American Voices



Dr. Earl Fry, FB Bicentennial

Chair in American Studies

speaking on the "Challenges

& Opportunities for U.S.".



Hanging with fellow FBer: Joan!



A beautiful fall day in Turku, Finland.



Every year the Finnish Fulbright Center and the University of Turku North American Studies Program hosts a seminar, "American Voices". All Fulbright grantees are invited to make a 20 minute presentation on some aspect of the American culture. It took me about one month to decide on a topic to present; my brainstorm list included: back-country Colorado adventures, eat your heart out--American Sunday brunch, Colorado vs. Georgia culture, American political pundits, the U.S. commercialized food industry and the extreme political polarization of U.S. (these last two topics I quickly threw out). I ended up with a topic near and dear to me: Shopping for an American Higher Education. You see the Finns have such a different paradigm on higher education, they truly believe in the depths of their consciousness that higher education should be free for all (okay, not every Finn believes this way, but most do). There view on this stems from a strong belief in the social welfare system, ya know equality for all and universalism of rights and benefits. It is a beautiful thing and counter to many ideals in the U.S.: independence, market-orientation, private control and rights. Anyway, I thought it would be interesting for Finnish college kids to get an inside look of the *complex* American college-choice process (including the financial decision--how to pay for tuition?) In the end, the audience left the seminar a little more knowledgeable about U.S. higher education, the culture in California, Louisiana, and Boston, American food, American brass bands, and many other topics.

The American Fulbrighters in Finland.

Quite a Motley Crew!