Easy

Phew. Another week spent … ill. The cold managed to sneak up on me while I was photographing on a chilly winter’s morning. And of course I didn’t get ill when I was supposed to be at work, but when I was going to go to Turku, for another interesting trip that would have been worth reporting. Then when I got better, it was time to go back to work, but was still too tired to write the blog. Instead I slept, watched TV and played a flash game on Facebook. And speaking of Facebook,  you can get the latest updates on the blog to your Facebook wall, by becoming a fan, here. (Or if you’re old-fashioned, you can get the RSS feed) … I can’t get rid of my marketing background, have to spam you with a subscription-link flood to begin with. Sorry.

I’ve had it easy.

Too easy, I feel sometimes.

Especially after listening to people who’ve had trouble in their lives or who have had to endure hardships to get where they are now. Not me. I come from an upper middle-class family. Neither of my parents have an academic background or come from old money families. They worked their way through life to get to a comfortable life. Sailed the high seas, enduring the harsh storms, the risk of being killed by pirates and worst of all, the constant drunken banter their fellow sailors. All this so that, as my mother put it, “I could have a better life than they’ve had.”

So, I grew up in the suburbs of Helsinki, surrounded by other upper middle class families. A very monocultural environment, to be honest. Well-off people, houses with backyards, well-educated folk who had decided to start building a family. I lived in a neighborhood that never really had any problems with crime, or anything else, come think of it. When I was younger, one could pretty much leave your front door open during the days and wouldn’t have to worry about someone breaking in (except for us kids, who could come in and steal your cookies).

A sheltered environment to say the least. My early childhood was very easy.

First 9 grades, I went to the local school, which was filled with us upper middle class kids. The teachers were patient and brilliant, and I was a quiet nerd. The type that was more interested in getting good grades than getting into trouble. Not that there were many kids who were trouble there. The school bully (who later went to business school) would have gotten his butt kicked if he had ventured a couple of neighborhoods east and tried to tease someone there. And not by the bullies there trying to protect their turf. But the losers, who were probably tougher than he was. So, there we were, the young nerds, surrounded by people who weren’t a danger to anyone, studying hard. Shining in things like Mathematics and Physics. And in the evenings, we went to soccer practice and attended boy scout meetings as we were expected to.

From there, I went into a gymnasium (the next step in the academic route of Finnish school system) that was just one step below the “elite” schools here. Quite close to home and again, very safe environment to be in – made good friends, had very high quality teachers, participated in raising the school spirit. And stayed out of trouble. The wonderful thing about being in a good school that’s not an elite one is, that the social norm wasn’t academic overachieving – you could actually have a good time while you were studying. Good time meaning something else than debating about chess or which was the best Star Trek episode ever. In case you didn’t already guess, I started to get out of my “I am an antisocial nerd” cocoon at this point. And even if I there wasn’t too much pressure to succeed, I still got away with a nice grade average.

After gymnasium, it was University.

In Finland, you apply to a University, go take an entrance exam, and if you pass, you’re in. No need to prove your worth year after year. Just once. Once you’re in, you can study for 10 years if you want. This means that for the popular places, you need to really shine to get in. Not uncommon for people to apply for a few places, and if they don’t get where they want, they start studying somewhere else (maybe somewhere that’s that’s a bit like what they wanted to) and then try again to get in the next year. Not unheard of for people to try for five or more years to get to the local Law or Medical Schools.

I got in Helsinki University of Technology on the first try. Computer Science, which was one of the harder ones there. Since that entrance exam, I have applied and gotten in to some other places as well. Metropolia, Åbo Akademi and University of Helsinki. I’ll hopefully get to tell the stories of these transitions at some point in the future as well, but they’re a bit beside the point just now. The only school where I have applied to and haven’t gotten in is the local Art/Design school. So, I’ve been able to study what I’ve been interested in, where-ever I’ve been living. Without extra hassle.

My studies at the Helsinki University of Technology got interrupted when a friend needed a hand with a work thing he was doing and I promised to go help him out for a while. Didn’t have to raise a finger and got a nice job to do while studying. That’s the way it’s been ever since. I know people who know people who need professionals like me. I haven’t been to a job interview where I didn’t already have a foot in the door somehow.

I’ve had it easy. I still have it easy.

You can hate me now if you want to.

And you can bet your ass that it’s not as simple as I just made it sound. I’ll just write about the bad stuff later.

Now I’m off to pack, as my flight to Dubai leaves in about 16 hours.