University of Helsinki
Vera Djakonoff
Hi everyone! I’m Vera Djakonoff, a board member of CISSI. I was originally drawn into CISSI because it’s doing something extremely valuable: representing international students and making sure they have fun time here (despite the climate) as well as encouraging integration between Finnish and international students.
During one of our meetings we discussed the fact that among international students there is interest in learning more about politics in Finland yet few actual learning opportunities. We figured the best way to get close to politics in action would be to organize an excursion somewhere politics in action happen. We decided to collaborate with VOO ry and organize a joint excursion (the more the merrier). My friend Ella Vähäniitty and I started the process by reaching out to various organizations we thought CISSI and VOO members would find interesting. We were really excited when none other than The U.S. Embassy in Finland got back to us. We were met with big enthusiasm when announcing where our excursion will take place in. We are so sorry to those who really wanted to come but weren’t able to make it among the first 30 people to sign up. Unfortunately, the amount of people we could bring along was limited.
Planning the excursion is the tricky part, getting there is easy. Ella and I got to the embassy early just in case, since neither of us had visited or seen the actual embassy building before. The architecture of the 1940s building was American yet somehow it didn’t seem out of place. During it’s nearly 100 years in Finland, the U.S. embassy has established its place in Helsinki.
When in embassy we were greeted by friendly interns and Political and Economic officer Harald Olsen. He held an interesting and, in many ways, an eye-opening presentation on the relationship between the U.S and Finland on areas such as trade and security. We also learned more about the function of the embassy as well as the recent midterm elections. Our problem-solving skills were put to the test as well: we were divided into groups to discuss the future foreign policy issues affecting Finland and the United States. From behalf of CISSI and VOO we would like to thank the kind people of the U.S Embassy in Finland for having us and being such good hosts. It was an unique learning opportunity and a chance for us to get a glimpse of what goes on inside the embassy. I personally had a blast organizing this excursion and would like to thank all of you who came along.