Hongik Kim our Korean exchange student interviewed Orlando Torrez last week and had time to do a quick interview with Joel Rinne this week.

1. What are your thoughts on exchange students in Metropolia?

I believe they bring a nice breath of fresh air to the whole study community.  What I am positively surprised in incoming exchange students, is the adaptation process; even though some arrive in the coldest darkest month of the year, they still want to stay here and adapt to the temperatures , haha.

Since Finland is not the most typical holiday location in the world, exchange students have a good chance of seeing something new and different, and we as a nation can benefit from the fact that once they return to their home countries, they will most likely tell about their experiences here and about Finland as a whole, so in a sense they work as ambassadors of Finland, telling (hopefully) positive things about our cold country.

2. What is the difference between a class with exchange students and class without them

I would say, probably the volume level, meaning that when a class is only occupied by Finns we might be slumped over our desks, hoping that the school day would be over already, but exchange students tend to engage in a lot of small talk amongst each other and naturally with us Finns. In my opinion they work as a positive influence to the whole class atmosphere.

3. How should exchange students adapt to living in Finland! (advise)!!

I believe the current system of student exchange that we have is functioning well and should not be altered to a great extent. I hope that also in the future we are able to have the possibility to get to know new cultures in the form of meeting new exchange students. I have heard  that the number of incoming exchange students is constantly on the rise, which is definitely a plus!