A couple of words on myself

I am a 27-year-old student of international business who has a clear vision for what he aims in life. People who know me would describe me as kind-hearted, empathetic and as a person who gets well along with people. One of my biggest dreams and passion has been to be in touch with foreign cultures and to be in interaction with people from all over the world. Thus, I have been lucky to travel a lot and have found a place that intrigues me a great deal. I feel that one must feel enthusiastic about what one does in order to stay focused and determined to attain the best results in life.

During the past couple of years I have noticed that China motivates me to understand it more thoroughly and not least because of the huge changes it has witnessed in respect to society, economy and business. Luckily, I have been fortunate to have had the occasion to live in Macao and to study at the University of Macao. This was my first longer stay in Asia. While living in Macao I finally realized that China would be a part of my future one way or another. There I also commenced studying Mandarin Chinese – a decision that I have not had to regret to this day. After my stay in Macao I headed to Beijing for a summer long internship at a Chinese company in its early stages of internationalization. After working in Beijing I went to Shanghai for the very first time. At that time my intention was to start focusing solely on studying Chinese. However my visit was cut short since I was accepted to study Area studies at the Centre of East Asian Studies at the University of Turku in Finland.

Last year one of my dreams became reality – I got my first post in China and in Shanghai. What made it more exciting was that I was able to work in the interface of China and Finland as I came here to work as a Pavilion guide in the Finnish pavilion in the Shanghai Expo 2010. While working here and promoting Finland to our guests I have gotten the chance to show where I come from and tell the exciting stories about my home country that differs so greatly from China, another place that I love. I think this is why I find China so interesting, it is just so different from Finland. I think this difference offers also great potential for Finns and Chinese as well to enhance the cooperation between the two countries.

After the Expo I will continue working on my Master’s thesis in Finland, at the University of Turku, formerly known as the Turku School of Economics. The topical area of the thesis is the establishment of mutual trust between Chinese and Finnish businesses and applying different means of communication in the process. As I mentioned about the notable differences between Finland and China, I have also noticed this issue while working on the thesis. Better understanding of the culture, the people and the foreign market is vital for businesses to make better use of their resources far away from home.

Apart from China and traveling I am interested in sports. I try to keep myself fit in order to be able to stay energetic from morning until evening. Especially when working at an exhibition like the world exhibition you can really see the important interrelatedness of being physically and mentally in a good shape and enduring the tough and hectic working conditions.