During this week’s meeting with Emilia, we once again decided to meet at the Puisto coffee shop to be able to see each other face to face. Often when we start our meetings we warm up both our English and our Finnish with some simple conversation and catching up from the past few days to get used to speaking the languages. Typically I only see Emilia online through our team’s zoom meetings or during an online class, so it is always a nice refresher halfway through the week to be able to leave my apartment and interact with a fellow friend and teammate!
The topic of this meeting was decided to be organising and planning the three weeks after hiihtoloma for when our collaboration with the Swiss team academy will happen. Since last November, Emilia and I have been in contact with the Swiss team in hopes of them being able to visit Tampere, and I have loved the meetings and networking with them, however due to the Covid situation they are unable to make it, so we have been planning an online alternative.
During this online collaboration we have brainstormed an innovation week, team meetings, business problem solving and networking. I am very excited to work with them even if it online, because they bring a great energy to every meeting and love meeting new people just as much as I do. So for the first half of Emilia’s and mine each one teach one meeting, we spoke Finnish and planned a three week schedule for them with a one week focus on working with our team. This was to prepare for the meeting with Manu, one of the students, where we were going to discuss the plans and finalise everything before we go on break.
Using Finnish to plan and schedule was great practice for me, since typically in my own team at Proakatemia this happens in English, and it doesn’t widen my vocabulary as much. I also love working with Emilia on these types of tasks because we are equally as organised and productive. This planning took us the full two hours before the meeting with Manu because we had created a thorough schedule for the month of March and were excited to share it with him.
Then, during the meeting with Manu, we spoke English so that everyone could understand and communicate easier. Although I would have loved to use French, Emilia and I are not that fluent in French yet either. I definitely noticed that communicating with people with English as their second language has gotten much easier for me since the beginning of my studies at Proakatemia, and I find it really interesting as well. Speaking with Manu and Emilia is great practice to hear their pronunciation with English words compared to a native English speaker, and I am looking forward to picking up on more subtle differences as our collaboration continues next month.
Emilia and I have decided not to meet next week due to hiihtoloma. However, both of us plan on continuing reading our chosen books and relaxing on the holiday!
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