Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Finland: Two nice things

While I didn’t write a formal blog post for my Summer 2016 European adventures, I thought it’d be fun to share some memories I initially stored on Facebook.


Two nice things: Yesterday I joined a pal to visit Jyväskylä's Alvar Aalto Museum, exploring exemplars of Finnish architecture and design. During our visit we got caught up in a pitched battle between an architectural historian who said that Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater was "crap" and that the architect was a "charlatan" and a "criminal" - and his friends who loudly disagreed: "Wright is brilliant," they said, "His designs are so innovative!" We then entered a fascinating conversation about Wright's alleged anti-semitism, thievery, and abuse of his clients. I need to learn more about these topics, I'm not sure about them just yet. But I loved the opportunity to hear such passionate and informative discussion. Then today I noticed how cool it is that the JAMK campus has pianos in some rooms and common areas. Every once in awhile I'll hear a student playing a gorgeous tune, and I appreciate how they can add such beauty to our shared educational experience.

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