After matriculating, I had to think for a year before I dared begin studying Finnish, but after that, starting university felt wonderful. In the phonetics, morphology and syntax courses of my fresher year, it was thrilling become aware of the principles of language that had been completely unmentioned at school. Soon I also began to study general linguistics.

Moments of insight provided me with joy throughout my time as a student. It is only a pity that I had too little time to properly enjoy them, as my studies suffered from a desire for perfection. I couldn’t go to exams if I didn’t know every set text by heart, nor could I hand in seminar work unless I had gone through it with a fine toothcomb. In hindsight, I understand how sad and corrosive it was.

Many a summer I participated in the field trips organised by the Department of Finnish and the Institute for the Languages of Finland, which always felt like a huge adventure. Country folk and their expressions became familiar in a whole new way to me as a city girl. When I was young, I had the energy to tour round places such as Leppävirta and Kangasnimi, going from house to house collecting place names and then in the evening still go to a dance or stay up late with my study mates!

When my Master’s thesis was complete and I just needed to complete a few short exams, Silva Kiuru offered me a temporary post at the Department of Finnish. However, the date for my wedding was already set and a baby was on the way—and a rich life awaited me quite elsewhere.