Wow! We are already in the mid week again. Every week gives birth to one or more opportunities to share and learn new things as students. There is no doubt that lectures have long begun and there are many assignments to deal with as students. Some of us have already started preparing ahead for the tests that maybe coming up some times before this month ends.

Nevertheless, my special feature this week on “Home and Away” is a guy that hails from Nigeria. He is 23 and also an International student currently studying Business Information Technology at Oulu University of Applied Sciences, Oulu, Finland. He is a very friendly person.

I would have love to tell you guys more about this friend of mine but I think it will be better for you to hear some of his words. So in the next few lines, you will get to know about his experiences here in Oulu. The name of this guy is Olaniyi Aiyenitaju!

I began the brief interview by asking him to share with us how he felt when he arrived Finland for the first time and below was his response: “I arrived in Finland at the beginning of September and I felt excited to be coming to a new country.” I think there is always a first time in everything in life, so I don’t think those feelings of his when he arrived were out of place. Ha-ha.

Now that Olaniyi has spent some months already here in Oulu, I wanted him to tell us some of his experiences since he came and how he feels, for example, about the cold weather, the dark weather and also the snow. He started by sharing with me his dislike about the cold weather, especially now that it is so cold. He also did not hide his feelings when he said he likes the Snow and that he enjoys playing with it sometimes. But for the dark weather, here was what he said: “The dark weather makes me sleep beyond time and it makes me feel reluctant to wake up early in the morning.”

Also,when I ask of him to know whether or not he has been having fun since he came to Oulu, that I will be very glad if he can share with us some of the places that he has visited having fun. He responded thus: “Well I have not had much fun because of the cold, but I have been to the city center for quite some time and I and my classmate also took a trip all around Oulu... I have visited some of the night clubs like Tivoli...”

Olaniyi shared his opinion also about the Finnish people, that they are very friendly and that they can be so quiet sometimes as well. Apart from studies, what else do you enjoy doing at your spare time? I asked him again and responded thus: “most time, I am always in door surfing the internet, and sometimes I visit some friends that stays around me…”

Finally, I wanted to know his general opinion as an international student, about his school-Oulu University of Applied Sciences and he concluded with: “Yea I love the school, it is a good teaching environment, they have all the facilities needed to become a professional and their method of teaching is excellent, they interact with student and make sure that everyone understands what they are taught and they also have a very good friendly relationship with the students.”