Hello! I’m M2 student Kohei Oshima.

I was at University of Oulu in Finland for one month as an internship student.
Sorry for late update. I totally forgot to tell my experience there.

At the University of Oulu I performed experiments for our own research. Specifically, I designed and implemented the experiment, calling for subjects. Preparing the equipment and space needed for the experiment; also making calls to collect the subjects at the University of Finland were very tough tasks but also rewarding.
Through the preparation of the experiment, I learned that it’s important to communicate correctly to others if I’m in trouble, as soon as the problem happen.
I conducted meeting with a professor of local laboratory once a week and received many advises about our research. In addition, I talked in English during the discussion and the experiment, so I could brush up my English skills.

Experiment environment of our research

And through this studying abroad, I was able to know about Finnish culture. One thing is the “sauna” culture.
Unlike Japanese sauna, we take a sauna for a long time, so it has a role as a talking place with friends. I could make good relationship with Finnish people through saunas.
Second, I experienced “ice fishing”. It is a fishing on the frozen sea and an unique activity in cold region. I got a valuable experience because we cannot do it in Nara.

Ice fishing at Hailuoto island(Very very cold)

Also I felt that local people are not afraid to express their opinions.
Everyday I had lunch with Finnish friends and had interesting discussions.
The topics were about hobby or how to spend holidays, sometimes
philosophical contents like slavery or animal rights. I was surprised because they joined that discussion actively and insisted in their opinion. In Japan, I was tuned to others usually, so I got very fresh feeling from this experience.

Lunch with Finnish friends(They were very friendly, thank you!)

In short, Finland is a good place.
Thank you!