Finland… first instalment

Hey everybody!

Ok, so, I’m finally here in Finland, the land of bridges and almost uninterrupted daylight!  So far, it has been a great experience.  The flight brought a very interesting conversation with my allotted ‘random’ person to sit next to me.  His name was Michael and he was an Executive Coach, whose capabilities to help top level managers improve their performance (by unlocking the potential from within their mind) are worth, his current contract as an example, 12,000 pounds for eight one-hour sessions!  Why on Earth didn’t I do psychology!  I travelled with my officemate, Stefan, who has a fear of flying and Michael said that we should have told him this before the pilot started his landing sequence, as he could have indeed dome something about it… ho hum…

Last night was fairly uneventful except for my staying on the phone with Helsinki Airport representatives and various officials of British Airways in my attempt to retrieve my digital camera that I had so skilfully left on my seat in the aircraft and only realising once I had sat in the taxi on the way to the hotel!  …anyhoo, it was my first experience of ‘night’ being more of a late evening before the sun started to rise again and that was pretty cool!

Stefan and I woke up fairly early to see the sights of Helsinki including the largest Orthodox church in Eastern Europe: the Uspenski.  Very grand.  The receptionist of the hotel also felt the need to send us to four other churches, but we onlt managed two before taking the short boat journey to Suomilinna Fortress.

No sooner had we arrived back on the mainland was it time to begin the 90-minute journey north-west up to Tampere, where Stefan and I (along with various other academics) will be presenting our research…  We arrived safely in Tampere and discovered that not only was our hotel literally across the road but also that once again we had landed on our feet with regard to the quality of hotel – superb.  If anyone is taking a trip to Helsinki and/or Tampere, I’ll gladly give you the details, just ask!

It was funny (but quite sad) earlier at the drinks reception.  There was a very emminent and established Professor who popularised the term ’stakeholder’ in the early 1980’s… every Ph.D. student has read his seminal papers and book… I actually found myself starstruck!  Certainly not a trait I thought I personally would exhibit!

So, that’s about it so far apart from the usual eating and sleeping.  I’m now off to practise my presentation with Stefan in preparation for tomorrow.  I’m presenting at 08.30 (06.30 GMT), so, if you happen to be awake at that time, feel free to wish me luck!

Thanks for reading and I’ll tell you how it all goes soon!