Thursday, September 08, 2005
Last Friday was the orientation day for all first year international students at Sibelius. Most of those first year foreigners were first year's and they looked like it. Some were simply exchange students for the year or the semester. Which means that the majority of those attending the first year gathering were really young. Anywhere between 18-22 and then there were the old guys, me and a guy from Spain.
The day went along at a snail's pace. Finns have a tendancy to give all sorts of details about history, funding, future. Details that students just don't care about. I can honestly say that the first 5 hours were a complete waste. The only useful thing I did was enroll. But then the night's festivities came along and things picked up from there. The Student Union set about teaching the first year's about the important things, specifically which bars the Sibelius students like to inhabit. There are 5 of them and only one was new to me, but that one also had the best beer selection off them all and I was able to have a Sierra Nevada for the second time in Finland. Not that Sierra is one of my favorites, but it is a whole helluva lot better than the typical Finnish beer that over populates the place.
The next morning I was off to the summer house where the mosquitoes devoured me, but I think I wrote about this earlier. Regardless, they were awful. Although for some reason they were not biting Anneli and she is under the impression that we are all a bunch of wimps. Well, I can live with that.
Monday arrives and it is the first day that I will meet my fellow classmates. It was simply an English lesson and it was not fully attended, but it was still nice to meet a couple of the girls. Which brings me to the fact that I am, indeed, the only guy in the class. And already the female dynamic had taken effect.
Apparently there had been a breakdown in communication between the lecturer (assistant professor) - also a woman - and the students. The girls thought her attitude was a little, attitudinal and they weren't having it. And so at lunch I got an earful and they were all getting into it, saying the same thing about trust and respect. In this they are right, but they seemed to go a little overboard and so I told everyone to calm down and that we would handle this together. I think that they were thankful that there was someone - a guy - there to tell them to relax.
The next day, which was the first day of real Arts Management lessons with the professor - a guy - began with a clearing of the air and everyone seems the better for it. The first day was enjoyable with a real give and take classroom environment. We all have different experiences and perspectives and can offer as much to one another as the lectures themselves. This is a good thing because I don't know how much I would enjoy 5 hours a day of lectures.
And then the first of my many journeys to and fro - Helsinki to Joensuu and back and back - began and went just fine.
I am really looking forward to the studies because they also have a large portion of networking involved and the Finnish community regards Sibelius highly and so they are active in their involvement.
I will have more as more happens, but for right now things have started in the right direction.
The day went along at a snail's pace. Finns have a tendancy to give all sorts of details about history, funding, future. Details that students just don't care about. I can honestly say that the first 5 hours were a complete waste. The only useful thing I did was enroll. But then the night's festivities came along and things picked up from there. The Student Union set about teaching the first year's about the important things, specifically which bars the Sibelius students like to inhabit. There are 5 of them and only one was new to me, but that one also had the best beer selection off them all and I was able to have a Sierra Nevada for the second time in Finland. Not that Sierra is one of my favorites, but it is a whole helluva lot better than the typical Finnish beer that over populates the place.
The next morning I was off to the summer house where the mosquitoes devoured me, but I think I wrote about this earlier. Regardless, they were awful. Although for some reason they were not biting Anneli and she is under the impression that we are all a bunch of wimps. Well, I can live with that.
Monday arrives and it is the first day that I will meet my fellow classmates. It was simply an English lesson and it was not fully attended, but it was still nice to meet a couple of the girls. Which brings me to the fact that I am, indeed, the only guy in the class. And already the female dynamic had taken effect.
Apparently there had been a breakdown in communication between the lecturer (assistant professor) - also a woman - and the students. The girls thought her attitude was a little, attitudinal and they weren't having it. And so at lunch I got an earful and they were all getting into it, saying the same thing about trust and respect. In this they are right, but they seemed to go a little overboard and so I told everyone to calm down and that we would handle this together. I think that they were thankful that there was someone - a guy - there to tell them to relax.
The next day, which was the first day of real Arts Management lessons with the professor - a guy - began with a clearing of the air and everyone seems the better for it. The first day was enjoyable with a real give and take classroom environment. We all have different experiences and perspectives and can offer as much to one another as the lectures themselves. This is a good thing because I don't know how much I would enjoy 5 hours a day of lectures.
And then the first of my many journeys to and fro - Helsinki to Joensuu and back and back - began and went just fine.
I am really looking forward to the studies because they also have a large portion of networking involved and the Finnish community regards Sibelius highly and so they are active in their involvement.
I will have more as more happens, but for right now things have started in the right direction.
// posted by Howard @ 11:16 AM 
