Decentralize

[Written last week] This past week, while full of new experiences, was marred by a knife attack that occurred in Turku Market Square last Friday afternoon. My thoughts go out to those personally affected by this tragic occurrence.  I was at Turku's adventure park at the time, which was quite a bit away from the city center. Still, it was devastating to hear that the same square which I was present at the night prior for Turku's annual Night of the Arts was the setting of a violent attack the following afternoon. While I continued to go through the different physical obstacles of the adventure park course, I had an additional mental obstacle which I had to overcome. One cannot fully enjoy an obstacle course knowing such an event occurred just a few kilometers away. Till next week. -Adi p.s. August 22nd marks 1 month in Finland

Hyvää Päivää (Good Day), I am writing this post from the city of Turku, which is the Swedish-influenced former capital of Finland. It is here where I began a course this past Tuesday on Finnish in Working Life. It consists of 6 hours of daily classroom study on the Finnish language, Finnish working life, and Finnish culture. Should I find the right opportunity to work in Finland, the skills I develop from this course will be a good foundation to build on. I will most likely continue my study of the Finnish language at LUT. The video below is part of a class assignment in which we were supposed to go to a store and ask how much something costs. I completed this assignment at Hesburger, which is a Finnish fast food chain. See the video below. After the days' classes and on the weekends, there is an organized social program with events such as a dinner, a picnic and a city walking tour. Post Dinner Photo at Koulu Restaurant & Brewery. Pictured are students from the 3 different Tur...

Welcome back. Earlier this week, I was trying to figure out what I should label my third blog post. The first word that came to my mind was "Despacito." This song, to my surprise, has caught on like wildfire among Espoo locals Jukka and Piiuska, who hosted me in their homes this past week. A Dim Sum Dinner with Jukka and Piiuska It is good to know that crazes in America make their way here in Finland too, as it reminds me a bit of home. I looked up what the English translation was for "Despacito", and I found it means "Slowly". That word describes well my integration into Finnish culture this past week. The first part of my slow integration involved food . I have started incorporating Karelian pies, a Finnish staple item, into my breakfasts. What a Karelian Pie looks like (credits: food.com) They are these interesting looking rice-based pies that are normally eaten with egg butter. Personally, I find them to be pretty tasty even when eaten plain. Another ...