Both of the French girls, Alix and Apolline who are coming from the same school will explain their experience.
As soon as we had our placement in Novia UAS, we started searching for a flat. Our idea was to live as roommates. At the beginning of our researches, the staff from our school and Isabelle (coordinator for exchange students at Novia) recommended us to use the TYS organization. The website is easy to understand and well-organized. You will find it in 3 languages: Swedish, Finnish and English. You only have to ask for a flat by giving an application with some criteria and wait for their response. Once they found the right apartment for you, you only need to accept it and pay a deposit.
You need to know that there are different types of TYS accommodation. In both cases, you will need to have a starting package, because some of the apartments are empty. In this package, you can have some dishes, a pillow, a blanket and some curtains. It costs 70 euros to rent but if you return it clean, you get 50 euros back.
The most common area to live in is the “Student Village”. As its name itself, it’s a proper village of students, who share everyday life. In those flats, you have your own bedroom and personal bathroom and share a kitchen with your 10 neighbors. In this village you will have a very lively life because (or thanks to) plenty of parties organized through the week.
The other TYS accommodation you can find is the one we choose. It’s usually 3 or 4 buildings of shared apartments. They can be small, for only two persons or bigger, up to five persons. In those you have your own room and you share the bathroom in addition to the kitchen.
The access to saunas is included in the rent and you can find them in every accommodations/building. You can book it four times per months on the TYS website. The good thing is, that you will be the only one in the sauna, you can invite your friends of course but there won’t be anyone you don’t know.
In those villages, there is also a laundry room. It’s the same procedure than with the saunas. The only difference is that you can book it as often as you want. To book it, you need to pay a package for like 5 or 10 laundries as you wish, you can also choose to pay only for one but it’s less advantageous. In total, you have 3 washing machines but unfortunately only one dryer.
In our type of accommodation, there are also some parties organized. But they are taking place in a club room that you can book (on TYS website again). This room is open three times a day: 8a.m./13p.m.; 13p.m./18p.m. and 18p.m./23p.m. The good thing is that it’s less noisy than in the big student village, because there they’re partying in the common kitchens.