Skip to main content

Finland's mark



Today in Finnish class I went up to a Nepali classmate and asked him if he knew a Nepali song that I have been obsessed with for the past two weeks. I told him that I was in love with the song but couldn’t understand a word so could he please translate it? In the middle of asking my question I realized he had no idea what I was talking about and that this was really awkward but it was too late to back out so I ploughed ahead anyway. The result was that I avoided him for the rest of class. But part of me didn’t care. Being in a new country gives you thick skin for awkward encounters.

Being in a new country also shapes you and molds you into a different version of yourself. A friend of mine wisely said that “where you live leaves a mark on you.” I’m still only a couple months into my two year long stay here in Finland but it is leaving a mark already.

On our way to Naantali, a town 18 km away from Turku.
There are the little things. I drink coffee (well, half of it is milk and sugar but still, baby steps). I wear reflectors now. With the winter being so dark, multiple people have said reflectors are an important way to avoid accidents when you have to walk both to class and back home in darkness. Biking is my preferred means of transportation and has forced me to learn to bundle up. And after years of my mother unsuccessfully imploring me to wear a hat, I now don’t leave the apartment without one.

I have taken charge of my education and social life as well. These are two very broad topics and probably deserve posts of their own but I will be brief here. In Finnish higher education, most of the learning is done by yourself rather than in class. The result is that you need to take the initiative to read, discuss and complete assignments without a teacher breathing down you neck. Most of the readings that are due for classes aren’t ever mentioned by the teacher. And socially, I have transformed into a planner to prepare for the impending winter. Keeping an active social life, I have
heard, keeps the winter blues away.

Some of my lovely classmates at our first potluck.
Subtle changes add up and sometimes I wonder how it will feel to go back to the US after two years of living here. Turku feels like home and has already made many of the changes I wanted to make on my lifestyle but was never able to back in the States. But as that same wise friend said, I haven’t seen a Finnish winter yet so we shall see how much I love this country in December. But to quote the Finns (and Game of Thrones) winter is coming.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Small Acts of Love

A game of hockey going on on the river My boyfriend plays on a hockey team from September to May. It isn’t an official team—they don’t play games throughout the season and aren’t in any leagues—but they meet diligently every week for practice (he actually plays with two teams but it still isn’t clear to me what the difference is between them except that one team is better than the other). This requires some dedication because practices for both teams are either very late in the evening or very early in the morning. At the end of their season, before they take a break for the summer, the players come together and have a full-length game. I wanted to go last year and this year but wasn’t able to make it either time. Instead I asked him to send me a picture of himself in all of his gear. Last year he sent me a selfie of himself before the game, but without his gear on so I hoped this year he would manage to get a picture with both. He did not. I was willing to drop it, figur...

Working Identities

The halls of a TC building where I must be a doctoral student It’s been a while since my last post. To be honest, I haven’t done much besides school work, to the point that the I no longer know what to tell people when they ask me what my hobbies are. Which also means I feel a constant looming pressure of knowing I live in a big city with a reputation for never sleeping yet I spend my weekends holed up in my room or in the library (and the occasional coffee shop). This is not to say that I spend all of my time doing doctoral work. I have found two outlets in the form of jobs that have enriched this semester in ways that I didn’t expect. One is at a preschool, the other is working at the Graduate Writing Center consulting students working on academic writing projects. After not working for two years, I had forgotten what it feels like to be part of something that allows for change that you can actually see. Teaching is always rewarding as you watch children grow and marvel...

Finnish Differences

Time is a funny thing. It seems to move in leaps and bounds at times and at times it moves slower than molasses. Right now it's doing both. I can't believe it's only been a week and yet I can't believe it's already been a week. Sunset in Helsinki This week I've been in Helsinki for our Fulbright orientation. We learned a lot of information and it would be impossible for me to fit all of it into a reasonable amount of space so I will leave that summary for another day. But a week has given me some time to notice some differences in how things work in Finland and how they work in the US. I thought I would highlight five here that encompass a fair variety of my experiences so far. I have to give credit to my friend Marie who helped me with this list. Many of these are her ideas. 1. Nature is Everywhere This one is first because I think it is the most important one for Finns. Finnish people love nature and it shows in the way cities are built (at least th...