Searchin' for the meaning of "higher education" in such places as Finland, Oxford, Portugal, South Africa, and Athens, Georgia, USA.
The (mis)adventures of academia, travel, culture, and the best cup of tea.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Harald's with Horns


Dinner with Horns!
We were invited to a dinner for vikings Thursday evening. Finns were never considered to be vikings, but according to any Finn you ask...Finns have always been tougher than vikings. Our Finnish friend, Ilkka (who was a Fulbrighter in Georgia in the Fall of 2010), coordinated this dinner with a few of his academic colleagues and the Americans (that's us!) We ate at the kitschy restaurant, Harald's,  famous for its viking fare: bear meat, reindeer, lingonberry sauce, and yes, some incredible veggie dishes too. I had this beautiful veggie skewer on a sword (yes, a sword, how cool is that?) Charlie ate up a veggie pie, while the other carnivores at the table tasted Rudolph the reindeer.
Veggie Pie From Sawolax

Ylva's Vegetable Skewer
It was a fun evening getting to know other academic Finns. At one point in the evening the young PhD student studying Sociology spoke very candidly about American stereotypes. She agreed that some Americans can be "fake" and rather "superficial". Neither Charlie or I got defensive, as we know this is a common perspective about Americans because our communication culture breeds the niceties, small talk, and otherwise indirect communication. It is understandable to hear this sort of opinion coming from a Finn, as Finns tend to be direct, shy and reserved, and small talk is considered to be rude. But, then again all of this is based on generalizations and what purpose do generalizations serve?

1 comment:

Mama Weimer said...

Your veggie on a sword looks good. Now eating reindeer doesn't appeal to me at all. I am slowly finding most meats unappealing. Are you rubbing off on me? Five bites of meat is plenty at any one time.