Sep
21
Open Canvas
Filed Under Newspost
Setting the stage
After an eventful Saturday, Sunday was very different, yet very interesting. The Kansai Gaidai organized an Open Campus Day, during which high school students from the area could come to the university to learn more about university studies and studying abroad. This was done through presentations as well as direct communication with local students who had been abroad and foreign students who were at KGU currently, namely, us. Because Lazy-Lasse never made it to the booth, the Finnish representation percentage was 75% which was probably the highest of all the countries involved. The Swedes didn’t even have a booth.
We had been promised lunch but it unfortunately constituted of Japanese triangle sandwiches. This is very peculiar to Japan, as the Japanese seem to have an innate ability to take white bread that tastes like nothing, fill it with ham, cheese and condiments and manage to make the end product taste even more like nothing. It’s like a blackhole of flavor. I think I left part of my tongue in there. That specific characteristic left aside, it also meant that I had to survive around 6 hours on two triangle sandwiches. Meh.
Hajime!
While we had been preparing from 10:30, finally, around noon, high school students started pouring in. As usual, communicating in English was very hard and communicating in Japanese even harder, but most of the time we were lucky enough to have an internationally oriented local student help us get our message through. Also, the particular message conveyed by giving Japanese teenagers Sisu-pastilles was far more negative than I thought. I guess the reaction was comparable to a standard gaijin eating nattô. It did not go down.
Throughout the afternoon, our booth was visited by dozens of people, most of which were interested in either studying in Finland or simply traveling there. We were well prepared for the task with slide shows of typical Finnish scenery and other things meaningful (Moomins). The toughest challenge was when I had to try to explain to an English-illiterate family (mom and kids) why the Finnish school system is the best in the world. I had a Chinaman’s chance in hell to succeed at that specific task. Trying my very best, I was able to produce some Japanese words, but whether they formed the sentences my mind was hoping for is for future generations to decide.
As a whole, the day was both educational and fun. I was able to handle some basic chatting in Japanese and look up words I wanted to use on my computer so I might have actually learned something. Watching the faces people made while trying out Sisu also made my day. On a more official note, according to the Center of International Education, the day was, and I quote: “Great success!”
-Antti