Now I have reached intermediate level in Russian

...not really.

But that was one of the goals of MITIM for all students - to reach good level in another foreign language during the program.

And how many managed to do that? My guess from LUT students: 0.

Globetrotting 2010 in retrospect

I realized that I've been around quite much during 2010. Overall the whole year has been a good one, almost bordering great. During 2010 I had LOTS of new experiences and I saw way more than I thought I would. Some highlights in numbers:

• Had address in 3 different countries (Finland, Hungary and a couple of days in St.Pete, Russia)
• Visited or lived in 6 countries (Russia, Finland, Hungary, Mexico, Italy, Slovakia).
• Had overall 17 flights (oops, sorry about the carbon footprint...)
• Studied 3 languages (Russian, Spanish for a couple of weeks, Hungarian)
• ....and spoke or tried to speak 5 (previous + Finnish and English. Also few lines of Swedish)

My only gripes about the year was the summer - great weather, but not good from financial or career point of view. But, as often happens, there is a silver lining to everything. Because of the relaxed summer, I had lots of time to think about my future and things that I want. Now I know where to aim. If things go as planned, 2011 will be a year of major changes and achievements. 

I am sure 2011 will be a great year for me!

I am still alive

...and can not speak any Russian. Today I tried to remember how to say "My name is Joona" in Russian but I just could not remember it. 2 semesters with Russian well spent.... :D

Pleaaaase forgive me!

Dear Ms. Blog,


I have been mistreating you lately and I am sorry for that. I know that any amount of explanations will not ease the situation and you have the right to feel hurt because of my ignorance. However, I want to shed a little light about the happenings of last few weeks to you. Perhaps you will then find it easier to forgive me.


About two weeks ago I welcomed 3 of my MITIM-colleaques from Finland for a 5 day visit. I had lots of fun with them. We saw many of the cool places here in Budapest, such as Gellert hill, Szechenyi spa, Terror háza, Szimpla and so on. Going around the city for many days left me of course exhausted and trailing in my studies. I managed to catch on during the weekend and last week I have been again kinda busy with the schoolwork - we have had group meetings with the guys during the last 3 days and we've spent a lot of time on our presentation and case. Luckily, those are now ready and just need to be printed and delivered.


Besides the school work, my time has been spent on studying Hungarian by myself. I am making progress, but not quickly enough. I need to put more effort in producing text and especially SPEAKING. It will be Tarzan-language, but that step just needs to be taken.


Forgetting the schoolwork and other stuff like that, I have been just enjoying life here in Budapest. I really like this city and feel great in here. I am really happy. Of course, because I am a sort of evil mastermind, I have come up with some more ideas/things for the future to gain world domination. Perhaps I'll tell you more about those later.


To conclude, I am sorry that I have been ignoring you dear Ms. Blog. I will do my best not to abandon you in the future for long time periods. I hope you can forgive me.


With love,
Joona

First week in Hungary

Now I have been in Budapest for a week. Settling down here has gone well and I really like the vibe of this city. At the moment I am staying in my temporary apartment which is in a good location at Ráday utca. The apartment is cool and in a really nice building. And so far I haven't been able to burn the whole place down with the gas stove :D


Last Sunday we went to check out Sziget-festival which was really, really cool. The island location is perfect for this kind of festival and the feeling in there was relaxed. I went there without any expectations and was just curious what it was like. I saw for example Muse which was technically very good and sounded sweet, but somehow they didn't manage to excite me. Maybe it was the lack of alcohol :D The biggest surprise was by far a tent called Magic mirror which was kind of a rainbowish experience. The host, Diva Thomasz deserves a special mention.


Otherwise I've been just checking out the city and enjoying my time in here. I've also studied the language, but with that I am on a little bit frustrating level at the moment. I can understand some things, but way too few to really converse with someone. Hopefully in a couple of weeks I am able to have at least Tarzan-level conversations in Hungarian. That would be sweeeeeeeet.

Language tips for new MITIM students

I have no idea who is reading this blog or is there any readers at all. However, in the hope of some newly selected MITIM students read or see this post, I'd like to share some views on language studies.


For us, it was highly recommended that every non-russian native starts to study Russian in the beginning of this program. I did that. In the beginning I was really enthusiastic about it and felt like I should have started this a long time ago already. However, at this moment, almost one year after I started studying Russian I have come to a point where I know some, but am not Able to use it at all. Basically I just understand simple text or speech and thats it.


I know that for the next set of MITIMs the program structure will be different and you spend one year in Russia. So take these tips with a hint of salt.


So the tips:
- Think about your motivation to study the language. Are you really interested in the language or are you just studying it because it is recommended?
- Ask yourself are you willing to put extra effort in learning the language? In 1.5 (or 2) years of university language classes you will learn something, but not enough to be able to use the language professionally. To be able to use the language, you need to study by yourself as much as possible and especially try to start using the language actively as soon as possible, whether it is creating little stories by yourself or conversing with someone. 
- Also, can you imagine working in Russia or in a role that has a lot of exposure to Russian clients/partners? This is also from a cultural point of view: can you handle the local culture and especially its business culture?


Basically, if you answered "no" to these questions you might have to think whether another language would be better choice for you (other options are basically Spanish, German and French). I mean, if you think about the options:

1. You have the interest, motivation and are willing to put extra effort but do not see working in Russia or can not adjust to Russian culture, then why bother? Then you would learn a language but you basically would never be in a position where you would actually use it in real life (unless you have Russian friends).
2. You are motivated and can see yourself working in Russia, but are not willing to put extra effort to reach the required level. Then you will just be mediocre and wont benefit (professionally) from the language learning experience.
3. You are not interested in the language. Then you are just wasting your time and you should direct the efforts to another language.

So just think what are your goals before making decisions. Of course, Russian is recommended and highly necessary in Russia in everyday life, but the good thing is that Russians students (or people who know the language) are generally willing to help you out in more complicated stuff and you can easily learn the basic complementaries etc in order to survive.

I hope that i didn't discourage anyone from learning Russian with this post since that was not my point. Actually, you can replace the word "Russian" with any other language in the world and this should still be valid. Russian is a very useful language and is spoken by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. There are also career opportunities in Russia for foreigners who can speak the language and working in Russia might be the kickstart for an awesome career. However, my professional life will most likely not be Russia-related.