WHAT?

Despite not even knowing where I am going for my internship, which is supposed to start in August (and yes, I am slowly starting to panic, as august is approaching fast) people keep asking me what I am planning to do after I have finally finished my studies. I have a tendency to start my reply with a slow “weeeelll…” since, to be quite honest, I really don’t know.

My mum is a professional job searcher. I think her morning newspaper consists only of job announcements and houses that are for sale. And the weather of course. Occasionally she sees something that involves language skills, a degree in economics and gives possibilities to travel. This is when she phones me right there and then or just accidentally mentions this possibility in another context (this happens especially when the posts are in Finland and stay in Finland).

I have friends going to the diplomatic services or working in the diplomatic services. In fact it has been something I have considered too – and even quite seriously. So yesterday, when I felt completely overwhelmed with work as it was, I decided to check the web pages of the Finnish foreign ministry and KAVAKU (their training programme). It sounded amazing. The brochure highlights the fact that as a diplomat (or anyone working internationally) one has to change countries every few years and spend some time in Finland in between – perfect. Apparently the possible stress caused to your partner and children should be carefully considered before applying – two seconds – no risk of either (partner or kids that is) so no risk of hassle or trauma. Excellent. The salary doesn’t sound too bad either (especially after living on student support and restaurant work).

After having gone through all the benefits I moved on to looking at the application process. One of the questions in the final exam was (in the last round) the number of reindeers in Finland. Seriously. To get into the diplomatic services in Finland you must no the number of REINDEERS in Finland. Ok everybody knows that Father Christmas lives in Finland but still why does a diplomat need to know the number of REINDEERS in Finland? I gave up – the foreign ministry was definitely not for me. But then again, I suppose it is good to rule out the things you definitely don’t want to do, or something.

Oh and by the way – there are 196 727 reindeers in Finland.