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My Experiences of Finnishness

Tag: Finland

How does it feel to be Finnish?

Finland is a country that arouses interest. Things are surprisingly good here, even though the Finns can seem serious.

My Perception of Finnishness

Finnishness is a pretty broad concept by itself. I believe that everyone has their own perception of it, and that there is no simple way to explain it without experiencing it. However, after travelling around the world a lot and living in other countries like China, I've had to try to explain Finnishness a lot of times. The following will be my explanation on the key things of Finnishness that I always mention when someone asks about it.

Finnishness

In this blog post I will share some thoughts of Finnishness. When I think about Finland what comes to my mind are the beautiful nature with all four seasons, the sauna and the people with their attitude and the sense of humour. Those are things that I like most in Finland.

Quick introduction about Finland

Happiest population in the world, home of the Santa Claus, winter wonderland, days when the sun never sets, days when the sun won't rise at all, more saunas than there's people... These are very common things that people usually mention when they are talking about Finland. All of these might sound insane and surreal to some people but actually they are all true. Here's a quick introduction about Finland.

Finnishness

Finland, just like any other country, has a culture of it's own. Many Finnish people tend to be proud of being a Finn. In this blog post I will write about my own experiences of Finnishness and what it means to me.

Finnishness from a Dutch perspective

I hail from the small, but colourful country of the Netherlands, maybe you've heard of it. I have lived in Finland for over 5 years, half a year of it in 2017 and 4.5 years now since 2019. As such, I think I can contribute my two cents about Finnishness, but from a more Dutch perspective.

Reasons why I am proud to be a Finn

When someone asks me to describe what Finnish culture is, the first things that come to my mind are material ones such as liquorice, rye bread, saunas and Moomin. The more important things may lie beyond the surface as we might easily take those for granted. I’m talking about cleanliness, nature, education, healthcare and safety to mention a few.

Finnishness

This blog is about Finnishness – about what it means to be a Finn and the cultural aspects of living in Finland. As I have born and lived in Finland my whole life, it is only fitting I share about this topic from my personal experience and dive into my own thoughts based on what I’ve seen. I will focus a bit on the characteristics as well as some of the more traditional habits of Finns.

A Vietnamese loving Finland

As a Vietnamese student who has spent two years in Finland, I can share my perspective on the notion of Finland being the happiest country in the world. While it's challenging for me to definitively declare this as true or false based on my own experiences, I can certainly outline what I believe defines the essence of Finnish culture and Finnishness to me.

Life as a Finn

When you have lived in Finland all your whole life, you don't really think about what it means to be a Finn. Life goes on without it. Still, it is really interesting to learn the differences between other cultures and human behaviors.

Silence and modesty

Some things are very stereotypically Finnish, like silence and modesty (and heavy-metal).