In this (hopefully) recurring series, I will write about people that happen to get seated beside me on intercontinental flights, usually between Helsinki and Shanghai, the two cities I frequently travel between. You can check the first post in the series here.
Howdy guys, it's been a while! I know it because I actually skipped one profile when flying to Shanghai last time. That was because my buddy happened to be a middle-aged-ish (I'm certainly no expert in Asian people's age) Chinese guy who didn't as much as say two words to me the entire trip, but rather concentrated on sleeping. Fortunately, on my return trip we get two for the price of one!
Really, the price is zero because this post is free. Only for you, my friend.
The reason I got two seat buddies this time is because I tried to optimize for a comfier seat, after noticing that some of the best seats for the flights were already taken during online check-in (even though I logged in almost immediately it opened). I then proceeded towards the back of the plane where there were still full length middle aisle rows empty. Chose the middle seat in a three-seat row, second to last one, hoping it would discourage couples or other two-people groups from booking there altogether, possibly leaving the entire row for myself.
At this point, I have to disclose that this was not antisocial behavior from my side. Instead, having just had (or actually, my wife having) a baby and being kept up at nights by him, I was looking for a way to maximize my sleeping time.
Anyway, let's turn our focus to the buddy on my right, Ville the mechanical engineering student. He and his fellow student (who was sitting many rows away, in the front, totally destroying my psychological seat-picking-gambit) were on a week-long project trip to Shanghai, visiting the Chinese office of the Finnish elevator maker Kone. The company was a sponsor in their product development school project, an assignment which was about finding ways to improve the usage and experience of elevators even during the construction phase of the building.
Although not as hot-bed a market as it used to be for the construction industry, China is surely still a place where tall high-rises are being built constantly, and research material on that area is bound to be plentiful. One of the findings they reported was the observation that the higher the building project is, the more likely it is for the workers to use built-in elevators to move about instead of the external construction elevators built on or outside the scaffolding.
A bit later, but still in the boarding phase, another Western guy appears to the seat on my left. His carry-on bag is filled with books, and for this flight, he pulls out one called My Country and My People by Lin Yutang. Turns out that he -- Roman is his name and Switzerland his country -- was on a six month internship in Wuxi at a Swiss industry machinery manufacturer, and is now returning home. He, too, is a mechanical engineering student, although there is no connection to Ville beyond that. The company Roman interned at is a major player in the market for the food industry, among others. As many as two-third of ingredients that make up our daily meals pass through their machines. Of course, like any player in a heavily B2B oriented, non-consumer industry, the name is obscure and already eludes my memory.
When Roman was preparing for his internship in China (his first trip outside Europe), he didn't really do much to actually prepare. That way he didn't have much expectations towards China and the experience, and could be more open towards it all. I think it's a fairly healthy way to embrace new and unknown cultures, because if one sets own starting point as the gold standard, anything different would feel somehow off-putting. Coming from a small town and making his way into a highly prestigious university in Zürich, I believe Roman has had his share of uphill battle against expectations. I'm glad that it turned out well and he really seems open-minded about new cultures. Judging by the way he sports a new, made-in-China Xiaomi Note phablet and actually also has a Chinese name (霍哲洛), one could say that he looks to fit in just fine :)
Furthermore, we talked at length about Switzerland's keenness to organize votes and referendums. Ville was especially interested in this topic. We also learned that instead of one president, the Swiss have a group, or council, of presidents to act as co-heads of state. Pretty interesting stuff, because I have to admit, I wasn't really interested in history or politics during my studies, and thus I never learned information such as the Swiss political system. As a business student, our interest in Switzerland have been in totally different sectors.
Get it? Interest? Ha-ha. Although the Swiss bank secrecy does seem to start crumbling due to recent activities in the field of investigative journalism.
But that, my friends, is another story for another time.
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