“A humanities scholar has no career – or at least no career plans,” was the motto of my generation of students, inspired by the Humboldtian educational ideal. But with the benefit of hindsight, my orientation into my career seems almost premeditated. I took advantage of intriguing offers of temporary jobs and gained practical experience in digging into archives, interview studies, and the importance of keeping schedules.

A summer job as a postman, which I had begun while still at school, was the perfect fit for a humanities student. I became familiar with the streets and courtyards of the Kruununhaka neighbourhood and earned money for hobbies, but most importantly the job left much of the summer day free to revise for exams and above all to read literature in the parks of Helsinki.

One summer I worked at the Student Union House as a gopher at the office of the Inter Press Service, a news agency focused on developing countries. The following autumn, I was hired to sell IPS’s articles to provincial newspapers, and I also participated in its organisational work. My horizons were broadened, not only in respect to global issues but also regarding the significance of provincial newspapers and the nature of sales work: listen to the customer, know your product, and only sell what you value.

When I got the opportunity to write the history of an organisation, My fellow students and I jumped at the chance. Twice. The 50 year history of Limes ry, the association of mathematics students, covered some fascinating upheavals in the social and intellectual history of students. And writing the 40 year history of the Finnish Association of Sports for the Disabled provided me with a view of society from its margins. I also did some picture editing for the Otava publishing house and spent a year as a research assistant in a history project at the Student Union of the University of Helsinki. For the 350th anniversary of the University of Helsinki, I was entrusted with the design of the Student Union exhibition in Jugendsali, a City of Helsinki exhibition space near the University Main Building. This “Student life in Helsinki” exhibition must have been my passport to the Heureka Science Centre, where I was invited to join the team planning their Finland 75 years exhibition. Later the exhibition gained an additional title to describe the modernisation of Finland: Jukola – Jakomäki – Brussels.

This work swept me off my feet, so I almost dropped the Master’s thesis I was writing for two professors, when all I could think of was producing exhibitions for the general public. But in the end it was exhibition work that motivated me to finish my Master’s. I had scripted and designed a display on Through Finland in Carts, the delightful travelogue by Mrs Alec Tweedie on her 1896 journey to Finland. The display was duplicated for the summer exhibition of the Retretti Art Museum in Eastern Finland, and we also turned it into a documentary. I forsook Antiquity for travel literature. In changing majors I was supported by my most important teacher, Licentiate Rainer Knapas, whom I can never thank enough for advising me on my thesis even though he wasn’t my supervisor. That’s universitas, the community of learners.