Sisu means resilience, strength at the face of adversity. This term is known to be hard to translate correctly into English. So far its my favourite word in Finnish language and says so much about the culture of Finland and its people. SISU also seems to be the story of all of us bound for Finland today and braving it! Until last September, Finland meant two things for me: snow and design, inspite of having two long term Finnish friends. That all changed today. It started at 3.45am at the sound of alarm going off reminding me that there is a plane to catch to Helsinki from Dublin at 9.35am. With 19 (including 3 faculty members) of us travelling together, from Galway to Dublin by bus, the general atmosphere was of excitement and eagerness. At any airport across the globe having a Pakistani passport means delays at various counters but it all went 'relatively' smoothly (after paying 30euros for excess baggage, and satisfying the customs and airline personnel that my passport was authentic!) finally we all took off in the plane to Helsinki. As cautioned by our tutor we were to be art and cultural professionals and not tourists! Now this requires setting our minds to a different kind of curiosity, noticing and thinking. I realised that this would actually require juggling with what interesting ideas will go in the sketch book, what will be suitable for the blog, when to take out my phone/camera to click a picture and how to manage issues and challenges regarding work placement - 'the real job'. We weren't even halfway to Finland and my mind had already begun to be chaotic. On the plane I came across an interesting article in the Blue Wings, the Finnair flight journal. It was written by Alexander Stubb former prime minister of Finland, a regular contributor to the journal. The article was called 'How to increase happiness'. Mr Stubb argued that the old-fashioned concept of measuring happiness in countries was based on how wealthy the countries are - a notion which has been challenged due to issues in measuring happiness and difficulty in defining happiness. Mr Stubb stated that many of us wrongly think that governments secure happiness for its people. In fact governments can only provide the conditions under which an individual can pursue his or her dreams. This is because the feeling of happiness, after all, is personal and subjective. To determine progress it has lately become important to rank countries based on happiness. Currently this is based on six factors: income of the country (and how equally it is distributed), how long people live (life expectancy), generosity, social support, freedom, and corruption. Finland is at number 5 among the top ten happiest countries according to a 2012 report. The core message Mr Stubb gives is that the countries need to start looking beyond the economy, for happiness and well-being. Ok, probably this is topic is becoming very serious so I will talk about something a little lighter. Before landing at Helsinki one gets glimpses of almost magical views of snowy lands, trees covered with white dusty snow from between the thick clouds and it somehow reminded me of all a painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder called 'Hunters in the Snow' (1565)! At the airport the scrutiny started again at the immigration counter: why am I visiting Finland, where is the rest of the class, when will I go back to Ireland, etc. I survived the ordeal, we got our luggage and the big airport building excreted all of us out into icy Finland! Ah, the small snow flakes making random, dancing movements in front of eyes provided pure delight (of freedom!) It was cold but beautiful - we were finally in Finland! The rest of the day was a tired blur - train stations, pulling suitcases, maps, schedules, train tickets, slushing our way under street lights on the snow, getting few things in SMarket, finally settling down in the comfortable hostel beds............ Tomorrow we are meeting our Erasmus representative in Vaanta. I look forward to experiencing what Finland is famous for: freedom, happiness, landscapes, saunas and liquorice and so many other things I will be mentioning in future posts. Stay tuned! I am also recording a pictorial journey on Instagram @ranasamir. The posts on Instagram will be of interesting things I notice, people I meet during the day. The hashtags I am using are #GTI, #erasmusplus, #drawingandvisualinquiry. Day 2: Visiting Vaanta Vocational College Varia Our meeting with Ms Veera Lahti-Olsen (Coordinator of International Affairs) and Robin was set at 9am. The things didn't go as planned and myself and Kevin hardly made it just before lunch break at 11am! Reasons were unavailability of wifi at the hostel which would have made it possible to plan the transport, oversleeping (still getting used to time difference) and being new to the transport system. At Varia, after paying for our accommodation, Veera took us around the campus especially the department of 'visual expression', woodwork, textile, etc. It was nice to see people working in warm offices with snow you could see falling outside the windows! Varia has 4 campuses with 4000 students. Understanding how fine art is taught in the Finnish education system seemed quite complicated. Few things I picked up: 'Fine arts' is not a term used in the school system, it is part of higher education level. 'Visual expression' is the literal translation of the Finnish term. It is part of craft courses like wood work, textiles, etc. Fine arts is mostly taught in private schools. Finnish education system is quite 'open' where students choose their own path of learning. Teachers help individual students find their way Students don't do tests, they do skills demonstrations (we had an amazing lunch afterwards prepared by the students learning to be chefs - best food in Finland till now!) We also looked at fallout shelters in the school building which were being used now for classrooms, gym, etc. Rest of the discussion with Veera focused on why Finns beat themselves with birch branches in saunas, some common vocabulary, food (e.g. sour milk is a drink you will find on the table), where to find good public WiFi (libraries), cheap SIM cards to communicate in Finland, student travel cards, etc. etc. Vera was a sea of information and we had a great conversation. After getting our student travel cards which would enable us to travel unlimited within central Helsinki region (cost 49 euros) and SIM cards, myself and Kevin headed to see a bit of city centre. Remembering Sarah mentioned a Chapel of Silence, I suggested we go there. It proved to be a great transformational experience! It is like a gift you can give to yourself by just sitting in silence in a very serene environment. The silence there felt 'warm', an oasis in the middle of the cold and noisy city centre! samir mahmood
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Art + Animation 2016/17Paul Cluskey Map of Vantaa |