One must travel, to learn
Mark Twain
This was my great summer ever that I have a chance to participate in the Summer International Program e of Centennial College in Turku, Finland. Learning through going out of the world and travelling is one of the best and fastest way to learn. For me, the experience in Finland is invaluable and bring to me many new insights about life.
Turku is a city in the south of Finland, which is used by its former capital in the past. Not so crowded and bustling like Helsinki city (the capital of Finland), Turku is an ancient and peaceful city with an old town and landscape. However, this city has a great number of students every year, so it was called “the city of students”. Turku has provided an ideal friendly environment for studying including many high-rank universities and offers a variety of programs with a high quality of educational levels.
In the summer school of Turku University of Applied Sciences, I chose the course Developing Wellness Tourism Destinations and Customer Experiences. This is a great course which had provided me with many skills such as presentation, active learning through ask and discuss the problems with teachers. They used new and modern methods of education to transmit boring knowledge into practice. The teachers here are like friends and they were willing to help whatever within their abilities. Here, learning is quite comfortable, less pressure but the student still acquires a lot of knowledge.
In Turku, I also met with a lot of people from different countries in the world and made friend with them was my pleasure. I have learned a lot from their diversity of cultures and we talked a lot. They were very nice and we all study together, had field trips with many unforgettable memories. Thanks to them, I can understand the lessons deeply in a different view of aspects and also know more about the culture of other countries.
In Turku, besides studying hard, I also joined many social programs to discover more about Turku’s famous places. That was a great opportunity for me to make new friends, learn more about the culture of Finland as well as the people here. I was very excited to join in those activities. They were organized after school time. Let’s look back at some of the greatest moments that I had on those days!
This picture was taken on the Night of Arts. This was one of the biggest art events in Turku, Finland. As the name says, many activities were organized to honour the importance of art in their culture. That was so impressive to see many people singing, playing musical instruments everywhere and you could also visit the museum with discount prices too!
In my studying schedule, I had a chance to go to Naantali town. This is Finland ’s one of the most important attractions. When I came here to do the research with class, I couldn’t stand off the beauty of this place. This small town also has the Finnish oldest spa. The swimming pool and sauna there were amazing. Talk a little bit about the sauna, the sauna is not only a way to relax but also a special Finnish culture. People said that if you didn’t take the sauna in Finland once, you had never been to Finland. Mostly every Finnish house has a sauna room to enjoy the relaxation after a long day of work. Naantali was a good place to go in the summer.
Moreover, I had a chance to visit the Finnish President’s summer house (Kultaranra). The house was located near the beautiful town of Naantali and surrounded by the gorgeous garden. The President will stay here during the summertime. So good to have some good pictures with friends in this beautiful garden.
Turku city is not only modern but also traditional. It still keeps the old town, the old village (Luostarinmaki Handicrafts Museum) and an old castle (Turku castle). I fell in love with the old traditional history here, so good to step into the old castle and imagine a heroic past was happening.
Luostarinmaki Handicrafts Museum
Turku Castle
In this trip, I meet different people with different cultural backgrounds. For me, meeting new people and being exposed to many different cultures is the best gift this trip has given me. For two weeks, we were having fun together with unforgettable memories. In my opinion, young people should have a chance to go out of the world and experience new things. I am very grateful for this trip for giving me that experience that will never found again.
Last day, we all have a farewell dinner together to celebrate the journey in Turku. For me, I will never forget those friends who stayed with me for two weeks. I wish that I could stay longer in this beautiful country and learn more about this place.
Goodbye Turku, goodbye to Finland and hope to have a chance to come back here again. Thank you Summer International Program of Centennial College has allowed me to learn new global experience, made new friends and had a wonderful summer ever.
– Mark Twain
THE GLOBAL EXPERIENCE BLOG 