Hello!
Well, this is my first blog ever and I really don't know from where shall I start.
I have not read any blogs before and I have no idea how to approach this....
I guess I should introduce myself.
I'm Ibrahim, originally Egyptian, my home is London and I'm currently living and studying nursing in Pori Finland.
This blog is a part of my European nursing degree module; I’m aiming to highlight my experiences of cultures and lifestyle, I will also view the professional practice and education here.
I have been told that I should keep this blog as a professional blog, so sorry, there will be no inappropriate pictures or stories. I will try my best!
I just cannot believe that I have already been here for 60 days, two months! Yes two months!!!
I have arrived on (flight no 9 to hel) Norwegian airline from London Gatwick, I arrived at Helsinki 31st of July 2013 at 23:30. I was anxious, I had no expectation regarding what will happen, and I just had finished my 2nd year final exam few days before. I was rushing right and left, trying to get things sorted. I wanted to make sure that I get everything I think I would need with me in Finland. I went to my GP, I asked for some of advise, some personal emergency medication. I bought my favorite products similar to hair cream, face wash and some silly bits. Well! You never know if they have my favorite shops in Pori-Finland. If they have Zara where I buy my perfume for example. I come from London where I can find anything I need on this planet. I was not sure what to take with me regarding clothes, summer clothes, winter clothes, do I need to take a jacket now! Also what books I need to take with me, shall I take all books some of my books, no books at all? It was just confusion.
The reason I have arrived so early is because I have decided to attend EILC course, Erasmus Intensive Language Course.
I arrived at night I was lucky enough to have my boyfriend with me to give me emotional support and distract me form the fact I’m going to a place and live there for 7 months may be more. I will miss my home, my boyfriend, my friends and London.
First impression! As soon as I arrived I was extremely surprised how well Finnish people spoke English, the female bus driver spoke perfect English and I could use my credit card on the bus with no problem. The bus took us to central Helsinki, we could have walked to the hotel, but we decided to take a taxi. Surprisingly, the taxi driver spoke perfect English even better that London taxi drivers! Wow!
We dropped our bags at the lovely hotel room, It was GLO Hotel Art at Lönnrotinkatu 29, We asked the lovely receptionists for a restaurant that opens till late and off we went. Then I had my first meal in Finland! Reindeer with mash J well! how can I not try it! The restaurant was called Manala at Museigatan 10, 00100. There it was, where I had my first Finnish cultural experience, reindeer meat! Yum, it was delicious. Next to this lovely meal I had lonkero which is a famous Finnish alcoholic drink, which means long drink.
A night in hotel, breakfast in the morning, then off to the train station! I had no problem communicated with people, all spoke English, and everyone was exceptionally helpful. A pleasant train journey to Tampere the another train to Pori. It was not bad all!
Finally, I have arrived in Pori, it was sunny, clean, and you could smell the fresh clean air. I walked to the housing association with my bags to pick up my flat keys! We met the loveliest person that you could ever meet in your life! She was my first contact in Pori, she was just amazing, she gave us the keys, explained everything, where I should hire a car, provided us with maps, where shall I buy secondhand furniture best places for shopping. She even called a car rental company for us, all what we needed was just to pick up the car and drive! Again, she spoke impeccable English.
From this moment and it was just one pleasant surprise after another! The lady in the car rental was also amazingly helpful; it just carried on like that, wherever we went people were smiling helping us, advising us! All spoke amazing English. They were genuinely interested in us where we came from and why we are in Pori, within four days we managed to furniture the flat ( We had to stay in a cheap hotel for couple of nights as it took the bed couple of days to be delivered and of course we stayed in Omena Hotel, where else is cheap and cheerful). I managed to open a Finnish bank account not only that but I also managed to get a Finnish social security number! And again! The bank staff, people at the government office (Maistraatti) they were just super helpful. I don’t think I could have settled anywhere else in the world as quickly as that! I was really amazed about their way of commination; they were friendly, honest, sincere, and reliable. I felt I was in a dreamland! I have had sorted out may things in no time and later through only email communications I could fellow up on things, and they always ended their emails with have a nice day, enjoy your stay in Finland.
So did I get a cultural shock? mmmmmm, may be! May be not! I think after all, really not, just to start with!
Now after I managed to get everything in place, I had time to get to know Pori and the surroundings of Pori. Pori as a city, it is not really big! There are not many restaurants and gourmet places. Architecture wise, Pori has a modern architecture features, many new buildings . However, what really stunned us in Pori is the incredible nature and the riverside. I have to stay I was really lucky to arrive in the summer, I still remember when were eating outside on one of the beautiful restaurant boats and the sky was still bright at 11:30. In fact the sky never went completely dark, it was very hard for us to adjust as the sunset was so late as 23:30 and the sunrise was as early as 3:30 am! Thanks to sleeping eye masks.
 |
| 13:30 Pori in the Summer |
 |
| 12 :00 at night Pori in the Summer |
 |
| Kirju Park in the Summer |
 |
| Pori |
 |
| Pori |
 |
| View from my window in the summer |
We met my Finnish friend who is a qualified nurse now who was in London in 2011 as an Erasmus student in MDX University, where we first met! Small world!! She took us to the Bear Hunters bar where they make their own beer! And I had my first Pori Finnish Beer (Just for the information, Pori means in Swedish Björneborg which means the bear city, Pori also famous for its own beer factory that is called Karhu, again Karhu means bear).
Here it comes the culture shock, while we were enjoying the beer and the beautiful Finnish summer weather, a Finnish gentleman has approached us. He chatted to us, he was friendly and pleasant. At the end of the evening he offered us a sauna! It was just slightly surprising that you meet someone one evening and the next thing he invites you for a sauna. I asked my Finnish friend who was present, if it is normal?! She said ‘OF COURSE ‘ and she thought that I should go for it. She also said that it seems that he has a typical old Finnish Sauna. We didn’t go the same night but the following night I went along with my boyfriend and my Finnish friend and it was just amazing! This is was my first Finnish sauna. Of course it was also my first naked sauna! (Don’t worry I won’t attach pictures) It was just incredible feeling, going to sauna then sitting outside in the garden with a drink with friends watching the starts and cooling down before you go again to the sauna.
We went to Yyteri beach, one of the best beaches in Scandinavia about 20 minutes drive, we drove to Rauma a near by village, a typically Finnish town, it has beautiful Finnish wooden houses, it has a really beautiful architecture. We really enjoyed it so much. We also visited Reposaari another beautiful fishing village not far from Pori, again it is about it 30 minutes drive. So we had really good few days before my boyfriend had to go back to London and I have to start my Finnish Language course.
Then it just hit, it was just really hard to leave my boyfriend at Tampere airport (where you can fly Rayanair very cheaply to London Stansted) I just could not believe it, we have been together for long time and we had never been a part for more than a week! It was really sad and hard to see him leaving in front of me and I had to go back to Pori alone. I felt that I needed to reflect on this situation, as it was big part of my experience in Finland.
 |
| Pori Church |
 |
| Pori River Side |
 |
| Rauma |
 |
| Yyteri Beach |
 |
| Rauma |
 |
| Reposaari Church |
 |
| Reposaari sunset |
 |
| Reposaari |
The next day I walked to Satakunta University of Applied Sciences Tiilimaki campus to attend the EILC course, I was not motivated at all, I was not prepared, I have not even looked in depth at my program and what is planned. However, as soon as I entered the campus, I have been received by the wonderful Hanna-Kaisa the development coordinator at University Consortium Pori who arranged the course for us and of course Riita who is the international relation secretary, the wonderful Mira and many others who were involved in arranging the course, then I met my lovely colleagues who I attended the course with and in fact some of them are now my dear lovely friends in Pori. This when I learned my first important Finnish word, which is ‘Tervetuloa’ it means welcome.
This is exactly the reason why I stayed till this moment of time in Pori. These lovely people who were so warm and so understanding, these people who welcomed me to my new life and my new university are the reason. It was so important to reflect on my emotions when I left my boyfriend at the airport because without the support and the friendliness of the Finnish people, I would have definitely gone back to London.
The EILC was just incredible; words are not enough to describe it. It had provided me with an overview over the Finnish society, I have learnt great deal about the Finnish language, I have to stay it was not easy but once you enjoy the culture and you become so keen on knowing the language more and more.
 |
| Tammi |
I really don’t know from where to start about the activities that I have done in the EILC, I do remember that on my first day I got my first bike in Finland. We all cycled to the Kirjuri Park across the river where I had my first Finnish picnic. I also had my first Nordic walking in the forest two days later, where I have enjoyed the stunning nature. I enjoyed canoeing at Kokemäki River which was my first time ever to do canoeing; I have to admit I was not bad at all! Then sauna after sauna, till I became an addict of sauna (Well in fact that’s when I learned that sauna is a Finnish invention and it mean a hot room). We went to Tammi camp center where we went to sauna again and we swam at the lake, then we had a perfect Finnish summer evening where we cooked our own food and we eat the most delicious pan cakes with an amazing Finnish strawberry jam J.
 |
| Finnish Picnic |
I visited Pori Museum with guided tour, and how can I forget my favorite part of the EILC course, which was the Finnish food culture, we went to Martat a Finnish home economics organization where we baked delicious traditional Finnish pastries and not only baked but we also ate them as well!
 |
| Cooking Class |
 |
| Baking together |
 |
| Yum Yum |
I visited Rauma again with the EILC course and this time, it was super special as we had a lovely walking tour in the old part, which is a Unesco’s world heritage site, we visited the Art museum of Rauma where we saw the art work of the amazing artist Kerttu Horila who is actually from Rauma. Then again we were amazed by the Finnish hospitality where we had been invited by Kaarina Nurmi who is a research manager in Rauma Town hall, who also owns an astonishing traditional Rauma home and who also invited us to this home where she offered us snack and lovely coffee. She gave us a tour of her home and told us about the history of her home and her beautiful collection of art. This day was one of the remarkable days in my stay in Finland and it will stay with me forever, I have never experienced such hospitality.
 |
| Rauma |
 |
| Rauma |
 |
| Rauma |
 |
| Rauma |
 |
| Rauma |
 |
| Rauma |
 |
| Kerttu Horila's art |
Of course we also went to Yyteri beach, how can we be in Pori in August and not to go to the beach. It was also my first time to windsurf, in fact! I was not bad at all! J . Obviously we went to an ice hockey match! Pori is a home for Ässät, which is a famous ice hokey club.
 |
| Yyteri Beach |
 |
| Yyteri Beach |
 |
| Yyteri Beach |
 |
| Yyteri Beach |
 |
| Swimming |
 |
| Wind surfing |
 |
| Wind surfing |
 |
| Wind surfing |
 |
| Wind surfing |
 |
| Wind surfing |
Sadly, the EILC course has ended, it has been just wonderful, I met amazing people from many parts of Europe, gladly some of my colleagues stayed in Pori and some who went to Turku and Helsinki and I’m still in touch with them.
 |
| Finnish Language Class |
 |
| Judith in the class :) |
I will miss my Finnish classes and I will miss my Finnish tutors especially Mari who invited all of us to her home, we met her kids and her husband. This was just so kind and lovely of my tutor, Mari didn’t teach me only Finnish language but also she taught me how Finnish people are kind and how proud she is as a Finnish person. Mari did introduce me to the most beautiful symphony of Jean Sibelius (The Finnish Composer) Finlandia that I keep listening to it again and again. Again, this was no surprise to me since I learned that Finnish people are so welcoming and so warm.
 |
| Pori |
 |
| Pori |
