MCDONOUGH WORLDWIDE-FINLAND
Sunday, March 16, 2014
What is Finland scarred of?
I read the heading this morning, which literally translates "What Russian scares", as I left a hotel in Senajoki. What should Finland be scarred of? is what it means; along side a picture of Putin I can think of a few things. Finnish history with Russia, although it was not a Soviet state was still a very sensitive one. Finland to this day is still not a member of NATO because of Russia influence and power hold over Finland. Specifically the city where I live, Helsinki, has burned to the ground twice because of Russian invasion. You may not know a lot about Finnish history but Finland is a relatively new country, gaining independence only in 1917 and was previously under Russian rule. Finland has been the battle ground for Sweden and Russia and after WWII Finland owed war reparations to Russia for aiding Germany.
What is significant about this is that many of the people surrounding Putin are in favor of a return to Cold War times and also a rebuilding of the Soviet Union. This may sound ridiculous at first but it is actually very real. I spent the weekend with my family and their friends, and their feelings towards Russia are strong. Today is the referendum of Crimea and the results will have significant impact on the world. Finland is also a territory that has historically been important to Russia and Finns are well aware of the danger of the situation now that Russia has invaded Ukraine. US troops have been training in Lapland previously but now papers say UN troops are on there way to train in the freezing temperatures of northern Finland.
I can only hope that we do enter another war, but living in the country that borders Russia, people are not so hopeful. I will definitely being following news on Russia's actions.
<3 Danie
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Running on Ice
Living in Finland I’m running on ice; literally and
figuratively. Although Finland is having a weirdly warm winter, the ice does
not all melt even on the warmest days. After not running for three months due
to an injury, I cannot help but go out anyway because I live across the street
from Finland’s national cemetery which is along the Gulf of Finland. It is a
beautiful place to run, and if I need a break I can stop at a cute coffee shop
called Regatta that’s right along the sea (they give free refills which is a
rarity). I cannot wait until it warms up a bit and the sun comes out because
then the swans will be back. They are Finland’s national bird. I saw a couple
the first weekend I was here but have not seen then since the sea froze.
Now I say living here is like running on ice figuratively
because life here is not always easy but it is still very fun. And just like when
I’ve finished my run, when I find out something new about myself or my roots,
it is very rewarding. I’ve made some major
changes in my life since I have been here and I can only believe it will help
me towards my ultimate goal of finding myself. I have to give credit to firstly
my friend Maria, who I mentioned in the last post. She has taught me a lot about
Finnish culture and one very interesting thing she said is that Finnish people
like Finland can seem very cold. In Finnish, I love you is mina rakastaan
sinua. After hearing my mom say I love you when where skyping, she said she was
surprised she would say that to me. Her mother does not say that to her.
Finnish people use the word love in a very deep and romantic way. Children from
very young are taught to be very independent and that they should just know
their parents love them. Maria and her friend then further explained to me more
details of Finnish interactions between men and women. It is very different
from American culture and respect for women is held very highly here. At this
point I felt like I found a piece of myself. I am not one to show affection in
public, I have only told one person I love you other than my family and to my
friends, and I have often been called cold. It was a moment that allowed me to
really reflect and find some answers.
I secondly give credit to my family. I spent one Sunday at Asko’s,
my grandpa’s brother’s house and only one person could speak English to me! I
would speak English, Matti would translate, the family would speak, and he
would translate back. It was quite the day. It felt really good though when
Asko’s wife asked me a question in Finnish and I knew what she said. I could hear
my grandma in the back on my head saying the same thing. The food they had was
excellent! All traditional Finnish foods and some I had never had before. The
best part of the day was Skyping home to my mom and grandparents. My grandma was
so excited she could barely speak and ran away when she started to cry (Finnish
people never show their emotions). They are very new to Skype and have not been
to Finland since 2009 so they have been writing letters since. After this we
looked at old pictures of my grandparents and had coffee while chatting over
culture differences.
Speaking of culture, I have been able to hear a lot about it
especially from the students I am a teaching assistant for. I am a language
assistant for the university’s language program and I currently help teach a
class on grammar, sit in on a conversation group and also help with the language
club. Luckily I do not have to know too many grammar specifics because mine could
use improving! In the conversation group we talked a lot about differences in
culture because although most there were Finnish, one man was from Somalia and
one woman from Russia. The Finnish were happy to laugh about their stereotypes.
Especially the “rules of public transportation”, in which there is a video for
on you tube. “Don’t say hi to the driver, don’t look at anyone, don’t ask if a
seat is taken, don’t ask for help with directions, don’t speak loudly and most
importantly don’t smile!” It was very entertaining because if you take the
tram, bus or metro you’ll find these rules really do apply. We also briefly talked
about the sauna. For some foreigners this
can be a new experience because this is normally a no clothes occasion is and
is a part of not only recreation but also business. It would not be weird for a
business group to take a sauna together after a meeting and further discuss issues;
it is just part of life. It originally had cleansing purposes and let’s be
honest it’s really cold in Finland and feels good. My apartment complex has a
sauna and pool in which girls can go in on Wednesdays and a group of us have
made a habit of this. Most everybody wears a bathing suit but not all!
I’ve also gotten to learn more culture from my “aunt” as I
call here Ulla. I went a second time to her house this past weekend to make
Chinese dumplings and meet her other son. She was previously married to a
Chinese man and her son recently married a Chinese girl so they had experience.
What an experience it was for me though; people were speaking Finnish, English
and Chinese! It was a very fun night and after we ate our dumplings Ulla, her
boyfriend and I listened to our favorite Finnish and American songs while sipping
wine. We went from The Eagles to Garth Brooks to many now famous Finnish female
artists. I now listen to them in my free time hoping to help improve my
language skills. Before I left Ulla let me borrow clothes for an 80’s party I
was going to and it was so fun to try on clothes and just hang out with family.
I am just now starting to get a little home sick. I really
miss my family and roommate. It started when I realized that my mom and Ulla
would be such good friends if they didn’t live on opposite sides of the world.
They haven’t seen each other since they were younger but I hope my mom comes
here someday. I also miss my dog, but in Helsinki you can’t just stop and pet
someone else’s dog. That’s another “rule”.
Well I know that was a long post but I will try to make them
more often so it’s not such a book!
Love from Helsinki,
Danie
Sauna |
Robert's Coffee (Finnish) |
great traditional food! |
Asko and Matti's family |
Making Dumplings! |
80's party with some of Ulla's clothes |
Cake for Maria's birthday in my room |
two Finn's who don't speak good Finnish |
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Helsinki: Small town girl in a big city
I’ve been here over
two weeks and I still feel like I´m in some kind of dream that sooner or later
I will wake up from. Finland is beautiful and such a peaceful, quiet place even
though it’s a capitol city. There is such a great focus on recycling and the
environment and it has done wonders on keeping the country so clean. It feels
like I am on a vacation but now that I have had a week of classes I am
reorienting my focus back to school and classes.
Upon arriving, like I
had predicted I spent a lot of time with my third cousin? Tarja and her husband
Antti. Her grandma and mine were cousins so that is my best guess, but family
is family. They have been extremely nice and welcoming. She tried to show me
how to navigate around the city but as it may have sounded cliché I was still
in shock at the size of the city that I was supposed to know my way around (most
people say this isn’t big compared to some places though). And jet lag is a
real thing; but I stayed up as late as I could and then slept for 14 hours,
crazy. The next day Tarja and her husband took me to a café which they do every
Sunday from 9 to 12 and I plan on making it a habit to join them. They have let
me borrow so many things and I am so grateful because it is cold! I mean really
cold. Cold enough that when I walked to class one day my snot froze in my nose!
They have let me borrow a down-feather jacket though and some nice gloves until
I get my care package from home.
I also spent the
Finnish holiday on January 6th at my cousin Ulla´s house. She is my
mother’s age and lives in Espoo, which is a region of Helsinki. Her son picked
me up because I am still new to public transportation and cannot read anything
in Finnish so it can be difficult. The public transportation here is excellent
though. Many people do not have cars because there are buses, metros, subways
and trains. I currently walk to class and it takes me 20 to 30 minutes but I
don’t mind and have found routes that keep me inside through the underground
malls for a good bit of the walk.
Another thing I should
note about Helsinki, and Finland in general, is that it is expensive.
Everything from food, clothes, home things and alcohol is more expensive. It is
especially expensive for those of us outside the EU because 1 euro is about
$1.40 America dollars. Luckily I had great orientation tutors who made it a
point to show us where we could get what we needed cheaper. This also inspired
a group of us who live in the exchange student housing of Domus Academica
(which I found out is the best place to live and a major party spot) to go to Tallinn,
Estonia this past weekend. 24 of us took a cruise ship two hours across the
Baltic Sea to see the old historic town, which is their capitol, and stock up
on cheaper goods. It seems to be a right of passage as an exchange student to
take a boat to Tallinn and stock up on as much alcohol as you can carry. It was
quite a sight to see so many people, mostly native Finns, with tote bags and
pull-alongs to carry it back. This brings up this issue of Finland as a state
controlling the price of alcohol, as well as many other things which is
different from the American economy being controlled by the market. Just to
give you an idea a beer here is normally 5 euros at a bar and 2.5 euros in a
grocery store. That’s $7 and $3.5 for one drink! Now you can see why everyone
goes to Estonia to stock up.
Before the trip to
Estonia, and during it, I have been able to meet some amazing people from all
over the world. I have met one other American but I don’t really see her. I
spend a lot of time with a girl Maria, who like me is Finnish but doesn’t speak
it. She speaks Swedish because she lives on the Island of Åland, which is owned
by Finland but because of the historical Swedish ownership many places in
Finland almost homogenically speak Swedish. It is the second national language.
I also have had great conversations with a Political Science major from the
Netherlands and have hung out a lot with a group of girls from Canada, a girl and
guy from two different areas in the UK and eat lunch many times with a guy from
Turkmenistan.
I am trying not to
spend all of my time with exchange students but we have become a little family
that looks after each other when we go out or need help daily. We have a common
room called Ahalla in our building and it has become a gathering place that
lets you meet all different people and cultures. To meet more Finnish natives I
am enrolling as a language center assistant now in which I will tutor Finnish students
trying to learn English for credit. I am hoping this improves my Finnish in
return. I have also spent time with a Finn who invited me to get involved with
their LGBQ organization. And today I applied for an internship with Finland
Future Research Center so I’m praying something works out. I want to learn as
much Finnish culture as I can.
I am off to meet more
family this weekend. I will go to another part of Espoo to spend time with
family on my grandpa’s side. I meet them at the airport when I arrived but we
have still been using google translate to communicate so it will be a great
day!
Love from Helsinki <3
Here are some pictures, you can find me on facebook for more.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Leaving for Finland!
Tomorrow is the big day! I leave from Cleveland to
Washington DC, make a stop in Copenhagen, Denmark, and then on to Helsinki,
Finland, where some of my family will pick me up from the airport (most don’t
speak English though). My second cousin Tarja (Tha-di-a) will then meet me at
my apartment where she has brought a few things like sheets, cooking things, a
hair dryer and wants to help me with anything she has extra that I can borrow.
She has my keys and speaks fluent English. I think I will be spending a lot of
time with her. I am very excited but also nervous. I have never lived in a big
city or spent more than one day in one. I suspect that finding my way to
classes will be my first major struggle. I will basically be starting over as a
freshman! I think this will help me grow as a person though.
Some people may be wondering why I picked Finland in the
first place. Many of you may have to look at a map to even know where it is. When
I decided I wanted to study abroad (freshman year) I was set on going to Italy.
I had a very romantic view of the country, and thought it would be a great
place to spend some time. When having a conversation with someone who had
already studied abroad, I was asked why I picked Italy. I stated my few
reasons, but he did not seem convinced that this was the place for me. I was
then asked why not Finland? After all I am 50% Finnish and have never been
there. After a few days of reflecting I realized that studying abroad was not
only a chance for me to see a new culture, but a chance for me to see a country
that means so much to my family.
In my house Finnish
is spoken everyday by my mom and grandparents, but I cannot speak more than a
few sentences. I spoke it when I was younger but after going to kindergarten, did
not use it anymore. I have always wanted to speak it but have never put in the
effort needed. It has taken my
grandmother (who is going to be 85) getting sick for me to truly realize how
important it is for me to go. As resilient as my grandparents are to keep
living and working, they are not going to be here forever and I only have so
much time to learn their story and history. My grandma, Mumma as we call her
which means grandma in Finnish, has a blood disease that has caused her body to
quit producing blood. She is now going through chemo to trick her body into
thinking it has cancer so that it starts producing again. She told me right
before I left that only 40% of people live, I was again reminded of the limited
time I had to get to Finland and get home. One specific goal I have is to find
out if her farm is still standing and visit it. I want to learn the language
and culture and continue that when I get home. My goal is to only speak Finnish
to my grandparents and mom once I return.
Besides family reasons, I want to go to Finland because it
has one of the best school systems in the world! Higher education is normally
free, but since I am in an exchange program I had to pay. Finland is also one
of the countries that during the economic crisis in 2008 stayed stable and was
a lender to other EU countries. I am very interested in learning more about
Finnish economics since I already know taxes are very high. I have researched
some on current events but will continue this once I get there. I want to learn
everything I can about Finland and its role in the world.
This is a brief introduction to my trip. It has been a very
difficult road so far but I know it will be worth it. I hope you will continue
reading. I feel I will have a lot to talk about as I experience a new chapter
in my life. I don’t think I can go without briefly mentioning Catlin Yager. I
was very sorry to hear about this tragedy. I did not know her very well but she
was supposed to study in Russia and spend a weekend or so with me in Finland.
My condolences to her family and everyone who knew her.
I am happy to answer any questions about my experience and
studying abroad in general.
Danie Chirdon
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