Sauna in Finland is very common. There are nearly one in each buildingand. In mine it is free, three times the week; the wednesday, fryday and sunday from 6 to 10 in the evening. It is very frequent for Finns to go there because of the weather usually very cold in the winter. This years is different, the winter was over very soon but I had enough cold time to try several times the experience.

There is one main point that was very shocking for the other foreigner students and me about the sauna; the nudity required. Actually Finnish people go to the sauna naked, sometimes with a towel. Don't panic, saunas are not mixed but you can imagine our surprise when in bikinis my friends and me discovered this social ritual !

Personally, I did not change my habbits because maybe I am too shy and embarrassed above all with friends. But it is the same behaviour in the swimming pool's changing room. I think in Finnish culture it is normal, since they are child to always they do it, they loose their embarrassing indeed. 

The funniest thing is when you talk about this with Finnish people they say that they are shocked about us when we go in bikinis to the beach and they think also that about the sauna; stay swimsuit when you sweat is not very clean. And actually I quite agree with them.

This article is talking about my new university, Helsinki Metropolia. It is the largest university of Finland and it is composed of four fields of study: Culture, Business, Health Care and Social Services and Technology.  This multidisciplinary university is operating out of Helsinki, in Espoo and Vantaa.

Helsinki metropolia in some numbers is :

-16,700 Students

-2,290 Bachelor’s and 210 Master’s graduates in 2012

-1,250 Staff

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I begun the courses last Monday and I am giving to you my first impression about it. It depends the lecture but the relationship between the students and the lecturer is not the same that in France. It is less formal. Moreover about the contents of the courses it is interesting and understandable even if everything is in English. I have some group projects so I work with exchange students or finnish students. 

Hi everybody ! 

I am in Helsinki as an exchange student for one semester and I am delighted to be able to share you my adventures and my discoveries. I shall tell you more fastly but attached already some beautiful photos of Helsinki. See you soon ! 

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