Ah, Sunday brought back our health and wellness. Woohoo, time to unpack and explore!
 |
| Short-cut to campus...through the forest. |
The good thing about higher education research is that it is a small field leading to quick connections with others working in the field. By attending academic conferences, we have both come to know an American living and conducting research in Jyväskylä, Finland. He was nice enough to take us on a walking tour of campus. Woohoo, time to get out of the illin' apartment and breathe in some of that fresh and cool Finnish air. Campus is located about 4 blocks away. (Have I told you how close we are to everything...city center, the lake, train station, and campus?) During the tour, we were both pleasantly surprised by the natural beauty of campus and the prevalent architecture of the famous Finnish architect
Alvar Aalto. Aalto lived in Jyväskylä for a good portion of his life and much of his Nordic Modernistic style can be seen on campus, either designed by him or modeled after his style. He had a way of expressing the relationship between people, nature, and buildings in his architectural design. Part of campus is located on prime real estate, right on the lake! Lucky Charlie has an office in the building that is lakefront and he has amazing views from his office...photos will be posted later. My office is located in the Finnish Institute of Educational Research (FIER), home of the famous
Program for International Students Assessment (PISA) joint project with OECD. From our initial assessment of the campus, our offices, and the people we have met...we are loving the
University of Jyväskylä.
 |
| Karoke with the Finns: singing "Jammin'" by Bob Marley. |
Monday and Tuesday we attended a seminar with all of the Finnish higher education researchers. Although most of the sessions were in Finnish, we made some great contacts, practiced our Finnish, and were honored with the opportunity to listen to the keynote speakers:
Rajani Naidoo from the UK and
Simon Marginson from Australia (who both presented in English). (For those not in the higher education field...those two are kinda a big deal!) The seminar dinner on Monday night led to some crazy karaoke. What do you get when 3 Finns and 2 Americans walk into an empty bar on a Monday night? A wildly entertaining night of karaoke.
The good thing about higher education research is that it is a small field leading to quick connections with others working in the field. By attending academic conferences, we have both come to know an American living and conducting research in Jyväskylä, Finland. He was nice enough to take us on a walking tour of campus. Woohoo, time to get out of the illin' apartment and breathe in some of that fresh and cool Finnish air. Campus is located about 4 blocks away. (Have I told you how close we are to everything...city center, the lake, train station, and campus?) During the tour, we were both pleasantly surprised by the natural beauty of campus and the prevalent architecture of the famous Finnish architect Alvar Aalto. Aalto lived in Jyväskylä for a good portion of his life and much of his Nordic Modernistic style can be seen on campus, either designed by him or modeled after his style. He had a way of expressing the relationship between people, nature, and buildings in his architectural design. Part of campus is located on prime real estate, right on the lake! Lucky Charlie has an office in the building that is lakefront and he has amazing views from his office...photos will be posted later. My office is located in the Finnish Institute of Educational Research (FIER), home of the famous Program for International Students Assessment (PISA) joint project with OECD. From our initial assessment of the campus, our offices, and the people we have met...we are loving the University of Jyväskylä. 
1 comment:
You were probably great at karaoke. I know how you love to be a part of every party. I remember Charlie and his part in the Christmas skit. Fun was had by all I am sure.
Post a Comment