Chief Editor's Note: Curiosity

At first, I thought I’d write this text on the change of the seasons and how that can be seen at the University and around Helsinki. Spring is in full swing, though not without the occasional cold spell, and our student life is packed with fun events and activities in accordance. Recently, I had the absolute delight in taking part in one such event, the National Meeting of English Students or NMES, with a lovely group of people. On our way to and back from the event, we got to chat a lot about things we don’t usually chat all that much about, like the origins of food combinations and what the difference between a pond and a lake truly is. And this inspired me to fully ditch my original chief editor’s note, because I wanted to explore what I felt and thought after our talks instead.

The first of these discussions was prompted by a friend of mine saying that she spends a lot of time just kind of thinking about things and wondering where things come from. And I was immediately intrigued, because so do I. On any given day, I do a lot of thinking that is fully and utterly unrelated to the field I’m studying and think about information that is in many ways silly or unproductive to ponder upon. Some things have a clear history and can be traced back to their roots, but some cannot, and it’s fun to just throw out ideas and discuss theories on those. Which is exactly what we did on that trip as well. We had an open conversation about topics that we’re by no means experts in, but we were all invested and eager to learn. Together, we approached new concepts with an open mind and curiosity. I think those were some of the best parts of that trip, which then raised the question: what made that so fun?

I’ve given it some thought after the fact, and I think I’ve found a way to explain my own experience, and maybe some of you can relate to it. In academia, we’re told to look for research gaps and niche topics within fields that tend to have extensive research histories and decades of debate to unpack. This is by no means a bad thing, just very different from what my friends and I did while we were on our trip. There are tons of excellent reasons for familiarising ourselves with the field of research and finding those gaps, of course, such as the fact that we have a lot of responsibility towards our own academic field. For topics we are not experts in, we have a lot more freedom to have more of a childlike wonder and intrigue and not be so rigorous in our research. Instead of pouring hours into reading in the library, we can just talk and possibly look up something on the internet while we’re on our way back home from a party, which is incredibly fun.

I think I learn much more about life in general through open discussions, rather than reading academic research into every topic that passes my flow of consciousness. We do owe a lot of thanks to academic research when we have these discussions, but as we are not those academics, it is not our personal responsibility. We get to enjoy the benefits of someone else’s expertise and learn more about the world we live in. And, when we’re not interested in looking into the research of a specific topic, we get to just talk and bring new ideas to the table. It has broadened my horizons quite significantly and I cannot wait to see where our shared curiosity might take us in the future. I hope your adventures will be as fruitful as mine have been.

But before you embark on your journey of curious wonder, I invite you to explore this issue of BTSB. Rasmus writes about a week in the life of a student, Valo’s story explores unexpected encounters and I paint a picture of a sweet little pawn shop. We hope you enjoy these adventures and all those you have yet to encounter. Stay curious!