Personal and Cultural Development
Week ten has been the first week I have felt any form of homesickness. Travis’s mum, a good friend I have made here in Finland, came to visit him this week from the US, and she was fantastic! She was full of energy and fun, and reminded me so much of my own mum that I began to feel the pang of homesickness that everybody else has already had. I decided to make a video for my mum for Mother’s Day, and I’m glad I did because she was so happy she cried tears of joy, even though she could not see me! I also wanted to reassure her that it’s not as cold as she thinks for when she comes to visit me. In fact, the snow is beginning to melt, but freezes over again when the temperatures drop at night, so the ground becomes like one huge sheet of ice! It can be extremely dangerous. But, it is a sign of warmer weather and I even heard birds singing for the first time one day this week, so spring is definitely on its way!
Once again, I have been culturally enlightened thanks to trying new food. This seems to be a defining factor of culture here, and soon it will be my turn to cook a traditional Irish meal for everybody; no doubt I will need plenty of potatoes! The highlight this week came from a friend of mine on ERASMUS from Spain. She hosted a very special evening of enchiladas (Honduras Central American style) and tequila. The enchiladas were totally different from the Mexican style I have had before, but absolutely delicious and I can conclude that Sussan is an amazing cook!
The other culturally defining moment occurred at the weekend, through an event organised by the ESN. Turku’s rival city is Tampere, and every year the ESN hold a Turku-Tampere challenge, which this weekend consisted of a traditional Finnish sitz party – the Turku way! This is a dinner party with a twist! It was a black and white sitz party, so Turku wore black and Tampere white, and everybody was mixed up at the tables for the dinner party. Although I mentioned the food was culturally defining, even more so was the singing that was belted out at the sitz party, with Turku and Tampere in competition with each other, so you can imagine the atmosphere! It was something unique that I had never experienced before. I’m also still getting accustomed to saying ‘cheers’ every time someone has a new drink, and it must be said with conscious eye contact, otherwise you are considered rude.
Professional Development
I started some new classes this week, and am looking forward to this teaching period now that I’ve had a taste of what it shall entail. Two of my modules this time are from the Master’s degree (only one of my courses was Master’s in the last teaching period), and seem extremely interesting and motivating. The module from the Master’s course that I attended in the last teaching period, I have just completed this week by writing an essay on education and values. It was a completely different experience writing this learning task, than previous essays I have done for Stranmillis. There seemed to be a lot more freedom and flexibility here to choose a topic to write about and base it on your own thoughts, ideas and experience. This had its advantages and disadvantages, but ultimately it was an encouraging change. What I found strange was writing a self-evaluation at the end of the essay, and emailing it rather than submitting a hardcopy. The self-evaluation involved grading yourself and reflecting on the lectures and seminars in relation to your own thoughts and experiences. I felt this was useful, because it enabled me to judge my essay in a completely different light, and I think I will do this in the future of my own accord for my own benefit.
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