The history of Greece and Crete provided an inspiring environment for studying and experiencing on site everything that had already evoked the curiosity and imagination of Nikolaos (formerly Lauri Pentti Nikolai) Kälviäinen.
At school, Kälviäinen read a great deal of fantasy literature. The classic of the genre, The Lord of the Rings, transported him to another, alternative reality. However, it was the historical novels of Mika Waltari and other authors that gave rise to understanding that another reality does not have to be purely fictional. The idea of studying other worlds as a profession was so fascinating that Nikolaos chose classical philology as his focus at the University. Waltari's The Dark Angel led him to choose Ancient Greek as his major subject even though he didn't speak a word of it.
"Language is the best way to reach another reality," Nikolaos says. "Linguistics and Modern Greek opened a new world for me. I didn't lose my original childhood enthusiasm - the language only helped it to deepen, and my identity began to form around it."
Student exchange can give a new direction to life
"Some of my fellow students had already embarked on student exchange in various countries. I'd never thought about doing the same before I realised, through the experiences of my friends, what an amazing opportunity to learn the language it would be living from six to 12 months in another culture."
For Nikolaos, Greece was always a priority but Crete a complete coincidence. He knew almost nothing about the island except for the Minoan culture and myths. At the time, the only exchange agreement was for six months at the Kalamata Campus of the University of the Peloponnese. Nikolaos wanted to learn the language better and go for a 12-month exchange period, and finally an exchange agreement between the University of Helsinki and the University of Crete was signed. A fellow student gave him a tip about the opportunity.
"I arrived on the island for the first time in autumn 2010 by ferry from Athens."
The exchange year as an experience was everything Nikolaos had expected and much more. The courses in an authentic environment were of a high quality and, as an exchange student, Nikolaos had the freedom to choose any studies without restrictions.
"The key was that, after the first few weeks, I didn't stay in the English-speaking 'exchange student bubble' but got to know the locals, among them my future wife, and over the course of the year I had the opportunity to familiarise myself both with the student community and society at the grassroots level."
Nikolaos recommends student exchange to anyone who wishes to learn about other cultures just as long they know what they want from their year abroad. If they want to immerse themselves in the local language and culture, it is important to choose the perfect language-country combination with regard to personal interests and to learn enough of the language already before the exchange if it is not their major or minor subject.
"For me, the crucial thing was that luckily I had waited long enough to have studied Modern Greek to a level that after a couple of weeks I was able to follow lectures and make notes. Later it was easier to, for example, read newspapers and discuss matters of interest with the locals."
Crete or Finland?
After his exchange year, it was clear to Nikolaos that for personal reasons either he would move to Crete or his girlfriend to Finland.
"Since I was a student of Greek, I couldn't think of anything better than to continue my exchange experience indefinitely. On the other hand, my future wife had no ties whatsoever to Finland."
After Nikolaos completed his master's studies at the University of Helsinki, he moved permanently to Crete in 2012, finished his master's thesis in classical philology there entitled 'Stylistic variation in Byzantine Greek and the role of syntactic complexity of sentence structure' and continued his studies first with a second master's degree and later postgraduate studies in Byzantine studies. Subsequently, the work on the doctoral thesis was put on hold for a few years (2019-2024) and his family - which nowadays includes a five-year-old daughter who just started school - lived in Oxford, Athens and, after returning to Crete, in Chania before settling in Heraklion.
Studies at the University of Helsinki eventually led to another world that was no longer fictional
Today Nikolaos Kälviäinen and his family live in the countryside close to Heraklion, where his recently baptised daughter teaches Greek to her visiting Finnish grandmother, awaits the winter rains to be able to jump into puddles, and helps her father gather grapes.
Nikolaos is finalising his doctoral thesis, which is composed primarily of a critical edition of the late-antiquity Greek martyrdom account of Margaret of Antioch. The subject matter continues in the vein of hagiography, one of the focus areas of Byzantine studies at the University of Crete already prevalent for a couple of generations.
"You could say that what was supposed to be a 12-month exchange year never ended; I'm still on the same journey. To borrow the most significant literary model of my school years (who, by the way, was also a professional researcher of 'another world', a professor of Old English): "It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door," he used to say. "You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to. …". (J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring)". (J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring)
