in helsinki, at the collegium
i spent my youth in helsinki. my helsinki was that of 1990s. now, after ten years of living mainly abroad, i’m back. and of course there are a lot of culture shocks and all that kind of stuff involved. more of them in the personal blog http://palemics.wordpress.com which is designed for those who know me (whatever that means). here I should add my new institutional affiliation.
Our “Nations and their others: Finns and Hungarians since 1900″ Academy of Finland funded project has three sites. Collegium Budapest, University of Jyväskylä, and my current base Collegium Helsinki at the University of Helsinki.
For me this is a great chance to try to integrate into the Finnish academia - after all I did all my university studies abroad, while remaining in the international and interdisciplinary environment I am used to having around.
thankfully, it’s been not only me but also the city of helsinki itself has changed, become more international and multicultural over the years i have been away. many of my colleagues and friends are from abroad or have spent long periods abroad too. being used to the foreigner’s communities and idenfications (such as that of ulkosuomalainen, “outside finn”, that became one of my main points of identification five years ago), and i find it really important in trying to settle. let’s see how it’ll go…
