02/12/2020
Finland
participants
Bringing international students and locals together, making long-lasting friendships and learning new languages and cultures & cultural differences.
Locals and international degree and exchange students signed up for Friend Programme. We matched the friends based on their interests. There were local students, pairs and families involved and some of them have been a part of the programme for a long time as we do this every semester. Mostly the pairs were one international student and one local student/pair/family.
We organized the first meeting where they got to know each other and we told what was not expected from the participants but a possibility for them. During the fall the friends met up based on their own schedule and did things they enjoyed: sauna nights, cooking together, having dinners, doing sports, every day life etc. Just what the normal friends would do. The participants learnt new cultures and languages and got to know new people. This programme helped the international students to integrate in Finnish culture and community. At the end of the semester we planned to have a get-together but had to cancel this due to Covid-19.
