COVID-19 Chronicles: Stories from Fulbright Finland Grantees

Jordan Banks is a 2019-2020 Fulbright-LUT University Graduate awardee. In her story, The Roller Coaster Ride, she describes the evolution of how the pandemic impacted her Fulbright journey and decision to travel back to the U.S. like a roller coaster ride.

Bruce Blair is a 2019-2020 Fulbright-EDUFI Fellow at the University of Jyväskylä. In his story, How Do You Return Home When Home No Longer Exists, Bruce talks about returning to a place that feels unfamiliar.

David Carranza is a 2019-2020 Fulbright-Tampere University Graduate awardee. He will complete a master's degree in Public and Global Health at Tampere University. Read David's story, Schrödinger's Lockdown, as he describes the paradoxes he experienced while in COVID-19 lockdown in Finland. 

John Donnellan is a 2019-2020 Fulbright-TUAS Scholar awardee and 2017-2018 Fulbright Specialist. In his story, he describes how the pandemic impacted his Fulbright Finland experience in Turku and his battle with COVID-19 symptoms: Tranquility Interrupted – My Fulbright Semester in Finland.

David Dorman is a 2019-2020 Fulbright-Saastamoinen Foundation Grantee in Health and Environmental Sciences. Although his visit to the University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio was hastily interrupted, he continued teaching and mentoring students online. Read his story Launching a Finnish Fulbright in the Time of COVID.

Alicia Fedewa is a 2019-2020 Fulbright Mid-Career Professional Development grantee. Read about her early departure from Jyväskylä, Finland, with two children (5 and 9 years old): Building SISU in our COVID-19 Departure from Finland.

William Helling is a 2019-2020 and 2013-2014 Fulbright-Haaga-Helia Scholar Award awardee. Read Williams's story, From Great Anticipation to Considerable Disruption, as he describes his smooth integration into Finland and his quick exit out of Finland in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Benjamin Lear is a 2019-2020 Fulbright-Tampere University Scholar awardee. Read his story New Perspectives on Science from New Experiences in Life.

Brittany Perry is a 2019-2020 Fulbright U.S. Student Program awardee. In her story, Any Corner of the World, she describes how COVID-19 impacted her Fulbright journey and the difficult decisions she had to make to take care of her mental well-being.

Maedeh Pourrabi is a 2019-2020 Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching grantee. Read her heartfelt spoken word poem An Opportunity Lost. 

Ann Ransom is a 2019-2020 Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching grantee. Read her story No Dead Ends in Learning as she describes stepping out her comfort zone in Finland and learning from her grant being cut short by the pandemic.

Natalia Särmäkari is a 2019-2020 ASLA-Fulbright Pre-Doctoral Research Fellow at Parsons School of Design in New York City. In her story, Peculiar Corona-Spring in New York, she shares her experiences living in New York with her family when the pandemic arrived in the U.S.

Jacob Schubbe is a 2019-2020 Fulbright-LUT University Graduate awardee. In his story Should I Stay... or Should I Go? he shares his thoughts on deciding to return to the U.S. and eventually traveling back to Finland in June.

Kelsea Turner is a 2019-2020 Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching grantee. Read her story Half as Long, but Just as Powerful, as she reflects on her self-development despite a shortened time in Finland. 

Mika Vähäkuopus is a 2019-2020 Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching awardee. In his  story Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Program in the Midst of COVID-19 he describes how quickly the environment in the U.S. changed and how re-entry culture shock in Finland was more abrupt than expected.