Graduation and university pride

I've meaning to write about this all week. Last Friday was Graduation Day at Northwestern. For the week leading upto it, the University was preparing in earnest and this culminated in the Commencement Ceremony held at Ryan Field, the University's American Football stadium. The US graduates wear similar gowns and mortar boards (the funny hats) as we do in the UK. The colours on the hoods of the gowns, and the tassels on the mortar boards distinguish the school that students belonged to, the type of degree that they are graduating with, and even any honour societies that they belonged to. In the case of Northwestern, the majority of the gowns I saw were purple, which are the University's colours, but there were many different hood colours.

I would love to have gone to the Commencement, but just like my own graduation day nearly 10 years ago, it was only open to those directly involved. It was a beautiful day, so I took the opportunity to wander round the campus area and just enjoy the atmosphere. It was quite poignant watching the graduands walking round campus, spending the afternoon with their families, friends and loved ones. It was a day filled with hope and pride, and the glimmer of new beginnings.

The sense of pride is something I feel quite strongly here at Northwestern. From the huge numbers of people on campus wearing clothing, or sporting bags and other paraphernalia with the Northwestern logo and name, to the stickers and labels that adorn many of the Evanston shop windows that read "Go Wildcats" or something similar. The sports facilities here are phenomenal and you can see the pride that they take in their sports teams (the Wildcats). In the university swimming pool, there are leader boards and huge flags dangling from the ceiling with the names of many of the surrounding universities that compete there. We had a similar sense of pride at the University of Surrey, where I did my BSc. I still have all my clothing with the university emblem emblazoned on them, and I still feel proud that I went there and got to be a part of that university experience. I think there is something to be said for the campus university environment, it definitely fosters a sense of belonging that is otherwise lost.

A taste of Finland

An early summer's evening on the Finnish archipelago.

I haven't been asked to do this, but the author is a dear friend of mine and an amazing chef. Finnish cuisine is a bit of an enigma. When people are asked to think of cuisine from Northern Europe/Scandinavia, Finnish food items are rarely mentioned. Proper Finnish food to me is clean, simple and fresh. We have the heavy comfort foods of winter such as kiusaus (similar to potato dauphinoise but with the addition of either salami, ham or anchovies). Summertime is when Finnish food comes into its own, characterised by fresh local(ish) fish, smoked (hot and cold) fish, pickled fish aka silli, accompanied by seasonal vegetables and salads. There is also crayfish season in the late summer. In Finland (and Sweden) we celebrate this time with crayfish parties and Finnish vodka. Although America also has crawfish parties, I think the way the two regions celebrate is rather different, if my quick Google about the matter was anything to go by!

My friend, Sini Kiialainen, currently Chef to the Finnish Ambassador in London, has written and published a cookbook about Finnish cuisine. She has written it so that anyone with an interest in food should be able to try their hand at making some Finnish classics (with her own stylish twist). I got to have a sneak peek at some of the recipes and I'm excited to try them out for myself. You can find more info about Sini and where to buy her cookbook "Kuura" here: http://www.sinikiialainen.com/

She also did a short (10 min) radio interview on Monocle, which you can listen to here: http://monocle.com/radio/shows/the-menu/141/ (from 22:30 onwards).

Quick update - 1st day at Kellogg

Just a quick update to let you know I haven't been sleeping all this time! Had a lovely (if not unusually quiet - for me) weekend and loads more pics (and some experiences to share) will follow soon.

The photo above shows you where you will find me every Monday for the next 7 weeks. First day thoughts, the lecturers are awesome! Today we learnt about Economics & Strategy which was delivered by Jen Brown and Leadership in Action by Keith Murnighan. Might sound boring? Maybe in the hands of less skilled speakers. Both sessions were thoroughly engaging, interesting and really insightful. Even more so, all of the students in the class (there's 51 of us!) were interacting and asking questions throughout the day. A massive difference to the very quiet lectures that we have in Finland. Because of the constant interaction and thought provoking questions I think I learnt a lot more than I would have otherwise. I feel really inspired and privileged to be here. It's not often one gets to experience the quality of teaching from one of the top business schools in the world. Activities for the rest of the week will involve spending a few days at the Innovations and New Ventures Office (INVO) and my host lab.

Photos from the last few days

Here's just a few photos taken from the last few days wandering round campus and the lakefront. The NU campus is pretty big and wherever you wander in Evanston, you'll often find university buildings that have taken up residence in houses around the campus area. Evanston itself is not so big and seems to consist mostly of restaurants in the downtown area. It's been a nice relaxing few days, settling in and finding my way around. Weather has been really variable, sometimes warm, sometimes, chilly, sunny, rainy, thundery all in the space of a day. I am however looking forward to next week, to finally get into the rhythm of working full time again.

Views of the mini-lake towards Lake Michigan from NU Campus.

Graduates yesterday. This week is graduation week for NU students.

The street on which I am staying in the leafy suburbs of Evanston

I am super impressed at the selection of microbrews on offer. Some of these are very local and others are from not so far away. I think this store is going to be my go to place for beer! At $8-12 a six pack its not so bad for decent stuff.

My spoils from my shop at Whole Foods and D&D Finer Foods (the place with the wicked beer selection).

My current set of flatmates - we went out to Prairie Moon in town for some food and a beer. See the dark beer in the middle? It's called Dragon's Milk and is aged in Bourbon casks with chili. The kick is not only from the chili but also in the fact that it is 11%!

My local beach next to Lake Michigan, found it on my morning run :)

First day adventures

Foolishly having looked at only the average monthly temperatures of the Chicago area before I came (and not anything more about the actual weather patterns), I blithely assumed that hot = sunny & dry, and packed mostly summer gear. In spectacular fashion, in the 30 odd hours I have been here I have seen the hottest day in 9 months (28C), thunderstorms, almost torrential rain and now temperatures of 15C.

Today’s fun also involved getting stuck between a locked door and an emergency exit. Thankfully someone came to my rescue. Although, I was debating how long I could hold out before risking setting off the alarm and potentially embarrassing my host group (in order to come to NU I needed to have a research group to “host” me/take responsibility for me). Earlier I had been trying to find my host group, only to end up in the wrong building before I gave up and went to the International Office instead.

Successes include getting an extortionately priced phone contract and eating out at OMG. OMG might not seem so special to some, but getting to eat a decent healthy meal for $9 is pretty good in my book. I also got to go to the beach, if only for a quick peek.