I am\nwriting this blog post as I am taking a break from writing my thesis. As I am\ncurrently in the second year of my studies I have notably less courses to\nfollow, also due to some extra credits I took in the first year. Being at the\nfinal stages of my master\u2019s study at Hanken gives me some perspective on how I\nhave experienced the past one and a half year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The start\nof the studies was quite different from what I have experienced back in the\nNetherlands for my bachelor\u2019s degree. I was already familiar with living in\nFinland which prepared me to some extent of what student life could look like.\nAnd I also attended a Sitz (a typical dinner party here in Finland) before\nstarting my studies at Hanken to get familiar with some of the student\nactivities. With that in mind I was quite curious to start studying. The\nintroductory days were a very great opportunity to get to know all the\ndifferent new master\u2019s students from different backgrounds. We did a pub crawl\nin Kallio and several ice-breaker gatherings to mingle. I think from that\npoint, I already established a group of friends whom I still meet regularly. The\nnice thing about the introductory days was that you\u2019re mixed with all the\nspecialisations, so you get to know people from different tracks and not just the\nmarketing track that I followed. This intimate setting was very different from\nback in the Netherlands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Later on,\nwhen the courses started, you got to know your track-specific fellow students\nmuch better of course. Yet, simultaneously, some courses were for different\ntracks combined, so I had a few courses that included students from\nhumanitarian logistics and strategy and sustainability as well. Coming from\napplied sciences I found the courses to be quite academical, which I was\nexpecting, but I was happy to find out that several courses had guest lectures\nfrom the corporate sector. We also did a few project courses in collaboration\nwith big Finnish companies that made it possible to apply the theoretical\nknowledge. The level of the courses is definitely doable, and I have passed all\ncourses with high grades. The workload, especially in the beginning, was quite\nhigh but still doable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Besides the\n\u2018normal\u2019 student life of studying there were many events organised by Hanken\u2019s\nstudent associations. You\u2019re automatically part of these associations when you\nenrol to Hanken, and I found it a great way to get to know so many people. The\nevents range from Sitzes to games nights and other meet-ups. It is a great way\nto blow of some steam from studying and to build real friendships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Besides the amazing student community at Hanken there is another great aspect worth mentioning about Hanken. Both the network you build with other students and the status Hanken students have in companies, provided me with many interesting opportunities. There are countless of events and workshops where you have the chance to network with the biggest firms in Finland and in the world. And by being a student at Hanken these companies are genuinely interested in hiring you. Of course, it all depends on how active you want to be in this scene, but I have met many interesting company representatives. I am currently also working for 180 Degrees Consulting as the president of the Helsinki Branch which would have been hard to achieve without being a student at one of the renowned universities of Finland. All in all, I feel like have been able to really develop myself at Hanken by being an active member of the student community. Now, I have to get back to writing my thesis!<\/p>\n\n\n\n