tags: education, PhD defense, cultural observation, travelFinland, Helsinki
By the time you read this, I will be 5000-6000 meters (30,000 feet) above the ground, somewhere between Frankfurt and Riga. After a one-and-a-half hour layover, I will board another plane that is flying to gorgeous Helsinki, Finland!
Even though I am still sick (and still barely have a voice), I am excited beyond words! I have my laptop and two beautiful cameras with me (one with three different lenses) and I am ready to snap hundreds of photographs of my favorite places to share with you whilst I am there. If there are any places that you wish me to go to photograph for you in Helsinki proper, let me know in the comments thread below and I'll do my best to go to those places for you.
For those who care, my spouse is with me and we are returning to attend the defense of one of his grad students. Unlike in the USA, a PhD defense is quite the special occasion in the EU. The advisors and committee members are expected to wear suits and ties or tails, and the student who is defending is expected to wear tails! As the spouse of the defending student's advisor, I am expected to wear A DRESS!!!!! Eeeeek! So I whipped out a stunning little black thing I bought on the discard rack .. erm, sales rack .. in NYC. Even my spouse, who by now is quite bored by the sight of me, was impressed when he saw me wearing it.
Even though the university is Finnish, the defense will be in English, so I think I might tweet it and snap some photographs as it commences, for those who are curious. It will take place Monday afternoon (Monday morning, very early, for those of you in the USA). Since the defense is public, I can live tweet it and will probably enjoy this little glimpse into the 21st century.
When I defended in the USA, I did wear a dress (nothing fancy) and my advisors and committee members dressed a little better than usual, but most people wore the scientist's universal apparel (jeans and a t-shirt).
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You should visit Cafe Regatta. It's the little red house at the waterfront below Sibelius Monument. The door handle is just the beginning...
While in Töölö, you could by an impressive t-shirt from Mentalwear, at Runeberginkatu 58.
http://www.mentalwear.fi/web/index.php?id=2
Or as my husband defended in Hawaii...shorts and flip flops!!!
Pity our poor Oxbridge students, sitting their exams in subfusc and gowns, in stuffy old exam schools without air conditioning. Luckily this year's lot seem to be getting cooler weather - I did mine in a heat wave. (If anyone's interested in silly anecdotes, there was one ghastly day where everyone took their gowns and jackets off, and I ended the exam with my shoes and stockings off, my shirt unbuttoned to my waist, and my neck-ribbon tying my hair up off my back. The (male) examiner's face when I went for a glass of water was beyond belief.) At least vivas are in more comfortable rooms, normally.
Enjoy your convalescence Grrl and come back refreshed.
I almost forgot: don't break a leg or anything this time. :P
Norway in 3 weeks - but no stops in Finland. :( Any Vikings want to come to Australia? :P
Gorgeous? Got to ask, is this your first trip to Finland? You got to be joking?
If i visit in Helsinki during the summertime, the place worth visiting is Suomenlinna. A tuque and gloves highly recommended.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suomenlinna
Viikki â Campus for Life Sciences
http://www.helsinki.fi/viikki/english/
... my spouse, who by now is quite bored by the sight of me...
Practice your sultry smile, and his interest will revive - he may forget all about the defending student.
Looks like you'll make it for the tail end of a really hot bit of weather. It's been +26-27 in the shade here these past 3 days. Apparently next week's going to mostly keep over +20 in the daytime.
Shame I won't be able to come and meet you, though.