STUDENT WINS SCHOLARSHIP FOR STUDY IN FINLAND

Pasternak in downtown Turku

Christina Pasternak '05 has been awarded a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to study in Finland for the spring semester. The first Bryn Mawr student to study in Finland, she is taking classes at the University of Turku and says she's enjoying her visit to "the country that invented the sauna."

Pasternak, a math major, is enrolled in two math courses and other courses in "Baltic Sea Region Studies," a program that includes history, politics and intercultural communication of the region. Her classes are in English and have both Finnish and other international students enrolled in them, she said. Pasternak is also studying Finnish.

"Finnish is both a fascinating and a difficult language. I hope to learn to speak it to better understand the culture and communicate more naturally with people," said Pasternak, who has studied linguistics. Although she often finds trying to understand and speak a new language frustrating, she recognizes that "it is the same situation that millions of other immigrants and refugees have been in, and they didn't have the luxury of learning a new language at a university where most people understood their native tongue."

Pasternak said that Finns are friendly and that many speak English. The country has an interesting history and culture strongly influenced, she said, by its history as a territory of Russia and Sweden. The nation recently joined the European Union and is known for its fast-growing economy and rapid integration of technology, as well as its appreciation and conservation of nature, said Pasternak.

The $5,000 Gilman scholarship grant is funded by Congress and sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State. The competitive program is intended to encourage students to choose nontraditional study-abroad destinations. It focuses on those who have been traditionally underrepresented in study-abroad programs, including students of the sciences and engineering, students with diverse ethnic backgrounds and those with high financial need. Scholarship students are required to produce a follow-up project designed to expose other students to their study-abroad experiences. Pasternak will be writing articles for the College News.

Pasternak plans to stay in Finland through the end of June to have a chance to experience Midsummer, the longest day of the year, when the sun is up for 19 hours in Turku and does not set at all for consecutive days in the northern part of the country.

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