Risto Ruohola is a fourth-year student of Chemical and Process Engineering at Åbo Akademi University. He is originally from Rauma and has a Finnish background; his knowledge of Swedish came purely from school when he started his studies.
“The first six months were difficult, especially with speaking Swedish, but now that's okay,” he says.
Improving language skills was also the biggest motivation for him to apply for a student exchange.
"There would have been potential exchange destinations all over the world, and of course, Japan or South Korea would have been interesting, but I ended up applying for an exchange student position in the German-speaking world because I thought that German would be relatively easy to learn and could also be useful in my career," he says.
The options were Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The final destination chosen was BOKU, the Universität Für Bodenkultur in Vienna, where he will go on an Erasmus exchange.
“I crossed Switzerland off my wish list simply because of its high price level, so I was left with Germany and Austria, and Vienna was the most interesting of the options. My home base is rural, and the idea of coming to a big city with two million inhabitants feels inviting. I’ve also heard that Vienna is a great city.”
German studies have already begun
Ruohola began studying German last winter, and she still has time to continue them before leaving for Vienna, as the six-month exchange period does not begin until March.
"In Austria, the semesters are divided into winter and summer semesters, so studies continue throughout the summer. I'll be back at the end of September. So at least I won't have to look for summer jobs next summer."
The studies during the exchange period will form their own so-called thematic module in their degree, which means that they can choose the studies they want to complete there quite freely.
"My intention is to choose useful courses, ones that are somehow related to my field or are at least close, but that are not offered at my university - for example, courses related to water management and water treatment seem interesting. In addition, it is of course possible to take German courses."
The goal is to learn German as well as possible before the exchange and then use it as much as possible in everyday life during the exchange.
"Vienna also offers courses in English, so you don't necessarily need to know German to study."
Travel broadens
For Ruohola, the main motivation for going on exchange is not academic, but the most important thing is to see the world and learn more about the local culture, way of life, and studying.
"The plan is not to go to Vienna and spend the whole time cramming inside four walls. Of course, the planned studies have to be completed for the sake of the scholarship, but the plan is also to get to know the culture and people, see the city and travel as well."
From Vienna to other parts of Central Europe – I’ve heard that you can easily get to almost anywhere by train.”
In the future, he would also be interested in working abroad – most likely in the forest industry, which has also included summer jobs so far.
