CBU organized courses I attended previously - Part 2

The second CBU organized course I attended was held in Russia. That was a great experience for all of us, especially for foreign students which have heard and they were told a lot about Russia, but unfortunately had a lucky chance to visit the neighboring country, but that was the exciting opportunity we could not missed. St-Petersburg Forestry Technical Academy was hosting the CBU intensive course "Forestry and forest industry in Russia". Besides diverse study programme we had spare time to hang out in the center even though the weather was cold enough (about -15C), but the city center was already nicely decorated for New Year and Christmas celebrations. We had saved some spare time to visit pubs along Nevsky Prospect and to taste delicious beer brewed in Saint Petersburg.

But lets come back to studies ))) We had a well planned combination of outdoor and indoor sessions. The rage of lecture themes have varied a lot and include: biodiversity conversation, road construction and forestry planning, forest inventory in Russia and forestry law. Besides that we had students' presentations part and I did not stayed aside, I did present the results on a study "Heterobasidion spp. infections allocation and its causes in Russian Karelia".

Apart from lecture and presentation we had an opportunity to visit entomological and hunting museum of Academy as well as incredible botanical garden with huge collection of flora from different climatic zones. Additionally we had excursion to the production unit of non-wood forestry product enterprise specializing on berry processing and packaging, however due to bad climatic conditions the travel there and back was twice longer than it was planned, but otherwise the hosting institution providing good meal and interesting excursion there.

The housing was organized for us in dormitory, however in some respect I could feel the Soviet echo in there (common showers and toilets in the main corridor) and for the foreigners who are not aware of past Russian history were slightly shocked.

Nevertheless we had great experience in Saint Petersburg and I'm looking forward to visit this wonderful city and Forestry Academy again.

Leisure time activities in Joensuu

This week I decided to shift the focus away from studies towards leisure time activities in Joensuu. The weather outside as you have noticed is rather depressing and my mission is to bring you back to life and to show a light in the end of the tunnel. There is something to do in Joensuu!!! Among the sport activities I did myself for most of my life sport orienteering mainly (both ski and running), however at the moment conditions neither for running nor ski orienteering are good enough. So I would advise you to shift mainly to indoor activities, moreover the possibilities to do that available in every district of Joensuu. Among the active sports I would underline several items just to give you a direction to choose your own track. Thus, if you interested to play football, volleyball, basketball, salibandy (Finns call it sähly) are available in Areena or in case of basketball and volleyball also in Joensuun urheilutalo, ice hockey and skating (hockey matches of Finnish league have started already in Jäähalli (next to Areena), good ice also will be available during winter around Areena building as well as in every district in Joensuu), besides that skating on the lakes is very popular in Finland, but unfortunately available only in winter months. For those who do swimming at least there are couple of swimming halls are available (Vesikko next to University campuses or Rantakylän uimahalli, perfect location for those who live in Rantakylä). In case of climbing I think Areena once again the place where you could do it. The gym and fitness clubs should not be difficult to find, available in every district of Joensuu.

If you decided to roll around Joensuu with your friends they are possibilities to play bowling or billiards and you don’t need to keep umbrella above your head, besides that within walking distance from Market square you will find plenty of pubs, bars and night clubs.

In case if you are interested to use spare time to study Finnish language and local culture I would advise to check ongoing courses as well as other activities in Kansalaisopisto (Adult Educational Centre) and Red Cross. Additionally library facilities in Joensuu have a lot of language study material for self-education. In case if you are not up to studies anymore in the evenings and you don’t have TV in your room library can be also a solution, because plenty of DVD movies are available to borrow.

If the mentioned names in the text are confusing for you, just copy it to Google and the situation will be more or less clear.

If some of the tips on leisure time activities are useful I will continue quite soon with winter sports possibilities around Joensuu, just before I will get the information that snow is coming to Joensuu!!!

CBU organized courses I attended previously - Part 1

Based on my previous studying experience in CBU I would like to share with you the information which might be interesting and useful in terms of diverse academic experience. CBU provides opportunities for students to attend the courses with special emphasis on cross-border partnership in different locations, besides the list of general courses which you can choose at your faculty.
Thus, at the time I have started my studies in CBU we had intensive course organized at Mekrijärvi research Station (about 70 km from Joensuu) during the first week, the place and timing of the course was chosen in my opinion very properly taken into account the fact that some of the participants had come to Finland to study forestry issues for a very first time and the knowledge of English language for some of us was the biggest challenge to overcome at that time. The course was held under the title "Forestry and bioenergy in NE Europe with special reference to sustainability" providing the understanding and concept of forestry operations between the Nordic countries and Russia, as an example of Eastern Europe country. We were fortunate that course organizers were able to invite lecturers from different institutions (University of Joensuu, Helsinki University, Saint-Petersburg Forestry Technical Academy, European Forestry Institute, Petrozavodsk State University) with different backgrounds and perspectives to the topics we were studying. To summarise the first week it was aimed to build the understanding of the forestry concept and bioenergy development in Finland and Russia. For second week of introductory course we moved to Forestry Faculty of University of Joensuu, currently named as University of Eastern Finland. During second week we had opportunity to perform our own presentations on chosen theme with discussion in groups including teachers and students. Many of us had first experience with writing SWOT-analysis. In case some of you are doubting with SWOT term please ask and I will try to explain the meaning of that. Besides that we had a lot of opportunities to visit different companies working in forestry field and particularly in bioenergy know-how. Among the institutions and companies we visited were Tulikivi, John Deere, Eno municipality, The Finnish Forest Research Institute, WENET, Science Park and others.
Many of us agreed that importance of introductory course was tremendous both in terms of understanding of studied issues in from different perspectives as well as social component of the course.