After nearly 10 months of living and working in Finland, I feel qualified to give you my VIP (Very Important Perspective) on what I believe are the cool things, the not-so-cool things, and the just plain weird things about Finland. Let's begin right away!
Cool things about Finland:
* Reliable train services (you really learn to appreciate this after growing up in France)
* Candy and ice cream all day every day, and for every one! A diabetic's nightmare.
* Dogs. Everyone has dogs, and they are well taken care of (not stuck in the garden day and night like a good chunk of the french canine population), don't produce unwanted litters that flood the local shelters, and in winter they wear cute litte jackets and booties, which is an undeniable bonus.
* The landscapes are kinda beautiful, especially in winter.
Yeah, I've seen uglier.
* Vispipuuro! By far my favourite culinary discovery in Finland.
* Finns are a rather distant people for the most part, not easy to approach; but, perhaps because of the environment I work in, or perhaps because I walked into this project with a rather open mind, I haven't found most finns to be cold so to speak. Reserved, for sure, with personal space being something important, but that is something I can appreciate and which I even like. It's nice that being quiet or even a little bit shy aren't automatically considered character flaws!
There are lots of things I like about Finland, too many to just write them down like this... but for the sake of balance, let me tell you a bit about the things I don't like that much (no country is perfect after all!)
Not-so-cool things about Finland:
* Pineapple on pizza. Seriously, what's up with that?! Why do finns like weird pizza toppings, and especially pineapple, so much?!
* Pickled cucumber mayonnaise. Ewww.
* The obvious lack of pungent, smelly, slightly mouldy cheese.
French cheeses. Aren't they beautiful?
* Now, this might be specific to the area and not the whole of Finland, but I find the bus stops here incredibly frustrating. A lot of them are really just a sign on a pole in the middle of nowhere; no bus timetable in sight, no number or name that you can look up... you better know exactly which bus stop you have to get off/wait at, because very often there is no indication of anything!
Now, for the things that don't fit in the cool or uncool categories, but rather in their own "What, why???" category...
Finnish oddities:
* Crocs. I don't know what it is about Crocs that makes them so popular, but every single finn I have met owns at least one pair of Crocs.
These patriotic Crocs, for instance, belong to one of my coworkers
* Lactose-free everything. Apparently, half of Finland is lactose intolerant to some degree because never have I seen so many lactose-free products in any other country.
* What I call "sauna & chill", that is literal chill: the practice of going to sauna, sitting there cooking for a while, then throwing oneself into the snow or into a frozen lake. I know it's supposed to be good for you and make you feel great, but, uh... I haven't tried it, nor do I think I will in all honesty!
* Gambling machines everywhere, and this is especially puzzling to me as the regulations on alcohol consumption are so strict. It doesn't surprise me anymore now, but when I first arrived, I was stunned to see gambling machines in every little corner shop!
Really, my entire finnish experience has been a long series of surprises and discoveries. Some of them good, some of them less good, but all of them exciting and memorable. There is nothing better than an experience abroad to make you realise that all the things you have been taking for granted your whole life can be vastly different elsewhere. In any case, I do thing Finland is a really underrated country!
Nahia
