One of Juha Töyrylä's best memories from university has to do with the early summer of 2010. Töyrylä got to take part in a centuries-old academic tradition at the congregation as wreath-weaver, preparing the laurel accolades for the new graduates.

– The prestige and impressive history of the ceremony made me feel proud to be a student at the University of Helsinki. It felt great to be a part of a celebration that is based on such a long tradition.

The friendships made during his tumultuous years at the university are especially important for Töyrylä. He has met plenty of new people studying comparative literature, but also through the Faculty of Arts student organisation Humanisticum (in Finnish) and the student union. Töyrylä has also formed friendships abroad while working internationally. He can easily find a place to crash anywhere in Europe.

– Each summer a few of my friends and I have got into the habit of inviting some people over to Finland from different parts of Europe. I have stacks of fun memories from these summer holiday weeks. Our guests have been especially fond of getting to know what goes on in the student organisations here. For example, a few years ago we had friends over from various places in Scandinavia. We invited them to join us for Humanisticum's summer ‘sitz’, which was a great experience for them.

And if you don’t know what a sitz is, it’s time to come and find out!