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?
It took me a while to think what to summary about Finnishness, because there are so many things to tell about. However, here are couple of things I would like to mention about the subject:
Finnishess is a mix of pride yet humble, content yet pessimistic.
For international students coming to Finland, it might be hard to know what living here is like. How true are the stereotypes? And how is life in actuality? From the winters to the people, everyone has a unique experience discovering Finnishness.
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.
