Things I love about Finland...and other things

Fallen leaf drifting in the reflections on the lake

Last weekend, a group of international students (including me) ventured up to Koli National Park for yet another amazing weekend.  We rented a cabin on a lakeshore that had a sauna (of course) and a rowboat.  Most of the weekend was spent taking walks along the many kilometers of trails, relaxing on the dock, sauna-ing, cooking and eating, and retrieving the sunken rowboat.  The weather worked out perfectly for us and we couldn't have asked for a more ideal autumn weekend.  There was ice on the puddles in the morning, but each day was cool, breezy and blue.  The fall colours (or Ruska) were simply fantastic.

Lakeshore walk in Koli

This week, we (April and I) had 2 visitors in town: Miriam, another transformer in our program who is studying in Freiburg; and Jorma, the program coordinator from UBC.  It was really amazing to go for dinner with these two friends, but it also had a strange feeling to it.  It is really hard to describe, but Miriam and I agreed that it happens often when you have good friends that you associate with a certain situation, then you see them in a completely different context.  The friendship hasn't changed; it's still great to see them, but it feels although there is a certain disconnect because of the huge jump in situation.  "It's soo great to see you...in Joensuu!?!?"

Sunlight droplets of melted frost on a fallen aspen leaf

I realize that I have been posting a lot of rants recently...although it may not appear this way, I really do like Finland.  Every time I meet a Finn for the first time I am asked this, and they look surprised when I say that I have enjoyed myself here so far and am looking forward to many things in the coming year.  In fact, I am already dreading leaving and moving back to Canada where everything is so...Canadian. So here is a list of a few things I have come to really enjoy about living and studying in Finland.

Sunlight birches and scots pine

Finnish: I really do enjoy learning the language.  It is so different from anything else that I know, which makes it an exciting challenge.  I also enjoy how words are constructed (ie compound words) and related to each other. For example:
ampua - to shoot
ampumahiihto - shooting skiing - biathon
ampumarata - shooting lane/track - shooting range
ampumahauta - shooting grave - trench (like from WWII)

Managed scots pine forest in the park

Forests and People: People in Finalnd (generally) are connected to the forest in some way, shape, or form.  More than 50% of the forest is privately owned by almost 1million individual land owners.  This means that almost 20% (1 in 5) of Finns actually own forest land.  In addition to this, there are forest workers, forest industry workers, recreation-ists...you would have a very hard time finding a Finn who does not have a personal connection to the forest, forest land, or forest resources.  There is a general awareness, knowledge and support for forests and the forest management that I do not see at home in Canada.


Clothing:  It's cool to be practical. Or should I say, it's warm to be practical.  Rubber boots, rainpants, touques (bipo), long underwear, woolens and other practical clothing are typically worn and not scoffed at when the weather turns inclement.  Function plays a large role in fashion as the weather gets colder and wetter.  Although I can't say that this statement is entirely true for high school girls...

The rowboat that came with the cabin took on a little water during the day.  This was the first rescue attempt.  It took perseverance and resulted in Brian losing feeling in most of his extremities, but eventually the boat was retrieved and draining safely onshore.

Sauna:  What's not to like?  Take off all your clothes and sweat it out!  Sauna temperatures here are considered nice around 80 degrees Celsius, which you may need some time to work yourself towards because it is hot.  Once you acquire a tase for hot saunas, anything else is a little weak and totally unsatisfying.  It is amazing to be in an environment where you can just relax and be too hot when it is cold and wet outside.

Lisa basking in the fall sunlight on the dock

Food:  It may help if you already have a taste for Scandinavian cooking, but I think there are some really fantastic things that are done here.  Really, it's the rye bread that I am after, but there are some other great Finnish food features too. There is cardamom in almost all sweet baked goods (buns, cinnmon rolls, cakes...).  Yogurt is consumed very regularly.  The potatoes aren't over-cooked.  BERRIES!  lingonberries, cranberries, blueberries, cloudberries; all used in baking, jams, or fresh. They sell chanterelles at the grocery store.  cheese is cheap.

Freetime...sounds like a pretty good place to be.  To bad it's 7km away!

Student Support:  This holds true for international and Finnish students alike.  Everything from subsidized meals, to finding local "friends" to help you adjust to the culture.  The Finnish system really makes an effort to see that every student has the best possible opportunities to excel in their education.

So that's a quick list of a few of the things I have really grown to appreciate over the past few weeks.  I can only guess that this list will continue to grow and develop as time goes on.

The Brazilian tastes some wild Finnish water and suffers no ill consequences.

I wrote my first exam this week, which brings me to my Fun Finnish Fact of the week.  You get multiple attempts at writing an exam.  If you fail, or are just unhappy with your mark, you can re-write the exam.  Up to 5 re-writes (I think) and then you have to re-take the course if you still haven't managed to pass.  If you pass, but want to improve your mark, they will take your best mark of all the times you have attempted to write the exam, not just the most recent one.  I like this system.  I think I will be re-writing that exam I just attempted... :-)

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!  Have a fantastic long weekend all you Canadian residents!

Some of our Koli crew. Nations represented: Germany, Ireland, Brazil (x2), Canada (x2), and Spain