{"id":90,"date":"2021-01-13T13:45:56","date_gmt":"2021-01-13T13:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/zobitz\/?p=90"},"modified":"2021-01-13T13:45:56","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T13:45:56","slug":"networking-finnish-style-in-the-time-of-covid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/zobitz\/2021\/01\/13\/networking-finnish-style-in-the-time-of-covid\/","title":{"rendered":"Networking – Finnish style – in the time of COVID"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cFrank is coming to town next week \u2013 he would like to meet you.\u00a0 Perhaps we can do a walk over lunch and have some sausages at a fireplace?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

My host Jukka Pumpanen<\/a> proposed this to me last week.  Frank Berninger<\/a> is a colleague at UEF Joennsu who does biogeochemical modeling.  I had met Frank over meetings on zoom before we left.  After being here a week and getting oriented, this meeting will officially serve as a kick off point to my work.  Networking and meeting colleagues is an integral part of the Finnish experience.  COVID restrictions has made that harder, but meeting outside is an appropriate way to network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was also excited for the opportunity to take a hike around Kuopio. The city has a well-defined network of outdoor fireplaces for public use <\/a>, so this was an opportunity to explore more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best laid plans, unfortunately.\u00a0 A low pressure system was moving across the country \u2013\u00a0and the winds were quite strong<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The ideal? conditions for an outside, socially-distanced meeting?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rather than cancel, or move over zoom, we carried on by tapping into our own sisu.\u00a0 It felt like we were hiking in the Boundary Waters, although we were only a few miles from the town.\u00a0 (Apologies for the fuzzy pictures – I had to take off my mittens for the photos and it was cold!).\u00a0 At the fireplace there was a little cabin full of wood and an axe to make kindling.\u00a0 We were able to quickly get a fire started and cook the sausages.\u00a0 Unfortunately we didn\u2019t spend too much time (we got cold quickly to a point of it being unhealthy).\u00a0 We walked back and carried on the meeting back at the office (wearing masks).\u00a0 If the wind wasn\u2019t as strong driving the windchill to the single digits it would have been quite pleasant.\u00a0 I really liked the opportunity to experience both the outdoors, talk science, and see more of the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n