Canadian in Finland - Aaron Civitaresse

I remember the first time I heard someone tell the joke in which different nationalities are asked to write an article about elephants. The joke describes that the French wrote about the love life of elephants, the British about hunting elephants in British East Africa and the Americans about how to breed bigger and better elephants. Then came the punch line; the Finns wrote about what elephants think about Finland. I remember trying to cover up my confusion by laughing politely, all the while thinking, “Huh, I don’t get it.”

Well, during my first week in Finland while on exchange six years ago I quickly found out exactly why this joke is so funny. Once Finns find out that you are a foreigner and that you have come to their country of your own volition, they begin bombarding you with questions: “Why on earth did you come here”, “What do you think of the people”, “How are you coping with weather”. These questions are not coloured by American-style patriotic pride; it’s more as if Finns are questioning the sanity of these foreigners in choosing to come to their country.

Well, my gradual metamorphosis into becoming not only 100 percent Finn on the outside, but also on the inside seems to be affirmed by the fact that when I met fellow Canadian and current exchange student Aaron Civitaresse the other week, I proceeded to ask him in the same incredulous tone that I had been subjected to six years ago, that what on earth had prompted him into coming to Finland to pursue his studies.

I know I had come to Finland partially because of my Finnish roots, but why had this twenty-something year old guy from Trail, British Columbia chosen to leave his alma mater of Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana to come to study at the HAMK University of Applied Sciences in Valkeakoski, Finland? Aaron answered my questions in the same polite tone to which foreigners have become accustomed when providing affirmation that yes, they are enjoying it here and no, they are not suffering from severe culture shock. Aaron told me that he had met several exchange students while studying for his business degree in Montana and had been so impressed by their positive experiences that he decided to go on exchange himself. He had no specific reason other than plain curiosity about Finland in choosing the English-language International Business programme as his destination.

Not wanting to give up so easily, I then proceeded to query in Inquisition-like fashion what his first impressions of Finland were, knowing that here I would find some affirmation of how strange Finns and Finland really were to foreigners. Alas, I was to be sorely disappointed again. While Aaron’s story started out promisingly - he told me that upon arriving at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport on August 26th he experienced some initial difficulties with finding the appropriate bus, a situation compounded by the seemingly uncommunicative Finns he encountered - he reported that not only has he has been very impressed with this country, but moreover that he has been struck by the incredible similarity between Finland and Canada. Even his initial bewilderment at the non-verbose natives has developed into an understanding that once Finns are given a chance to warm up to you, they are just as friendly and outgoing as North Americans.

Indeed, Aaron has made several Finnish friends already in his short stay here. He can boast having three times as many Finnish acquaintances as he does foreign ones – no small feat for exchange students who often stick to small cliques divided by nationality and rarely mingle with the locals. According to Aaron, getting to know the other students was easy, as the school had arranged a variety of activities for the new students. Aaron has also met many Finns who are not students at HAMK, which is something that he really values as he has learned many things about Finland and its culture through these locals that he would not have discovered elsewhere. Aaron added that as having fun seems to be a universal pastime he feels that overall the social atmosphere is no different from that in Canada.

Well, aren’t your courses really different, I then asked beginning to feel that this lack of major cultural difficulties was rather unexciting. Aaron replied that in fact this was one area in which he noticed a big difference. He said that the style of teaching in his programme employs an active approach that stresses group work and presentations and that thanks to this he feels as though he has learned more during his short stay at HAMK than he has in the entire two years he spent at his home university. Aaron revealed that his course in cross-cultural communications is his favourite one as it is completely different from the type of courses that he has taken before.

In fact, in his time in Finland, Aaron has had more than just academic exposure to cross-cultural communication. Learning about the backgrounds, languages and customs of not only the Finnish people, but also of the other exchange students, has for Aaron been the most valuable experience of his stay. Little did Aaron know before his trip that in coming to Finland on exchange he would become closely acquainted with people from countries as diverse as Hungary, Spain, Russia and China.

By this time, I had run out things to ask him. Not having found any conclusive proof that Finland was a bastion of quirky cultural traits and morose people, I gave up on my interrogation. As I rose to leave and wished him the best in his studies and stay in Finland, Aaron added “Oh yeah, I did start my Finnish language course the other week. Now that’s something really weird…”

Tsemppiä ja hyvää jatkoa, Aaron…

To learn more about the degree programmes taught in English at the HAMK University of Applied Sciences, visit www.hamk.fi

Laura Ojanen