Life as an exchange student in Ohio

Week 42 was quite ordinary; nothing particularly special actually happened. A week with a lot of studying inside. Training didn't work out because my right knee was still sore, and I got mild flu at the end of the week. The only thing that was somehow special was that I wrote to my old workplace about the end of the employment contract.   Since nothing special happened, I would like to tell you about my work in Finland. So I work as a digital marketing professional in Finland at an insurance company called LähiTapiola. In my job, I am responsible for the digital visibility of LähiTapiola's Savo region and the marketing manager. In addition, my help is a separate advertising agency and marketing staff from the head office. In my work, among other things, I do e-mail and social media marketing, display and Google advertising, and other tasks related to digital marketing. In addition, I am in contact with several of our partners and customers. M y work is rewarding because every...

  Week 41 was shorter than normal, Monday and Tuesday were holidays. It was actually really nice to have a little lighter week in between and it felt like the four day vacation went by really fast. I decided to spend both days playing sports. I didn't do anything that amazing on Monday. I called my friends in Finland and did two different workouts. On Tuesday I decided to try running a half marathon after a long time. The run went ok and I ran it in 1:59, which is ok, but not a good time. However, it was a bad idea to run the whole way on the asphalt and the knee injury in my right leg started bothering me again. The poly injury has once occurred while playing floorball. I have signed up with my friend for a half triathlon next summer, so because of this I wanted to try running a half marathon really early. Wednesday and Thursday were really normal weekdays, nothing more strange than that happened. I normally went to lectures and trained my upper body , because my knee couldn'...

Week 40 went relatively usually, nothing special happened during the weekdays. School and routines progressed normally. On Friday, however, autumn vacation started, and we went on a weekend trip to Cleveland with other exchange students.   On Friday, the program was to go directly after the lectures to drive two vans toward Cleveland and our Airbnb apartments. The journey took about three hours with stops. The apartments were large detached houses. After arrival, we just went for a quick trip at Walmart and bought some snacks.   On Saturday, we left early to visit Cuyahoga in the Valley National Park. The park was great, but for a Finn who actively moves around in nature, not so strange. However, the nature park had a nice waterfall and basic hiking trails. After the nature park, we visited the Rock and Roll hall of fame museum, which was really great. The museum was truly unique. After the museum, we went to eat in a German restaurant, which in its atmosphere, remi...

Week 39 was normal; lectures, training, and everyday life generally rolled on normally. The week's highlights were the first e-Sports game with the CS GO junior varsity team and renting an apartment in Finland. I haven't played CS GO in Finland for a long time, but I'm now excited about it. It's nice to play a few times a week with the right team for a few hours. E-Sports is a relaxing factor; when I play, I don't have to think about anything else, just the game. In the summer, golf is a similar hobby for me; on the course, you don't have to think about anything other than the game. We had our first competitive CS GO game on Friday against another university. Unfortunately, we lost the first game 16-1 and the next 16-6, so the direction is only up. We had no chance of winning the game, but I still enjoyed playing.   I also rented an apartment for myself in Finland during the week. I rented a completely new 37-square-meter flat in the center of Kuopio. The rent ...

  Week 38 has progressed quite normally. Routines repeat and school progresses. I started writing my masters thesis at the beginning of the week. My topic is Managing the integration of marketing and sales in international B2B companies - challenges and development possibilities. My thesis will be qualitative research, where I will interview key personnel working in international companies. I got a really good professor from my university as thesis supervisor, so I'm excited. My intention would be to finish my degree by the summer of 2023 and graduate as economics. Let's see how it goes, I spent five months writing my batchelors thesis and it was 50 pages long. However, the, masters thesis should be almost half as comprehensive.   I also started a new hobby, Crossfit, this week. In Finland, I have often thought that I would like to start a crossfit , but I haven't dared to start because of the high price. The hobby costs about 150 euros per month in Finland and require...

  Week 37 was good! Every day goes by usually, and routines keep me busy. So time passes faster than I thought. I can't believe I've already been in the US for a month. Since nothing special happened during the week, I thought I could cover the differences between Finnish and American Supermarkets.  American supermarkets are roughly the same size as in Finland. However, supermarkets here also sell more than just food, which did not come as a surprise. The first significant difference when entering the store is the fruit and vegetable shelves size difference to Finland. The vegetable and fruit shelfs in Finnish supermarkets are significantly biger and more versatile. In Finland, the products are not already packed in plastic; most of the products are picked by the customer himself, weighed, and packed in a paper or plastic bag. Also in Finland, you have to weigh almost all fruits and vegetables yourself, which you don't have to do here in the United States.  Another b...