Karelia Friend
Welcome to Karelia Friend activities, where international students of Karelia University of Applied Sciences and local residents of Joensuu can get to know each other, learn about new cultures and languages — and make friends!
What is Karelia Friend? It’s a community-building initiative that connects people across cultures through shared experiences, friendship, and fun.
Discover new cultures, practice languages, and build friendships in Joensuu! Karelia Friend connects international students from Karelia University of Applied Sciences with local residents — creating everyday encounters, shared learning, and joyful moments.
A local friend offers international students a chance to experience daily life in Joensuu. At the same time, local participants get a unique opportunity to broaden their worldview and learn something new.
The activities are mainly in English, but you can also practice Finnish and other languages together.
What to do with a Karelia Friend?
Having coffee together, cooking, baking, going outdoors, doing sports, crafting, celebrating Finnish holidays, playing board games, exploring Joensuu, and enjoying nature — all are great ways to spend time together.
Members of the student union POKA or users of SYKETTÄ sports services can borrow POKA’s sports equipment and board games for free.
Rules and principles
Participants are matched based on their applications. Special attention is given to preferences and interests, but not all wishes can be fulfilled, and a match cannot be guaranteed for everyone.
After the matches are made, participants will receive a letter with shared guidelines and an invitation to the kick-off meeting on November 18.
Each pair decides together what activities they want to do and how often they want to meet. Both local and international students are expected to take part actively and show genuine interest in each other and each other’s cultures.
Something that feels ordinary to a local participant may be very interesting to an international student. International students are also encouraged to share things from their own culture with their friend. Participants may have cultural or religious habits — it’s good to talk about these with your friend.
Karelia University of Applied Sciences, WiNK, Cultural Diversity of Study Paths project, or student union POKA are not responsible for the participants. All activities are considered free-time activities, and participants are not insured by the university, projects, or student union.
Both sides should always consider well-being, safety, and cultural differences in all activities.
Activities should not cause unreasonable costs (e.g. bus tickets, entrance fees). Participants are not financially responsible for each other and are not required to pay for any costs that may occur.
Local participants are not responsible for arranging housing, banking, residence permits, or similar matters for international students. Participants are not expected to do any work (such as childcare or housework) for their friend.
Participation is a commitment, but it is voluntary. Both sides have the right to leave the program at any time. If any problems arise, please contact the organizers (contact details below). The organizers also have the right to remove a participant from the program if necessary.
Who can apply and how?
All local residents and students of Karelia UAS can apply! You can apply alone or together with your partner or family. Our team will match friends based on the applications.
All applicants are invited to a kick-off meeting on November 18 from 16:30 to 18:30. At the meeting, you will meet your friend and get more information about the activities.
The program runs from November 2025 to May 2026 — and of course, we hope the friendship continues long after that!
More information
The Karelia Friend program is organized by the WiNK – Work in North Karelia project, the Multicultural Study Paths project, and the student union POKA. The goal is to promote networking, integration, and interaction between cultures.
Questions? Contact us: