Student exchange in Lisbon: international experiences support professional specialisation
Ronja Arvilommi, a film and television student at Metropolia, completed a minor abroad and gained competences and confidence to collaborate in an international working environment.
Ronja Arvilommi is a fourth-year student of Film and Television Studies (nowadays taught in the Media and Film degree programme) at Metropolia. She spent the Spring Semester 2024 on exchange at the Polytechnic University of Lisbon (Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa) in Portugal. We had a chance to meet Ronja at Metropolia’s Arabia campus and ask her about her experience. She shared with us what competences she gained from abroad, what kind of ideas she has about being European and collaborating internationally, and where she would like to head forward after her graduation.
Bachelor’s degree complemented by multidisciplinary studies
From the very first year of her studies, Ronja thought that she would like to include international experiences as part of her degree and that student exchange abroad could be an excellent opportunity for this. Ronja learned that the spring semester of her third study year would be the best timing, and she was accepted to the Polytechnic University of Lisbon, one of the partners in the U!REKA European University alliance. Ronja was very happy with this exchange destination because she is especially interested in Portuguese language and culture. It was also important to her that she would be able to complete a study minor to her degree.
Ronja specialises in audiovisuals and has a particular interest in documentary films. During her exchange, she took courses, for instance, in journalism, which would support her future dreams of working on documentary projects.
"There were students from different disciplines and backgrounds in my courses. It was interesting to discuss current societal issues, such as the EU elections, together and to incorporate these topics into our own fields," says Ronja.
At Metropolia, Ronja's studies mainly consist of group projects, such as making short films, and this kind of practical teaching has been a perfect fit for Ronja's way of learning. During her exchange, Ronja’s studies were mostly lecture-based, which Ronja says, provided a nice change to her study routines and challenged her in a good way. Indeed, an exchange abroad is an excellent opportunity to learn not only about one’s own field, but also about different teaching methods and ways of collaborating with different people in multidisciplinary environments.
Student life in Lisbon
Ronja studied at the Benfica campus, which offers courses in journalism, communications, audiovisual production, and marketing, among others. The campus has four large buildings, a wide variety of study and group workspaces, a couple of lunch restaurants and several cafés. According to Ronja, campus life felt similar to that at the Arabia campus of Metropolia: a sense of community was strong also in Lisbon.
Many of the courses were in Portuguese and the offerings in English were more limited. Yet, although courses in film and television, for instance, were mainly offered in Portuguese, Ronja was able to see the facilities and studios at the campus. Ronja tells that there are a lot of student activities on the campus and that exchange students were advertised and encouraged to join them at their orientation. Club activities include, for example, the field of filmmaking.
Ronja was delighted to find an apartment that was just a fifteen-minutes train ride from the campus.
"In big cities like Lisbon, the housing situation is often challenging. Luckily, the University’s International Office gave us exchange students some tips on how to find an apartment. I found my own through a Facebook group," tells Ronja.
In her free time, Ronja explored the city of Lisbon and travelled around Portugal. She describes the Lisbon lifestyle as laid-back and the Portuguese people as friendly and relaxed. Most of the other exchange students came from other European countries, and Ronja felt that despite some cultural differences, the students were united by a shared, new experience.
International experiences as an asset in the working life
Experiencing a new culture and environment is both exciting and challenging. Ronja felt that integrating into the local culture and getting to know the locals required time and effort. At the same time, she had looked forward to her exchange and was able to experience many new things during one semester: she learned more Portuguese, and the exchange studies and the overall experience strengthened her ideas about her future prospects.
Ronja wants to work in a multicultural environment and seek for new opportunities in her field, both in Finland and abroad. She believes that international experiences give encouragement to new ones. This has also been the case for Ronja herself. Her exchange in Lisbon was not her first experience abroad: she had previously completed an upper secondary school exchange in Austria and lived in Denmark for two years.
Ronja regards her Metropolia degree and international exchange experiences as great assets to her professional working life. These also provide an excellent basis for future studies, which Ronja has been considering as well.
"It is great to network internationally with teachers and students from different backgrounds, and it is precisely this kind of multi-professional collaboration that is constantly needed in today's working life. It is easy to travel and collaborate within Europe, and I look forward to using my professional competences internationally," Ronja concludes.
