Reasons to fall for Finland; finnishness through my eyes.

What comes to your mind when you think about Finland. Maybe cold weather, darkness or people who want their own space? Finland and finnishness is so much more and next I am going to tell you five reasons that can also make you fall for Finland.

1) Finnish nature and lakes

The nature here in Finland is gorgeous. Finland is one of the countries that has the most forests. Almost 72% of finlands surface area is forests. One year consists of four seasons and the way the finnish nature looks, changes with them. So you can live in a big city and still there is so much beautiful nature near you.  You can also go to some of Finland’s national parks to enjoy the nature. Finland is also called “the country of thousands of lakes”, because of our about 187 888 lakes. I cannot choose a season when Finland’s nature would be the most beautiful, because the way they look during each season is so different and every season has its strong sides. Here is some pictures of finnish nature in each season. Can you pick your favourite one? 😉

2) Cottage life

We finnish people love love love to go and spend time to our own or rented cottages during all year but especially in the summer time. We usually go there during our holidays to relax and spend time with our family and friends. I personally think that there is nothing more relaxing and enjoyable than to spend days and even weeks in our summer cottage eating, playing, just totally hanging out and enjoying the company of my loved ones. It is really important sometimes to just be and not worry about life. 🙂

3) Traditional foods

Well, what can I say.  I love food and we finnish people love food. Some of our traditional foods are for example Karelian hot pot, finnish fish or pork pasty, rye bread and karelian pasty with spread made of butter and hard boiled eggs. (the last one is my all time favourite) We have some traditional foods in some citys which are also worth of trying out. Just don`t let look of some of our traditional foods to scare you off. Finland is also known about it`s delicious Fazer chocolate and salty liquorice. The second one is a sweet, which to our surprise, foreign people don`t usually like.

4) Sauna

Do I even have to explain this? I think this is the most finnish thing there can be. Most Finnish people are crazy about sauna. But if there are some readers, who for some reason have not heard from sauna, it is basically a room which is heated very warm, by throwing water to hot stones that are in the sauna stove. Sauna is usually connected to cottage life (where the majority of people has a sauna) BUT many people also has a sauna in their everyday home. I just love the feeling you get when you go to the sauna and relax on the benches. And it will get even better if you have maybe a lake, or some watery area, near the sauna where you can go and dip yourself straight from sauna. And then get back in to warm up again.

5)People

I know that some of us finns are quite grumpy and we need our own space, but we still are lovely people. You just have to get to know us. I usually wonder that why foreign people say we are unfriendly and shy, because I don’t think that is the case at all. Of course every culture is different and if you come from one where people are almost “oversocial”, it can take a while to understand why we are who we are. But what I love the most about finnish people is that they are helpful, trustworthy and emphatic people. We are also very loyal to the people we love. When you get to know us, you really can see that.