Moving to Finland from the United States as a child has affected my experience in Finland and perception of Finnishness. My perception of Finnishness has been blurred a bit, because since high-school I’ve been in a multicultural group. I lived in Finland for 15 years and now have been living abroad for six months.
During my time abroad I have been able to view Finnishness objectively. Calmness of traffic is something I miss about Finland. After living in Belgium and The Netherlands, I truly understood what traffic jams are. In bigger cities in Finlands traffic jabs might occur but generally it’s very calm. In Brussels or London a 4km trip can take up to 45 minutes.
Another thing I consider very Finnish is recycling bottles. Even if Finns don’t recycle trash, most of them recycle bottles and cans, because of the deposit they get back. Who wouldn’t want extra money?
Finally, Finnishness means being humble. Finnish people generally don’t want to bother others and a too humble in my opinion. We should be more ambitious and stop worrying about what other people think.
I love how clean Finland is. Everything is very well organised. People are honest and enjoy their privacy. I’m privileged to be Finnish and if I ever wanted to return to Finland I know I’ll be taken care of.
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