What are your names?

Sari Heinsman, Olivia Baldeo and Fleurie Oenema.

 Where are you from?

We come from Arnhem, the Netherlands.

 What do you study?

We all study fashion design.

 What have you been doing in Jyväskylä?

At the college we have been working with the opera project – no other project outside the college. We all three have been working on a bridal costume but everyone has had their own responsibility individually.

How long have you stayed in Jyväskylä?  

We arrived in mid-November 2013 and will leave in the beginning of February, altogether 11 weeks.

 Do you think the time has been too short, too long, just perfect?

The time period has been just perfect, long enough for learning new things. Actually we have stayed only  9 weeks in Jyväskylä because we went home for 2 weeks  over the Christmas holiday.

 How did you prepare for the stay/exchange to Finland?

We bought very warm clothes, not any other preparation. Our teacher that came here last year told us about the college and the department but that’s it. First weekend we stayed in Helsinki and had a look at the capital, it was very nice..

 What have you learned during your stay?

First week we made corsets and it was interesting because we haven’t done that before. After Christmas we started the bridal dress project  and in that project we’ve had to figure all out ourselves, not much help from other students or the teacher.  Partly it’s good because you get responsibility but sometimes it would be nice if the teacher had more time for us.

We have also noticed that people are really nice but do not really take easily contact. Jyväskylä is a really clean and neat city.

Give three (3) tops and tips (based on your own experience) to someone who is planning to come to Jyväskylä:

 Tops 

– Minimani is a really good shop – you can find everything there.

– Escape club and Freetime are good clubs (if you’re over 18).

–  Crafts museum was nice but small and not a lot of English explanations.

– There is also good possibilities to do sports at the college, like gym and for exemple Zumba at Harju Campus but we were too lazy to take part in those…

Tips  

– Our school should have talked a  bit more about the college and that we would only have one teacher. In our college we work all the time with many teachers so this experience has been quite different.

-The dorm room is nice but quite expensive  – it would be nice to have a couch and a tv for exemple.

-Did not want to go to sauna because you have to go there naked…

 

More information for students coming to Jyväskylä College  http://tiny.cc/incoming_students and Milka Niskanen, International Coordinator (@jao.fi).