I have two nationalities: Finnish and English. I have lived in Finland for almost two decades, which is most of my life, yet I still feel like my sense of Finnishness has somehow been warped. What makes me feel Finnish? Is it the language, my understanding of the culture? Or is it simply the luck of being born half Finnish from the get-go? What is Finnishness?
Sunday morning walk to work or an evening hike in the north - empty and quiet. Outside of rush seasons and rush hours Finland is quiet everywhere from big cities to the nature. It's often completely quiet even with people around. This is the stereotype of the Finland and it is pretty accurate. But there is more than the silence and emptiness and it's kindness.
By keeping the safe distance from everyone, can all find the piece as the naturally built wheel in the ecosystem never stops.
In this blog post I ponder Finnishness from the perspective of its social dynamics and the contrast between its modesty and appeal. I address the question of why Finns keep coming back to Finland from travelling or living abroad.
My thoughts about Finnishness
