Around the World in 80 Blogs - An expat view of Finland

This post comprises part of the Around the World in 80 blogs over at Everyday Stranger.

As you may have guessed this blog has its roots in Finland. I have to say I'm a bit of a cheat since I'm not actually a Finn, although the more I live here the more I feel like I am becoming one. I came here in my early 20's for training and upon finishing my degree I came back for want of something better to do (I was too lazy to find myself a job back home). As with the overwhelming majority of foreigners who choose to make this seemingly hostile land their home I came back because I was in love - a state in which I still am very happily.

You may or may not have heard of Finland and if you have you'll most likely have heard the following... its cold, dark ALL the time, the locals aren't friendly and are alcoholics, they have polar bears and penguins up North, Santa Claus lives here and they eat reindeer. The last two are true, the others less so.

Currently, it is dark, we are approaching the darkest day of the year where if we are lucky we may get 6hrs of sunlight - that is if the clouds clear - otherwise it will just be a murky grey all day. You know what though - all the snow and dark (and perhaps the thought that Santa lives only 12hrs drive away) makes Christmas really feel like Christmas.On the flipside our summers are so incredibly light... we may have only four hours of semi-dark and this means that we sleep less and enjoy the summer sun - it can get over 25C here some days during the summer season. When you go out at 11pm it is still light. Summer is a time of celebration, if you visit in winter you could be forgiven for thinking that Finland has a popluation of 100 -when the sun shines everyone comes out, even the winos from where they've been hiding all winter, and the city where I live comes alive. Midsummer celebrated somewhere around 21st June, the lightest day of the year is cause for a huge celebration. The picture below was taken around 10 or 11pm. Everyone whose family owns one or can rent one goes to spend Midsummer at their mökki (cottage) and usually spends the time eating lots of bbq food, having sauna and getting drunk. I'm fairly certain that Alko, the state-owned liquor store, has its busiest period in the run upto Midsummer. Inevitably following this there are usually stories of people having to be rescued from drowning because they tried to stand up on their rowing boat and pee off the side...The mökki is a central part of Finnish culture, during July the country shuts down, people disappear for 3-4weeks for their summer vacation which is usually spent at their mökki.

From what I understand the Finns love this institution because it enables them to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life (the Finnish idea of hustle and bustle of city life is at worst what the experience of living in Tunbridge Wells would be like) and get back to basics and nature. Indeed there are a number of mökki still without electricity and sometimes running water, often by choice. Visiting these types of mökki usually requires one to get water from a well and use composting toilets - an experience I'm not convinced I'll get used to due to an irrational fear of something leaping up the composting toilet and biting my bum - though usually it's only the mosquitos.

I love this country and it is now very much my home, while the people are hard to get to know, once you do get to know them they make brilliant and loyal friends. They are forever amazed that someone would actually choose to live in their country and are very forgiving and happy when you attempt to speak their language - it is one of the hardest languages in the world to learn and they are fully aware of it. They are pretty well educated, even those who didn't go to Uni can speak English fluently, which sadly means my fluency of Finnish is rather lacking particularly when everyone wants to practice their English on a real live Brit. Admittedly getting to know a Finn properly usually requires one to go out and get drunk with them a few times and alcohol is a part of their culture here. What you don't see though when out on the town is the violence that is commonly associated with drink. I never see the convergance of police in the city centre on Friday and Saturday nights like you would in England and I have only ever seen one fight in the 6 years I have been here. So you could call it a pretty safe country - especially where the most common crime seems to be bicycle theft!

I mentioned sauna earlier in this post and this is a massive finnish tradition, if your own apartment or home does not have one, then the building you live in will have a communal sauna. Life in Finland without sauna... well it just doesn't exist. While many people think Finland is part of Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway and Denmark) it actually isn't and synonymous with Scandinavia, particularly Sweden, is design. Finland also has deep roots in design and architecture. Alvar Aalto is probably the most famous Finnish designer-architect, arguably one of the most influential icons of the modern design movement. Although the vase design above was originally designed in the 1930's it is still massively popular and a common feature in the form of the vase, candle holders and other types of glassware in Finnish homes - I even came across it in the shop of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York about 4 years ago. Finnish design for me is uncomplicated and aesthetically pleasing and designed to feel contemporary even if it is 20 years old. It is exactly the kind of design that appeals and you can see this irom the way they design and build their homes, to the way they decorate them.

Living here can be a challenge, it isn't always easy getting a grasp of the language and the climate but if you make a little effort to get out there and enjoy what this country does have to offer I think you can be very pleasantly surprised.