After arriving at our hostel on Thursday, we went as a team to "Amos", the student room, which, luxuriously enough, was in the same building. The opening ceremony began, where those who planned FINO excitedly talked about themselves and what the plan was for the weekend. This was followed by name bingo where we got to break the ice by mingling with all the new people there. Afterwards we gathered around food and later dancing. It was late for most, but many of us still managed to get up to Friday morning's run/walk at 7. We who were there thought it was a brilliant idea!
Friday began with a good breakfast and then it was off to the lecture hall where we received three thorough lectures on three exciting topics; Juha Klefström who spoke about “Tailoring personalized treatments with living patient samples – from correlations to interventions”, Reija Laaksonen med “Biomarkers for early identification of coronary heart disease in patients at risk” och Mikko Niemi med “Pharmacogenetics and personalized medicine”. I especially liked the last lecture on pharmacogenetics, Maria, mirrored FINO:s theme "Individual health". After the lectures, where a couple of warriors fell asleep after Thursday, it was time for long-awaited food. The afternoon was then devoted to workshop work, where we had the opportunity to work on a given topic, which was done through discussions, and then based on this to create a poster, something that got our creative minds spinning. The workshop provided new lessons, mostly beautiful posters and new acquaintances.
Then it was time for the activity we wanted in advance. I, Maria, fick Escape room, which was incredibly well done and took us just under an hour to solve. From what I heard from the others, it was successful there as well. Food was served again, and there was a party at Amos. It was really fun!
After a long night of partying, many of us were tired Saturday morning. Despite this, some fought their way up for another run. Once we woke up, it was time for breakfast, when we later had to hurry on to the university and the first lecture of the day. The first lecture was given by Hanna Rintala and was entitled "Coping with environmental crisis and protection of mental health". It was an interactive and stimulating lecture where all delegates got to share their own experiences within the subject. After a leg stretcher, the next lecturer was invited on stage, whose name was Mikaela Grotenfelt-Enegren with the lecture “The planetary health diet – Where’s the beef?”. Although the lecture was difficult to apply to the weekend's theme, it was interesting and felt relevant from a climate perspective. At 12 o'clock the stomachs started to rumble and we got a good vegetarian lunch in our bellies. The afternoon continued with workshop work in small groups, where we had to work with our posters on various issues related to the weekend's theme "Individual health". Time passed faster than ever and everyone had to hurry back to the hostel where we had to gather within the delegations to plan the evening's spex. There was a lot of sitting, spectacle and much laughter within just a few hours, so it was important that we worked efficiently to get as good a spec as possible!
Once seated on the bus on the way to the seat, a warm murmur and happy tones were heard. The meeting was held at a fine restaurant outside of town and we were treated to a very good three-course dinner. After the next half of the delegations had danced, it was Sweden's turn to put on its show. We had been given the task of making a spex against Denmark, which was a success with lots of laughs! Later towards the evening, the session was rounded off because we then headed back to Amos, where we were treated to additional food and party all night long.
Sunday must have been the most tiring morning, but since everyone was at the same energy level it wasn't a problem. After getting some breakfast in our bellies, we checked out of the hostel and headed towards the university. We had to present our posters to each other, where a group also offered an exciting spectacle in psychological first aid! It was amazing to see how creative everyone had been, as well as the fine work they had put into their posters. Towards lunchtime, FINO began to move towards an end, where there were many goodbye hugs and applause for all those responsible. I, Magdalena, felt warm inside and extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in FINO. The weekend did not only mean new knowledge in current and important topics, but also an extremely important exchange between other delegates within the Nordic region. I have learned something incredible from the weekend and dream of going back to FINO in Tampere every single day!
We both strongly recommend applying to FINO, it is an amazing experience and
incredibly fun weekend! If you have any questions, just contact us!
Hug,
Mary and Magdalene