Meet the Cast
Wow! What a long day. I’m totally exhausted. We started the orientation this morning with presentations on “The Finnish Academic System” , “Language Instruction”, and “Computing”. Again, important but boring. I’ve become friends with a few people during the breaks, etc. Here’s the current cast of characters, complete with ridiculous first impressions that will almost certainly turn out to be false.
Illka: My “tutor”. Basically the guy who will show me around Jyväskylä and make sure I get all the paperwork done correctly. At first seemed a bit stuffy but now is very friendly and very funny. He has a fiancée and a four year old daughter (which is not uncommon in Finland evidently – I was told that often Finnish parents don’t marry until their first child goes to school). He is in his second year of undergraduate mathematics studies, but seems to be quite knowledgeable compared to what I knew at that point. He loves biking and is very proud of his long hair and tattoo, which he claims make him look “scary and intimidating”. He is quite thin. I like him a lot.
Tim: A gregarious American from UNC Chapel Hill. Swimmer, Diver, Mountain Climber. Serious All-American Good Looks. Very friendly, makes everyone laugh, and is interested in EVERYTHING. Seems quite genuine, perhaps a ladies man. Studies Environmental Science
Lisa: A very tall Dutch woman. Also very outgoing and friendly, laughs a lot, and makes silly jokes. Perhaps likes to party. Studies Psychology.
Sigrid: A soft-spoken Austrian woman from Graz (where I visited for two weeks when I was 13). Seems very bright and extremely articulate. Lives in the same housing area as I do. Studies Psychology.
The Austrian Boys: I can’t remember their names but they are a lot of fun. Always a joke. They all come from Inmsbrook and study psychology.
Marina, Tina, and Christie (The Italian girls from Milan): Friendly and very silly. They seem quite young, though I’m not sure. Seem to get a kick out of everything.
Anyway, there are many more, but I won’t write about everyone. Probably I’ll hardly ever see these people again once the orientation ends. I’m a little worried that I’ll have trouble making Finnish friends. The Finns really are a little hard to get to know, but it seems they open up a lot after some time.
So after the lectures we had lunch and a tour of the campus. I spent way too much time trying to figure out how to make a payment from a bank machine. Then I spent about two hours searching for a plug adapter. Finally, I got a tip to try an electrical store about two kilometers outside the city center. The clerk didn’t speak English, so I drew a picture. He didn’t have one, but I saw some pieces that I thought could be assembled to make one. Sure enough, half an hour and a couple screws and pliers later, we had created an adapter that seems to be working just great right now! I’m back up to 37% on the computer battery. The power unit for the computer is a little warm, but it’s rated to 220 volts so it should be fine. There’s no funny smell, so I think it’s ok.
After all this work, there was a Finnish movie playing, “Down-time”, about a rich couple who gets conned into taking a “vacation” as poor people. It was really strange – the movie was filled with ridiculous comedy that butted right up against very serious social issues like poverty and fidelity. I couldn’t decide if it trivialized these issues or was trying to bring them to light. I do think that the makers of the film had not experienced real poverty.
At some point today, I checked email at the library and found an email from Pekka inviting me to a hockey game with him on Saturday. Sounds fun! I’m in.
After the movie, a bunch of us went out for pizza and beer. It was a good time. As always, I talked too much in general and in particular too much about politics. I kept forgetting that I was with undergraduates from a different culture and not my GEO friends. I think that I may have come off as a serious buzz-kill. Oh well. I guess I’m getting old. It was also a long walk home (45minutes from the city center). I am now very tired.
More stuff at 9am tomorrow. Talk to you soon.
Illka: My “tutor”. Basically the guy who will show me around Jyväskylä and make sure I get all the paperwork done correctly. At first seemed a bit stuffy but now is very friendly and very funny. He has a fiancée and a four year old daughter (which is not uncommon in Finland evidently – I was told that often Finnish parents don’t marry until their first child goes to school). He is in his second year of undergraduate mathematics studies, but seems to be quite knowledgeable compared to what I knew at that point. He loves biking and is very proud of his long hair and tattoo, which he claims make him look “scary and intimidating”. He is quite thin. I like him a lot.
Tim: A gregarious American from UNC Chapel Hill. Swimmer, Diver, Mountain Climber. Serious All-American Good Looks. Very friendly, makes everyone laugh, and is interested in EVERYTHING. Seems quite genuine, perhaps a ladies man. Studies Environmental Science
Lisa: A very tall Dutch woman. Also very outgoing and friendly, laughs a lot, and makes silly jokes. Perhaps likes to party. Studies Psychology.
Sigrid: A soft-spoken Austrian woman from Graz (where I visited for two weeks when I was 13). Seems very bright and extremely articulate. Lives in the same housing area as I do. Studies Psychology.
The Austrian Boys: I can’t remember their names but they are a lot of fun. Always a joke. They all come from Inmsbrook and study psychology.
Marina, Tina, and Christie (The Italian girls from Milan): Friendly and very silly. They seem quite young, though I’m not sure. Seem to get a kick out of everything.
Anyway, there are many more, but I won’t write about everyone. Probably I’ll hardly ever see these people again once the orientation ends. I’m a little worried that I’ll have trouble making Finnish friends. The Finns really are a little hard to get to know, but it seems they open up a lot after some time.
So after the lectures we had lunch and a tour of the campus. I spent way too much time trying to figure out how to make a payment from a bank machine. Then I spent about two hours searching for a plug adapter. Finally, I got a tip to try an electrical store about two kilometers outside the city center. The clerk didn’t speak English, so I drew a picture. He didn’t have one, but I saw some pieces that I thought could be assembled to make one. Sure enough, half an hour and a couple screws and pliers later, we had created an adapter that seems to be working just great right now! I’m back up to 37% on the computer battery. The power unit for the computer is a little warm, but it’s rated to 220 volts so it should be fine. There’s no funny smell, so I think it’s ok.
After all this work, there was a Finnish movie playing, “Down-time”, about a rich couple who gets conned into taking a “vacation” as poor people. It was really strange – the movie was filled with ridiculous comedy that butted right up against very serious social issues like poverty and fidelity. I couldn’t decide if it trivialized these issues or was trying to bring them to light. I do think that the makers of the film had not experienced real poverty.
At some point today, I checked email at the library and found an email from Pekka inviting me to a hockey game with him on Saturday. Sounds fun! I’m in.
After the movie, a bunch of us went out for pizza and beer. It was a good time. As always, I talked too much in general and in particular too much about politics. I kept forgetting that I was with undergraduates from a different culture and not my GEO friends. I think that I may have come off as a serious buzz-kill. Oh well. I guess I’m getting old. It was also a long walk home (45minutes from the city center). I am now very tired.
More stuff at 9am tomorrow. Talk to you soon.
posted by Kevin at 1:05 AM
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