One, Two, Three, and Action!

About a one week still to go. My last class here is going to be on next week Wednesday. It is crazy how fast the time has gone and it does not help that this week is going to be the busiest one because it is so many things to be submitted before the last class. I am working with a group report where all group members need to analyze a one organisation and then we need to compare them as a group and make some conclusions and recommendations. The other main thing I have been working with is my Video Pitch and I also should be preparing for my three final exams.

When I started that Channel & Internet Marketing course, and when I first time heard that we need to make a video pitch about ourselves and who we are, I was terrified. How to do it? When it must to be done? What Kind of video should I do? On my mind I pushed the idea of making video away because I knew that the deadline for it is going to be on the end of the course. And here we are. Only one week left and believe or not I am really excited about this video project. It is too many ideas on my mind but I have picked the most creative one which actually tells who I really am. And the best thing is that what would be a better way to stand out of the mass than adding my video pitch link to my placement applications? Picture tells more than thousands words. Making the video is also so much fun and it gives the opportunity to be creative and it actually brings your personality to everyone’s attention, meaning that my CV and Covering letters are now on going to have a real personality, not just words after words.

I also must to mention something about last Friday. We had a really bad snow storm here on that day. All the classes were cancelled and our semi-formal Masquerade event was also postponed for the following day. For that event I and two of my friends were actually making the masks by ourselves. It was a really good fun. The event itself was amazing and everyone seemed to enjoy it. We started by having a lovely three course dinner (the salmon was so tasty) and after that there were couple French songs (the French society organized it) and of course “thank you” speeches and some music with DJ. It was a really memorable night and it looks like our exchange students really make the party!    

Girls Night

I could have not believed that St Patrick’s Day is so huge here. It almost felt like being back in the UK again. Of course I know it is because of the history and the Irish fishermen who come over here many, many years ago. So that was a day full of green. Even the beer was green here on that day.

What is a one thing that successful Business University students share with? Of course love towards Disney movies!  No wonder that on Friday night we had a girly night watching the most loving Disney movies, having some pizza and snacks and enjoying each other’s company. Cinderella, Lion King, Aladdin.  It was students from French, Netherlands, Canada and me from Finland. Just between me and you, I will share a secret with you: we all loved to sing alone and now I know how “Hakuna Matata” sounds in French!

Every time I write this blog it seems like I am having the best time of my life here. I must to admit that I am really enjoying my time here. It has been so far one of the most amazing experience I have had. But I also need to say that I do miss home and all the “normal” ways to do things. I miss the fresh food and the familiar things I can buy from the shops. It is an experience to go to the pharmacy first time to buy painkillers when you realise that the one brand you always buy is not there and you have never heard about the other brands on the shells. But my advance is that this is not my first (or last) time when I am living away from home. The funny thing is that now I am missing more the British things than Finnish ones. 

The Business Bachelor

Who has said that university presentations cannot be entertaining? Have you ever heard about the reality TV show Bachelor, where the “dream guy” chooses the perfect girl for him? Yeah you guessed right, we were creative and did “The Business Bachelor” version of it. It included case analyze, different rounds with questions + prepared answers for them and of course all case analyzes need some kind of recommendations (3 girls, 3 recommendations, one best solution). We had a good fun and audience seen to enjoy it. Our professor was also impressed about our way to make a presentation a more alive and interesting (sometimes they can be a bit boring and it is easy to lose audience interest).

We need also to write a report analyzing and comparing different organizations. Our group get together last night to discuss our organizations choices (read had a movie night with popcorns).  Building team spirit is really important so that could have been our excuse not to meet at the library and work hard. We also did a really good work on our presentation so we needed to treat ourselves.

The courses I am doing here are B3401 Operations Management, B5301 Organizational theory, B4500 Financial Management and B6240 Channel & Internet Marketing. The number before the courses tells which level course it is. Here course schedule is not “fixed” meaning that students can choose which courses they want to do and when. Of course there is some order that you need to do one course before the other and you need to do some of the courses before you can graduate, but otherwise it is really flexible way to study. It is also possible to study some other subjects than your main degree. One of the girls that I am living with for example is doing business degree but she is also taking art classes. 

Cross Country Skiing and Screech-in Ceremony

I am proud to say that I am a Newfoundlander now. I have even a certificate to proof that. But let’s start from the beginning of the weekend. The beginning of the week was so normal that I won’t mention about it. (Normal University life started with all the classes and homework.)  On Friday afternoon we had a cross-country skiing activity arranged for all the Business exchange students. Of course I needed to take part of it and represent Finland as if you have watched the winter sports world cup you know that we Finnish people are born to skiing! Haha just kidding. It is a sport that we learn since primary school but it has been a long time since I did it last time. Most of the other students tried it first time in their life. Weather was in our site as sun was shining and the temperature was perfect.

It was a good fun and it looked like everyone enjoyed it. We even decided that we will try it again one day soon before all the snow will melt away.

Saturday night was the big “Newfoundlander” night. Once again our lovely exchange student group get together to enjoy the evening. I am not sure if I have even mentioned that most of the exchange students in our group are from France. We have also two Mexicans, two students from New Zealand, couple Irish girls, one girl from Netherlands, guy from China, guy from Malaysia and of course Fern from England.

This Newfoundland’s ceremony is called “Screech-in”. Like you can see from the picture it included a fisherman (who was the “host” of the evening), singing a lovely song, kissing a frozen fish and a strong shot of rum. This is a one thing everyone who will ever visit Newfoundland must to do. It is a memorable time and I will guarantee that you will enjoy it. You will also get a certificate that you are Newfoundlander!!!

On the Sunday evening we had and amazing turkey dinner. One of my local friend invited me and some other students to enjoy a lovely dinner party. Good company, tasty meal and delicious desserts. That was a perfect end for the week.

Midterm Break at Marble Mountains!

The time seems to fly too fast here. About a just over a week ago this time I had finished packing and waited our skiing trip to Marble Mountains. The weekend was memorable. The bus trip there took about 9 hours. It was a long journey but most of the time everyone were sleeping. Believe or not but it did not feel like that long at all.

We arrived quite late on that Friday evening to our hotel. After a long time sitting in really "comfortable" seats our exchange group wanted to go and get something to eat and have a look at the surrounding area. I have notice that I seem to spend a lot of time with the other exchange student here but we just link in so well and I love spending time with them. That is also really helpful for me as I am going to specialize in international business and I have learnt a lot from them about cultural differences and I also started to learn basic French.

 The Exchange Students 

The following morning was time to go to try the slopes. I really enjoyed snowboarding in the fresh Canadian weather and so did everyone else. Some of the exchange student tried skiing first time and the Mexican actually learned to snowboard during those two days! On that night we also tried after ski party.

Sunday morning started early. After strawberry jam sandwiches we headed to the mountain. The day was full of snowboarding and on my last slope I actually did learn the “professional” way to snowboard. I am not scared of the speed anymore which makes it so much easier to enjoy the ride. Can’t wait to go back!

The bus rode back to St. John’s was so quiet. Everyone was tired and it was nice just to close my eyes and fell asleep… Ok maybe we did not get enough sleep during that weekend but luckily the midterm continued to the next week. I am sure everyone was more than happy to just relax the following days.

I had my last midterm exam yesterday and now I can relax rest of the week before I need to start really working for my next exams and presentations. So rest of the week I will do some serious placement search. That is the only minus thing here as the placement is all the time on my mind and it is really hard to keep up with all the applications and applying process. I will try to sort it out this weekend. That would make my life so much easier.