Experiences as a foreign student in Halinen, Turku

How a foreign student ended up in Halinen, Turku? I am reflecting on my experiences as a foreign student: I share my first years in the city and how I managed with mundane, yet at the same time so unfamiliar tasks of adult life.

I moved to Turku quite young - I just turned 18 and got accepted to Turku School of Economics. Up to that point I had lived all my life in St. Petersburg, Russia, in a busy residential area revolving around one of the major metro stations in the north of the city. I lived with my parents, and my awareness of my surroundings was limited mostly to recreational activities. Some of them were in my neighbourhood, like parks and shopping malls, and for some, I had to travel to the city center, where me and my art school friends spent countless evenings throwing stones in the Neva-river.

However, I had no idea, how our neighbourhood served my parents in their adult lives. So, when it came time to search for my first student apartment in Turku and starting to live the “adult” life, I had no idea where to begin.

I had never been to Turku, so I opened a Wikipedia page and a map. “It’s an old town, and quite small” - were my first impressions. There is a river! And the sea! Just like in St. Petersburg! I noticed a lot of greenery, but couldn’t figure out if it was a park or a forest; Will there be fountains? Will there be bears? Neither could I understand if the bus connections are good, and if it is a risk to rent something that is not within walking distance from the university. And was there a difference between living in the northern or southern parts of the city? I really could have used Know Your Hoods back then.

"But I wasn’t going to fall back into familiar habits - I was in a new place, and I needed to explore, to build my new identity! So instead of baklava I grabbed some makkara (sausages) and went to grilli (outdoor barbeque), that was conveniently common property of TYS tenants."

I had never lived in a smaller city before, so it was difficult to imagine the outline. My brain, baffled by the complexity of the decisions, decided to take a shortcut. I applied an apartment from the Turku Student Village Foundation (TYS) and received a shared apartment few kilometers from the university in the northeastern part of the city, called Halinen neighborhood.

Halinen – Affordable housing surrounded by nature

"Suddenly, something that I had done only on summer vacations, namely being in nature, became my everyday environment."

Halinen was a very nice neighborhood, especially nature wise - I could see the fields from my window and the Aura river and Halinen dam (Halistenkoski) were right around the corner. The greenery turned out to be something between the park and the forest – the Virnamäki park (Virnamäen puisto). It contained neither bears nor fountains, but relics from the Iron Age, blueberries and hoofprints of local horses. Suddenly, something that I had done only on summer vacations, namely being in nature, became my everyday environment.

The location of the neighborhood was good as I could easily reach the university by bicycle. Although bus connections were (and still are) good for a small city, two bus lines ran 20 min apart and at the times that made me either too early for class (shortening my sleep time for crucial 10 min) or just in time (imagine me running red-faced in class trying to remember the word “anteeksi”).

Baklava or makkara (sausage) – a tough decision

The medium-sized supermarket, S-Market, was right across the road. I couldn’t believe that was the first time I did all the grocery shopping by myself! In the same building, there was an Asian Minimarket, that surprisingly had more familiar tastes to me than Finnish supermarket did. I could enjoy my familiar baklava, pomegranate juice and sunflower oil. But I wasn’t going to fall back into familiar habits - I was in a new place, and I needed to explore, to build my new identity! So instead of baklava I grabbed some makkara (sausages) and went to grilli (outdoor barbeque), that was conveniently common property of TYS tenants.

Back then, grocery shopping was not that easy due to sometimes challenging opening hours. Nowadays stores are allowed to be open on holidays, yet it is still better to check the opening hours! At some point, my friends started telling me that food in Lidl was cheaper, so, sometimes, I would take a bus trip to the city center to get a bargain (an arguable decision, as I still had to pay for the bus).

"I was trying to figure out as much about Finland, Turku, my studies and the student lifestyle as I could."

For bigger household items shopping was more difficult: Ikea was two bus routes away in Raisio. At that point, I didn’t realize that Prisma on Tampereentie also had a lot of the things I needed, and I could’ve reached it much easier. Also, nowadays there are more household-appliances stores in the center, too. Well, you live, you learn, as they say.

First year in Turku was full of learning

I lived in Halinen for the first year of my studies. I was trying to figure out as much about Finland, Turku, my studies and the student lifestyle as I possibly could. In the meantime, I didn’t even notice how much I changed! Still, I was so confident that I had it all figured out, that I was ready to move from my shared apartment (soluasunto) in Halinen to a studio (yksiö) in Student village (Ylioppilaskylä), to become even more independent.

I’ll share my experiences about living in Student Village in the next post. In the meantime I am curious - did you have similar experiences when you moved out from your childhood home? How long did it take for you to figure things out?

You can read more about Halinen in the neighborhood page. Or if you are looking for the most suitable neighborhood, let us help and try our search engine for neighborhoods!

-Katerina