What comes to my mind when someone asks me to tell something about Finland? I’m sure I am not the only one who first starts to tell about how cold and dark are Finnish winters and how quiet and grumpy Finnish people are, But what else Finland and “finnishness” has to offer? When you really think about it, we do have rich culture and nature here in Finland. Winters may be dark and long, but then again during summertime sun is always up and it’s not too hot, but warm enough to survive in shorts and t-shirts. 
How about people then, Why they are considered to be rude? In my opinion, I think Finnish people are extremely polite people and do not want to offend anyone or be a nuisance in any way. Thats why our behavior may seem odd and rude to someone else, who comes from another culture. And of course our culture lacks the thing called small talk. And we like to say that silence is golden, which I agree. Of course everything changes when you go to sauna with a finn. In sauna, there is even some small talk, whether it is about the löyly or last nights ice hockey game, it doesn’t matter, it’s there.
Finnish nature is also pretty exceptional (if you don’t really count Sweden or Norway). The whole landscape differs whether you are in southern, northern, eastern or in western Finland. That is something you have to keep in mind when you want to tell something about Finnish nature.
So, thats my thoughts about finnishness, from the land of long and dark winter, where the happiest people in the world lives.
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