The two things that came to my mind when I started to think what Finnishness ment for me were the seasons of the year and as a food lover, Finnish food of course.
During 12 months Finland goes through four completely different seasons, and I think it´s fantastic. Every season has it´s own lovely sides. Let´s start with the fall. Every time it comes I always feel like getting a new start, it´s like having a blank page in front of you. I love the chilly mornings, beautiful sunsets and ruska (that´s when the leaves start getting brown, yellow and red before falling off). And the best thing is yet to come; Christmas!
Winter is the time for wool socks, hot cocoa and candles. (At least on holidays…) My absolutely favourite part of winter is going to sauna and ice-swimming. It´s just crazy to dip yourself into icy water but believe me, it´s worth it! Even though during the winter the day is really short, every day after Christmas it´s still getting longer and longer all the time, just little by little.
Then the spring. After the loooong winter the spring feels like heaven. The first sight of the sun is just something unbelievable.Usually the spring is so busy at school that there is quite little time to enjoy it but still the increasing amount of light just gives you so much more energy.
The last but not the least, summer. It´s something you feel like waiting forever, and before you realize it´s already August… Still in the summer the Finns get out of their caves, get even chatty and surely enjoy every bit of sunshine they can get.
…and then it starts all over again. And I just love it!
The food. Sometimes it´s said that Finnish food isn´t really a big thing. Weird it may be, but I could never let go of rye bred, Carelian pies, mämmi, cabbage stew or rice porridge. I think those are the things I´ll miss most during my student exhange 😀
-Sonja-
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