Snow!

So, it's been snowing for a week. Well, of course not snowing the entire time, but almost every day. There's a whole bunch of it on the ground (like 10 centimeters?). I can't believe it hasn't melted away! Anyway, I've made plenty of interesting observations about snow in this cultural context.

1. Finnish people either take themselves too seriously or are much more used to snow than these kids here. They have snow fights, go sledging, walk around their tongue sticking out catching the flakes. I mean, the university students!

2. You have to be born to slippery conditions (like Finland, where snow and ice come every year and even in "bad" years stay for months) to learn how to walk on ice. No matter what these people wear, they keep falling.

3. These people can't drive in snow. No matter that it snows every year reasonably good amounts. They put snow chains on even before the snow hits the ground. They freak out on the prospect of having to drive somewhere. Teachers genuinely seem worried about their students driving home for the weekend. (Although, today I heard a sad story of a local student who got killed when she was hit by a car when she was jogging [in the dark in dark clothes, though, but still])

4. University rules prohibit sledging and all other activities of leisurely going down hills on campus.

5. Police prohibits snow fights. If caught, you can be charged with assault.

PS. There's less than two weeks left of the semester! Can't believe it! Glad to go but somehow it seems that some things were just getting started.

"Second" generation

I've been thinking about this notion of generations a lot lately. First, I had to write an essay comparing two autobiographies in which, ultimately, the biggest issue was that the author's belonged to a second generation; one was born to an Indian reservation and the other to Japanese immigrant parents. Thinking about their struggle for their identities, I also started thinking about the situation in Finland. We are right now in the stage, where our immigrant youth are born in Finland - it is their only home country - but their parents are often still very attached to their old home countries. Right now would be the moment to do something about it, to prevent or at least ease the clash of generations. Our moment to avoid the situation of France!

My title is in quotes because I also talked with my Nez Perce friend about the fate of Indian cultures - and the fate of the world overall. He said that in the end of the 1800s, during a time when a lot of Indian wars were fought and the last free tribes forced to reservation, a Nez Perce (?) chief had said that after seven generations there will be a generation to make it all right. And that's us! He might have been talking about the Indians - this 8th generation reviving the culture, correcting past mistakes - but it could also well extend to all of us. It makes me wonder - is there really a chance for peaceful relations? Nevertheless, the Indian youth seem to be doing their task. Their parents' generation was the first that was not widely taught to speak the Native languages. Now this young generation sees the loss and tries to make up for the lost time, tries to recapture the knowledge that is fast disappearing as the elders pass away. I think we can see the phenomenon also in the Sami cultures - it is no longer prohibited to speak the native languages, it is not a shame to be bicultural.

I know I sound idealistic but I really do hope that these ancient languages and cultures will be restored. (Says she, a member of a relatively small nation, speaker of a language that some people say is threatened to disappear, writing her blog entry in English ;)

Powwow

This week has altogether been englightening in terms of Native American traditions. Today I went to see the Nez Perce tribe's powwow wchih was at the football arena on campus (I guess a somewhat smaller place would have offered a more intime experience but this was nice too). I really enjoyed the ceremony of Grand Entry, in which all the dancers and singers enter the grounds. They were all very nicely dressed, some with quite some traces of modern culture in their traditional-style outfits. I think closest I've ever gotten to a feeling of spirituality has been the three times this week that I have been privileged to hear the prayer with which they started. It is in a form of a kind of a chant which in my opinion resembles that of the Sami people of Lapland. There are no words, and I think the purpose of this chant is to create a proper state of mind for their religious practice. After the opening ceremonies they had dance competitions for different groups. The "tiny tots" were incredibly cute, some of them couldn't even walk without help yet.

In fact, the greates thing about having been able to get to know Nez Perce culture has been to see that they have such a large group of youth learning about the traditions and wanting to keep this culture and language alive. In addition to the dancers, there were very young boys (as well as guys my age) in the traditional drum groups. In a way, knowing the romanticized, traditional picture about Native Americans, it feels funny to see them in their traditional outfits, but warming themselves with a basketball jacket. On the other hand, it is good to see that some traditions have survived, and that the culture is capable of transforming, meeting the requirements of the present day. As far as I know, there are currently only about 30 elders (?) who speak Nez Perce as their language but hopefully this new generation will revive this beautiful language and it will stay among the living languages at least a while longer.

Se hämmästyttää, kummastuttaa...

Vaihteeksi kokeillaan äidinkieltä. Miltä tuntuu... Ja ihan varmuuden vuoksi ;)

(Tämän tekstin pohdinnat koskevat vain konservatiivisen osavaltion pikkukaupunkilaisia - ja niitäkin yleistäen. Ehkä... Sattuuko tätä lukemaan joku, jolla olisi kommenttia asiaan?)

Minulla on nyt teoria. Se on ehkä vahvaa yleistystä, mikä on äärimmäisen kiellettyä eikä kukaan muu koskaan moiseen sorru. :D Amerikkalaiset ovat hyviä hoitamaan oireita puuttumatta vaivan syihin. Lähtien siitä, että kauppa on täynnä vatsalääkkeitä ja joka kolmas mainos kertoo, että nyt voit vihdoin päästä eroon ilmavaivoista, mutta kukaan ei mieti, miksi ilmeisen monella on jatkuvasti vatsa ns. kuralla. Sodat ovat ikäviä. Ratkaistaan asia sillä, että kielletään kaikkia maita ylläpitämästä asevoimia (I Maailmansodan jälkeen). Diktatuurit ovat pahasta. Syöstään diktaattorit vallasta ja maa muuttuu kuin itsestään harmoniseksi demokratiaksi (Irak). Jne. Jne. ... ...

Nuoriso täällä noin niinkuin jälleen törkeästi yleistäen tuntuu hyvin osaavan kritisoida menneitä virheitä. Hymähdellään takavuosien politiikalle istuttaa lisää kaloja kun alkavat olla vähissä (sen sijaan, että puututtaisi liikakalastukseen ja muihin ympäristöongelmiin) ja kauhistellaan idealistista ja naiivia maailmanpolitiikkaa. Vaan ei mitenkään nähdä minkäänlaista jatkumoa näissä ajattelumalleissa.

Pidetään omaa maata valtavan luontoystävällisenä kun on oikein omistettu alueita, jotka pidetään "luonnontilassa", ilman turismia tai muuta taloudellista hyväksikäyttöä ("maan annetaan olla rauhassa vaatimatta siltä mitään"). Pidetään naapurimaata melkein luonnon vihaajana kun ei ole vastaavaa käytäntöä (ehkä minä suomalaisena samaistun tuohon pohjoiseen metsäiseen naapuriin.. ;)

Tämän olen oppinut: demokraattejakin äänestävä amerikkalainen (pikkukaupunkilainen) on aikas konservatiivinen. Aikaisemmin ajattelin, että he olisivat jotenkin "räikeämmin" erilaisia. Not so.

Portland

It's been a long time! Nothing much has really happened, I've been quite busy.

Last weekend me and Timo took a well-earned break from studying (and being social..) and traveled to Portland, Oregon. We rented a car, cheapest and smallest, which turned out to be a 2006 Subaru outback thingie, with a roof window and everything :) No, of course I don't want my own car. Ever.

The drive was long, and there was plenty of country music available on the radio. We didn't make one wrong turn, and made it to Portland in 6 hours. Didn't have much energy on Friday night, so just grabbed some dinner and relaxed. (Had a real hotel room by the way, I don't think I've ever before paid an actual hotel for myself. All hostels were full... The hotel was nice, though very basic. The shower was really good after the stupid ones here at the hall!)

On Saturday we walked around the city (downtown is surprisingly small), went to the Portland Saturday market which had kind of an "alternative" air to it with hippie clothes and incence. Took a walk along the river, couldn't find a bench to sit down as all were taken by homeless guys enjoying the warm and sunny fall weather.

Then we decided to drive our car to a big mall near downtown, and did some shopping :)

And the evening was really the best thing! We found an excellent Italian restaurant ("Pazzo"), slightly expensive but on the other hand quite perfect, starting from the olive oil that we sprinkled on our bread. Had some incredible wine as well. For dessert drinks we went to Portland City Grill, which is located on the 30th floor with beautiful views of the city lights. It was crowded of course, but quite an experience (plus their drinks with some liquor?, fresh strawberries and champagne were quite delicious). Felt very posh etc. :)

On the way back to Moscow on Sunday we stopped at some beautiful views of the Columbia river, as well as waterfalls.

It was overall really good to be in a big city. You know, multicultural (yes, there are lots of foreign students in this university but "quite" not the same), somehow more (politically, culturally) aware -seeming people, public transportation, choice of foods... But well, the small town is the true American experience that I came here for. I'm getting what I wanted ;)

Football

I've tried to watch one game of American football before yesterday's experience. Didn't get much out of it, but at least it was soon over. Since I'm here, I decided that I have to give it another try. After an hour and a half the game was halfway through. We left the arena to go have a glass of wine at a friend's room :) This time I got a sense of what was going on but most of the time I couldn't see where the ball was. And why did those guys just jump on each other even though the ball was in the other end of the field? (Well, most of the time the ball stayed on one end of the field- the one where it shouldn't have, from the point of view of "us Vandal fans".) Anyway, we decided that this is a good activity for hyperactive Americans. Cheerleaders, marching band, advertisements, cheerful music all going on at once. Might not go see the next game ;)

Yesterday we also went picking some apples, which was kind of nice. The views driving up to Garfield, WA were pretty (yes, still mostly wheat fields) and the apples tasted good. There's still only so much a person can eat... We also pressed some of our own "apple cider" (that's what they call apple juice here, hard cider is the kind with alcohol, very rare here) which we heated this morning to get rid of possible germs. It smells really good and reminds me of childhood.

It's weird to look at the trees changing color here. During the day the temperature still rises to over 20 degrees Celsius but it can go below zero at night. So the trees are getting yellow and orange etc. but most of the time the weather isn't the kind I'm used to at home.

Where are you from?

Practically every day people ask me this question. Sometimes several times a day. Apparently I sound funny. No longer British, but just funny. It's my vowels they say. So I’ve given up. I will never have a “perfect” American accent (then we can discuss which part of the U.S. speaks that “perfect” accent). I don’t think I can find a place, where everyone would speak in the exact same dialect, or where I would be the only foreigner. Here I find myself mostly affected by British, German and Swedish accents. So I have now decided to accept the fact (quoting several sources from the English department ;) that each person has their own idiolect blah blah blah.

So, when I tell people where I’m from, I generally get two types of response. Others get all excited. Then they either tell me: “Oh, cool, I have a sister/brother/cousin in [insert any Scandinavian city]!” (“Well, that’s nice. It’s a different country, you know”) or: “Cool! I have this Finnish friend “Samsa” (intonation so that you should react: “Oh, Samsa, he’s like my best friend”), he’s like the coolest person I’ve ever met”. Well, apparently there was an exchange student called Sampsa here and he seemed to have known a lot of people because seriously very many people have mentioned him!

The other group is also very excited but have obviously no clue whether Finland is a state, town, an independent country…

If the conversation goes on (usually not if the second group is in question), next they’ll ask me, why I came to Moscow, Idaho. For some reason (and I’ve noticed this before) people seem to think that their particular small hometown is so much more boring than any other small town in America. Personally, I don’t think it makes much of a difference whether I’m in Idaho, Arizona or California. Larger cities are too far away if you don’t have a car, services are the same everywhere (like 20 times better than in an equally sized Finnish city!)…

And yes, it gets cold in Finland, at least by your standards, but I’m really quite comfortable with it. And yeah, seriously, over there we wear more clothes outdoors than indoors and for me regular room temperature is not 17 degrees Celsius.

Fireplace

I have to tell you about the fireplace in our building. It's really cool, and safe. You turn the switch and the (gas) flames come out immediately. The "logs" are made of rock or such. But it warms, which is great in the temperatures we have INDOORS around here!

...

Yesterday we visited the Latah County Fair. A genuine American experience with chicken auctions, caramel apples and the competition for the largest pumpkin!

Bare necessities?

We're out of toilet paper. In fact, there's not one single roll of it in the whole building (well, except for the toilet in the common area wehre I went for a hunt this morning). Apparently, the housing administration guys don't consider having paper a true necessity. I say guys because I believe they are. I don't think you need to justify a woman, why an apartment with 5 women needs more than a roll of paper a week. Rumor has it that we should get some today (we've been rationed for like two weeks). Keeping my fingers crossed (and legs too, if we don't get some soon...).

Miscellaneous bits of life

Tomorrow starts the 4th week of school! I can't believe it, had to check my calendar to make sure. I'm really enjoying my courses, and so far have kept up with the readings. I've had my first pop-quiz, which was horrible (had to write an essay in 10 minutes, I didn't even have time to think about what I was going to write). Ended up having a B, which is great, but I'm still embarassed at my contribution...

I've noticed I've got tons of freetime here. Everything is so efficient: you cross the street to go to classes, and another street on the other side of home to go to the gym. What do with all the time? They have these poster around that say that university students spend approximately 15hours a week on homework. Seriously! I spend my time reading, exercising, surfing the Internet and cooking! I pride in trying to cook "real food" almost everyday - or at least have Timo cook while I look pretty ;) Anyway, it makes me feel accomplished - eating something else than pasta every day! In terms of food, I've been having trouble: everything's got milk in it! At home I can at least use low-lactose stuff, which keeps the lactose intolerance ok but here there isn't really any products available! Today I took my first look at the pharmacy trying to find some pills and there were just tons of different medicine for heartburn and other food-related "illnesses". Also a lot of the commercials on tv advertise these medicines. Got me thinking that "maybe" there's something wrong with the people's diet... These people must have a lot of trouble with their stomachs.

Yesterday a whole bunch of international students went on a white water rafting trip! I was really scared at first: I had thought that we'd have this big boat and I could just pretty much hold something and be comfortable ;) but we ended up having to sit kind of high up on a small raft, paddling. But when I got over my fear it was pretty cool. The rapids weren't too big, either. At first the weather was all pleasant and people were swimming etc. but then it started hailing! Ice just coming down to my ears, eyes... It was so freezing! But when it stopped, the water felt really warm and I ended up jumping in with my clothes on just before we were coming to shore. I thought I need to experience the whole "swimming-with-clothes-on" experience. The water didn't feel so warm anymore... Luckily I had taken dry clothes to the van so I could change everything after I got up from the water. Really cool trip!

Now I'll get ready for another week amidst the wheat fields! :)

First impressions of Am. university life

Not really that much to tell yet. It's pretty cool that most of my teachers are PhDs in a field related to the course in question. They seem to know what they're talking about :) For a Finnish (European too?) student it's hard to get enough courage to open your mouth even if you're not quite sure what you're saying, or if you disagree with the teacher. I think that in Finland the student-teacher relationships are kind of strange. On one hand we often call them by their first names but then on the other we seem to hold them on a pedestal, not daring to question their opinions, taking everything they say as the only truth. It's quite enjoyable to be in a class where people express their opinions, and especially get counterarguments from the teacher and other students.

What has surprised me is the amount of books I need to buy. For 5 courses I have 13 books and one large set of copies. That adds up to quite an amount. And students are really expected to read during the semester, not just for the exams - classroom participation can be up to 25% of the grade!

Outside school, I do feel a little "stuck" here. The busses don't run on weekends and my free bike isn't good enough to make long trips. Today we rented mountain bikes and ended up doing quite a workout. (Stupid Europeans think they can actually ride their bikes to the start of some biketrails - oh no, you kind of need a car for that too!) Next weekend we'll probably go see Spokane or some other bigger city. Looking forward to that!!

Finally in Moscow

So here we are then. It's hot. I definitely didn't expect this, and have far too little summer clothes with me. Have moved to my room on Thursday, it's quite nice really. Well, the bed is so high my feet don't reach the ground at all and I'm always afraid I'm going to fall off the bed at night. I share the apartment with 4 other girls whom I haven't had much chance to talk to yet. So far it definitely looks like a (American) girlie apartment.

The first few days we spent at the Royal Motor Inn (not exactly as fancy as it sounds ;) and especially the Northern European students kept saying how badly they want to cook their own meals and now that we're here, everybody rushes to the next building for all-you-can-eat breakfast, lunch and dinner :D It's really not worth it. Same food for lunch and dinner, day after day. Forget about it.

I've been doing some sightseeing at the supermarkets. Found only cheddar cheese and nothing with 20% or less of fat. And what's with the way of recording the nutrition facts? They give them in servings, so you have to go around with a calculator to get a good picture (like 28 ounces of cheese...). These people here should definitely give up and accept the metric system.

Anyway, it's been interesting. I've spent a year in American high school and so far it doesn't seem that different :D Parents take their kids around, teachers practically hold your hand to make sure you go to class etc. Well, the actual lectures start on Monday, so more comments then!

Here we go

New York. Warm, humid but cloudy. You never get this atmosphere in Finland – maybe it’s the big city smell?

Flight wasn’t too bad. I actually got some sleep, with my “shades” and some peaceful music. There was some terrible turbulence though. I really didn’t enjoy that. It was very suspicious: outside it was all nice and sunny but the plane was jumping like hell. And there were no announcements or anything…

The traffic in New York is chaotic – we’d never taken a cab or a bus before but now we took the Super Shuttle to Manhattan. Very South European :) And also the way how the driver (well, he probably _was_ Italian) stuffed more people into the van than there were supposed to be.

“Driver’s tips are not included in your voucher” – “so what – if the guy like starts telling you what to see in New York you’ve gotta tell him to shut up if you don’t want to pay extra?” Yeah, it took me a while to realize the sign was talking about tip for the driver… :D

Now I’ve got to figure out a way to stay awake for some 5 more hours (I’ve already been awake for 17, and slept only about 5 hours last night). Way to go.

By the way...

... in case anyone happens to end up on this blog and wonders why it is so boooooring: I wanted to write down some practical things that I had to do before I go, and I hope to have something "original" to say once I actually get to the U.S. Stay tuned :)

Rest of my life...

I decided to give an update about everything else - maybe just for me, maybe for someone else, if anyone ever reads this ;)

I've had a very peaceful - you could say boring - weekend. Visited my parents, helped my mum with 5kg of strawberries (to freeze)... I was somehow mellow or something, maybe it was the heat, (thunder) stormy weather whatever.

Best thing: taking a nap outside! That was awesome! Trying to remember these little things ("Life isn't measured by the number of breaths you take but by the moments that take your breath away")

Accomplishments: "canning" 5kg of strawberries, doing weight training at home (biceps with 5kg, yeah :)

Always more stuff to do

Fast service from the embassy. The visas arrived already on Friday. Timo picked them up today at the post office. I hear there's a sealed envelope stamped to it - I think you're not supposed to open it?

Just when I thought I had "everything" under control, I could quickly list 11 things that need organizing sooner or later. In fact, I did take care of some of them already but still. Sometimes I'm afraid I'll be running some errands on Monday night before we leave...

But at least I've got a suitcase now :) Bought a huge one yesterday. I've promised myself that all my clothes must fit there not only in August but also in December when we come back... It'll be so much nicer with only one suitcase!

Endless bureaucracy

I survived it! Today I went for the visa interview - took about an hour (2,5 including travel and lunch ;) with maybe 3 minutes spent at the actual interview. I felt like an important person, having a guard escort me across the yard etc. Lots of papers and waiting involved. No scary questions, actually the lady was very nice. Had my fingerprints taken, luckily was able to avoid cuts, blisters etc. that would have prevented me from applying for the visa until the fingers healed.

So, now even that's in order. I'm good to go!! Seriously, I sometimes forget why I'm running all these errands - there have been so many things that it seems as if it was just part of my daily routine ;) It makes me happy to remember that I'm actually going to travel in ... 26,5 days :D

Have I participated in a genocide or the operations of Nazi Germany? That's what they wanted to know when I filled out my visa application... Well, I've arranged an interview, the first available time is in mid-July, so I honestly don't think I'm too early with this one... Well, anyway, that one's on its way and actually I think I've taken care of all the major issues now!! (Oops. Except I haven't registered for the courses yet - will have to do that today!)

Apart from practical matters, I'm suffering from severe "traveling fever" :) I totally can't wait. I'm reading all kinds of books and Internet articles about New York (where we will be heading first), the Pacific Northwest and lately also California (we're planning a little trip there with my parents after the semester). I'm already dreaming about Au Bon Pain in New York. Our flight will land at Newark at around 1pm. so the only thing I probably manage to do that day is go and have a raisin&cinnamon bagle there, and get adjusted to the time difference. This time round I want to explore more the area around Central Park and also head out to Brooklyn etc. (Last time we went to New York we only had a few days so we concentrated on the "must-see tourist attractions mostly Midtown and Downtown.) I really, honestly feel the time should be going a bit faster. 54 more days ;)

What language do you speak when you call/visit the U.S. embassy in Finland? Their website is all in English (!) and I haven't got a clue. I'm trying to prepare my documents for the visa application and now I'm just waiting to get proof that I can support myself next fall >:) Thank goodness for exhange programs, I only need to prove funds of $850 for the whole semester.

Another thing: I was trying to figure out the fees for the visa, and it appears I need to pay two different ones (the other apparently solely for the purpose of keeping people employed??) and I can't even find out the amount I'm supposed to pay... And this time, now that I finally have my own Visa credit card, this fee must be paid through the bank, not with the card... :/

Otherwise, I'm excited. I'm virtually counting days for my summer job to end and for the flight to take off. I really feel I need this change of environment!! (And no, I'm not counting on the exchange to solve my problems - except that my only problem at the moment seems to be that everything is too familiar and monotonous, which will certainly change when I go to a new place, so...)

Getting started

This blog will be my "travelogue" for the coming fall semester, which I'll be spending at the University of Idaho.

When you start thinking about a semester abroad, you think you just apply and that's about it. The closer it gets, the more you start to feel that it actually really would be easier to just stay home :) Well, by now, with a bit over two months left here in Finland, I'm really excited about seeing something new for a change.

So far I've managed this:
- made two sets of applications (first for my own university and then for the host university)
- filled in medical forms etc. when I got accepted
- renewed my passport (now I've got the EU passport that's stupid red instead of blue, and it has one plastic page, which makes it difficult to close)
- bought health insurance
- bought plane tickets
- applied for housing and paid the fee for that (have now received a single room in a 5-person apartment)

A major thing not completed: visa application. I haven't even received the papers yet. I'm going to be in trouble if I don't get the visa for the same date with my flight... As for the Visa with a capital V, I've proudly received a student Visa credit card after completing 60 credits at the university. Haven't had the courage to use it yet :)

Next, I'm going to meet with my home university coordinator and hopefully get those visa forms and then I'll have to start thinking, which courses to take. As easy as it is to find info in the Internet these days, course descriptions aren't that readily available at least before the semester starts. So I'm relying fully on course names, which probably isn't such a good idea.