“The Finnish language is really quite simple”, said our tour guide in Helsinki, “you order a scoop of ice cream by requesting ‘jäätelöpallo’, and if you want that in pear flavor, simply ask for ‘päärynä jäätelöpallo’”. At the thought of having to get my tongue around that array of ‘umlauts’, I was ever so grateful that just about everybody in the capital city of Finland seemed to speak English...
This little anecdote of our first day in Helsinki put a smile on the face of the three students we were sitting over a cup of coffee with. Gerda Meinl-Kexel, accadis Hochschule Managing Partner, and I were delighted to be able to meet with Jenny Hyttinen and Liisa Mäenpää, HAAGA-HELIA (HH) students that had spent a trimester at accadis Hochschule in the Fall of 2010, and Jenny Hinz, an accadis student currently spending her Semester Abroad at our partner university in Helsinki. Jenny Hinz explained that indeed the language was not really that difficult and gave us a few trial sentences that she had picked up in her Finnish language course at HH. Her two Finnish co-students eagerly confirmed that it sounded nearly perfect. What made this meeting particularly pleasing was the fact that these three students had met at accadis while the two HH students had been there and their friendship still flourishes today. That is exactly what networking is all about! To makes things even better, Liisa Mäenpää reported that she would be meeting up with one of the four students from Universiti Utara Malaysia that they had befriended while these were also spending their Semester Abroad at accadis Hochschule in Bad Homburg. It is these experiences that make my work in International Programs truly pay off!
Jenny and Liisa are currently in their final year of the Multilingual Management Assistant undergraduate degree program at HH (very similar to our Business Communication program) and they shared with us about how things had been going since they left Bad Homburg. We know that both will do very well when they start their careers in 2012, and we look forward to staying in contact.
Jenny Hinz is currently enrolled in the Business Communication Management program at accadis and is completing her Semester Abroad at HH under an ERASMUS grant. It seems that she could not be happier studying in Helsinki and would even consider returning to Helsinki one day to continue her studies. She is very much looking forward to her family travelling to Finland to visit her during the winter break. They will journey to Lapland together she told us with shining eyes. Her excitement about this prospect was thoroughly infectious and again it pleased me terribly to have been able to provide this special opportunity to one of our students. The Semester Abroad at HH is open to students of all the majors at accadis Hochschule under an ERASMUS grant – but it is limited to two places annually.
On the following day we joined in on one of the lectures on the topic of New Marketing Communication Methods & Online Marketing with Dr. Christoph Kexel. He had travelled with us to HAAGA-HELIA in order to hold four guest lectures at their attractive Pasila Campus. The students’ feedback on this cutting edge lecture was very positive. It was an enjoyable experience as we gained a first-hand insight into the modern facilities and the student interaction in class and during the bustling breaks in the hallways. As we were receiving a tour of the facilities from our colleagues at International Services, we were also lucky to visit the ongoing GOING GLOBAL event, which is organized to raise awareness about international development and volunteerism and focuses on promoting social and global responsibility.
The hospitality and welcoming manner of our Finnish colleagues at HAAGA-HELIA is truly unparalleled. They are proud of their vibrant university, their beautiful city, its sights and culinary delights - and they have every right to be. Thank you to our partner institution for a very successful and memorable journey!
Britta Laudon-Reece, Head of Intl. Programs accadis Hochschule