Week Six: Food, Culture, and School

I think this is what most people actually want to know about because this is what I’ve been asked the most about. “How’s the food?” and “Is the culture really different?” and “What makes the education system so good?”. Food and culture were easy questions for me to answer from the very beginning but school has been something I’ve had to really think about.

First, the food is AMAZING. Everything is so healthy and none of it makes me feel gross after eating. There are four meals a day in Finland: breakfast, lunch, dinner (which is eaten really early), and evening snack ( which is a light meal before bed). Potatoes, vegetables, and soup are common in most Finnish meals. There is a salad with almost every meal with lettuce and tomatoes and cheese. Berries are also very big in Finland during the summer, since this last summer was really dry there have been a lot less berries. Normally in the summers families pick buckets and buckets of berries and mushrooms. The berries are frozen in the fridge to be eaten during the winter time because buying Finnish berries at the store is really expensive. They don’t eat pickled herring here very often, if at all (I was asked about this a lot), that’s Swedish but they do eat a lot of salmon which is actually really good. People eat a lot of rye bread (which I love) and it’s a lot more healthy than white bread, McDonald’s even has a rye bread hamburger (McDonald’s here is better). Finns eats butter on everything, and the butter is like a mix of butter and margin but it is really good. They actually have a favorite type of butter (Oivariini) and they can supposedly taste the difference between that and other brands, it’s kind of crazy. One of my favorite things is the cheese Oltermanni that’s made in Finland. It comes in a cylinder shape and you have to use a cheese knife to cut it, it’s really good and actually so popular that people try to smuggle mass amounts of it over the board to sell in Russia illegally. But I think my all time favorite thing is Karjalanpiirakka, it is a thin layer of rye bread with a layer of rice pudding on top, it sounds nasty but it’s FANTASTIC.

People also drink a lot of coffee here, and there are many coffee chains. The coffee is a lot more bitter than in the states but it’s really good with cream and sugar.

The chocolate and pastries are SO GOOD HERE. Fazer chocolate (the big brand in Finland) is so much better than most American chocolate, and it’s a lot cheaper. Actually there is a day called “karkkipäivä” which means candy day. Every Saturday children are allowed to eat candy, and typically only on Saturdays. Parents are not allowed to give someone else’s children candy without permission because of this candy day tradition. It’s kinda crazy but also really cool because as the children grow up and can buy their own candy they know that its not good to have candy everyday and often limit themselves to Candy Day.

The food is amazing and really healthy. No one needs to worry about trying to send me peanut butter just so I have something to eat.

The culture is very different. The people are very different. No one talks to people on the street. If you even smile of make eye contact with anyone you don’t know on the street Finns automatically think they have something weird on their clothes. Finnish people do not talk unless they have something serious to talk about or you need help. They stare a lot which is super uncomfortable. On public transportation people do not sit next to someone else even if there is a seat open, they will stand. It is considered polite to give people their space and not talk. There is no small talk. Everything is direct and straight to the point instead of elaboration. Finnish people do not often interrupt. You have to ask for ideas and input from Finnish people. They will always wait until you are done talking. To talk to a Finnish person you have to ask them for help. It’s considered ok to be surrounded by friends but not speak because there is nothing to say and the space does not have to be filled with words. Teenagers don’t like to speak English because they are embarrassed to mess up especially around their friends. Finnish people are also not as sarcastic (as we are in the US), they take everything you say at face value and only say what they mean. They don’t say “I love you” to friends or most of the time not even their parents or in any casual way, it is reserved for a significant other. Finland is super safe, the people are very trusting. Most children go to and from school by themselves around eight years old by walking or taking buses or trains. Time is also very valuable to Finnish people, don’t be late (that one had been hard for me for sure).

School. This is what I get the most questions on. Why is Finnish education so good? How is school there?

There is a preschool or day care but instead of learning math and school subjects the little kids learn practical skills, but school normally starts for a student when they are six years old and is required until fifteen or sixteen. When students finish primary school they have a choice to go to high school, vocational school, or drop out. Students have to work really hard to get into a high school, so the students actually want to be there. I mean of course it’s school and teenagers don’t want to be there, but Finnish students have more motivation. The teachers teach and they don’t care if you do it, it’s your fault if you fail the exam and have to take the class again. They don’t often check homework and the students are left to be very independent and self-motivated. School is done like college classes, you have to be at school when you have class and when you don’t you can do pretty much whatever you want. There are five terms in a year and each term is about five to seven weeks and then the classes change. At the end of each term there are exams for each of the classes. It’s honestly great because if the class is really boring or you don’t like the teacher you don’t have to be stuck with them for a year or semester. High school can be done in two to four years depending on how a students decides to structure their classes, but three years is the standard amount of time students spend in high school. To graduate high school students have to take seventy-three courses, one course lasts the one term. Students can work really hard their first two years so that they might only have classes three days a week in their third year. At the end of high school there are massive exams that are on everything learned in your classes ever. These are what allow Finns to graduate and get into college. Students who are taking the exams actually get a “Study Break” for about two weeks, before their exams, the time is just to study.

Since the teachers are so hands off with the students the students are forced to do what they need themselves to succeed. The teachers teach and the students do what they need to do to succeed.

These have just been my observations on Finland, the culture, food, and school so far, and there are of course things that I left out. I am really loving and adapting to way of life here.

Karjalanpiirakka- it is normally eaten with egg butter (boiled eggs and butter mixed)