Helsinki, Summer 2014

Where I live when I'm in Helsinki.

Another sojourn to Helsinki has come to a close. Over the past couple of summers, I've lived in the buildings you see above for 2-3 weeks. The towers are owned by the University of Helsinki and Aalto University and are for housing foreign academics. The rooms are spartan but comfortable, and the neighborhood is great; it's near downtown with trams accessing everywhere you want to go. Helsinki is a beautiful city. I love it. 

During the two weeks I was here this year, now just ending, UM Math Dept Chair Leonid Kalachev was also visiting. He was working with the same guy, Heikki Haario. Both Heikki and Leonid are unique, exceptional, guys, and I feel blessed that I am able to spend time with them and talk about life and Science (which is what we call our research).

We had several discussions about Science during this trip, and not just specific research, but more generally. For example, how the progression of ideas and work is mysterious; how important meeting face-to-face is for the development and continuation of work; and how Science is a calling, at least for those who are really good at it. 

If you feel that you have a calling for something, on the one hand, you must answer, or eventually it will stop. On the other hand, important questions arise, like: How important is what you are doing in the grand scheme? How much of yourself do you give? How much is reasonable to ask your family to sacrifice?  I don't think these questions have definitive answers. I strive to put myself in the gray area between too little and too much.

Anyway, I do feel a calling to do research. I'm not sure how I got here, and I'm not quite sure what to make of it. This was not a part of the plan, and yet here I am, grateful, but also striving to find that right balance.