Weird things about Finland you'll love

To celebrate Valentine's Day and Ystävänpäivä!, I asked people to share the weird things about Finland they love. Some are as wonderful as they are weird, but all these things make Finland special.

[amarbaha]

I flew to Helsinki for the first time yesterday and when the plane got to the gate, no one got up. They waited for the attendant to tell everyone to get up! Truly great!

[MyName-fhik]

I love the safety, peace and quiet of Finland. Nature is so breathtakingly beautiful. People are good natured. Love salmiakki too!
Hyvää ystävänpäivää Suomeen!

[giamantovani]

The most wonderful thing I love about Finland (one among others) is their sentiment about life and happines. I really think they just get why are we here, in this world, and what we have to do to make it better. That is just wonderful and I would be grateful if I spend the rest of my life sourounded of suomi people 💙🇫🇮🥰 #LovingFinland 🥰

[kasperjoonatan]

I guess I fell in love with Finland the day I was born; I think my mother was there to take good care of me.. But recently I love that I can send a little girl, or a boy anywhere alone and she is safe: in the woods and in the city. And myself too. In many countries people are afraid to be alone.

[berglindasgeirs]

I love the Moomin!
I'm surprised no one mentioned them before, but I love Tove Janson's storytelling world. Little My particularly interesting character and The Groke!

[derx]

I fell in love with Finland because of Nightwish. 10 years after I've discovered them I finally had the chance to go to Finland, and it was on our honeymoon. We made a roundtrip though Scandinavia From Holland, to Stockholm, Aland, Turku, Tampere, Jyvaskyla, Oulu, Rovaniemi (and visit Santa Claus), Inari, Nordkape, Hammerfest, Lofoten, Trondheim, Hamar, Oslo, Gothenburg, Kopenhagen, and back home. We had our first full midsummer night sun experience at lake Inari, and it was mindblowing. Even the giant mosquitos thought it was great, and left us alone (or they just didn't like Dutch blood :P).
Next Finland trip will most probably be just Helsinki for a yet to be announced Nightwish concert. After that we plan to do a roundtrip of just Finland, but we'll have to save for that first :P

[reginacitrapesela]

I'm also a quiet boy, i wish one day i can go to Finland. Hello from Indonesia!

[liisamerilahti]

All of these are things I love also. I also love so much skiing cross country on a sunny December daytime

[Pikaxsu]

The equality is interesting thing - I have friends abroad who don't believe me when I tell them that I have called my teacher all my school years by their first name or "teach". No Mrs. This and Mr. That as we actually had even pet names to our teacher's, that we could use to them; one of my teacher's was named Regina and her pet name was "Ressu" (also meaning pitiful) as Snoopy is Ressu in Finnish translation of the Peanuts comics. :)

[Ser-om-oy]

Was on a romantic trip to Finland this year on Feb 14. It turned to be the opposite unfortunately. But what I liked veery much in Finland is Soumenlinna island with special spirit of freedom and helpful open Finnish people. Simple things like sauna where you can relax and let your thoughts go, special buns with cream and Russian pancakes together with transport that's never late and is always there for you) Kiitos for everything, Finland and Helsinki!

[noservice]

I’d known a cool friendly-friendly Finnish tourist in my country. He was so nice, smart, generous. I had absorbed little in some ways of his Finnish styles and cultures. Until I started to search more information about Finland. This could be a dream-country.

[donawidhasmara]

What i love about Finland mostly by two things. Those are the possibilities to see the Northern lights ( my childhood dream, influence by one story book i read when i was little ) and their Sisu things. I think having Sisu might be a good trigger to do things beyond our limits. Hopefully, i had that chance to live in Finland. Want to see Oulu, Helsinki, Rantsila, Lapland, Turku, and other places too.
One of my Finns friend brought me Salmiakki, and Moomin cup. I love Moomin. I like Salmiakki too. Very refreshing.

[arilaine]

I love silence. Sure there are times when I like company and even noise, but it takes only a couple of minutes to walk into woods (that are everywhere), there are nobody and I can mököttää (eng: sulk) there in peace ;) Perfect way to unwind those violin string tight nerves. And it's all natural for us finns. We can be silent in crowds, we hate small talk and we go to coffee house, sit there, drink coffee and leave without saying anything to anybody except for cashier "Coffee, thank You" :)

[PaiviProject]

Very nice. Loyly cloud sure is one of a kind feeling. I miss Juhannus & yoton yo so much 💗 Happy Valentines day everyone 👋

[Shadow_Wraith]

I've only seen photos of Finland but I am in love with its nature. I would love to go there and stay put!

[Lisbonized]

I recently stayed at a hotel in Spain and shorted out all the power in the sauna cabin. I was really desperate for some löyly and when I used the kauha to throw on some water, a loud pop and darkness! It was a shame because the cabin looked very authentic but probably wasn’t installed properly!

[eltonsalvador]

Finland is a very open society, I experienced myself when I was in Lapland during the winter time, being in the sauna with a stranger was interesting, we drank we conversed it was a good time and going ice swimming was also nice

[svetlanagustomesova]

I wish I lived in Finland. The most weird thing there is that people are well-bred.

[elenad]

Wow, a girl from my country😊 yeah, i also fell in love with Finland even before visiting it. The marine part of culture is what i miss, cause we don't have any seas (although we have a fleet 😂)

[emmiw]

I might be disqualified from the contest, because I was born with love for/of Finland. My entire father's family has near-roots to our "home" country, bearing our mellifluous names in Canada proudly. And I've tragically been unable to visit-- this far!

But like family, or even a marriage, my love of all things Finn has still been a lifelong journey of choosing love for my heritage, and being blessed with whimsical moments that have to validated that bond

My family was part of building post-war Finnish community, including retirement village, in parts of Ontario. Visiting Mums and Papa meant regular exposure to the lilting and impossible language. It was also a soft lesson in Suomi community, seeing how retirees took care of each other - from a respectful distance - with what they could rather than spending out. And finally, discovering the art of the short but meaningful conversation, which is undervalued severely in this world.
A figure skating obsessed rural Canadian girl, I read "The Bells On Finland Street" and was given the gift of connection to a nation that isn't rightfully mine. As a student, I chose Finland for every project I could, and some I probably pushed it with. A day-dreaming teen, I played my dad's Best Of Sibelius CD on repeat, as much for Valse Triste and Tuonela as Finlandia. I progressed to Finnish rock/hard rock/metal/love metal/cello head-banging metal (esp Apo)! I make pilgrimage to Finnish-Specific stores every few years - all these surface things a Suomalainen-adjacent gal does to weave Finland into her very North American life.

But then that's the weirdly-wonderful thing for me-- this evolution leads me to deeper quest to better understand Finland and relate to in an albeit madly foreign way. And relate not just to the things you can touch with your senses, but feel in your sense of what's right in the world. Your CEO nailed it - the equality, sameness despite socio-economic station in life -- indeed regardless even of gender. As an adult I look back and see how every step to stay close to my roots also somehow instilled ethics and a world/human belief that's closer to it than not. And maybe even the tenacity to hold to them without so much ego. To do what's right even when it's not popular. To try and live up to my roots, in gratitude to the country that gave the world Sisu.


(Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk, I've literally never had the opportunity to dive in to this after a high school speech some years ago...😹)