As a youth growing up in southern Lapland, I quickly realised that after upper-secondary school I would go as far away as possible to study. Studying abroad was not as common at that time, so the natural choice was Finland’s southernmost, largest and most fascinating university: the University of Helsinki.

It is impossible to raise one memory above all others from my student days. The first great experience of university study was meeting and making friends with very different kinds of students. I regularly meet those friends to this day.

A turning point in my career occurred during summer work as a journalist at the Economic Information Office in 1989. During the summer, I had noticed that in the Finnish industry there was intense discussion in various forums about European economic integration and Finland joining the European Economic Area or even the European Community. This debate was non-existent in my study circles. Over the summer I really began to wonder what all this integration was about, as companies were decisively pushing the matter forward.

It could be that studying history at the University of Helsinki and all the great tales of exuberant student life acted as a positive example to some of my younger siblings. After I had begun studying, three of my other siblings chose to study history after completing upper-secondary school, one in Helsinki and the others at the University of Oulu.

After graduating, boating and sailing became an extremely important part of my life. Sailing has always been a wonderful way for me to get away, particularly from timetabled, fast-paced work, and direct my thoughts to something completely different.