Stefan Bendel and Juuso Syrjänen sit down with me, open up, and share some laughs.
The first time I met Stefan and Juuso, I was instantly mesmerized by their witty banter and charismatic charm, but wouldn’t any girl in the presence of two handsome, alluring, over-6-feet-tall foreign boys?
Stefan Bendel and Juuso Syrjänen, natives of Germany and Finland, are two of the many foreign exchange students that come to Cal State Fullerton each semester to study abroad. While studying business here for one semester, they are also finding plenty of time to go out and see what California has to offer. I sat down with them to talk about life in America, what they think about CSUF and how living here differs from living at home.
Q: Why did you decide to come to CSUF?
Stefan: For me, I wanted to do a semester abroad to improve my English skills. I chose California because it has nice scenery here, with many places for sightseeing, traveling, partying, clubbing, whatever. CSUF I chose because the beginning and end dates match my time table … and fees were one of the cheapest.
Juuso: In my case, Cal State Fullerton is our partner university. Not many students want to go to Finland, so there’s a lack of students … I’d like to brush up on my English skills and the weather here of course is wonderful all the time. I think it’s too good for learning, for studying, however.
Q: How do you like it here?
S: I really like it. I got my four classes that I needed.
J: All of the school is good, much bigger than my own university in Finland. The location of CSUF is good, it’s close to LA, however, it’s not so close, so this place is not so crowded as some places in LA. If I can be honest, I hate one thing here and it’s bus connections. In America, you can’t live without a car.
Q: What was the biggest shock upon coming here?
S: I had no culture shock because (there are) so many documentations about American ways of life … My biggest shock was the sizes. I knew there were big packages … because of TV, but like at home, a jar of marmalade is this big (he holds up two hands a few inches apart), and here it’s this big (he holds up two hands that extend at least twice the size of the first jar).
J: Food, itself. It’s sometimes so difficult to find healthy food here. Packages are too huge … I don’t want to eat the same meatballs for six or seven days a week.
S: He was eating the same package of strawberries for four days.
Q: What do you think of our education system compared to yours back home?
S: Here, you have a continuous workload … At home, we only have one final exam. Here it’s better; you have more chances to get more grades.
J: I have only four classes here so I don’t have that much experience, but the system is totally different … They’re more difficult in Finland. In Europe you can be lazy and the last week study (for the final exam).
Q: What places have you gone to? What have you seen?
S: Many. San Diego, LA, beaches, Huntington, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, Disneyland.
J: You have so many interesting places. Hollywood, Santa Barbara.
Q: What is your favorite American food?
S: In-N-Out Burger is pretty good, but at Huntington Beach, I had some Mexican food. This was very delicious.
J: Whopper.
Q: What is one thing you miss about home?
S: My girlfriend. If I (was) working here, I would miss our fixed conditions at home. Here you can be fired in a very short time. In Germany we have a very good safety system for employees.
J: The weather here is so wonderful, but sometimes it is so hot. In Finland, it’s a bit more comfortable.
Q: What is on your list of things to do and see while here?
S: Vegas!
J: I would like to see natural things like the Grand Canyon, maybe travel to Hawaii.