Race, Identity, Nationalism...You know, small talk.
In the past few days I've met a lot of Finns. My "source" was Café Lingua, a night organized by the international center where people can get together and practice various languages. I sat at the English table, because that's where are the Finns were (they're devious that way). Anyway, we had a really nice conversation and I got to practice suomea (finnish) as well. Afterwards, we went to a bar and I got introduced all around. Jackpot!
The people I met were a little older than most of the other international students, and so I seemed to get along better with them (how many undergrads do you know that would enjoy a conversation with me?). We talked alot about politics, and in particular about nationalism, identity, and race. It seems many finns identify with the problems faced by Muslim immigrants to Scandinavia - I have met a lot of finns with one (or two) non-native parent(s). Does this make them less "Finnish"? What impact does this have on their daily life? Is it easier to be "accepted" if you look "finnish" than if you do not? Interesting questions. As the anthropologists would say, "It's more complicated than you would expect, and everything is important."
I was outside this weekend for a while too. I went on a hike with a couple buddies. It was -28 C. That equals COLD F. Despite that it was REALLY beautiful. It is a strange sensation to stand in the middle of a huge lake. We have plans to go to a national park this sunday. It will be warmer this time, I hope!
I've been doing a lot of talking in seminars lately. Last week was a 2 hour study seminar, monday was another 2 hour study seminar, and today was a 2 hour research seminar. Hopefully 6 hours of speaking in 2 weeks is enough for the whole semester. I can't tell if the talks were well received or not, because the finns don't really express emotion about that kind of thing. So I'll just assume that it was the best talk they ever heard, and that they were just struck speechless by my incredible eloquence.
Tonight is a Finnish movie night with my "buddy group". Hopefully it'll be fun, but it's always wierd to watch movies with people you don't know that well because you can't really talk to each other. Despite huge popular concensus to the contrary, I don't think movies are a very social activity.
Ok, time for more math. By the way Toby recently resurrected the Love/Peeve tradition from my old blog (please don't link to my archive in a comment, folks, let the poor thing RIP). In the spirit of "sharing", I'm going to take an idea from her. At the end of each post from here on out, I'll list a category and give three things in the category. For example, Toby wrote
Tea Types: ginger, lemon, green (decaf), white, peppermint
Feel free to comment with your own additions
Here is todays category:
Mug Decorations: collegiate, floral, joke about being over the hill.
The people I met were a little older than most of the other international students, and so I seemed to get along better with them (how many undergrads do you know that would enjoy a conversation with me?). We talked alot about politics, and in particular about nationalism, identity, and race. It seems many finns identify with the problems faced by Muslim immigrants to Scandinavia - I have met a lot of finns with one (or two) non-native parent(s). Does this make them less "Finnish"? What impact does this have on their daily life? Is it easier to be "accepted" if you look "finnish" than if you do not? Interesting questions. As the anthropologists would say, "It's more complicated than you would expect, and everything is important."
I was outside this weekend for a while too. I went on a hike with a couple buddies. It was -28 C. That equals COLD F. Despite that it was REALLY beautiful. It is a strange sensation to stand in the middle of a huge lake. We have plans to go to a national park this sunday. It will be warmer this time, I hope!
I've been doing a lot of talking in seminars lately. Last week was a 2 hour study seminar, monday was another 2 hour study seminar, and today was a 2 hour research seminar. Hopefully 6 hours of speaking in 2 weeks is enough for the whole semester. I can't tell if the talks were well received or not, because the finns don't really express emotion about that kind of thing. So I'll just assume that it was the best talk they ever heard, and that they were just struck speechless by my incredible eloquence.
Tonight is a Finnish movie night with my "buddy group". Hopefully it'll be fun, but it's always wierd to watch movies with people you don't know that well because you can't really talk to each other. Despite huge popular concensus to the contrary, I don't think movies are a very social activity.
Ok, time for more math. By the way Toby recently resurrected the Love/Peeve tradition from my old blog (please don't link to my archive in a comment, folks, let the poor thing RIP). In the spirit of "sharing", I'm going to take an idea from her. At the end of each post from here on out, I'll list a category and give three things in the category. For example, Toby wrote
Tea Types: ginger, lemon, green (decaf), white, peppermint
Feel free to comment with your own additions
Here is todays category:
Mug Decorations: collegiate, floral, joke about being over the hill.
posted by Kevin at 6:31 AM
3 Comments:
Hi Kevin!
Nice blog! ^_^
Damn I missed Café Lingua! I didn't know it was this week! Anyway, I met a Finnish girl who went there to meet some Japanese people... of course, there was none! So next time, I'll join u... but i'm still wondering if i should sit on the French or Jap table... As we say in French, "j'ai le cul entre deux chaises"! :p
Go Kevin, way to break social barriers!
H
I like your heading.. I have a line in my comic book that says, "After the Intifada we stopped making small talk."
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