Hey, my name is Nora Evans, and I am a second-year bachelor’s degree student of Tourism at Lapland UAS. I am from Nigeria, West Africa. Initially, I was hesitant about coming to Lapland as I couldn't find enough information about the region. The limited information online mainly focused on the cold weather, darkness, and being the official home of Santa Claus. As someone who dislikes very cold temperatures, especially coming from West Africa, where we have warm temperatures all year round, I was discouraged.

Despite the discouragement, I chose to study in Lapland, and today I can confidently say that it is one of the best decisions I have made in my life. The education system here is very different compared to what I was used to back home in Nigeria. The teachings here are very practical, involving a lot of group work and individual learning. This enhances learning as we have the opportunity to learn from one another. As someone who loves teamwork, this is one of the best things I appreciate about studying at Lapland UAS.

I have had the opportunity to work in different tourism companies, which has significantly improved my learning. It provides first-hand experience in the tourism sector and contributes to my personal career growth.

The teachers here are warm, supportive, and welcoming. There is no discrimination of any kind, and everyone is encouraged to speak freely, ask questions, fostering a friendly and respectful learning environment.

If you want to experience nature in its purest form, study in an internationally friendly environment, come study in Lapland. It is beautiful. While the culture, language, and people might be different initially, with time, you will learn to appreciate the beauty in every aspect of Lapland.


-Nora, DPT 2022/2023-

My name is Riikka and I’m a 25-year-old, third-year tourism student at Lapland University of Applied Sciences. I decided to apply for Lapland UAS because I knew that tourism expertise in Lapland is highly valued all around the world. Lapland is known as a sustainable and innovative tourism developer and the degree is very practical operating in a close connection with the local tourism industry. I was born in Rovaniemi and lived here for almost all my life, despite four years that I spent in Oulu and one year of living in Texas.

Even though Rovaniemi is my hometown, studying in higher education here has helped me to see my hometown from a totally different perspective. Hearing international students admire the town and the nature around has really made me see the beauty and uniqueness of the town in a different way.

Rovaniemi is a great town for a student. There are many student events happening here and the student community is very united between different fields of studies. Studying at Lapland UAS gives many opportunities to get involved in different projects which help network with people all around the world already during the studies. To get mental balance, the nature around the town is incredible with its four seasons and a great variety of different types of restaurants.

Studying tourism in a multicultural group prepares you very well for the working life and focuses on the international tourism industry. The tourism degree is highly valued especially here if you’d like to stay in Lapland after graduating. However, sometimes you don’t need a clear plan for the future – which is actually my case. I’m not quite sure where I’ll be in a couple of years but I would like to go abroad to work at some point which the degree programme in tourism also prepares me for.

I recommend visiting and coming to study here to the land of northern lights and the midnight sun. I’ll be more than happy to help with anything regarding studying in Lapland!

Hope to see you around,
Riikka, the student in the Degree Programme in Tourism

Hey there! My name is Magdalena, I am 20 years old and was born and raised in Germany. Unlike many of my international classmates, I actually did not initially come to Finland to study! Instead I spent one year as an Au Pair (someone who lives with a host family and takes care of their child(ren), a bit like a nanny) in Espoo, which is close to Helsinki – the capital of Finland.

After that I actually thought I’d return to Germany, or even study “film” in Scotland, which was one of my considerations, but after some self-reflection I realised that travelling and working with international people is what I am truly passionate about and tourism would be the ideal field for me. Therefore, following the good reputation of Lapland UAS and the unique location on the Arctic Circle, I decided to stay in Finland for my studies (didn’t regret this decision, really! I love this country) and started studying tourism in autumn 2020.

Despite a lot of online studies and dark seasons, I would say that I am very happy here and with my choice of studies generally. In addition to the days of below -20 degrees Celsius, the international atmosphere, especially now in winter 2021 as we finally have tourists again, is really refreshing! And living and studying here gives perfect opportunities for seasonal work as well as a variety of trainings, which are also strongly promoted by our school!

This brings me to the next point: Lapland UAS is focused on combining theory and praxis by implementing the “learning by doing” approach. Personally, I very much prefer this over studying from text books only as I believe, especially in tourism, the most valuable things you learn are learnt in practical life when doing the actual work. So, that is what I really appreciate about my studies here in Finnish Lapland and can only recommend this degree programme to anyone interested in tourism, especially now that the pandemic seems to not restrict everything anymore and solutions for problems can be found more easily. Studying abroad will make you more independent for sure and you have the opportunity to meet some amazing people from all over the world, who will enjoy student life here with you! (A shoutout to my friends and whole class here!).

I am looking forward to the rest of my studies and, who knows, maybe I will see you around in the city one day! I really do love meeting new people😊

All the best,
Magdalena, tourism student  (or as basically everyone here calls me, because apparently my name is too difficult: Malla)

Hello everyone! My name is Linh, and my friends call me Evelyn. I'm a 22-year-old Vietnamese girl who was born and raised in a mountainous city named Cao Bang, Vietnam. I am now a third-year Tourism student at Lapland University of Applied Sciences. This is my first year as a tutor, and I'm looking forward to assisting new students and enhancing the school's reputation. It makes me ecstatic and happy.

I'd like to tell you about why I want to be a tutor. I was anxious about enrolling since I knew I would have to leave my hometown and start a new life in a distant country. I was nervous and terrified when I thought about it, even though I knew that studying abroad had always been my desire and ambition. I contacted my classmates and professors to gather information on living in Rovaniemi. Thankfully, my tutors have been helpful to me.

One of my tutors helped me in taking the keys to my new apartment and bringing them to my residence on the first day I arrived in Rovaniemi. My tutors planned several events for new students like myself in the following days, and they were always willing to help and answer my inquiries. I highly appreciated their help, and it has made it much easier for new students to become more open-minded and assimilate into the new environment.

At that moment I knew that I wanted to follow in their footsteps as a tutor. My prior tutors' passion sparked my desire to become a good tutor.

I'm still working on improving myself and doing everything that I can to assist new students. I hope that the new students are always happy and they will have beautiful memories of student life when studying in Lapland UAS.

Linh Mong (Evelyn)

Hello! My name is Juulia, I am 20 years old and a first-year student at Lapland University of Applied Sciences. I am studying in the Degree Programme in Tourism in Rovaniemi and I have been living here for my whole life, so it was kind of natural for me to apply for a school in Lapland. Choosing the English programme felt right since I already speak English with my friends quite a bit on my free time.

In spring I graduated with a dual qualification from a local high school along with a vocational school which focused on chef studies. Because of my previous studies, I was fortunate enough to get a job in a restaurant as a chef, which really strengthened my wish to work in the tourism field. It was only in 2018 when it was completely sure for me that I would apply for this programme since our chef class got the opportunity to work with the annual Gala that the tourism students arranged. It was my first touch to the degree and from that moment on I knew clearly what my future would hold.

Since I already live in Rovaniemi I was able to avoid the whole “moving to a new place” hassle. As a studying town Rovaniemi is very welcoming. It has a lot of different activities and things to do on your free time around the whole year. In Rovaniemi you can experience all the seasons, which is something that some foreign students, and why not Finns as well, really look forward to. If you want to study in the heart of tourism, I would highly recommend studying in Rovaniemi.

The past few months I have been studying at Lapland UAS is what I was expecting. Academic but still practical with a few group assignments every now and then. Having a balance between writing assignments and creating a fun experience for our fellow peers is what I really like in the programme. All the teachers are friendly and professional, they are willing to help you the best way they can and encourage you to ask questions if there is something you do not understand or want to know more.

If you are looking for a programme that gives you endless opportunities regarding your future employment, the tourism degree is for you. Studying in English is also very appreciated in the field and it prepares you for the future, especially if you want to work abroad.

- Juulia, DPT student -

I started my hospitality and tourism career when I was 17 years young as a food and beverage trainee in a small luxury hotel in the heart of Cape Town, South Africa.

When I returned, I went to a three-year apprenticeship in a luxury five-star hotel in Hamburg, Germany. After the successful completion of this programme, I took the full advantage of my profession and threw myself into this exciting world to travel this planet as much as I possibly could until this day. For the last 15 years, I have been working in eight different countries on four continents, travelled another 51 countries around the world and for some reason, my bucket list is still getting longer. I have created a lifestyle combining my personal interests of cultural exchange and exploring our extraordinary planet with its enormous diversity of nature, landscape, animals and people together with a huge passion for working in hospitality and tourism to bring people closer together.

When I decided to study in the Degree Programme in Tourism at Lapland UAS, I had many expectations and was generally very excited about this new challenge and different chapter in my life. I expect from this programme in the next three years, to develop strategies in sustainable tourism. I believe it will become a very essential part in the future of this global industry and customers will search for climate neutral and green ways to travel. I would like to improve my presentation skills with modern tools and I am also looking forward to gaining more knowledge in entrepreneurship, business plans and marketing. At some point in my future career, I would like to open my own hostel to welcome and support young travellers from around the world and distribute my part to the international travel community.

Personally, I expect to enjoy my time in Lapland and explore the Arctic and its culture in all possible ways. I expect that living near the Arctic Circle would be a lot different compared to the places I have been living before. A place where people are surrounded by endless amounts of nature and wildlife, living in icy cold and dark winters, a period of endless days of warm summer when the sun never sets, the number one country in innovation and technology and referring to the world Happiest report in 2020, the country where the happiest people in the world live.

Reflecting the last seven weeks, I would say that my expectations towards my studies match with the reality of this programme. It is great to learn on a daily basis, sometimes from local entrepreneurs and experts of this industry for example from a guest lecturer but also together with other students in group projects, discussions and presentations. It is definitely the right field to study.

A great part, in my opinion, is that we students are very well connected with the teachers. The information we receive throughout the lectures are clear, mostly simple to understand and very easy to find on an online platform for self-study. As a new member of Lapland University of Applied Sciences, I can tell that our teachers are enjoying to educate their student and willing to support us during the study progress as much as possible.

The programme itself is designed very creatively with different challenging tasks. The general idea of this study is, that the students are active throughout the entire programme, learning from experience and study very close to the working life with real-life projects at the UAS or during trainings in local or international companies where students have the possibility to practise their skills. This was one of the main reasons why I decided to apply for this programme at the UAS. The university also acknowledges previous work experience of students which they can implement into their personal study plan and graduate on a faster pace. I am also looking forward to going on an exchange study programme that is offered to experience a different university, destination and culture.

- Simon, tourism student -

My name is Huong Giang Nguyen but my friends usually call me Annie. I am 19 years old. I was born and grew up in a small city in Vietnam. Last year, after graduating from high school, I decided to challenge myself by studying abroad. And now here I am, a second-year student in the Degree Programme in Tourism at Lapland University of Applied Sciences in Rovaniemi, Finland.

Since I was just a toddler, my parents already gave me a lot of opportunities to travel here and there. As I grew up, I gradually realized how much I got interested in tourism and culture. When I was in the last year of high school, I had to decide which major I should choose to study in the future. Without any hesitation, I pick Hospitality Management. However, I needed a more international space to develop myself; that is the reason why I chose to study abroad. After doing some research, I found that Finland is a fantastic place to live and study because of its best education system, welfare and living environment. Moreover, Lapland is always filled with tourists coming from everywhere. My dream was to see winter snow and the aurora. So what could have been a better place for me to major than Lapland UAS?

The education system here is very different from what I have experienced in Vietnam. It is not just sitting at school for hours listening to teachers giving lectures. Beside the knowledge we learn from school, we also have a chance to visit many places like Arktikum museum, workshops regarding local people and reindeer, or one of the beautiful hotels of the Lapland Hotels chain. There are some activities that I have really liked, for example when we created memorable activities for others in a project. I also enjoyed a case when we formed a group with Finnish tourism students and made a video to promote Lapland. The most challenging but also very educating task was when we established our own virtual companies. We had to take care of all the legal issues, accounting, sales and marketing. I think that will help me a lot in my future career.

I have lived and studied here for more than a year now and my experiences have been great all the time. Local people here are so friendly and always willing to help. The study environment is multicultural and the teachers dedicated and helpful. The nature always creates wonderful, peaceful vibes for me. I will never regret coming here to live and study, and I hope I will enjoy my studies here even more in the future with more amazing experiences.

If you are looking for a perfect place to live, an international and friendly study environment , then why don’t you come to Lapland UAS?

-Huong Giang Nguyen-

My name is Wenchien Hsu and I am from Taiwan. I am studying a Bachelor Degree of Hospitality Management at Lapland University of Applied Sciences. I started my studies in Rovaniemi 2018.

I studied sports economics and management at Beijing Sport University. The programme I am studying at Lapland University of Applied Sciences is the Degree Programme in Tourism.

Since the Winter Olympics will be held in Beijing 2022, Beijing Sport University and Lapland University of Applied Sciences cooperate in a special programme which is Ski Resort Management. There is an opportunity for us to study winter sports and resort management in Finland. Before I came to Finland, I hardly knew about winter sports. I came from Taiwan and there are no ski resorts at all. To be honest, I haven’t seen the snow season like in Finland before. I think this is a great chance for me to experience a totally different life here. I was super excited when I signed up for this programme.

Before I moved to Rovaniemi, I lived in Beijing. Since we have to study in Finland for two years, we definitely need to live here. In my opinion, Rovaniemi is quite a small but lovely town. People are kind and warmhearted including my tutors and classmates. I have met a lot of new friends here. Actually, I haven’t been to a such cold place before but now I am used to it. And I really like the natural setting around Rovaniemi. The best thing here for me is fresh air, for sure. I strongly recommend you guys to come and experience the Nordic life in Lapland!

I have been doing the thesis process recently which means this is the last step before I graduate. Within these two years, I have learned a lot from many different courses. My favourite one is a skiing lesson. Although it took few weeks only, I still benefitted a lot from it. Before this course started, I had no idea about skiing. During the lesson, we learned how to ski in a proper way. More importantly, skiing eventually became one of my hobbies because of this course. Our skiing instructor was very patient and she gave us a lot of useful advice after class. In addition, our tutors brought us to watch the Levi World Cup which was an opening competition for downhill skiing last year. That was my first time to see the slalom skiing competition. Lapland provided such great conditions for us to experience and learn winter sports.

I have really enjoyed the time when staying in Finland. I have experienced a totally different life here including a different language, culture and people. The education system of Finland is so much different as well. For instance: you will have more than one time to take the exam if you happen to fail or you are not satisfied with the grades. The teachers care more about your learning instead of your grades. The atmosphere always makes you relax in the class. So, if you want to experience the Nordic life and everything here, please do not hesitate to join us!

- Wenchien Hsu - 

Hi, my name is Tri, I was born and grown up in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. I am a freshmen in the Tourism Programme at Lapland University of Applied Sciences.

After my high school graduation in Vietnam I studied Tourism in Ho Chi Minh City University of Foreign Languages and Information Technology but I realized that to develop better in my major, I needed to find a better environment. After having searched many places, I decided to choose Finland – a place which has a popular education and which is also the happiest country in the world. I supposed that my studies in one of the best education places would be a fantastic idea and also an interesting adventure to the beautiful Arctic Circle, so Lapland University of Applied Sciences was a perfect choice for me to follow my passion.

I really love the content of the Tourism programme in Lapland UAS. Instead of coming to class and getting a lot of knowledge which sometimes make us bored, I have enjoyed visiting museums and planning projects like Pohtimo to get practical experiences. Besides, I went to SantaPark to have more work experience that will help me a lot in my major. In the second semester I studied how to start a business. This was a project that will help us plan for future, it was really useful for me.

Having lived for nearly one year in Rovaniemi, Finland, it is so amazing, out of my imagination: great environment, studying in many ways, kind and nice friends. I hope that I will enjoy the rest of my studies with unforgettable memories, that I will continue with getting more knowledge and developing myself.

If you are searching for a perfect choice for your studies, why don’t you come to Lapland University of Applied Sciences and enjoy it?

-Ta Duc Tri- Tourism student

Hi, my name is Linda Krajewski. I am 35 years old, a dual citizen for Finland and Australia.
I was born and raised in a small family in Helsinki. During my teenage years I enjoyed horses and nature, spending much of my time caring for them at the stables. I completed my trade in Vantaa as a surface treatment technician, but I went on to pursue a life of personal fitness and travel. I have 8 years’ experience as a Fitness professional and an assessor trainer at a private education company. I settled in Australia after meeting my husband who was in the Australian Army. We then raised our family together in different parts of Australia for 10 years. I have been to countries such as Japan, New Zealand, Thailand and many more. I love travelling and learning about new cultures. I completed several vocational courses in Australia including business and management.

I have worked in many cafés, restaurants and fitness centres. As a pizzeria employee I was the head of the prepping for the opening of the business and training new staff. I have also worked as an educational trainer and assessor in Australia to qualify other fitness leaders. I have a range of work experience and this was the one of the reasons why I chose to study the Degree in Tourism. 

I have always enjoyed providing a good and positive customer service experience wherever I work. I have started my own business where I provide experiences and accommodation. I love working with different nationalities. I applied for Lapland University of Applied Sciences in the Degree Programme in Tourism because I believed this will complete my knowledge what I have done before and it will help me to prove my business. I’m extremely enjoying the studies at Lapland UAS.

I am hoping to continue towards the Master’s Degree at Lapland University. I hope to grow my business here in Lapland. The more time I spend in here in the nature, the more I fall in love with the forest. I joined the hunting club when we moved here; it’s fascinating. Sitting in the forest over the bond fire is magical.

- Linda J. Krajewski --