Introduction
During your stay in Finland, you’ll spend most of your time in Jyväskylä. Jyväskylä is a city in the middle of Finland, where few tourists reside (so you get a total immersion in the heart of Finland our intake 2022/2024 students generally enjoy), however you’ll find a large number of students. In Jyväskylä you can go hiking, especially in summer to the sky resort, where the scenery is truly splendid. Below, you will find few pictures of the summer time:
Winter time:
Note, the two last picture on the left side on the screen shows two lakes:D
LIFE IN JYVASKYLA:
Life in Jyväskylä is very pleasant, as long as you have a bike that can get you from one end of town to the other quickly. Jyväskylä has many bars, but also a cinema/bowling hall (with pool tables). A word of advice: if you want to do activities with students from other sections, join the Ynnä association, which will enable you to play football/baseball/many other sports, as well as go to parties in the city center.
STUDY
Let’s take a look at the studies. Despite the splendid scenery, and the potential for travel, most of the time is spent studying, of course. A word of warning: period 1 of the semester is an introduction to the Finnish study system, while period 2 takes you right to the heart of the matter, and period 2 is busier than period 1, so don’t let that surprise you 😊
Still on the subject of studies, the most interesting aspect (in my opinion) is the Finnish education system, with an approach based on weekly exercises that account for between 20% and 50% of the final exam mark, meaning that if you work all semester long, you won’t have any stress about passing your courses!
There are also laboratory experiments (irradiation of a RAM memory card with a Californium 252 concerning us) or XRAYD/RBS/ERDA experiments, in short, a real paradise! 😊
Here you will find picture of the lab:
We actually use this machine to make RBS measurement.
Moreover, there are group projects, in particular a sensor project that will enable you to create the sensor you want (some have created a touchless mouse, others gamma ray sensors like the photo on the right 😊or a lamp that’s way too expensive!)
The famous touchless mouse project! has you can see, the hand is above the mouse! by the way a good thing to know is: you can play video game in class, as long as you make your own mouse
We’ve also done a lot of other things that would be far too long to explain in a blog! So, we hope you will enjoy discovering them 😀
MUSIC
Finland is a very open country musically! You’ll find great singers everywhere, singing all kinds of musical styles (in the streets with choruses, or at university, but especially around Christmas). Furthermore, there’s even a concert hall in Jyväskylä called Lutakko, where some of our intakes were able to attend a concert by Lost society, a local band! and it was great!
There are also few museums:
Yes, they expose beer and metalhead 😊
TRIP TO LAPLAND
As the final exams ended around December 10/16 for period 2, some of us took the opportunity to travel. This was the case for us (only 6 of our session) we went by train (9h 😐) to Kemijärvi and then we took the bus (30min) to Pyhä, it’s a sky station, but you can also go snowmobiling / hiking with snowshoes / have snowball fights (I recommend mittens, they’re much more practical for preparing ammunition, and you’ll also be more resistant in the cold, so you’ll have two major advantages😊) (approved by Leena, yes I used cheat code). One last thing, in Lapland when you go for a walk in the forest, you’ll probably be shocked as we were by the deafening silence, there’s absolutely no noise, the only noise is you! hearing your footsteps in the deep snow surrounded by a forest that seems to go on forever on the horizon.
Lapland during day time from (11 am to 1pm) :
Lapland during the night … well from 1pm to 11 am
Our trip then continued by bus from Pyha to Rovaniemi (1H30) visiting Santa’s village, but we also went dog-sledding (probably one of the best experiences, some even communed with the trees twice). In Rovaniemi, you’ll also find a kebab shop serving 1-meter kebabs (scoop).
Christmas village:
Belgium:
INTRODUCTION
You’ll be spending most of your time in Geel, a village/small town of a few thousand residents. During our stay, we went into the city center of town to have a drink and have food, and we were even lucky enough to be there for the funfair. Belgian weather is different, windy, but REALLY warmer :D. You can also go to the canal in velo
Life in Geel
Life in Geel is pretty simple, you’ll find everything you need within a 10/15min bike ride. However, I can’t resist telling you that there’s a metal bar in town 😊. Finally, for Geel, there’s a very active ESN group, with whom we were able to go to Brugge which is a really beautiful town (there’s really good chocolate 😊). We also recommend you try the Geel swimming pool, which is really good, there are a few slides with warm water several pools, including one for swimming (25m) and a diving board.
STUDY
The Belgium semester is more complicated than the Finland semester. There will be no exercises and therefore no corrections, only theory classes and a sample exam if that has not changed. The best advice I can give you as a Photonics Track student coming from a physics passive (so with a really poor electronics passive) without ever having worked in industry or electronics is this: if you’re having trouble adapting to the system, ask our coordinator Paul Leroux for meetings, he will help you. For a better apprehension, I also advise you to watch your video courses as often as possible (I personally watched them 4 times each in speed 1.5/2 :D) and take notes. In order to give you a few keys so that you don’t waste your time understanding what you need to do, but can be efficient right from the start: CMOS design will be mostly demonstrations, Analog mixed signal is divided into two parts: demonstration on the first courses and general knowledge on the rest, ALL other subjects are based on general knowledge, meaning that you need to know all the concepts in your course, my technique was to put acronyms on a sheet of paper and try to define them orally. Last but not least, if you’re struggling in this semester, you’re not the first and the intakes before you have all passed, why shouldn’t you? 😊
Below, you will find few pictures of the campus, and things that have been study during the semester
On the left side, this is the FPGA that we used during the several lab sessions, on the right this is our radiation to electronic project. In our case it was the irradiation of flash memory with X-ray.
Visit of Leuven and Brugge
A small group of us also visited Leuven, the home of the university. Leuven is not very far from Geel, just 1 hour by car. The town hall with its hundred statues is really wonderful, and the beer is good too 😀 (in moderation) The churches are also fantastic, especially the one at Grote Markt.
LEUVEN:
BRUGGE:
France:
Introduction
As they say, the best for last (yes, this is completely objective feedback and has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I was born in Saint Etienne 😊).
Saint Etienne is a medium-sized town in France, with roughly 200,000 inhabitants, and an industrial/military past. The buildings you’ll be in were once a weapons manufacture (hence the name of the campus, by the way).
Life in Saint Etienne:
Saint Etienne has several “centers of interest”, starting with Place Jean Jaures and Place de d’hôtel de Ville, where you’ll find a number of stores, restaurants and bars and cinemas as well (Meliès and Megarama). An important thing to know for non-French students is that Saint Etienne is not an English-speaking town, so you’ll still find a good number of English speakers, especially at university, but most of the time you’ll be dealing with French speakers only. According to the feedback of our colleagues who have already been here, this isn’t a real problem. They find that most people will try to help you, just try to speak a little bit of French at the beginning of the sentence and they’ll be very happy and they will help you 😊 otherwise you can ask your French-speaking colleague to do the translating.
In terms of visiting and living, you also have the Steel shopping center, which is a bit like a “second city center” but not in the center (French logic, you’ll get used to it). This mall is really HUGE. There’s something for everyone (bowling, restaurants, bars, clothing stores, sports stores, electronics stores, and everything you need to build your own house :D).
Another advantage of Saint Etienne is that, unlike Paris or Lyon, it’s a relatively small town, so you’ll have access to nature very quickly. We can take the example of Rochetaillée (with a castle)
Rochetaillée castle
but also saint victor sur loire (with another castle, by the way, France has 40,000 + castles, there are castles EVERYWHERE). In saint victor you’ll also find water sports on a river. Not far from town, you’ll find the Parc du Pilat (beware, the path is steep, so be prepared in advance.) The landscape will remind you a little of the one you saw in Finland. Closer to town you’ll also find the Parc de Montaud (be prepared, too, as the path is quite steep).
Few pictures from Saint-Etienne:
Feedback from Tonor :
Saint Etienne is a lovely city. The people I have met are super nice and warm. Even though I cannot speak French, they always welcome me everywhere, for example, in supermarkets, bars, cafes, etc. I love the sports system here; we can join any sport for free! I recommend you go to Coco Cafe. The owner is so nice; he always gives me free food lol. Overall, I really love this city. It will always be one of the most memorable cities in my life. I love this semester.
Campus life:
As mentioned above, you’ll be in the blacksmith building, which is building L (bâtiment des forges) . You’ll have lab work in buildings C and F (C = sup-otique engineering school and F = Laboratoire Hubert curiens with orange flag everywhere).
Campus is relatively small, and there are several options for eating:
| Place | Price | English | Food option |
| Boulangerie | From + to +++ | intermediate | All |
| Fabuleuse cantine | ++ | Yes | All |
| Crous | + | intermediate | All |
| Your place | + | Yes | All |
Lectures:
Regarding lectures, this is the intermediate system between Finland and Belgium, you’ll have theory classes + exercise sections, and most importantly you’ll have a LOT of oral exams. Based on my experience of undergraduate exams, the exams are on the level of the exercises, so if you’ve worked on your exercises, it should be fine 😊.
Sport:
You’ll also have a very wide range of sports to choose from, such as: climbing, dance, swimming (the best hihi), boxing etc … at least twenty are proposed. This “association” is called the SUAPS, so don’t hesitate to ask the administrative staff (and if you have a French colleague, don’t hesitate either 😀 ). You’ll find everything you need.
Personally, I’ve been a swimmer for 15 years, so I took up swimming with SUAPS, the trainer is really good and the course is complete, you’ll be divided into different levels: beginner / intermediate / advanced, with specific training, the pool that is the most complete is the Raymond Sommet pool with a 50m Olympic pool, concerning the other pools they are smaller i.e. 25m, In both cases you can swim, however 25m seems easier for beginners. I was also able to try climbing, which I also recommend. The wall is 15 m high at the Jean Gachet gymnasium (wall for international competitions). It will also give you the chance to get to know other translators French *.
Transport:
Wherever you are in the city, you’ll need to get around, and certainly by tram/bus. As it happens, the name of the “company” is Stas, and their office is in Place Dorian (next to the town center). At this office, you can buy a “pass everywhere” for each of the means of transport. However, you’ll need to validate the card on a machine every time you board a bus or streetcar.
However, for the subscription:
| Age | Student discount |
| -25 | Yes |
| +25 | NO |
Yes, 25 years old is also a mystery for us ☹
I advise you to take 5 times 1 month in your case, they only make passes 1 year or 1 month.
Conclusion
This blog is a summary of one person’s experience of intake 2, so it’s not objective, of course, but I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it, and that you’ll enjoy the experience that the EMJMD master’s program will provide. It’s probably one of the best experiences you’ll have in your life, despite the difficulties you’ll encounter along the way. The cultural mix is truly incredible, and if all goes well, by the end of the course you’ll know how to say hello and thank you in over twenty languages how cool is this? Finally, I wish you a good time in Finland, Belgium and France, this program will change you, into a better version of yourself 🙂
RADMEP+ 