Ben Gran 2009
Listen to the truly inspirational Ben Gran (2009) talk to Paul Galea about nursing, his time doing Finnish military service, his exit from Australia, life and… IGS!
Paul Galea:
Oh, hello, Ben Gran. It’s Paul Galea from International Grammar calling you in Finland. How are you going?
Ben:
I’m doing very well. Thanks. How are you?
Paul Galea:
I’m good, mate. Now, I believe you’re in your summer cabin up in Finland because it’s just starting to be nice weather up there, I suppose. It’s just getting a bit cold tonight here, the first cold day we’ve had this year.
Ben:
Just here, setting up for the summer.
Paul Galea:
Where is your cabin?
Ben:
It’s in the eastern side of Finland, by the sea. It’s about, if you go directly straight east, two kilometres to the Russian border. So, yeah, it’s about a two hour, two and a half hour drive from Helsinki. So we come here during the summer. There’s no electricity, no running water. And it’s really nice here, with a beautiful, ocean view. So it’s a really beautiful place.
Paul Galea:
Oh, lovely. Well, I’m going to get you to take a photo, and we’ll put that in with the article when we post the interview. You’re not too worried about the Russians coming and visiting?
Ben:
No, no, not at all. Not at all. So, you know, I know that the news and everything must be a little bit scary but everything on this side, in the north side of Europe, it’s all very relaxed here. Nobody is concerned.
Paul Galea:
OK, that’s interesting. All right. We might talk a little bit about that later. So just let us know how you ended up coming to IGS and then what you’ve been doing since then. You can just keep talking and I’ll interrupt you if there’s something I need to ask you on the way.
Ben:
Sure. No problem at all. Well, I first came to IGS in what must have been in Year 8. So that must have been in 2005. So I was there for Year 8 and Year 9. And then I moved to… Excuse me, I was there for Year 7 and Year 8. And then I moved to Hong Kong for two years and after the two years in Hong Kong, I moved back to Sydney, Australia, and finished my Higher School Certificate with IGS for Year 11 and 12. So I’ve actually been with IGS twice.
Paul Galea:
OK. And of course, your brother was there as well, wasn’t he?
Ben:
Yeah, he was there for the first years when we were there but then he graduated from high school in Hong Kong.
Paul Galea:
OK, yeah, because he was a little bit older than you.
Ben:
Well, yeah, he was two years older.
Paul Galea:
What year did you actually graduate from IGS?
Ben:
I graduated in 2009.
Paul Galea:
Alright, tell me what’s been happening since then.
Ben:
Whoa, a lot. Really, really a lot. I graduated in 2009 and I was obviously an international student. So after high school, I wanted to stay in Australia so I went directly into uni, and I studied health and movement in sports and did a graduate diploma in education. And, during that time, during my uni studies, I was also working at a martial arts gym, and I was working as a kick boxing coach. I was competing as a amateur athlete and coaching in the evenings and training in the evenings and going to uni in the daytime. I actually had one of my teaching practical experiences at IGS. That must have been in 2014, and that was really nice to come back and see how everybody was doing. There were a lot of my old teachers still there, and I got to experience the classroom from the other side, which was a really, really great experience. Yeah, it was really nice coming back and having all the memories come back. I also got to participate in the graduation of the year 12 students in 2014, and that just brought in so many memories. After uni, I got a letter from the Finnish military saying that I have to come in and do my military service. So I was thinking, you know, well, I’m still so young and do I want to start my career and just go down the normal path of life, start my career as a teacher, or do I want to go out and live my life a little bit? So I thought, OK, well, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I’ll go back to Finland, throw a couple of grenades, shoot a couple of guns and I packed my bags, came to Finland, and I went in to the military here for one year. I did my compulsory military service and…
Paul Galea:
Let’s stop there. So every young person, male and female has to do their national service or is it just males only?
Ben:
OK, just the males. Yeah, it’s one year. So you get to pick and depends what kind of role you do. It’s between either six months, nine months or one year, and I wanted to do it properly, so I stayed for one year and by the end of it, it was a great experience, and I learned so much about myself, learned so much about working with all kinds of different people because all males in Finland have to participate in compulsory military service if they’re capable. So you’re working with such a diverse group of individuals from the most competent people you can meet in your life to the most incompetent people. And you’re sharing a room with these people and just learning teamwork and communication and how to work with all kinds of people with all kinds of beliefs, with all kinds of work ethic and making things work. So it was really, really a great experience. I still have really great friends from back then. I stayed there for a year. I became a group leader. I was promoted as a corporal. I was in charge of a nine man team and I can go on for hours about different experiences about being in the military there. But, you know, the biggest thing is, in the middle of winter, when it’s minus 20 degrees outside, you’re outside, in your tent,camping and doing drills. My hands are freezing. I can’t even tie my shoes. And I’m just thinking, ‘Why did I decide to come here from the beautiful beaches of Australia?’ But, in the end of the day, I look back and I can only think of the positives that I got from the experience of being in the military. It was a really, really great experience.
Paul Galea:
Well, that’s fascinating to me, because if you ask most young people in Australia, they would be thinking that would be the worst thing that could ever happen to them – to be having to do one year military service. So it’s really fascinating to me that you found it such a positive experience.
Ben:
Yeah. I mean, a lot of people that do the military service in Finland as well have the similar mindset that, “Oh, I’ve just got to come here and just do my time and then leave and continue on with my life.” But because I was coming from such a long way, I was leaving my home, I thought, “I’m going to try and get the most out of this experience!” So I actually was in the Swedish speaking brigade here. So I was, if I translate it to English, I was a ‘coastal juggernaut’! Our mission is to protect the coastline and the islands that Finland occupies. So we’re going around in boats and camping out in islands and by the sea and basically working as a coastal marine. Yeah, really, really nice.
Paul Galea:
Wow. That that makes me want to go and join it. Sounds very exciting. Is that sort of anything like a navy Seal or maybe more like a Marine?
Ben:
More like a Marine. A coastal Marine. Well, after that, I moved back to Australia. I thought, “OK, I’m going to move back to Australia and start working and really set my roots there.” So, I was still an international person coming to Australia, so I thought “All right. Well, I’ve lived in Australia for 14 years, I’ve graduated high school. I went to uni there.” You know, all my things should be sorted out. I tried to get my working visa or my citizenship there and that was a huge drama. You know, the laws for international people to come to Australia are really, really strict. So I was working with a lawyer, trying to get all my paperwork done to try and basically get my working visa so I could stay in Australia and start working and after struggling and fighting for nine months, my lawyer called me and basically said, “Hey, your visa is going to run out and you’ve been denied your working visa and your right to stay in Australia. So you have got two weeks to pack up and you need to leave.” So I packed my bags, sold my car, said goodbye to my partner at the time, and then I moved back to Finland. I didn’t really have anywhere else to go. So luckily, I have family living here. My parents were living here, so I went and lived with them for a little while to try and figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I was sitting on the edge of my bed being a little bit upset about what happened. But then I just thought, “No, this is not OK. I’m going to just start over.” So I was looking at different courses I could do at uni here and the great thing about Finland is uni is completely free. So they had an English course that they provided; in fact they have lots of English courses that they provide in uni here and one which stuck out to me was nursing. So I thought, “All right, I’ll go to uni and I’ll study nursing.”And I got in . I did my entrance exams and did really well. I got in first go! Usually with how things work in Finland, there’s entrance exams to get into uni, and some people might have to do those entrance exams three or four times before they get in. But luckily I got in the first time. I got into a great uni, got really involved with them. I was working as an international student ambassador with the marketing team, promoting the uni When I was there, I also set up a nonprofit entrepreneurship society that looks at enriching the innovative and entrepreneurial culture amongst the university students. That was really great. I did really well at uni and started working as a nurse anaesthetist, for one year. I was first working at a hospital in the city centre where we worked on breast cancer surgeries, and that was really interesting. I learnt a lot about the different medications and how things are working in the operating room. Then I got transferred to a different hospital where we did orthopaedic hand surgeries. And after a year of doing that, I just thought… As you know internationally, the way that things have been looking for nurses have been quite difficult. Also on this side of the world, things for nurses, especially in the public side, have been quite a struggle, especially during COVID times. And I thought I was a little bit unhappy with the organisation, the hospital that I was working for. So I quit. I started working with the Red Cross, in the blood bank. And for the last year and a half, I’ve been working with them taking donors blood, and I’ve been really happy with that.
Paul Galea:
OK, I’ve got to say a few things here. How did Australia let a fantastic young man like you slip through our fingers? That just seems the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of in my life. Your attitude and your positivity is something that this country needs a heap of. And I cannot believe you couldn’t get some sort of visa or some sort of permanent residency to stay here after you’ve been to university here, been through high school here. That just seems crazy to me. You don’t have to make a comment, but that just seems crazy. And then the other thing, which I think is also worth me making a comment on is your words that nurses have got it difficult, particularly during, COVID. I think that’s been a worldwide thing. I think one of the things in the world that needs to be addressed is that nurses need to be recognised way more and treated way better. So I’ve had my little sermon now, but you can keep going now.
Ben:
Sure. Well, regarding what you said before about what happened with Australia? Well, you know, it’s all good. I have a really fantastic life here. I’ve got two great dogs. I have my wife. We got married in 2020 and we postponed our actual wedding celebration to last year. And we had a really fantastic wedding in Estonia, for an entire weekend. Also we have got a baby on the way, and it’s due in October. So, you know, I have got my roots here now, and life is really, really, really fantastic. I mean, life is all about ups and downs and getting through struggles and trying to make the best life that you can possibly make with the situation you have. But, to talk about some other things and other big achievements that I’ve made recently… So I’m working now with the Red Cross, at the blood bank. And last year, I had an opportunity to have a Ted X talk. (Link at bottom of page) I got that opportunity through the network that I developed when I was working with the nonprofit at my old uni, and they were basically scouting for people to have discussions about what the world will look like, what the health care system will look like in the future after COVID 19. I was working for this nonprofit that looked at innovation and entrepreneurship, and I was working as a nurse and through all my practical experience as a nurse, I also noticed that fundamentally, a lot of things are not working the way that they should be. And with my passion for innovation, especially within the health care system, I got the idea of speaking about, ‘How can we improve the future of the health care system?’ And I had a Ted talk about incorporating more innovation education for nurses earlier on so they can work as consultants and advisors for health care developers, technology developers, system developers or whatever, so they can develop better technologies and systems for front line health care workers in the future. You can find my, Ted Talk on YouTube or the Ted website, and it’s gotten over a million views. So that’s absolutely amazing that it’s gotten so much traction and I’m really happy with that. I had a lot of interviews and podcast interviews, start up opportunities and it’s been it’s been really a wild ride. It’s been really great.
Paul Galea:
Well, that’s basically how you came into my view because I saw your Ted Talk and I saw that you had nearly, when I saw it, you’d had 500,000 or 700,000 views. Now it’s up to a million. That’s incredible. It’s also really good that you’re talking about really important stuff. So I just take my hat off to you. I’m really happy to see that you’re happily living in Finland with your family and having a baby is one of the great adventures of life. So you’ve got that to look forward to, which is really good. I am so impressed with your attitude, mate. I’ve got to tell you, I’m just thinking that this young man is just displaying such fantastic attitude and positivity. It’s just really inspiring. And I’m not just saying that ! It’s very inspirational. Do you want to tell us a few of your little memories from your time at IGS? Anything that sticks in your mind?
Ben:
You know, IGS is just such a special school. You know, the saying that you have there. I never understood it when I was in school, but when I look back now and I think ‘unity through diversity’, it truly is true when you say that and I look at where the people are from my year. We have people working as investment bankers in the US. We have mayors of councils, nurses, artists, all kinds of people that have come from my year. So it’s just so amazing to see that there’s so much diversity, so many characters and people have been able to become what they wanted to become through the school that we all came from. Even though we’re all so different and we’ve had a similar kind of education. We’ve gone through so many different paths. And, you know, some of the great memories that I have from High School are definitely through Years 11 and 12; lunch times being able to go up to Broadway and have nice lunches, all the different ArtsFests, sports fests and all these sort of things have been really great and fun memories that I still have from IGS.
Paul Galea:
Yeah, that’s lovely, mate. I think you’ve already really covered this, but have you got any specific advice? Because I’ve got quite a few of our younger students listening or Year 11 and 12 students listening to this. Any advice that you might give to them in terms of some of the things you’ve learned along the way?
Ben:
Absolutely. Just a bit of a back story when I was competing as a kickboxer, you know, my coach and really good friend and mentor told this to me and it’s when I was debating whether to go to the military or not. And he said, “You know, when you’re old and you’re on your rocking chair and your grandchildren are sitting around you, always have a story to tell them. You can live this life easily. You can go to uni, get a job, pay off your mortgage and just live a safe life, which is totally fine. Or you can have this world as your oyster, take on opportunities that come to you, take risks and do different things. Try out different things and through that you can build character and you can always have a story to tell.
Paul Galea:
That is fantastic advice. It’s also a fantastic life credo and one that I would, subscribe to myself 100%. I believe that life is for living. Ben, I want to thank you so much for your time. You’re absolutely inspirational to me. I don’t know about anyone else who’s been listening, but it has been an absolute pleasure talking to you. What I would love is I want a photo of you and maybe even your partner. And if you’ve got a photo from school, um, I also I also want to find out of you of your view from your summer cottage because I think that would give nice context to our little interview. As I say, mate, an absolute pleasure talking to you. You’re a credit to yourself and to our school. And, hopefully, if you get back to to Australia, we could go and have a beer together.
Ben:
Absolutely. That would be fantastic. I’ll probably be there in the next couple of years, and I’ll definitely send you a message on LinkedIn.
Paul Galea:
That’d be brilliant, mate. Again, Thank you very much. And let’s look forward to that beer together.
Ben:
Great. Thanks so much, Paul.