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.
Finland is not a loud country. It does not try to impress you. But the longer you spend here, the more it gets under your skin in the best possible way. Two things have stayed with me the most: the sauna and the silence. Both have taught me something I did not expect to learn.
Finland is a beautiful country with a rich culture. This blog post is here to help you understand it a little bit better and hopefully it will inspire you to explore it further. As someone who has moved here, I can only say that I love it more and more as I'm discovering it further.
Before coming to Finland, I had heard that Finnish people are quiet, honest, and highly organized. However, after living and working here, I started to understand that these characteristics are deeply connected to their culture, education, and social system. In this post, I would like to share my personal experiences and observations about three important aspects of Finnish culture: honesty and trust, silence and communication style, and work-life balance.
When I think about Finnishness, I see values and habits that are completely different from my own. Finland gave me calmness for a while, but at the same time, I felt like I was living in a world that didn’t belong to me.
Finnishess is a mix of pride yet humble, content yet pessimistic.
Silence, calmness and connections are the main values of Finnishness
Finns are often described as people who value silence and personal space more than many other cultures. But is this really true, and what does it tell us about Finnishness?
In my eyes Finland is all about perseverance, determination, peace and quiet.
Finnish culture is often described through its simplicity, resilience, and deep connection with nature. When I came to experience it myself 3 years ago, I created my own understanding of what it means to be Finnish, with sauna, silence, and the Finnish concept of sisu on the forefront.
Finland, known for its stunning natural landscapes and unique cultural traits, offers a glimpse into a way of life where silence and personal space are cherished. In a world that often feels overwhelming and noisy, the Finnish approach to these concepts provides a refreshing contrast.
Some things are very stereotypically Finnish, like silence and modesty (and heavy-metal).
People of few words, land of thousands of lakes and million saunas
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.
Personal space and silence
During a conversation on a bus ride I was faced with my own Finnishness and personality traits that are quite Finnish, when I stopped to think about it.
When thinking about Finnishness, three words come to my mind: Sauna, Silence, and Space.
