Student story - Marco, the man of thousand nationalities

Marco, the man of the thousand nationalities. Born in Argentina, raised in southern Chile with a Slovenian passport, lived in New Zealand and Australia and now in Finland. Marco is one of the international students at the Faculty of Mathematics and Science and he is studying on the Biological and Environmental Sciences Department.

Marco! Good to see you! How is life going?

Dude, we live together, you basically know everything at this point!

{ Guille, the interviewer facepalms}

Of course! But can you tell us a little bit more about yourself , for example, how did you end up in Finland and studying here at the Uni of JKL?

Well, a friend of mine from Chile (Felipe a.k.a Boby) got an internship at JYU and when I started to consider options to study an MSc. in Europe he couldn't stop insisting about Jyväskylä and the amazing time he had had here. In the end, he convinced me and I ended up here.

And besides that, did you have other motivations to choose Finland?

Sure! I had always wanted to study on a Nordic country and Finland was, by far, the one with the best reputation concerning its education and the one that had the least expensive cost of living. On top of that, I was interested in studying Aquatic Sciences, especially water treatment and water quality, and Finland is known worldwide as one of the countries with the highest quality standards for drinkable water. That sounded really cool!

Cool! That is good to know for the next time I'm drinking from the sink! And when you came here, How was the transition? What were the first impressions you had as a student of JYU?

I'm going to give you the most obvious answer to that: The weather, it is horrible, there is no way to deny that.

I agree...

But I have to say that, although cold, winters are truly beautiful here. And returning to the point I believe the transition was really smooth, all the student services and benefits made things really easy. In fact, I think that Jyväskylä might be one of the best student cities I've ever been to...

And what are you up to these days? How are your studies going?

Well, as you know, I'm taking part in the Master's Program of Biological and Environmental Sciences in which I am majoring in Aquatic Sciences. At the moment I am working on the experiments related to my MSc. thesis about biochemical profiles of microalgae in aquaculture waste water.

Marco, we agreed that the interview would be English...

It's that complicated! My goal is to see if it is feasible to cultivate microalgae with the waste water coming fish farms basically and what is the value of that microalgae as an end product. The project I'm working on is actually trying to use these microalgae as a food source for other organisms and by doing that minimizing waste, which is something really important considering the state of our planet.

Well, enough of study stuff, What about your free time? How do you spend it?

In Freetime

{ Freetime is a club in the city center }

That was too easy of a joke..

I know, I know...

{ Laughing }

Now seriously, what do you do around JKL?

Well I was a volleyball player so I've always loved to play sports ...

{ Marco is humble about it but he was on the Argentinian national team when he was younger }

...and I was glad to find out when I came here that the university organizes sports activities from students almost daily. For example, if I want to, I can play volleyball twice a week, play basketball and go to the gym as much as I want to for free.

Gym for free?

Yes, I live on the Kortepohja student village and by living there I can access a gym, 1 minute away from my room. Living here is actually amazing since we also have access to a study space and a cantina that is open every day ( even the weekends).

What about the student events?

They are great! Once or twice a month there is always a student event, normally at a bar or club in the city center. In these occasions you have a lot of fun and, on top of that, you can meet new people from all over the world.

And what about sauna? Have you also fallen into the finish stereotype?

I have...I go to the sauna at least twice a week, religiously...

And finally, how do you think your experience here has changed you?

Well, work-wise, at JYU I've had the opportunity to try new things and broaden my CV. Since the university system in Finland gives a lot of freedom to the student I was able to choose subject which in other places I would not have been able to choose. One of the things I've gotten into is marketing and entrepreneurship and I can tell you that it has definitely broaden knowledge and woken up new interests for my career.

And what about at a personal level?

Well, before coming to Finland, I had travelled to many countries and I lived in New Zealand and Australia for a while so, perhaps I didn't have that "Living for the first time on a foreign country" experience that most people would normally have. However, Finland has certainly had an impact on me since, although still a western country, it has a distinct national identity which you can experience every day. In my opinion, the more different cultures you experience the more you grow as a person.

Well Marco! That was great thanks for your time!

My pleasure!