Let's Get Oriented
I took a sleeping pill last night around 9 pm because I was really bored and exhausted but somehow my body wouldn’t shut off. Now I know why William Gibson calls jet lag a “soul hangover”. Anyway, I woke up and was completely alert at 2am, so I decided to scrub the kitchen floor. Who knows when (if?) the other people who live here will return? If I’m going to be here for a month, I might as well clean the kitchen. If I leave the mess for the people who made it, it probably won’t get cleaned as well as I would like it to be – why set myself up for disappointment and confrontation?
As I was doing this, I couldn’t help but feeling, well, really unwelcome. I know that is a ridiculous thing to feel, and that it probably has more to do with the fact that I’m tired but can’t sleep, dirty, and all alone in a country where I know only a handful of people. Furthermore, it’s not even clear that the people who made the mess knew I was coming – and even if they did, it’s unlikely that they intentionally didn’t clean up because they wanted me to know that I’m not welcome and my comfort and happiness are totally irrelevant to their lives. Still, I feel unwelcome anyway. I’m sure it’ll get better – everyone I’ve met so far has been really nice.
So I went to the orientation this morning. It was awkward at first (as always) but I met some interesting people. There are students from everywhere here! Korea to Canada. Pretty cool. I am the only mathematician, evidently, and apparently the only Ph.D. student as well. The orientation was not surprisingly very boring. Important, but boring.
At lunch I found Anna, who was a master’s student in math here when I was here a year and a half ago for the summer school. It was super good to see someone I knew. Despite having just heard “Finns don’t like to hug anyone except family and very close friends” I couldn’t help myself. It’s so funny how a few days with next to zero human contact will make you a little crazy. Anyway, Anna has now began her Ph.D. studies and gotten married to the chap she was dating when I first met her. She says hello to the Michigan Math crowd. Evidently, there will be two math Ph.D. level courses offered this semester “Fractal Geometry” and “Metric Analysis”. Well, they’re right up my alley.
Afterward the orientation, I went looking for a bike (the stores were closed) and opened a bank account. This was important because the Finns hate cash. All fees and deposits can only be made by bank transfer. This is next to impossible, at $25 per transfer from my bank in the states. Here bank transfers can be done at the “Otto” (atm) and only cost .40 euros. The teller only spoke broken English and my Finnish consists of “hello”, “thank you”, “sorry”, and “welcome”, and “pharmacy” (I don’t know why I can remember that and not something a little more useful). However, things went smoothly and now I have a Finnish Bank card.
After that I went grocery shopping and then came home. I ate a bowl of cereal in my room and then decided to tackle the kitchen. Four hours later, the place looks pretty good. It’s actually a really nice apartment under all that grime. I hope we can keep it clean. My hands feel really funny from all that scrubbing. And I discovered that the “mystery vats” in the bathroom that were giving off a smell like sweaty butt were actually a vastly misguided attempt a homebrew wine. I thought the #1 rule in homebrew was sanitation…
Anyway, after cleaning the kitchen and the bathroom, I feel a little bit better about living here this semester. Hopefully I can convince some of the people at the orientation tomorrow to go out for a drink or something tomorrow night. I’m human starved. Ok, I’m down to 22% battery on my computer, and still no leads on an adapter. I should probably head to bed anyway – stuff starts tomorrow at 9am.
As I was doing this, I couldn’t help but feeling, well, really unwelcome. I know that is a ridiculous thing to feel, and that it probably has more to do with the fact that I’m tired but can’t sleep, dirty, and all alone in a country where I know only a handful of people. Furthermore, it’s not even clear that the people who made the mess knew I was coming – and even if they did, it’s unlikely that they intentionally didn’t clean up because they wanted me to know that I’m not welcome and my comfort and happiness are totally irrelevant to their lives. Still, I feel unwelcome anyway. I’m sure it’ll get better – everyone I’ve met so far has been really nice.
So I went to the orientation this morning. It was awkward at first (as always) but I met some interesting people. There are students from everywhere here! Korea to Canada. Pretty cool. I am the only mathematician, evidently, and apparently the only Ph.D. student as well. The orientation was not surprisingly very boring. Important, but boring.
At lunch I found Anna, who was a master’s student in math here when I was here a year and a half ago for the summer school. It was super good to see someone I knew. Despite having just heard “Finns don’t like to hug anyone except family and very close friends” I couldn’t help myself. It’s so funny how a few days with next to zero human contact will make you a little crazy. Anyway, Anna has now began her Ph.D. studies and gotten married to the chap she was dating when I first met her. She says hello to the Michigan Math crowd. Evidently, there will be two math Ph.D. level courses offered this semester “Fractal Geometry” and “Metric Analysis”. Well, they’re right up my alley.
Afterward the orientation, I went looking for a bike (the stores were closed) and opened a bank account. This was important because the Finns hate cash. All fees and deposits can only be made by bank transfer. This is next to impossible, at $25 per transfer from my bank in the states. Here bank transfers can be done at the “Otto” (atm) and only cost .40 euros. The teller only spoke broken English and my Finnish consists of “hello”, “thank you”, “sorry”, and “welcome”, and “pharmacy” (I don’t know why I can remember that and not something a little more useful). However, things went smoothly and now I have a Finnish Bank card.
After that I went grocery shopping and then came home. I ate a bowl of cereal in my room and then decided to tackle the kitchen. Four hours later, the place looks pretty good. It’s actually a really nice apartment under all that grime. I hope we can keep it clean. My hands feel really funny from all that scrubbing. And I discovered that the “mystery vats” in the bathroom that were giving off a smell like sweaty butt were actually a vastly misguided attempt a homebrew wine. I thought the #1 rule in homebrew was sanitation…
Anyway, after cleaning the kitchen and the bathroom, I feel a little bit better about living here this semester. Hopefully I can convince some of the people at the orientation tomorrow to go out for a drink or something tomorrow night. I’m human starved. Ok, I’m down to 22% battery on my computer, and still no leads on an adapter. I should probably head to bed anyway – stuff starts tomorrow at 9am.
posted by Kevin at 1:03 AM
2 Comments:
At lunch I found Anna, who was a master’s student in math here when I was here a year and a half ago for the summer school.
.. Anyway, Anna has now began her Ph.D. studies and gotten married to the chap she was dating when I first met her. She says hello to the Michigan Math crowd.
Good for her! Say hello to her for us!
Evidently, there will be two math Ph.D. level courses offered this semester “Fractal Geometry” and “Metric Analysis”. Well, they’re right up my alley.
Speaking of which, as soon as I find a scanner I will send you notes from Mario's class. If I remember rightly, there might be one in the UGLi ..
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