Dear exchange student,
WELCOME TO STIMULUS
Join Stimulus as an exchange student
If you are an exchange student studying psychology in Jyväskylä, you can join our association as an exchange student member. You can buy the membership in Kide.App. The link to buy a membership will be sent to you by one of our international representatives or international tutors.
An exchange student membership costs 5 €, and will last for the duration of your studies in Jyväskylä. The board of our association can assume that your studies here have ended one year after you buy your membership, if you don’t let us know that your studies here continue.
Finnish student culture
In the heart of Finnish student culture there are rather active student associations. The University of Jyväskylä has 38 dierent student associations for dierent major studies and Stimulus is one of them. Most Finnish students decide to join their own association when starting their studies and this is what keeps the culture very lively.
Almost all student associations have their own overalls. Overalls are a piece of clothing that is worn in student events. We collect badges from student events and sew them onto our overalls. The more badges you have, the more active and experienced a student you are. You can recognize other psychology students from bright yellow overalls. There are plenty of us in our university!
What is a sitsfest/sitsparty/sitsit?
Sitsparty (in Finnish: sitsit) is a traditional academic table party and an old Nordic tradition to eat, drink and praise the joy of life along with singing. Sitsfest has its own rules and you will hear them at the beginning of the party. Sitsfest always has at least one toastmaster (aka the song director) who acts as a lead singer, guides the course of the event and imposes penalties on oenders. Don’t be put o by the number of rules – come and enjoy the party! Penalties are fun and no one is trying to humiliate you in public. You can experience a genuine academic tradition, which you will not find anywhere else, so feel free to join in! Note that sitsfest rules and norms may vary from place to place, so a clash of cultures cannot be prevented. Anyway, the uni students here love sitsit and there will be plenty of them to come!
Other student events in Jyväskylä
There are also many other types of traditional student events. The academic year starts with Fuksiaiset, a kind of welcome event for freshmen. In late autumn Stimulus has Vujut, or the annual birthday party, which culminates in the Vujusillis day. And to keep things Finnish, Stimulus christmas sauna has been a popular event throughout the years in addition to the Christmas party. If you stay in Finland for a 5 whole year, you’ll get to witness May Day or Vappu, which is arguably the biggest student celebration there is. We would love to see international students in Stimulus events :)
Other associations will also be organising events. Erasmus of Jyväskylä is of course very active. All year round there will be events like the interdisciplinary approt (or pub crawl), 3miot and poikkarit. There are also cultural events, sports events and so on. The JYY (Student Union of the Jyväskylä University) also has many events and clubs. I’m sure whatever it is you are into, there will be activities available for you.