So I've lived about 5 months in Finland now and the time has come to reveal all the dirty secrets of the Finns!
For example shopping has proven to be challenging. If I need something other than the usual groceries, like cheap hair stuff & make up (Penneys), phone cables (€ shop), new performing outfit (Quiz) etc, sure I would know straight away where to go in Ireland. But in Finland, not so much. The choice of products is different, there's far more shops and sooo much more selection in all the supermarkets and shops, and I actually find it overwhelming having too much choice. Like there's about least 25 different hams available just in our nearest supermarket. Who needs 25 different ham?!? I miss Tesco and the 5 different ham options they had!
Just kidding, I do appreciate that I now have the luxury of choosing from millions of different yoghurts, breads, hams, milks, spreads, phone cables, hair pins etc.
So I've made a wee list of random stuff that is considerably different between Finland and Ireland:
GENERAL
Belt Dividers on cashiers- Why do you not have these in Ireland?! You're rushed to throw your shopping in the bag, everything mixed up and not stacked on nicely, you probably can't even fit everything in the bag, also simultaneously trying to get your change or cards back to the wallet and the wallet back to your bag; All of this while holding the rest of queue and making everyone's shopping 100 times slower. (For those who haven't been shopping in Ireland: The cashier has to wait for you to have bagged your stuff before they can take the next customer. Awkward.)
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| The cashier just slides the divider from one side to the other after each customer. You can take your time packing with no rush and panic. It's genius! |
Bottle deposit return
- This little detail will make the Irish SO jealous. In Finland, you get a deposit returned from every plastic bottle, beer bottle and can. For the small ones you get 20c and for the bigger ones 50c I think. The return machines are in every single grocery shop. So basically you could have a house party, save all the cans and bottles, return them and your dinner is sorted for the next day! This is what we used to do when we were young :D Some people go into festivals and collect massive bags full of return bottles. They must make a good few hundred quid out of it. For the first few months in Finland Artur and I were throwing the bottles out, like we were used doing in Ireland, when it hit me that what the hell are we doing! Throwing money in to the bin! Now I have a bag in the kitchen for the return bottles and will use it for something nice next time I go do my groceries :)
Bus tickets
- When you purchase a bus/tram/subway ticket, it will be valid for full 60-120min after it (depending on the city). You can travel as much you want during that time using all the public transportation in your area. How great is that! No more buying zillion different ticks and spending all your money on Bus Eireann or Dublin bus.
FOOD
Nut butters- One of the biggest dramas in my life. In 90% of the supermarkets in Finland there's ONLY peanut butter available. No almond, hazelnut, cashew etc. Not to mention the Sowan's vanilla-honey-hazelnut-drooling as I'm talking about it -butter. I had to go to a fancy health shop to get a jar of almond butter, and they only had one left. After opening it was also obvious that one jar had been sitting on the shelf for quite some time. Price for this treasure? 8,60€!! I'm understandably Gutted (with a cap G).
Lactose free & dairy free products
- Finland has a really high amount of lactose intolerants. Also people here are very hipstery and aware of things and health conscious. So the shelves in shops are packed with lactose free and dairy free stuff. Actually it's harder to find a normal dairy product than a non-lactose one. Really. Funnily though in coffee shops they tend to only have soy milk or oat milk for the non dairy substitutes. I've yet to find a coconut milk flat white in Tampere. Let me know if you know where I could get such treat. Oat milk and oat-everything is actually really big here. Just shows Finns' love for oats. There's about 6 different oat milk options in a supermarket. ALSO there's a Finnish product called pulled oats, it's a meat substitute like quorn. It's actually pretty good! They make similar stuff out of broad beans as well. Haven't tasted it yet (I have my limits too you know.)
Bacon
- Unlike the hams, there is super poor selection of bacon in Finland. Finns just don't appreciate the subtle art of bacon. It's sold as a speciality and I think I've seen bacon medallions in only one shop, with a hefty price tag of course. I really miss the smell of maple rashers, there's just something in it that gives you a positive boost in the mornings!
SOCIETY
Saying hello- When I first arrived to my new neighborhood I was literally saying hello to everyone walking down the street. I quickly let go of that habit since I felt like a dope doing that. People thought I was disabled or something. It is not normal to greet a person you meet on a walk in the woods or pass on the street. You're supposed to kinda float pass other people looking into the ground avoiding any eye contact. And I mean on a quiet sub urb like the one we're living on, not in the city with loads of people around. For some reason though on a bus stop for example, older folks often seem to be drawn to me and start a chat! I don't mind, I'm happy to keep up the social skills I developed in Ireland and spread some positivity around me :)
Telling the truth
- If you make a mistake of asking the seemingly innocent question "how are you" from a Finn, be prepared to actually get an answer of what's going on in their lives. People here are programmed so that most of the time they can only tell the truth. It's a charming quality and makes the society run quite smooth. Compared to the amount of bullshit and empty well wishes people tell in Ireland and the US for example it's quite refreshing. At the same time though I really don't want to hear about how shit someone's life is and how dark and depressing it's getting now come winter time and oh the Finnish summer is so short, sure it's almost over already (said by most Finnish people on early June).
Punctuality
- People here are on time. All.the.time. What?!? I've had cold sweats more than once realizing I'M the idiot being late from everything, thinking "oh it'll be fine no-one will turn up on the minute", only to be embarrassed keeping everyone else waiting and in panic coming up with some lame excuse not to lose my dignity completely. For example on wedding gigs; If the wedding is said to start at 2pm, it actually starts at 2pm!! In Ireland we are used to the bride being late at least 20min, guests coming in whenever and the ceremony lasting for a good hour. Finnish ceremonies start punctually, they last about 20min and boom you're done. Sweet!
Fashion (or lack of it) (hipsters)
- I'm so sorry to say this, but Finnish people have no fashion sense. There's only 2 kinds of styles here: wind pants, soft-shell jacket, sensible walking shoes, a hat, gloves and nordic walking sticks as your accessory. The second style is Hipsters; girls wearing ill fitting tunics in horizontal black & white stripes with pockets in the front, statement 70's style ugly eye glass frames (even if you wouldn't wear glasses normally), bright red lip, no eye make up, hair falling down or tied up "naturally" and as undone as possible (probably spent hours doing it). Hipster guys have massive beards, a funny small ribbi hat on top of their heads (not covering the ears for example), tattoos, weird pants and shoes. Time to time you get the instagram influenced wannabe teenagers wearing a layer of Anastasia or NYX on their face and covering themselves in crop tops and high wasted jeans.
Mostly nobody does their hair here, for weddings and other celebrations people put on outfits the Irish would put on when going to Tesco etc. I have been in _many_ situations where I have literally been the most over dressed person ever. I have to say though, the colder it's getting, the less you care about your looks and more about just staying warm! So it is understandable that the Finns have adapted to their natural habitant with the ribbi hats, tunics and nordic walking sticks.
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| Some famous Finnish hipsters: "The Burger Man" Akseli Herlevi, a Top Chef-winner and owner of the most delicious burger joint in Finland, Naughty Burger. Their burgers alone are a reason to move to Finland. |
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| Singer Kasmir, who has some really kick ass tunes and is one of Finland's most popular artists. |
NATURE
Coldness- It's cold in here. Like really cold. And it's only getting colder! I have repeatedly left the house without gloves, scarf, in tiny leather leggings and jackets, only to realize immediately that it was a massive mistake. I even had to buy a thermometer to see what's going on outside! In Finland every house and apartment has one, but Ireland why would you need it. You know without looking outside it's always the +10-15c with some rain and wind!
Forest
- In Ireland I actually suffered greatly due to the lack of wild nature and forests. Well I definitely am back in the wilderness now. Have you ever watched the Alaskan Bush People on TV? That's what Finland is like, only without the mountains. There's bears, wolves, lynx, wolverines, moose, reindeers etc. And some of them are dangerous. Most people are used to them, and it is not rare to have an encounter with a bear or a wolf. Mostly it happens if you live in the woods and have dogs or other pets outside, and the forest feckers come and might hunt them down. When I lived in the east part of Finland (near the Russian border) I remember this happening all the time. My parents live in the woods and they see mooses all the time. They are not dangerous but they are big. I feel calm in the forest, but at the same time I'm very aware that if I got lost in there, I might be walking a 100km with no man in sight.
Mosquitos
- O.m.g. Don't even get me started. In the summer, it is actually impossible to go outside and enjoy your day! The little blood suckers are EVERYWHERE. They also tend to be drawn more to some people than others, and I happen to be one of those with apparently very sweet tasting blood. They crawl out of their mosquito hideaways towards the evening, and each night have their nocturnal mosquito festival flying outside and sucking whatever they can stick their trunks on. I remember very vividly this one time I was visiting my friends summer house in the east of Finland. They didn't have an inside toilet so I had to go do my business outside in the middle of the night. It took maybe 10 seconds, but in the morning I had around 15 mosquito bites! No lies, and the bites were massive. There's also other kind of flying creatures that actually take a bite out of you, for example horse flies and moose flies (yes, and when that one bites you it Hurts!).
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| Moose fly |
..So the ya go, a little mind map to Finland and the Finns! After another 6 months I might do another post about the new discoveries I've learned, that is if I've survived the winter. All thoughts and prayers are much appreciated.
Slan, kiitos
C u soon! xx
PS: As you may know there are 2 brilliant books by Colin Murphy & Donal O'Dae called "Stuff Irish People Love", if you haven't red them already, do it! For non-Irish folks it'll give a hilarious insight to the nations mind set and you'll blend in much better on your next visit.
In Finland the equivalent would be "Finnish Nightmares" by Karoliina Korhonen. There are 2 books and they are absolutely brilliant as well! Study those before your visit or move to Finland and you'll be flying.
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