The Lewis Model - Cultural experiences

"Up to the middle of the 20th century, the scrutiny, analysis and comparative studies of the world’s cultures were largely matters for academicians. Some knowledge of the subject was helpful in our travels abroad or when welcoming foreign guests to our shores." 

"The Lewis Model is the latest to gain worldwide recognition, being developed in the 1990s and articulated in Richard Lewis’s blockbuster, When Cultures Collide (1996), which won the US Book of the Month Award in 1997. Lewis, after visiting 135 countries and working in more than 20 of them, came to the conclusion that humans can be divided into 3 clear categories, based not on nationality or religion but on BEHAVIOUR. He named his typologies Linear-active, Multi-active and Reactive." 

a national level according to one’s country ( or countries for people who migrated during their lifetime) - this can apply to me moving to a totally different country for the first time ever. 

a social class level, associated with educational opportunities and with a person’s occupation or profession - this can apply to the whole Erasmus itself, I moved to Finland to experience university there, to learn about their education system and to understand how different it is to my own experiences. 

Trompenaars – the basis of cultural differences in relationship with people - whilst in Finland I was able to build relationships with different people, people from different countries, different religions and so on, this helps to build our cultural experiences and to learn new things from what we already know. - this is very important. 

Richard Lewis "After summarizing the previous theories, Lewis concludes with creating a new one, that classifies countries and their culture in three different dimensions." This to me is also very important. in our lives, we must learn new things such as new cultural experiences and any type of experience for that matter. to be able to leave the comfort zones we need to learn new things and gain new experiences to be able to move on from our own. 

Culture shock! - I wasn't so much shocked at the Finnish culture, but it is very different from my own. For example - the first thing I learned about the Finnish culture was that Finns keep to themselves, they don't so much like small talk or anything like that. Now, this is important - this is their culture, they do not intend to be rude or disrespectful! This is just how they are - just like how us Mancunians love small talk and to talk about anything! In order to fit in you must follow their rules, this is their home and their culture and you must respect it. 

References: 

https://beyondculturaldifferences.wordpress.com/research-theories/ 

Conclusion - what have I learned?

I have learned so much whilst being on this Erasmus! 

I have learned how to live independently, buying my own groceries and paying my own bills - this is a big lesson in life. 

I learned how to speak some Finnish - I hope it will come in handy one day! 

I learned so much about their culture and I believe this is very important as learning about other cultures really gets you thinking and changing.  I LOVE the Finnish culture! 

I learned about the Finnish education system which will surely help me in my future career! 

I honestly learnt so much whilst being in Finland and I appreciate every lesson learnt and I appreciate the experience! 

MMU Vs TUAS

My home university is very different from the one I attended in Finland. 

At my home university, us students get a lot of support from our teacher's whether that be through email, phone calls or meetings etc. In TUAS I hardly heard anything from the teachers (but this is just how it is, every country is different!) 

There is A LOT of online learning at TUAS where at my home university it is mostly lecture and classroom-based - this I much more preferable as it keeps me engaged whereas online is an area that I cannot concentrate much on. 

There are a lot of events on at my university and throughout the different campuses, I did not see much going on at TUAS (I guess its because I was there in winter?) 

I noticed at TUAS you have clothing rails throughout the campus to put your coat - we do not have this, I believe this would be a good addition to my university. 

In TUAS they have restaurants with hot food and other facilities around campus - at MMU we do get the same but there is much less choice. 

As I mentioned earlier, both universities are very different from each other! They both have their pros and cons - both great universities. 

English schools Vs Finnish schools

A few things I have learned! 

The Finnish education system is amazing, the classes are much smaller meaning more one to one with teachers, more classroom discussions and easier learning! 

English classrooms are very full sometimes and this can be very overwhelming for the teacher - this also has a downside of not much one to one able to happen. 

Finland do not mainly base their education on exams, in fact, they have no exams apart from one! 

England base their education on exams, you have primary exams (age 11) called SATS, high school exams called GCSEs and upper-level exams called ALEVELS - this puts a lot of pressure on us here as we need to be able to pass these exams to continue our education - again this puts pressure on teachers and students. 

"Finland might be a country of just of just under 5.5 million, and a per-pupil budget that falls below the UK and the US. But it also happens to produce the smartest, most well-rounded students. Part of the reason for this, and perhaps the key reason, is that it chooses to ignore these statistics, and focus on the promotion of teaching autonomy, creative learning, and equal ability classes.

But before delving into the specifics, it’s worth considering the statistics that have turned the heads of teaching professionals across the globe. In Finland, 66% of pupils attend university. The difference between the strongest and the weakest students is the smallest on earth. 93% of students graduate from secondary education. This is evidently an education system that works." 

Finnish language - is English common in Turku?

How common is the English language in Turku?

Honestly coming to Finland i assumed not much English would be spoken! I was pretty wrong, a lot of Finn's speak very good English and some sort of English, this made my stay a lot easier! 

During my placement here in Turku I was placed in a community centre (mostly migrants - none Finns), most of the customers here were learning to speak English and with that, I was excited to help! 

Apparently English is a very hard language to learn, so I helped as much as I possibly could to make it easier for the customers, we came up with English word games, discussions and much more!

Like any other country you are visiting, you MUST be patient and remember this is not an English speaking country. 

PRICES!!!

So the biggest must know here is that you need to bring a LOT of money as it is quite expensive!

Your weekly basic shop will cost you around 20-30EUR, there a few different places that you can buy your groceries, I will write a list here on the cheapest to the most expensive (that I found)
1: K Market
2: S Market
3: K-Citymarket
4: Prisma
5: Lidl
6: Sale

Its of course your own choice but my favourite place to shop was Lidl as I have this certain shop in my home country so I just stuck with that.

Turku Castle

"Turku Castle (Finnish: Turun linna, Swedish: Åbo slott) is a medieval building in the city of Turku in Finland. Together with Turku Cathedral, the castle is one of the oldest buildings still in use and the largest surviving medieval building in Finland. It was founded in the late 13th century and stands on the banks of the Aura River. The castle served as a bastion and administrative centre in Eastland, as Finland was known during its time as a province of Sweden. Only once did the castle figure in the defence of the realm, when Russian invaders from Novgorod destroyed Turku in 1318. It more frequently played a role in internal struggles for power within Sweden and the Kalmar Union. The castle's heyday was in the mid-16th century during the reign of Duke John of Finland and Catherine Jagellon. That was when the Renaissance Floor and King's and Queen's hall were built, along with other features. It lost its status as an administrative centre in the 17th century after Per Brahe's period as governor-general of Finland came to an end. Turku castle is today Finland's most visited museum, with attendance reaching 200,000 in some years. In addition, many of the larger rooms are used for municipal functions."

This is a MUST when visiting Turku! one of the oldest and most beautiful buildings in Turku is the Turku castle, unfortunately it was never open when I was there but I was able to mooch around the outside and around the grounds, the building is stunning with the classic horror look as if there are 100 ghosts staring at you when you're walking around. 

From here you can see the marina, with ships docked, boats and people fishing. 

Turku castle is also very close to the boat museum. 

(picture from google as I cannot locate my own photos).