Finnish people
The couple of things I noticed during my 9 month stay in Finland which show a difference to the German culture. Starting off with greetings and getting to know people, while in Germany we really appreciate the small talk with higher volume and fast talking even if it is about the weather, here in Finland it’s quite often silence that fills in the room.
Talking about the weather as a small talk topic is not that good of an idea as well, due to the fact that it is connected to force a conversation.
But as soon as there is a bit of Alcohol involved, great conversations can happen! :D
Finns are not very good at small talk, and quiet moments in a conversation are not considered unpleasant. This silence simply means that you have nothing important to say to each other. There is no need to fill gaps in the conversation with gossip. On the other hand, Finns are sincere, they mean what they say.
The way of talking to people in Finland is different to what I am used to in Germany as well. While we keep it formal with everyone, be it in school college and with strangers we do not address the respective person by their first name. In Finland things are much more relaxed, professors are even addressed by their first name and therefore you have a closer relationship and it does not seem very authoritarian.
Sauna
While the saunas in Germany are public mixed, the Finns have their own sauna in every apartment complex, which is therefore often used. Fact: Finns put high value on their saunas, which is definitely not to blame. Who doesn’t love Saunas?
There is nothing more Finnish than sauna; it is a lifestyle that is passed on from one generation to the next. Besides cleansing body and soul, the sauna was also the gateway to life in earlier times: women gave birth to their children in the sauna, and when someone died, the body of the deceased was washed in the sauna. Finns do not belong to the type of people who go out into the streets and demonstrate when they don't like something, but restricting the Finns' right to sauna - and you must never even try to do that - would certainly lead to a revolt.
Little fact which caught me off guard during my stay is the fact that the 1 cent and 2 cent coins are not being used here like in Germany. The coins start with 5 cent.
Cuisine
Finnish cuisine is based on fish, bread, potatoes and a variety of meats. Finnish cuisine is simple. Even though international cuisine has entered Finland, many traditional dishes are still on the menu.
Specialities:
Graavi lohi pickled, buried salmon with mustard sauce or dill sauce
KalakukkoA paté with fish, pork and bacon in rye bread dough
Hirvi - elk meat and poro - reindeer meat
Fish and seafood Fish plays a very important role in Finnish food. Herring is very popular, like the Atlantic herring (silli) and the Baltic herring (silakka). Herring can be prepared in many different ways. Finnish casseroles In Finland, people like to be a casserole (laatikko) on public holidays, such as Easter and Christmas. But you can also eat turnip casserole (lanttulaatikko), liver casserole (maksallaatikko) and carrot casserole (porkkanalaatikko). Bread in Finland Finnish bread can be found in many variations. There are different types of wholemeal and rye breads, such as barley flat bread (ryynirieska), barley flat bread (ohrarieska) and Finnish crispbread, which are offered according to the region. Even though the Finns have a great variety of bread, it can not beat the amount of different bread types we have in Germany. The bakeries in Germany are keeping a strong game with all the different types of rye breads, it’s always so fresh and delicious. Drinks Coffee, coffee and more coffee is drunk in Finland. Finland has the highest per capita coffee consumption in the world. The consumption is about 11.4 kilos per capita, which is more than 1300 cups of coffee per year. During the meals Finns really like to drink milk, which I noticed in our school cafeteria. Mostly all of the students would take either two glasses of milk besides their lunch or one glass of milk and one glass of water. In Germany we usually just drink water and there is no high demand of students for milk.
Finnish language
Finnish (suomi) belongs to the subfamilies of the Uralic. Therefore it is closely related to Estonian and more distantly related to Hungarian. Due to the separation of the original forms Finnish and Hungarian for many thousands of years, the relationship of these is comparable to the relationship of German and Persian. Finnish is very different from the Indo-European languages of Europe.
During my stay I got familiar with the language Finnish with the help of a course I signed in for: Finnish for exchange students. During this course I got to know the basics and a short conversation in a bakery or grocery store.
Together we all practiced once a week and repeated mostly after our teacher when we had new vocabulary to learn.
While people usually say that German sounds pretty harsh I could give that back to Finnish as well, it may does not sound as harsh as German but it is pretty close to it as well.
Learning the vocabulary and short sentences was easy and I got along well with the language.
Summer
The Finnish summer is short - it lasts only about three months, but is celebrated with all the more fervor. The number of events, from big music festivals to small markets and folk festivals, is simply impressive, and the white nights make sure that no one is going to bed early.
For example every summer there is a big festival in Ruissalo, Turku. Many artist from around the world come to perform on this festival. All the Finnish students I talked to, told me many nice memories from the Ruisrock festival and how big and fun it is. Because the winter is so long and cold, Finns appreciate the summer even more and spend a lot of time outside during the summer. This is the reason why picnic places and the city center is mostly full with people wanting to enjoy the weather and good time. Even though the temperatures are not as high as those in Germany in summer. The 20-25 degrees are enough, due to the sun which is much closer here than in Germany, the 25 degrees quickly feel like 30 or even more.
Cottages in Finland
What is very typical for Finns are the cottages, which many families own. Or cottages are rented to take a holiday during the summer or winter and escape from everyday life. Sometime during the Finnish summer the time has come for every Finn to escape to the countryside as well as in winter to enjoy the time in the cottage and spend the evenings in the possible hot tub. The best is a holiday in a cottage by the water, and there you don't really do anything, just enjoying the moment - a little barbecue, jump into the water and just lie in the sun or quickly jump into the ice-cold water after the sauna, in winter. Many exchange students rented a cottage which was located at the sea and included a jacuzzi at the back porch. Unfortunately we haven’t had the opportunity to do so, but I would definitely recommend future exchange students or travelers to do so it was looking so relaxing and beautiful on the pictures!
Muumin
Muumins are counted as art, sometimes as literature or comics. Many know them outside Finland, but hardly anyone knows that they come from Finland: The muumins were invented by Tove Jansson, Finnish-Swedish.
Who does not know the Muumins: They are a kind of trolls or gnomes, but their appearance always reminds me of hippos. They also have their own show and a lot of merchandise which is sold in all supermarkets here in finland and in their own shop which can be found in the city centre. They are very popular among children as well as older ones. In naantali there is even a muumin park which can be reached by a bridge, but as the corona virus had spread at the end of our stay we didn't have the chance to enter so we took a walk around and looked at it from the outside. In Tampere they have their own museum, the Muuminlaakso (Muumin Valley).
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