so new. It is so different from anything you get here. Speaking of the university, did you find any differences between university life and the academic side, the study, from UCC compared to over in the States or over in Finland? In America it was quite different. Both of them were quite different to the learning style in UCC. So in America we took three classes for the whole semester. So it was a lot more of an intimate, like intense learning opposed to like large classroom style learning. So we had about 10 people in my data class. But it was a research learning experience class. So we got the opportunity to work with Raw Data for Partnerships for Health, which was a company that works towards promoting female genital mutilation and promoting education on the subject. So we got to work with their raw data, do presentations for them, which was a really, really beneficial experience I feel going forward for me, which is an experience I never had before working with that sort of data. But it's quite different to here. So there was no like big lecture theatres. All the lecturers knew our names and we were on pretty friendly terms with them. And I also did an American Civil War class that was really, that had so much reading, so much reading. And you had to do it for every single class. Oh no. Which was crazy. And for me it was quite difficult. I didn't have any basis in American history before. So I did learn a lot, but it was so different to here. I felt like the pressure was quite different because you're, you have to do work constantly to not fall behind. And you would get homework and they would check homework in the same style as they would in secondary school, which is quite, so different to here. Yeah, you're totally on stage. And then I also did a business class, which was really amazing. We did a semester long business project. It was called Uniting the Colony. But it was about, we collected primary and secondary data from the students and we did interviews with faculty. So it was really amazing. It was really like a hands-on learning experience. So it's not as independent, I feel, as the learning style is in UCC. And then when I went to Finland, it wasn't as intense. So we, similar to yourself in the Netherlands, we had this semester broken up into two parts. Right. And everything was more like essay-based. But it was the same way, like the lecturers would know your name, they took attendance in classes, that sort of thing. But it was really amazing. Amazing. Just very, very different. Yeah. And say, would you prefer to keep doing that now or are you happy now to be back the way things are here in Cork? I feel like, especially in the American system, you learn a lot more, but on far more narrow subjects. So we were doing those three classes, I had them twice a week. So like four hours of them a week for like the whole semester. Yeah. Compared to doing six modules here, or six modules in Finland. And I felt like I came away with a lot more of a concentrated knowledge on that matter than I would here with something I did the second year that I can barely remember now. Because you're just doing the essays, getting the essays finished. Or whereas like with history here, you can, usually like there would be, like let's say ten essay questions. Yeah. And you can pick from one. So you don't really need to be too familiar with all the other subject matter, because you know you're only going to do one or two of those essays. But in America, in my Civil War, I had to learn everything. Because there was constant, like there was pop quizzes, it was really American, like loads of pop quizzes in classes. We actually did like a Civil War re-enactment of, it wasn't like a Civil War, like the actual war re-enactment, but it was what went on in Parliament, you don't call the Parliament there, but in the White House before the split in the Civil War. So it was really crazy. So I do feel like in that sense it is quite different, whereas here I'm getting such a way broader academic experience than I was there. Yeah, and how did you find, as well, socialising, making friends with the Americans, the Finnish, and other international students? In America, there was only five of us who were international students in university. But two of them are actually some of my Theosis friends, they're coming over to St. Patrick's Day. Ah, fantastic. So it is really nice, it is just very different. I was really good friends with one American girl, and we used to go to like things and stuff together, but it's quite different, I feel, to how it is here, because everyone has their friend group. Yeah. And it's such a small town that it's like everybody kind of knows each other, or knows somebody that knows each other. Like it's really, really small. And then in Finland, there's a huge Erasmus community, so everyone who's done Erasmus, you know like how it is. Everyone kind of knows everybody, or like you'll go to events, or like house parties with other people, and you end up meeting, or at least knowing, other Erasmus students. And then I was also on ESN in Helsinki, so I was the events coordinator. I got to know a lot of people then on the committee. There was also a Finnish girl on the committee, who was great, Laura was great. So I feel like it was a lot easier to make friends in Finland, but making friends with the Finnish people was harder. The Americans were a lot more open, I guess. Because even like coming home on public transport, no one would say anything. It would be complete silence coming home, which is crazy if you think about how it is in Ireland. Yeah, yeah. And Helsinki is the capital city. I would come home on the train, and no one would be saying anything from north to south. And if we were speaking, it would be like, oh, it would just be a bad idea for us. Everyone would be giving us dirty looks, and being like, why are they speaking now? But yeah, I think Finnish people are quite reserved, so they're really nice when you do get to know them. But I think it's harder to get to know them in the first place. I suppose going on Erasmus or studying abroad, you do get to, I suppose, learn into all these different cultures, different peoples, have different ways of doing things and whatnot. So I think it's such a fantastic experience. To go back, you were saying you were events coordinator for ESN in Helsinki? Yeah. If you want to tell the audience a bit about ESN, personally, for me in Utrecht, it was fantastic, them having so many events, I suppose, on the first few weeks for a chance to get to know other people. So how did you find that in Helsinki? It was really great. So ESN, I'll give you guys, I guess, a bit of an overview. So ESN is the Erasmus student network, and its motto is four students, five students. So it's an NGO organization, and they plan and organize events for students on Erasmus all over Europe. They're in pretty much every city. I don't know that many people who have gone to a city that hasn't had ESN. So there's not a big societies culture like there is in UCC when you go abroad. So ESN kind of makes up for that for the Erasmus students by giving you an opportunity to connect to other people. So when I was on the committee, we would organize events under different umbrellas. So we have like social events, cultural events, so like events about life in Finland or like Finnish TV shows. And we had Laura who would always help us organize those things. Or then we would also have events within the community. So we organized an event that was a beach cleanup, which is part of a wider project. I'm not going to try to pronounce the name in Finnish, but it's to clear the Baltic Sea. So it was really great. It was a really good opportunity to get to know people you otherwise might not have gotten to know. And then we also went to Lapland with ESN, which was absolutely fantastic. It's a really once-in-a-lifetime opportunity going to Lapland. But it's really, really cool. It's really, really great. We also went to Gdansk. We went to loads of places. And it was really great to bond with other people who are in the exact same situation as you. So if you are looking to study abroad, I would recommend reaching out to them or just like joining a few of their events. Even if you don't stick to it, just join them for a while and get to know a few people. And at least you'll have a few familiar faces around the city that you're in, which is always helpful. So you were saying that you traveled around, I suppose, both in Finland and over in the States. Did you have a favorite place, either within where you were based or kind of somewhere you've traveled to? I feel like in America, it would be rude of me not to say New York. For anyone that's been, I don't know, I always felt like I'm not a really big city person. But when I went to New York, there was just something about New York. Very, very expensive. Very expensive. Like when we were looking for accommodation, it was crazy. And me and my boyfriend were going through it. And he was like, I was going through the reviews, and he was like, oh, this place is fine. I was like, literally, there's a dead mouse in one of the rooms in the reviews. But it's so expensive that you kind of have to be willing to give up a few nice things. Yeah. Would you say it was worth it? It was definitely worth it. We didn't stay in a place with a mouse. We didn't stay there. But it was really nice. You have to be willing to spend money, but just amazing. Absolutely amazing. And Boston was really nice as well. Gorgeous. It's so gorgeous when the weather is nice there. Because I flew in and out from Boston. So I actually went to Boston about four times in the end. So really gorgeous. Just very, very expensive. It's almost as expensive as New York, which is crazy. And then in Finland, I guess going to Lapland was such an incredible opportunity. So gorgeous. We got to see the Northern Lights, going to Santa's Village, seeing the reindeer. We also went to Northern Norway as well on the same trip. We went to this little town that has, like, 50 people that live there. It's called, like, Borchno. And then we had fish soup, which if you go to Finland, it's a really popular thing for people to have. Fish soup, salmon soup. But it was really great. Really a phenomenal opportunity. And now when I think back on it, it's so weird to think I'm here in Cork again. Yeah. And for either place, was there much of a culture shock or any, I suppose, things to adjust or get used to? I guess in America it wasn't so bad because I feel the American culture is quite similar to the Irish culture. But in Finland it was quite hard to adjust at the start. I think, like, the very first day I got there, the snow was crazy. I'd stayed in Tallinn the night before and I got the ferry over, which is something that they always do as well in Finland because it's so much cheaper in Estonia. They get the ferry over and then they come back. But when I got there, I don't know how many feet of snow there was. I've never seen so much snow in my life. And then I broke my suitcase trying to bring it up to my feet. Oh, no. It was really testing, but I think the hardest thing was the cold. Like, adjusting to that. Adjusting to the permanent frost on the ground as well as on the pavement. You literally couldn't walk anywhere. People slipped constantly. And then I guess, like, the food choices are quite different. Like, when you're going out for food, like, as I said, the fish soup, salmon soup is so popular. Reindeer, which feels kind of wrong, but reindeer is really popular as well. So I guess those are, like, really different things. And just how Finnish people are in general. So they're just a lot quieter than Irish people are and a lot less open, which, as an Irish person, feels kind of weird, kind of strange. Yeah, one thing I found over in Utrecht, like, I'm kind of sort of introverted person and I find myself suddenly being the big, loud, funny one in the room. Would you kind of find that as well over there? Well, there was a lot of Erasmus presence. I think that's the thing that makes it so much easier, is that you have so many people who are in the exact same situation as you. But, yeah, it is quite different. Like, you'll be after until everyone will be, like, really quiet. And you're like, this is so different to how it is in Ireland. This is so different. Because you're so used to just being able to, like, talk openly all of the time. But, like, you get over it after a while. But, yeah, just really different. And did you bump into many other Irish people in either location? In America, no. I didn't meet anyone else that was Irish. In Finland, there was about six or seven of us. There was no one else from UCC. There was one girl from Galway and then there was a few people from Trinity. But that was it. There was nobody else. So how did you find, I suppose, being the only one? So, like, was it your first time being away, I suppose, by yourself? No, I've traveled by myself before a good few times. So I guess I'm used to, like, being by myself. But it was harder, I guess, because in America there was so few of us. We kind of had no choice, really, but to befriend each other. Like, we only had each other. But in Finland there were so many people. So I would really recommend just trying to, like, get out there as much as possible at the start and getting to know these people. Because at the end of the day, they are the people that you're going to spend the whole semester with. But it can feel kind of isolating. Because then I would, like, see other Irish people who are on Erasmus and there's so many of them together in one place. Which is amazing, but I'm so jealous. Because I'd be like, oh no, like, who am I going to talk to? Who am I going to class with? Kind of speaking of, I suppose, challenges. Was there any one big challenge which you feel like you faced and overcame while over there? I guess trusting yourself. Because you have no choice but to trust yourself. Because you're there by yourself. Especially in Finland. I guess I found America a lot easier. I guess because by the time I was in Finland, I'd been abroad about six months. Yeah. So I'd come back for about ten days at Christmas. But it wasn't really, like, a lot of time. And when you're seeing everybody, it's Christmas, there's so much going on, and then suddenly you're on a plane again. So I guess, like, trusting yourself and trusting that everything is going to be OK. Because especially when you're not working, when you're abroad, it can feel like, oh my God, all my money is going slowly, slowly, slowly down. I know that feeling, yeah. But everything always works out somehow. It's always fine. Brilliant. And I suppose, moving away from challenges, not to scare anyone off, do you have any favourite experience or memory while over there studying abroad? I guess either in New York or Lapland. Like, I think when you are studying abroad, you should definitely take every opportunity to go somewhere and to experience something else. Because I think I was like, oh, like, I don't know, I wanted to go to Sweden, there were a few other places I wanted to go, but I was more willing to spend my money on something that I felt like I wouldn't necessarily get that opportunity again. Or maybe I would, but it would be a good few years. It's not like I'm going to be in New York again, like, for years. So, yeah, just taking every opportunity. Is there any one thing you'd recommend or say, if you could tell your past self something, to know something before you would have went, something you wish you knew? I guess just put yourself out there. Because I think I'm such a different person now to who I was when I was in second year. Because you literally have no choice. You have to become confident, you have to become okay with talking to new people constantly. And I think before when I was in second year, I never would have done anything like this. I never would have put myself forward for a podcast. But now it's like, you really, really need to. Because I'm going to graduate this year, and you're going to have to be in a working world where you're willing to put yourself forward, and you're willing to immerse yourself in new opportunities. And there's nothing bad that can really come from it. No one on Erasmus really knows you. Well, for me, no one knew me anyway. Yeah. So is there any closing remarks, anything else you'd kind of like to say? I don't know. Anything more to talk about? Study abroad is good, we recommend. So I suppose we'll wrap it up here. So thank you so much for listening. I've been Keegan. I'm Diane. And check back soon for another episode of The Exchange Podcast, brought to you by UCC Europa Society and UCC Erasmus Society. Thank you. Bye. Bye. ♪♪♪