Finns on ERASMUS

Finns are by far the nicest & awesomest & most likeable Erasmus-Students I have met until now :)

Scandinavian people are said to be a bit shy & holding back, but those who really go on Erasmus, are open-minded, sociable(well, you just have to go there and talk to them, they still have some first contact shyness) & the guys really are GENTLEMEN!

Last Friday we(the Erasmus people) were going out in Geneva, and there was supposed to be an "Oktoberfest" in some bar, but the watchdogs there wouldn't let us get in...
After some rethinking, I talked to them in French and informed them, that our whole group was German(of course not exactly true, there were some Germans though) and we wanted to get inside, whereas the watchdogs said, it would be okay.
But then we didn't want to go in there, because the music was not good and everybody was pissed off at those watchdogs for not letting us in in the first place.
We then went to a cool and for Geneva very cheap bar, where the wife/companion of the owner was swiss-german :)))
It was great there, but at 2 in the morning, like every club/pub in town centre, it shut down, so we decided to go to E. & T.'s flat to chill out & then go home.
Of course we (M. & me) had a good time, buut this led to missing our last bus - GREAT, we were stuck in the middle of nowhere in Geneva town, where we couldn't exactly go home alone, cos it was dark & in the middle of the night.
So we asked E. & T. if we could crash on their couch for the night, and hello, they forced us to take the bed!! Very rarely have I met people in my life that were this nice, considerate & helping!
:)

This way I want to thank the Finnish Education & Family System that Finns are one of the best nationalities I've ever met abroad, and everybody everywhere just loves them!

And it's not just their hospitality, I really really like their approach towards human interaction... :)

Something nobody is able to resist

and this DEFINITELY is the charm of Switzerland & especially Geneva!!

Well, the first week has passed by, very quickly btw, I was quite surprised when it was Tuesday again!! And wow, I so love it here, you cannot image how much... I don’t know if i ever want go back home... I just can’t imagine being somewhere else right now ;)

I had various subjects during the week, held in English and in French(see last blog), but the most interesting and awesome course is “Négoce International – Commodity Trading”! It lasts the whole Friday from 9.30 ‘til 18.00 and we have to do a lot for it, but it is worth 10 ECTS :) It is held half in English & half in French, and it’s not thaat easy to “switch” between the languages that fast... but as I usually think in English it’s okay, but if I would have to explain what I do there in German, I don’t think I’d be able to do so sufficiently... ^^

3 minutes before the lecture, nobody BUT the erasmus students are there... hmmm ^^

But the REALLY awesome thing is the multilingual approach& the multicultural feeling everywhere – just simply amazing!! Just sitting in the tram and listening to parts of French, English, Spanish, Italian, German, Russian and Arabic, I definitely am on cloud no.9 :D

Last Saturday I finally had time for myself and sorting out my thoughts and also my pictures ;) It was really liberating to have total peace & a quiet environment after all the hectic of the whole week... I am everyday so tired from the courses that are held in French because I have to concentrate very hard to understand enough to get what exactly “le prof” is telling us & wanting us to do!

Buut, as I knew that a certain Finn is in Switzerland too, I had to use my very expensive railway ticket to get there... Olten was awesome, I had a LOT of fun and it was so good to finally see some of the people from last year again and in a different setting too... Olten is a small town, just like my hometown in Austria, and I felt like at home immediately... Especially the view that you can have from the 12^th floor of his flat, WOW... I was mesmerized!!!! It was also awesome to just speak one language for one day, because it is not as tiring as switching between 3 all the time ;)

I don’t really want to know how the language part of my brain looks right now, but I am pretty sure it is VERY VERY confused because of all the different languages I hear & speak all the time :) And on the other hand I am so happy to have this opportunity to practise so many languages at once, because that means I will get better... Like yesterday I even understood about 80% of the lecture, which is a huuuge step in comparison to last week where I had like a headache because of really having to concentrate TOO hard...

And what I really really love the most about Switzerland is the character of most of the people – for example, when sitting in a train in eastern Austria, people usually don’t speak to you… in western Austria it is nearly the exact opposite of that, they are friendly and ready to talk about anything with you! And it is exactly like that in Switzerland... I think, I am falling in love with this country! :)

One grows with his challenges

The first courses were veryy okay, Financial English is really in English, and I like it, cos it's quite easy for me... :)

French for non-frenchspreaking is like the following: "le prof" (with a real GERMAN name: Schöttke) gets into the classroom, talks ONLY French & everybody is like WHATTT??, except our two imports from Brasil, and their French is too good to be in that course, cos they are FLUENT, but whatever :D

On Tuesday I was late to Projectmgmt (I had problems registering in the city of Geneva, because they were really thinking I was from AUSTRALIA!!!), the first part was already over & only a place in the last row available, but it was HORRIBLE, cos those 2 guys next to me were talking ALL the time and I even got a HEADACHE from concentrating so hard... I dropped the course cos I found out where the really good courses were and well, I sent Mrs. Werner already my changed Learning Agreement, I hope she knows how to figure it out :D

On Wednesday I had at 8(!!) in the morning Éthique des affaires (= Business Ethics), but as N. pointed out, "le prof" is sometimes just NOT coming, without notice^^

Thursday I had lectures held in French from 8-3, but it was actually very okay... IT, Consumer Behaviour & Marketing and Scientific Working - it worked out quite well already, I think I have surprised myself^^

One grows with his challenges.

Geneva is welcoming me.

Monday, 9:20, the train is finally arriving at Geneva main station, Genève-Cornavin. I got out of the train, no "exit"-sign anywhere... yeah, I guess, the frechspeaking swiss people don't like them ;)

Then I just followed the "taxi"-signs and I did find one, cos I had decided very soon, that I probably wouldn't be able to go to the Students Home by myself, cos even the Taxi Driver had difficulties lifting the suitcase into the luggage space in his car :D

I got into the taxi, told the driver my adress... he was like: "Foyer St.Justin, what & where is that???" I explained once again, showed him my map & he was then like: "well, we'll try to find it..." what a confident man^^ No German, no English and of course no Italian... They are not even TRYING to adapt a small vocabulary of the other Swiss languages.... buuut I am proud of myself, I understood everything he told me and the price was okay - 15 SFR.

Then I got into the Students Home, to the reception and they recognized me at once... huh, maybe I do look like my pictures ;) Well, I live at the 6th floor, thank God we got a working elevator, otherwise I'd probably have died getting up there with my stuff ^^

My room ir REALLY small, but it is okay for 5 months, about 9m². For the whole floor there are 2 toilets & 2 showers... good I got plentyy disinfection spray with me.

The shared kitchen is really roomy and absolutely not gross, as you'd hear about other students accomodations.

All in all, it is very okay, I am close to the city centre, the Lac Léman is not far away and the tram station like 70m, and I got free WLAN, which is the most important thing :))) without limits, btw :D :D D:

I was 3 days at the Côte d’Azur with my sis & my bro and on Thursday I arrived back at Geneva.

The weekend I'll write about 2morrow, cos now I should go to bed to get ready for my classes 2morrow, Financial English & French for non-french speakers.

I am excited about it & a little afraid.