Helsinki is and has always been my home town, so the University of Helsinki was a natural choice for my studies. I never even seriously considered any other university. But what to study? There I had wealth of riches to choose from, not all of them by any means in the humanities. I even applied to study biology. My plans for the natural sciences finally foundered on the fact that I was in no way mathematically oriented.

The beginning of my studies was a pleasant time, even though I kept wandering from one major to another. I studied archaeology, journalism, comparative literature, classical languages, and computer programming until I ended up in history. With the benefit of hindsight, my wanderings were largely due to the fact that the humanities lack a clear, obvious career path for graduates – except for the job of teacher. On the other hand, at university I was able to study many interesting subjects if only to round out my general knowledge. At the same time I was introduced to multidisciplinary perspectives and many different methodologies. All this knowledge and all these skills have been useful in my professional life.

General history offered not only a fascinating field of study but also a wide range of careers after graduation. In history I was mainly interested in the earlier periods, especially Antiquity but somewhat also the Middle Ages. My studies took off and I completed my Bachelor of Arts in a couple of years. Then my progress flagged a bit because I got the chance to attend courses run by the Finnish Institute in Rome and later even join their team of researchers, and I spent long periods in Rome. These courses not only gave me an advanced understanding of the history of Antiquity and scientific methodology, but also gave me insights into the European experience as well as the lifestyle, language, culture, and gastronomy of Italy, and internationalism. At that time it was rare to be able to study abroad: in the 1980s Finland was not a member of the European Union and our current student exchange programmes were but a dream.

Still, my best memories from the University of Helsinki have to do with my postgraduate studies and the unforgettably wonderful community of scholars at the Kristiina Institute and Renvall Institute. They were there for me if my research stalled, and this helped me grow into a fully-fledged member of the academic community.