They say endings are not a time to grieve, but to be glad that the stories happened. This describes the way I feel as the year and with it, the decade comes to a close. It has been an eventful year which brought many challenges when it started and now that it’s ending, there are new challenges to carry forward into the next year and decade. However, I keep my head up and look forward with renewed hope and energy. Many of the experiences I got to live through in this year resulted as being a part of the Aalto University, which fills me with gratitude for being a student in this university.

When the year started, I was struggling within a global team as part of the course, ME310 – Global Innovation Program at Aalto University, which was also my minor. The struggle was to come up with our proof-of-concept prototype for the water infrastructure optimization project that we had been working on in the course. Since the scope of our project was based in China, and half of our team members were from China, we visited China earlier in the year to validate some of our concepts with the users and gather insights to incorporate them further into our concept. The interviews and user testing we conducted in China was vital for the development of our final concept.

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Sitsit for 7 Polytechnic choirs from all over Finland, in Otaniemi campus

What is a student sitsit in Finland? It is a seated dinner at a long table, usually inside the campus, organized by student organizations. It is very popular in Finland, at least in Aalto University. I have already attended 3 sitsits in Aalto University so far. It is similar to the high table dinner, but in a Nordic way.

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Students have the chance to talk directly with potential employers. On 31st 2019, more than 130 employers are attending! Photographer: Rasmus Karppinen

Aalto has organized Career Fairs in different fields for years. This year, it will be different!  Aalto Career Services is organizing Aalto Talent Expo for the first time on 31 Oct in Otahalli, Otaniemi from 11-17. The event is created for matchmaking between employers and talents at Aalto University. There will be employers of arts, business and technology, which corresponds to the three multidisciplinary fields in Aalto community. Aalto students will be benefited from a series of activities in Talent Expo, including speed mentoring, inspirational speeches, student exhibitions, encounters, tips for work applications, CV clinic, portfolio review, CV-photographing and more. 

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(This article mainly reviews the studies in Aalto and work after graduation)

Civil engineering day is annual alumni gathering to know what is happening in the program. An opportunity to discuss master’s programmes in Building Technology and in Geoengineering, their present and future, and to meet the students and colleagues. The target group of the event is partners of the Department of Civil Engineering and the Bachelor’s students at the School of Engineering.

I know today’s program should be in Finnish, but I can only give this speech in English, I still haven’t given up on Finnish language, but it seems that Finnish language almost gave up on me.

First of all, thanks to the invitation from Prof Puttonen and Prof Hostikka, I am really humble, honored and happy today to share my story, my thoughts and my journey in the program.

In the beginning of this speech, allow me to shortly introduce myself. I am Yiwei, graduated from the building technology program last year. During my years in the industry, my main focus is the structural calculation and structural analysis. I have the luck to be involved in the structural design of very well-known Finnish projects like Keskustakirjasto Oodi, Tripla as well as many large international projects.

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