It has been more than half a year since I arrived in Finland.

Before this, I never had met a Finn, and the only references I held from this country were Mika Häkkinen (F1 champion), the song Sandstorm by DJ Darude and Nokia cellphones. If you’re under 30 years old, you have no idea what I am talking about.

To give some context, I chose this country to do the second year of my masters’ degree. I arrived in September when the sun was still shining and allowed me to be outdoors even without a hoodie.

Autumn burning sky.

During my first week, I saw some people having their meals at 10 am. It didn’t surprise me until I realize that it wasn’t breakfasting, but lunch. Real lunch along with milk. I don’t know what time these people wake up.

It seems important.

In my building, there is a sauna. There are saunas everywhere: private places, public, gyms, offices, and parks. Sauna here is a verb (saunoa) and a culture. It is said that they have over one sauna per five inhabitants.

I cannot help but mention the language. Even for the westerners, special characters make simple sentences like morse code for the newcomers. Finnish is related to Hungarian, which makes it a lot easier to understand.

About the winter. For months I saw adults having reflective keyrings hanging on their jackets, which looked childish. And then I realized that during the darkest period of the year, maybe signal your presence when most of your time walking on the streets it is still dark it is a good idea. More specifically from 3 pm to 11 am. It doesn’t mean that around noon we have sunlight, in the best-case scenario, it is cloudy.

December and January were breaking records of the coldest day of my life almost every week. I thought kids playing outside at -10˚C was impressive, but seeing people using their bikes for the daily commute at -30˚C was mind-blowing. While I was freezing my beard and trying new gloves every two weeks that could keep my hands warm, the Finns were following their regular routines. If you want to know more about how Finns handle the weather, search about the Winter War against the Soviet Union.

Going to the bus stop.

Here you can find one of the most expensive places in the world for alcoholic drinks. The state controls and owns the liquor stores. You get broke before getting drunk. They also seem to like mint. Mariane sweets are popular, as much as salmiakki. But the latter makes no sense for me.

“Why live in a country with this weather and high-priced booze?”

The answer is not easy and relies on looking closely at this society. When I left my country a few years ago, I was looking for places with the highest HDI (human development index). But reading statistics and news don’t give you much insight about a nation.

This country is worldwide known by its education system, public health care system and safety. All these factors itself would be more than enough for someone to choose a place to settle down. But I would like to point out that the Finnish secret ingredient is interpersonal trust. Your sincere word and proper behavior is the norm. It can sound naïve and obvious for first world countries (especially for northern Europeans), but for people coming from developing countries, we understand that having a society working in a fairly well manner is the exception.

For me, it is still impressive to see kids going to school by themselves. Sometimes I even get emotional seen this scene (maybe it is because I am getting older. Remember my old-fashioned references at the beginning of the text?). I lived in places where we have lost that trust.

“But OK, how about the Finns? I heard that they are cold.”

This is true in a way. Small talk here is not widespread. Honestly, it is almost nonexistent. It takes a while to get used to the silence — no chat about the weather or your plans for the weekend. They have their unique way; you can check the series “Finnish Nightmares” from Karoliina Korhonen to have an idea. But if you ask for or need any help, you will find the kindest people speaking English. After spending time enough with them, you’ll probably come across with great dark humor.

For those who like technology, you can experience ongoing labs everywhere. They take mobile internet for granted, while the world is trying to go for 5G, here they are already working/developing 6G. I haven’t touched cash a single time since I arrived. Tech companies are thriving, from Angry Birds to cybersecurity. And talking about keeping your data safe, check Badrap.io (full disclosure, I am involved in this project).

I have to mention the northern lights. See it around the corner is an unforgettable show.

Bad amateur photographer.

These are my first impressions about this little corner of the world, with their very own language, culture, and history. Some people think Finland makes part of the Scandinavian countries, which is not correct. They are all northern countries but tässä on Suomi.

Kiitos!

Fun fact: Moomins are everywhere; it seems the unofficial mascot of the country.