How I like to spend my free time.
Besides computer science and maths, I also enjoy the following:
Being active in communities
More about that here.
Tinkering
I like to tinker and to make things.
Often that means tinkering on my computer – enhancing my Linux distro, trying out new tools and technologies, or playing with familiar ones – but it doesn’t stop there.
My biggest project is my opiskelijahaalarit, the Finnish student overalls, onto which I sew patches and attach all kinds of things. One side project was sewing a custom hood for them from scratch!
Sometimes I handcraft small gifts for friends, family or community events – I like making origami for them, engraving things in wood, or building small creative software projects.
When I was younger I built a lot of stuff from Lego and its Mindstorms NXT robotics set. Now I sometimes build simple things with a Raspberry Pi or an Arduino.
For that I sometimes visit public workshops such as the NTK polytechnic workshop. During my stay in Finland I was a happy user of Aalto’s Design Factory.
Sports
My favourite sport is basketball. I started playing when I was about 12; sometimes I play more regularly, sometimes less, but I have been playing ever since. I have always played just for fun and never trained much, though together with a friend I led an after-school club for two school years, as part of our other activities of encouraging local people to play basketball.
Besides basketball I go to the gym regularly, and I like cycling, ice skating and swimming. From time to time I also pack a big backpack and go hiking – I have hiked in Czechia, Romania, Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Poland.
Dancing
I took a dance course when I was 15. I liked it, but I didn’t dance much after that. In 2026 I started dancing more actively with my girlfriend: we regularly attend the ESN open classes in ballroom dancing, and we dance swing – we took balboa lessons together, and now she gives me private lindy hop lessons. From time to time we take our new moves out to social dancing at NTK.
Playing in a theatre
More about that here.
Playing the ukulele
I got a ukulele as a gift a couple of years back. I have never been to a music school, but I enjoy teaching myself and practising on my own. I’m not any good, but it is a great way for me to relax – I just grab the ukulele and play a bit from time to time.
Playing video games
From time to time, I also enjoy playing video games.
One of my all-time favorites are Terraria, Minecraft, Underrail, Hearthstone, The Binding of Isaac, Dark Souls, Demon Souls, Monster Hunter Freedom 2, Dragon Age Origins, and Heroes of Might and Magic IV and V.
In general, I like learning new things and experiencing what life has to offer.