I never thought of becoming a politician. I have no background in student politics or political youth organisations. I joined the Greens in Spring 2004, with the notion of promoting funding for basic public services in East Helsinki. I didn't expect to be elected to the city council my first time out. The same thing happened in the 2007 general election.

My best memories from the University have to do with people. I came to know both my best friends and my future husband, Atro Kahiluoto, in the smoking room of the University Main Building. All through upper-secondary school, I had lived in a small village where I was the only young weirdo who loved poetry, Russian classics, and philosophy. At university I met fellow spirits and moved in with them. We named our common apartment “Kaivo ja Tähti” ('The Well and the Star'), partly after the street address, partly after a classic of 19th century Finnish literature. We set up discussion groups on aesthetics, literature, and philosophy, and through the years we ran various study groups. I remember belonging to study groups on Husserl, Heidegger, Derrida, and Nietzsche, at least.

In a recent interview, a leading Finnish populist politician said that the current refugee crisis wouldn’t be solved by “teary-eyed humanism.” So it won't, but the populist had misunderstood humanism. The director Susanna Kuparinen hits closer to the mark when she says: “Humanism is cool; it is the heart of education. It's the kind of empathy that isn't wet; it's almost as pure as mathematics.”

My dreams mostly have a social dimension. I dream that xenophobia and racism will be conquered, that the children of low-income parents will still receive an education in the Finland of tomorrow, that decision-makers will take global warming seriously.