Living in Finland I think I kind of understood “Finnishness,”.
Finland’s natural beauty is amazing. Its expansive wilderness, lakes, dense forests, and Northern Lights(I still haven’t seen them once in 4 years), has been great for a nature fan as myself.
What truly sets Finland apart is its people. The Finns, often reserved, are paradoxically the friendliest and craziest if they get to know you or if they have a drink. Working with them I got to see both good and not so good individuals but that’s the case for any culture, but I am glad to report that like 90% were great and extremely helpful and friendly even if not instantly, at first barely anyone spoke but like 6 months later they gave me the “official” coffee mug(I guess that’s a tradition in that collective). And yeah Finns really love coffee. I guess that’s what makes them so hard-working.
“Sisu,” a quintessential Finnish quality, it is basically determination but not translatable(Was quite hard to understand what everyone meant by it when only starting to learn Finnish).
Sauna. The only thing Finns love more than coffee. Especially with some Longero and saunamakkara.
Living in Finland you come to enjoy the calm and relaxed life. Maybe in Helsinki that’s not the case, but I haven’t lived there so I wouldn’t know. But here In Tampere and even more where I live in Nokia its very slow and chill all the time with lots of forest, lakes and plains around.
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