Hi, my name is Jule and I am a 22 year old student from Schweinfurt, Seinäjoki’s partner city in Germany. I am doing my eight-week internship in Seinäjoki in various schools and youth work and I will share my experiences in this blog post.
When I arrived in mid-February, I was greeted by a beautiful white winter landscape and pleasantly cold weather. Seinäjoki is easily accessible by train, which made the journey from Helsinki airport very easy. On my first day at work, I was immediately assigned a bike and, as much as I love being outside, I’ve never ridden a bike in the snow before. However, I have to say that it works perfectly, also because the paths are regular gritted and cleared, which made it easy to move around the city very flexibly.
One of my favorite places and an exceptional place to visit , is the library where you can borrow books, films and games as well as things like sports equipment, snowshoes or for a week even season ticket for concerts or sporting. On activity I was signed up to was reading o a dog, which you can do there once a week, and even though it’s probably primarily for children, I thought it was incredibly great
A place that is also worth a visit is Rytmikorjaamo. It’s like a big club where concerts are organized regularly, and you can volunteer to help out (you have to write a Mail and ask first). That’s what I did on my first weekend and although rock and metal music are not normally part of my playlist, it was a very exciting experience and the people there were all very friendly and helpful.
A Building where other concerts are held, among other things, is Kalevan Navetta. It is a place full of art, culture and encounters that has an incredible number of cultural activities to offer.
The architecture in Seinäjoki also has a lot to offer, too, especially the Aalto Center, which is worth a visit for its one. They are not just buildings that serve a purpose, they are works of art that are lived. And it is also worth mentioning that the church tower always serves as a good orientation when getting lost.
But getting lost on purpose is also a good way to get to know a place, because it sometimes takes you to places you wouldn’t otherwise have visited. This is how I found Törnävä Church, for example, when I was looking at the Törnävä manor house nearby, which is also a beautiful, historical place to see.
Seinäjoki has a lot to offer and I’m sure I’ve only got to know a small fraction of what makes this city so special, so I’m looking forward to the next few weeks and what else I’ll find out about the city and what places I will find.
