Finnish People - Stereotypes, Fears and Friends

In the first week of being in Finland, I have been told many things about Finnish people and their behaviour.

1. They are shy

2. They fear conversation

3. They fear strangers

4. small talk doesn't exist in the Finnish language

5. they like silence

6. They fear Strangers

7. they respect queues and lines

8. They like space

Like the Finnish people are made out to be like the absolute opposite of Australians almost. Also, these stereotypes are so real and well known that a Finnish guy named Joel Williams made a book about it called "101 Very Finnish Problems". Where he has the following Illustrations.

And so they showed me all these things in the first week. All the other people in the camp were a bit scared now because they were wondering how they were going to make friends. Myself, as the facts about Finnish people where being shown, I just continually got more and more excited!

I was prepared to stand up and just be like

Because I have been trying to push myself to meet new people all through high school. Therefore this will be the ultimate challenge in my friend making game.

When they kicked us out of Karkku Camp, I finally had my first day of school, and I was ready! I knew how to say hello in Finnish which was "Moi".

You know how you see in Movies that the new kid doesn't want any of the attention so just puts her head down and says nothing. I did the complete opposite. I walked into the school, and say hello to everyone in the school. I got a lot of weird looks. I didn't break the ice, I shattered it.

Though I did get a lot of weird looks.

Like one guy even walked up to me and said: "We don't do that here".

So I was super proud of myself because everyone now knows who I am. I am that weird, friendly Australian Exchange Student. Which is not much different to how I was perceived back in Australian, except it was just the Weird and Friendly Guy. (Also when I say weird I mean unique and awesome!).

Other than that, the stereotypes of Finnish people are mostly true. At the bus stop, it was snowing, yet there was only one person underneath the bus stop shelter, the rest were standing in the open, getting snowed upon. So the Finnish people do not like when I walk straight into the bus shelter. Also, I am wearing my bright coloured shirt today, and have the jacket unzipped to show off my amazing shirt. Because you know I have to make the best impression on people.

Also, I wear my flour shirts like every day, because I only have 5 shirts, so why can I not wear the same 2 for the whole week (They do get washed every night).

In terms of having conversations with the Finnish people, it was interesting at first. I would walk up to people and ask them how are they doing today, they respond, and then that is it. They don't even ask how I am doing, so I just go I am Fletcher and start talking about how I come from Australia until they start talking about themselves, which can sometimes mean 5 minutes to 30 minutes. Like I talked once for 30 minutes because he didn't respond at all, but now I am good friends with him.

Of course, I have got to be careful with the people because they have a tendency to not say anything, nor show any emotion. So I sometimes freak out a bit because I can't tell if they are following me or not at all. But at least I know when they laugh it is a genuine laugh. Which I am succeeding at amazingly well because I can tell a good story ............... I Think. Mostly when I am trying to talk to someone I try to copy my friend Charlie Harm's advice and tell a good story. Which has worked extremely well so far?

Also, another thing about Finnish people is that they believe most things that you say. You could say they are very trusting people. Only one person has questioned the viability of my stories, except the existence of my friend Charlie when I told one fellow about how Charlie's toe got split open when he was chasing a gorilla, and how he used to have a few huntsman spiders in his house.

One thing I find with Finnish people is that they find it very hard to have a conversation with a stranger, and get really nervous. Like you can see them shaking as they are talking to me. This is also probably because they are nervous about their English.

Also, they do not know how to do small talk, it just does not exist in the Finnish language. So When I am talking to them, they would not ask many questions about me or Australia.

But, every day I would, when given the opportunity to, would say hello to someone that I had introduced myself to before. I would say hello, ask them how they are doing, tell them how I am doing, and that would be the conversation and so far it has worked pretty well, and have made a few friends because of this.

I now have 2 very good friends, one I am going to the gym with on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. His name is Ilja, and he is Russian. Ilja was the first Finn to walk up to me and INTRODUCE HIMSELF!!! He was born in Russia, but he has lived in Finland all his life. So this was super unusual, so I knew he was going to be a good mate.

And the other is Jere (pronounced Yara), who is just a really chill dude I like to hang out with, and has really good English. Very funny Guy.

Those are the main 2, but I have made many more friends, and I am happy because of it.

Overall I am having a smashing time.

So Once again

Kiitos for reading

Stay Awesome

Fletcher Kendall