“You have to get used to being completely crap on something in order to improve. You shouldn’t be afraid to embarrass yourself.”

-Liselotte Lyngsø

We did this exercise on the roof terrace of Future Navigators office where  Liselotte taught us to juggle. The idea was to give a concrete example of a situation where you get out of your comfort zone, and do something where you know that you are going to be very lousy at first, but you just have to start from somewhere if you ever want to learn. I taught that this was a great exercise, that is applicable in many situations in life and especially in entrepreneurship.

On Saturday 12th we visited the Finnish embassy in Nyhavn, where media and culture secretary Veera Weisdorf described both the mission of the embassy and her perception of the work environment there. She also talked about general trends in Denmark, how the Danes perceive Finns and which aspects of the Finnish culture interest them.

After Veera’s presentation, we were lucky to also meet Niina Aagaard ja Pirjo Hamnström from Finpro – a company which promotes Finnish trade in 56 different countries around the world. In Denmark Finpro aims to help Finnish small and medium size companies enter Danish market and vice versa. At the moment, approximately a hundred Finnish companies operate in Denmark.

Niina and Pirjo gave us an hour introduction to the Danish market and entrepreneurial life, talking for example about the main similarities and differences between Finland and Denmark. It became evident that although Denmark and Finland are culturally the closest countries in the EU, there are still rather large differences when it comes to communication. The most evident example is the use of small talk in the discussions with other people – in Denmark you just have to be able to keep up the conversation at least on some level because long breaks that the Finns love are perceived as offensive.  Also the business thinking of the Finns differs significantly from that of the Danes: In Finland people are not telling other people about their business ideas like they seem to do in Denmark but rather hide it so that no one would steal the ideas. In Denmark it is just the opposite – the organizations can get organized with each other as well and even the smallest companies are very well connected with other companies. So the message was to be active for example by asking questions when in communication situation with the Danes and to network  whenever there is a chance to do it.  In addition, it was really surprising to hear that in Denmark as many as 80 per cent of the start-ups still stand alive after 3 years. After the meetings, I felt I could actually deepen my knowledge on entrepreneurship in Denmark in general quite a lot as well as get to know Danes a bit better.

At first, there was the shock of fitting six people with their massive back bags to a small, 2.5m*2m closet. Then, we spent the next 16 hours looking at each other in which time we adapted to the situation and started hiding our bags wherever our imagination let us.

The evening program included an informal school, which included personal presentations from and for all the travelers about some of the areas of their expertise.  I told them my horror stories (just kidding) about writing a PhD, that is, what kind of surprises and obstacles I was confronted with and how I survived them. Jaakko was talking about different forms of companies and how they differ from each other, whereas Mika shared his knowledge on cooperatives.

Alina’s presentation of the history of Romania functioned as the most inspiring and thought provoking start for our evening’s discussion. As everyone was so into the conversation, we even missed our last chance to go out to stretch our legs in the fresh air: a 20 minute stop somewhere in Germany, I guess. This is also a reason why we are still waiting for Julia’s Afrodance exercises while waiting on the platform 😀

Sleeping on the train was actually a pleasant experience. Not only because we had the possibility to sleep up until almost 11 a.m., but also because of the almost hypnotizing sounds of the rails. After interviewing some members of our group, I found out that I was not the only one who enjoyed it. Who could have seen this coming when entering our tiny three-layered travel shoebox for the first time 🙂

One night on a ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm and a day in a train through Sweden took us to Copenhagen. Dinner in a cosy hamburger café, then to a train again. Amsterdam, here we come!

Morning coffee while speeding through the Dutch countryside.

We all are going to Amsterdam with an idea of some kind – a dream. We want  to put our knowledge and skills into action that contributes to solving problems we see in contemporary and future world, whether they are cultural clashes, throwawayism, or hiding information behind dry jargon and unappealing presentation. After spending several years studying Polish language and culture and Eastern European Studies at the University of Helsinki, I have realised I have got to know many people with amazing amount of knowledge on these countries, their cultures and languages. What I would like to do is to build an active network which would organise a variety of activities that would increase awareness of Eastern European cultures and studies in Finland.

Together with the inspiring co-travellers I have already got fresh views that perhaps never would have come to my mind without letting other people to think about my idea. Could we tailor a personal mini guide for travellers going to explore Polish mountains, Sarajevo, or L’viv? Sure. Could we do background work for journalists, officials, or companies working on Eastern European issues? Why not. Our knowledge of the local languages and cultures could help them to access the information that is not available in other languages. Our contacts and knowledge of the societies can help find interviewees to share their experiences from a local point of view. These are just few of the thoughts the workshops and discussions on the road have evoked.

But this journey is not only about getting a list of tasks we could do. First and foremost it is a journey to transfer vague ponderings into clear ideas what my dream is about and how to give it a form that creates value to others and meaningful work to us. Tomorrow we are going to have a workshop given by experts in service design, the Design Thinkers, in Amsterdam. Let’s see what kind of shapes and colours my idea gets there!