First of all, I’ll start by warning you that I won’t write about what an awesome year we will have, because frankly, I’ve never been a fan of stating the obvious. There’s going to be a lot of fun and cool stuff to do and we will keep you posted on that when it becomes actual. Anyway it might be worthwhile to provide you with some dates, so that you can schedule things in before hand. On Monday the 21st of February, we will have this year’s first party at Alina, but you will hear more about that later from Maiju. The next really major event will be the 39th Anniversary Dinner Party on the 19th of March. In April we will head for a visit to Turku, for the iNMatES 2011 (National Meeting of English Students), organised by Anglica ry on the 15th to the 17th of April. There’s lots of fun to be had, so keep those days free. The last two will have sign-ups and you will receive more information in February. If someone had told me in the summer of 2008, that I would be president for such a big and wonderful organisation as SUB, I would scarcely have believed them. All through my teenage years, I was never the sort of guy to assume responsibility over anything, very much content with letting others worry about such things. Now I am in a position of great responsibility and that does raise the question: how have I come to this? To really get to the core of this, I’ll have to go back to my freshman year. I remember our orientation week; I was impressed by how much effort people were willing to put in to make us feel welcome, how wonderful the people were and how well-organised everything was. I was awestruck and endeared. You had me at hello and I was hooked to SUB, and you all, for good. I felt at home and I wanted to repay the favour by ensuring that the next batch of freshmen would be welcomed in a similar way. This made me run for the post of Tutors and Freshmen representative for the 2009 board. I did not expect to get the post, as I could only offer passioned incompetence and stated that clearly, yet I was given a surprising vote of confidence. Year 2009 was by most accounts a learning process for me as I had to rise up to new challenges, but I think we managed to give the freshmen an equally wonderful welcome as we had received ourselves. I followed up with a year as the Studies and Working Life representative, which resulted in me dabbling in adminstrative issues as a student representative. Now I am the president of SUB. It is strange where gratefulness can lead you. I never expected anything like this, yet here I am. A lazy, careless bastard in a position of responsibility, yet willing to work hard as I do not want to let you all down as you have never let me down.
Since I’ve started my studies here, I’ve felt blessed every day. Firstly I have been utterly impressed by the dedication of board members and other Subbers in ensuring that all of us are able to have a good time during our studies. Secondly one seldom gets to enjoy being part of a community of such marvellous people. I feel at home with you all and I want to ensure that others can continue to feel the same way as well. I am grateful that I can spend time with you all and I hope that this year’s board can continue to uphold the standards of dedication and warmth set by earlier board members. This might be an overdose of sentimentality, but I really had no idea what I set out to write other writing something about SUB and in the end when writing about SUB, this is what I felt that I wanted to write. You are the best and I will work hard to ensure that you will have an amazing year that you all deserve.
Yours, Oscar A.
