Category: In English

New tech everywhere

The two campuses of the University of Oulu will receive some nice IT upgrades.
Both Linnanmaa and Kontinkangas will have an electronic laptop borrowing service called Optima Locker, touchscreen operated information screens, and small calendar displays next to most lecture halls to help in reserving spaces.
Content from University’s social media, newsfeed, and current events are already displayed on the huge screens at the Central Hall. Keep an eye on these, as during the autumn they should show even more interesting content for students.

New year, new restaurants

While the good old restaurant Medisiina still operates over at the Kontinkangas campus, there have been major changes at the Linnanmaa campus with the change of the restaurant service provider from Fazer to Juvenes.
From the beginning of September, food and coffee will be served in restaurants called Mara, Foodoo, Hub, Napa, TellUs, Foobar and Kylymä, along with Uniresta’s Kastari at the administrative end of the campus building.
The future of the Campus Shop, the place where you can get some books, small necessities like pencils, and various snacks, will also be decided during this autumn.

Studying 24/7

Good news for all you night owls: soon you can study whenever you want on the campus! The University will be introducing electronic access keys allowing you to enter both campuses around the clock. You can order your own keycard after the beginning of September from shop.oulu.fi.

New web store is here

Not all changes are larger than life. One small but eagerly awaited improvement is the opening of the web store of the University of Oulu back in May. Should you fancy anything from a coffee mug to a comfy sweater with the University’s logo, head over to store.oulu.fi.

Renovations come and go

The Oulu University of Applied Sciences is relocating two of its campuses over to the Linnanmaa campus by the year 2020. Both the Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Education are therefore forced to relocate, as the UAS will be moving into the northern end of the Linnanmaa campus building. Planning and designing of the new spaces has been anything but straightforward, but finally the lecture halls, the guild rooms, and the cafes have found their right places. The new spaces must of course be renovated before the relocation takes place, meaning plenty of noise and dust in the air. And if that’s not enough, the facilities for architecture students are still being renovated, but that process should be completed by the end of the year.

Translation: Kalle Parviainen.

Trying to overcome the horrendous obstacles of having to talk to complete strangers about something seemingly unimportant sounds like quite a quest. Especially for Finns, who are not exactly known for their great small-talk-skills, it can become extremely difficult to break the mould.

Not seldom, lecturers adjust the requirements for group work because Finnish students are just too uncomfortable to bond with strangers and sweat over solving problems together. Forcing them would not really help, either: The social anxiety grows in stress situations, and the student ends up even lonelier than before.

Bear in mind that Uni-life is not just about the hard skills you signed up for, no – you’ll gain much expertise in the soft-skills-sector, and an important part of that is surely how to build networks and maintain relations.

Teamwork is not a rare encounter when starting work life, and acquiring and sustaining connections might be crucial on the job hunt. So why not take the start of a new era as an opportunity to practice your people’s skills?

Easier said than done, you might think. But it really doesn’t need to be that hard. Challenge yourself, but don’t overwhelm your capacities. If you are an anti-social loner who doesn’t know how to keep up a conversation, hitting a party all by yourself might not end well for you.

Take baby-steps! Start with the person sitting next to you. Talk about relevant things; discuss something from the material, for example. Ask questions! If you don’t know how to ‘blabber’, or you don’t really want to, find out more about them. Maybe they are just as shy as you and glad you show interest? Once the ice is broken, conversation will start to flow. And you’ll be glad to have a partner in crime when you miss a class and need to borrow some notes.

Joining any kinds of student or sport clubs is also a good start. Especially in bigger groups it can often be easier to engage in casual conversation, because the focus is not on you. And while you’re planning an event together, or playing a board game, interaction happens almost by itself!

1. Attend the Orientation Week

Orientation week at the University begins on September 1st with an Info Fair where you’ll get info about services and student groups. On September 6th, the Vulcanalia Fair takes place. During the day, there are stands and activities indoors. At night, the Vulcanalia evening bash will rock your socks off with awesome live music.

2. Get your Frank student card

Your student card gives you benefits, including nicely priced food at University restaurants and a myriad of discounts. If you have student rights and already paid the Student Union (OYY) fee, you can go to Frank.fi and order your student card or use the Frank app.

3. Locate your Guild

The best way to integrate into student life is to follow those who already know what is going on. Locating your guild and hanging out there will prove to be beneficial to your academic and after-hours exploits.

4. Join student groups

What better way to absorb the student culture than to join student groups. You can for example join your guild’s board or an international group like ESN, NISO, and AIESEC.

5. When in doubt, ask!

If things are still hazy after orientation week, you can ask your classmates, the Student Center, or OYY. Knowledge is power, or so they say.

+ 1: Bonus tip:

download the TUUDO app. It has info about studies and services. More importantly, it tells you what’s for lunch at the university restaurants.