Forrest walks

Forrest walks are honestly the best - even if you get lost. If your living by Krööpilänkatu your right next to this particular forrest.


This is one of the most mesmerising things I done whilst in Turku. We lived right by a huge forrest, we decided that it would be good to go and take pictures of the snow on the trees so off we went.
we got mega lost! Its crazy how the forrest is set out the further you walk in, you end up in peoples back yards, so we figured we went way to far and could get out for ages (we ended up following someone who was jogging, she eventually got us out lol!).

But really, these are really beautiful and you can take yourself on a long culture walk here.

Here are some pictures I took.

TUAS Friendship Programme - A BIG must when moving to Turku

*this programme is ran by TUAS university*


When I first heard about the friendship programme, I was very intrigued about it, what it was is basically you sign up your interest via email and enter some details about yourself such as your interests, hobbies etc. one you send it all off you will get your confirmation to say that you have been matched with some buddies, your buddy could be anything from a family to an individual person. 
On the day you go to the event place (in this case it was the cafeteria at the university), you meet the tutor get your name badge then you have to start hunting for your buddy (they will also have your name tag). I got matched with four buddies. We all introduced ourselves and told each other where we are from and what we are currently studying, why we chose Finland as our Erasmus + destination etc. One of the buddies was from Finland so she was able to tell us some beauty spots to visit and what fun there is in Turku, cafes to visit and islands to visit. 
During our time we created a WhatsApp group to keep in touch with each other, and so that we could meet up during our time in Finland. 
From here we were able to communicate with each other to meet and do things together.
I think this programme is really important to consider as it helps you meet people from other countries, your able to learn new skills new languages and could make a friend for life from this.

Quiet streets

Coming from a big city, I found the quiet streets of Turku oddly satisfying.

Going on a long walk whilst not seeing one person was very alien to me as im use to seeing somebody every step of the way when at home.

You're really able to grasp the beautiful buildings surrounding the ghostly streets, the crazy coloured buildings, the birds and the roads ahead.

These walks really help you clear your mind so I honestly recommend taking an evening walk through the quiet streets of Turku.




this is one of my favourite pictures from one of my evening walks, it just shows how eeary the place can be - in a good way of course.

Movie night - in a BAR!

This event was very different, something that I have never done before.
This was a movie night, except it wasn’t in a theatre, it was in a bar in the city centre. This event was running throughout the day at different times which I think was a very accessible thing to do, this meant you did not have to miss classes / placement etc and was able to go at a time that suited you.
We all met up in town and headed to the bar, this bar was in fact hard to find which made the mission a lot more fun.
Once we found it, we were let in and they had a great set up for the event, a big screen and comfy chairs everywhere for everyone to sit at. They had a popcorn machine behind the bar that you could buy and drinks. 
We were able to sit and watch the movie in a very relaxed environment and just enjoy our time.
Again, this event was good for meeting people as we asked on a chat who was going to see what movie, then we could all commute together. As well we were all able to leave together and get home safe at the end of the night. 

Creative writing - virtual class

This event for me was very useful as i cannot concentrate enough to write for a long time, in a short space of time.
During this lecture we were given a lot of insight on coping mechanisms for writing and different writing styles.

One of the most useful for me was to write for twenty minutes straight and then stop and you would just repeat this until you have finished what you need to do.
Another one was to keep writing for a certain amount of time without taking your pen of the paper and see what text you can come up with - this is also very useful if you like to write blogs or story telling etc.

I think i will definitely take this whole lecture into account when i am studying as it has already proven a good style for me and i am able to continuously write for twenty minutes then break!

Your main shopping place!

Now if your a shopaholic, this post is for you.

I tried a few shopping malls but found hansakortteli was the best mall in Turku, this has everything from your lowkey shops to your high-end designer shops.

Hansakortteli is right in the heart of the city centre so it is very easy to find, every single bus you can think of goes here so you cannot get lost, you can even walk there if you're as far as Varissuo.

The mall itself is very pretty and warm inside, there are coffee shops, food courts, fast food and seating areas.

Finnish design - Virtual Class

I did not think i would be very interested in this lecture, but i was proven VERY wrong! This lecture was a great insight to some more Finnish culture and Finnish design! 

We learnt about many Finnish designers such as 
-Alvar Allto 
- Fero Saarinen
- Reima Pietila 
- Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen 

These various designers have designed buildings all over the world such as 
- Helsinki
- Denmark
-Sweden
-USA
-Germany 
-Croatia 
-Estonia 
These certain designers have built many things ranging from buildings, statues and even furniture. 

The teacher also told us some of her favourite designers and some who she got her inspiration from. 
Some of the designers we were told about were professors in schools or universities which i found interesting, did they quit their jobs to become designers? were they professors in design? So many questions.

This topic is very new to me and although i did not understand most of it, it was very intriguing and i would love to learn more about design. 

I didn't seem to notice a lot of female designers in this lecture, mostly men. I genuinely thought it would be mostly women, i was wrong. 

Again i will definitely been looking more into Finnish design in my own time as i enjoyed this lecture a lot.