My erasmus in Turku

Traditions of Turku:Turku day The 17th of September is the date for a very important celebration here in Turku. The city is super busy and many people come here from Finland in order to celebrate and honour the centenarian Finland. In the centre, you could take part in a prize draw and ask for programme recommendations at the Suomi Finland 100 information point. The main squares had markets and music events. Museums and galleries were open,  and most of them offered free entry for anyone who wanted to visit them. My favourite museum was the Handcraft museum of the city, Luostarinmaki. The museum is very special, the area where it is situated is the only continuous district of wooden houses that survived the fire of 1827 in Turku. The houses are over 200 years old and still standing in their original building sites. Visiting the museum is possible to litterally travel in the past and see how life looked like in Finland 200 years ago. In my opinion,...

Communication Class While I am here in Turku, doing my Exchange I am also joining some special classes for Erasmus students in order to get to know interesting facts about the Finnish Culture.  I think it is very important to know which are the “communication rules” of other countries (especially if you live somewhere for a certain period of time).   Finnish society is very different than the Italian one and I personally think that the communication is one of the most obvious different factor. In Italy we love to talk, to be laud, to use our body language and our facial expressions to say a lot of stuff every day. Here is completely different (I would say that it is the exact opposite actually). Finnish people are more reserved, they talk just when it is task-related and they appriciate to listen and to be listened. When dealing with a finnish person, it is good to always be on time , to avoid body contact and to be direct and (the most important th...

Food:Back to the best Caffe in Aland  <3 Today is a rainy day in Turku and I wish I could go to get some good thee and cakes in my favourite place in Aland...

Culture and travles:In love with Porvoo It was such a good idea to catch the bus to Helsinki and Porvoo (omnibus) yesterday. First stop : Helsinki. I have been ther once already but I was glad to be back because I could see new parts of the city that I competely missed the first time I went. I enjoied walking around the main streets and visiting the museum of the city (the one situated just in front of the amazing building of the city hall). The museum is all about the history of the city of Halsinki, it is very nice and interactive and  it is possible to visit it every day for free.  I think I will be back to Helsinki soon, I really want to get to know more about the capital. Second stop : Porvoo old town. Such an amazing town, I really loved it. Porvoo is a very little town 45 mins distance from Helsinki and it is possible to get there with really cheap tickets with omnibus buss. Porvo is famous for the traditional houses ,buildi...

Travels:Aland The Finnish weather has being very kind with us so far, sunny days did not leave. For this reason, spending a weekend in Mariehamn (the main town of Aland) is being an awesome experience. Aland is a complex of islands in Finnish territory and it is located between Finland and Sweden. The islands are in total more than 6.500 and the official Language is actually Swedish. Getting to Aland from Turku is pretty simple, there are two different ferry lines (Viking Line and Silja Line) that go there daily and it takes about 5 hours. The ferry time is pretty awesome itself, 5 hours sailing in the Baltic sea through the Archipelago, enjoying the beautiful landscapes. The town center and countryside in Mariehamn are lovely. The nature and the architecture of the building are very beautiful. We were so lucky to meet a friend’s friend who showed us around and told us that some stuff about the town. She told us that most of the houses in town ...

Nature:Savojarvi Lake It is weekend again and the good weather is still holding on. This means that it is the perfect time for a daytrip and an hike. The national park where the lake Savojarvi is situated is just 30 minutes away from Turku city and it is quite easy to get there by bus. It was very  nice to walk in the nature, enjoying the view of the Finnish forest and landscape.  It took about 8 kilomiters before my friends and I realised we where walikng in the wrong direction (opposite direction from the lake), but when we found our way again it was pretty easy to follow the path around Savojarvi shores. It is even nicer whe you get to discover that, at the end of the long walk, you can enjoy a coffe and a little cake in a very small and cozy "Kioski" in the middle of the nature. It is also possible to do a BBQ in an area nearby the kiosky,  I Would love to go back to do it. I would definitely raccomand the place to all the nature lovers.

Nature:Ruissallo The weekend has arrived and that means that is time for a day excursion! If you are a turist here in Turku I think you should go and visit Ruissalo. Ruissalo is an Island that is close to the city centre of Turku. You just need to catch a bus (number8) and in few minutes you will be surrounded by the beautiful and wild nature of Finland. I went in the morning  with a group of crazy trekking-lover friends and we walked all around the Island and all the way back to Turku city centre (20Km).                                                                            We just stopped on the way in...