Finnish Culture

  A lot of people ask "what is the Finnish culture like in general?" So far what I have seen, most Finn's are SUPER polite! Like oddly polite! LOL. People here are so polite that thy wont ask to go by, they just wait for you to move or ask them if the need to pass. For example, yesterday I was in a small shop which is kind of like a dollar plus store in the states. It was very small, so the isles are one person in width. And at one point I realized that a lady was standing behind me, quietly, and I kept browsing the stuff on the shelves. But I began to notice every time I moved, she moved as well. At first I was a little scared, but then I thought, maybe she wants to get by. So I asked if she needed to pass, and she got this look of relief on her face and said "yes! thank you so much!"

   Another example is when going to the Metro, which is underground, you need to take an escalator down/up. Well, everyone stands to the furthest right hand side on the escalator so that if someone is running late, or wants to get down faster, can pass you easily. Also, while boarding the subway, people wait for the passengers on the subway to get off before boarding it. No pushing, shoving or yelling!

    Another thing I noticed right away about Finn's when I first came here last April was that 99.9% are blonde! When you walk down the street everyone has blond hair, and those that don't are either because they died it, (usually to black, or dark brown), are immigrants, or are tourists.  The features are also all similar to each other. (shape of face, nose..)

My favorite thing about Finn's (and admittedly most Europeans) they all know English! And not only that, but know it really well! They start learning it at a very early age, and is taught extremely well! I think I have only come across 1 or 2 people so far who did not know English! BUT even those, knew what I was saying, just couldn't speak English.

Another part of the culture I love is that it is very family oriented. (from what I have seen) They all have summer cabins and get together at the cabin for a few months and spend time with each other, catching up, etc.. :)


Well, that's It for now, I will write more tomorrow hopefully! :)

Till next time. :)

Naomi Chava