Brit Reveals Biggest Culture Shock Living in Finland

[@kallekonttinen1738]

Hello from Finland! I am a Finnish land surveyor and have spent time in Finnish forests. Finnish forest is safest place in whole world. If you make noice while you go in forest all wolfs, bears and mooses will escape you. Since 1900 only one people have been killed by wolfs or bears in Finland. That happened when jogger run between baby bear and mother bear. Only danger in Finnish forest really is that you might get lost. For that helps that south from Oulu there is allways road at the distance of 3 km in Finland so if you just walk straight you end up to the road.. In Lapland you might get really lost and that is a different thing..

[@GustavSvard]

As a Swede, the stereotypes of how midsummer is celebrated in Sweden vs Finland (at about 46:00) the Swedish version is a creation of the 1800s, basically. Before then it was *very* much more like the finnish stereotype. Drinking til you fall over is the old way to celebrate both Midsummer & Yule, and go back far enough there was only the parish church as a space to have community feasts in. So, yes, half the village would get so drunk they fell over in church. Every year. Culture!

[@Fortuna88828]

I love the winter here in Finland! Lots of outdoor activities to enjoy: cross country and downhill skiing, snowshoeing, ice hockey, skating, etc. Even simply taking a walk in the nearby snowy forest when it is dark is magical! I do this every morning with my dog before work. Summers are too hot nowadays.

[@kat8992]

Finnish woman here. Tried foreigner, got hurted. Happy to have my silent Finn. ❤️

[@finnishculturalchannel]

Bear is Finland's national animal. Between 1990-2015 there was 21 bear attacks. One fatal in 1998, when a bear felt a need to defend her cubs from a jogger. Usually bears avoid people and they are good at it. 10 persons have died from poisonous mushrooms during last four decades. Since 1984 two people have died from poisonous snake bites. Ten people have died in a car collision with a moose, but now we on the road already. 100-150 people drown annually, but you can't really blame the nature for that either. During winters 10-30 persons drown. Only few of them are ice fishers, because 5 cm solid ice holds a person and 1 cm holds an ice fisher. Not only do people have a different mentality during the seasons, but also in different regions. Helsinki is probably not the best place to start a conversation with a random person. Finland's written history is young, but there's a long oral history, which has been passed on from generation to another by singing. Singing within the family and friends have been a form of entertaining. 5 percent of Finns sing in a choir. Musical education has traditionally been on high level. Live music and dance culture is active. Also acting has history, and it's still a popular hobby. Karaoke falls into same category, I think. Example: "Ievan Polkka Lumberjack band 1952". Getting hammered is also a bonding rite. And to say that getting hammered isn't fun, can you imagine someone doing this after a glass of wine?: " Vloskin Meanwhile in Finland".

[@mikrokupu]

How I deal with the winter darkness: sun light lamp and a week or two in a sunny climate. Many Finns travel to the Canary Islands or to southern Spain in winter. In Andalucia, there's a town called Fuengirola which has sizeable Finnish "colony", they even have a Finnish school.

[@JustTweetAway]

Winter Time its nothing wrong.Just Make sure you put right clothes on.Greetings from 🇫🇮🇫🇮🇫🇮

[@ullakauppinen8182]

I just read a statistics that Finns consume less alcohol that average Europeans. The drinking culture you describe was like you say in you video about thirty years ago. I do not recognize that in todays Finland.

[@Jonra1]

No Finns still have problems with alcohol. As a Finn I have encountered it through out my life from the early 20s to modern time. It's just that in many cultures the alcohol consumption is spread out through out the weak and it is modest and the goal isn't to get drunk. Many Finns compete who can get drunk the fastest and drink a lot on 2-3 days a week. It's large part of the reason I stopped participating in many grilling/summer events, since people were always drunk. Then the next day you'd have to deal with the pathetic apologies and demands for understanding due to what was said or done while drunk by person X or Y. Having spent some time living in other European countries, I've never encountered it elsewhere. In fact, people assumed me to be pretty much an alcoholic initially due to my nationality due to their own personal experiences with my countrymen in the past.

[@magicofshootingstar5825]

@Jonra1 That depends a lot on your group of people you associate with 🙂 Also the younger generation are more and more sober, biggers groups who have problems with alcohol starts to be 40+ already. (Younger people using more and more cannabis and drugs is totally another story 🙄😅)

[@larularulei7533]

Joel is such a wonderful storyteller :) it was a fun podcast.

[@datingbeyondborderscast]

Yeah it was a fun conversation. He was cracking me up a lot

[@skenaari]

Happiest country = The least fucked up country. I'm happy 😊

[@magicofshootingstar5825]

Finns think that no-one knows anything about their country or that every one thinks badly of Finland. So when foreigners say critical stuff about Finland, Finns try to say "it's actually not that bad in here" which comes out as taking all criticism hardly. At the same time Finns themselves are trashing our country as one of the worst in whatever they can think about and it most of the time has nothing to do with the truth 😂😂

[@magicofshootingstar5825]

Oh, I forgot add: Joel has lived long in Finland but "seems" foreigner still because of English and how he comes out in social media. I encountered him some years past first time in youtube and thought he had just moved to Finland. So for many Finns he wouldn't go to the category "one of our own is making fun of us, so it's ok", because people don't know how long he has already been here.

[@IkeVMAX4]

I live way above arctic circle in lapland and absolutely loath summer. Autumn is hunting season, winter and spring are for skiing .

[@clairegroenink3362]

Oh my god, this was so funny! I can totally relate to everything even though I live in Norway and not in Finland. Even the karaoke thing.... Coming from the Netherlands where there is no karaoke culture whatsover. I saw my firsk "karaoke taxi" in Oslo, and I was like wtf is this :D Thank you so much for this great content. It made my day.

[@BullettiAPE]

I wonder if receptiveness to criticism is connected to feelings of nationalism and cultural pride/supremacy. I saw a map of Europe about "Percentage of people who think their culture is better than others" and Finland had quite a high value, but Greece was the clear "winner" with 89% or something like that. I wonder if the greeks tolerate critique...

[@tinademesticha9457]

No, because Greeks love to fight. But, believe me, you won't find more people who are critical of their own culture than in Greece.

[@BullettiAPE]

@@tinademesticha9457 Do the Greeks welcome criticism because they love to fight about it in a friendly manner, but only really allow themselves to honestly critique their culture?

[@jalmarihuitsikko7211]

It's misconception that Finnish is difficult language. English is difficult because everything is exception. Only way to learn English is to just memorize everything and even then you don't get everything right. Finnish language follows rules most of the time and even if it officially doesn't you still usuallly get away with it if you just follow the basic rule.

[@alexandervanlohen4229]

Such a nice interview, this man makes you literally happy! One thing - the high grade of domestic violence in Finnland could just be the fact because woman are so empowered to take it in charge. I wouldn’t trust the numbers.

[@paulipeltola2789]

November is like 50 Shades of Grey: Finland Edition.

[@KA-jm2cz]

Darkness is like old friend that fullfills the world in winter. Rejoice the depression

[@kerryh3833]

Difference between Uk and finland and why one is happier than the other: Number of people, quality of medical care, how much the state looks after you. Medical industry in the uk overall is awful. Waiting months for a life changing test or operation. Waiting weeks just to see your local dr. Home visits and/or carers barely available. Drs would rather give you a pain killer than give you tests. And the government just generally does anything possible to crap all over you. Theres a reason why most finnish would fight for their country, and most british would laugh in your face if you asked if they'd fight for theirs.. British people just dont get looked after.

[@heatherclark8668]

I grew up in rural Australia where people didn't go around greeting each other with a hug or kiss But once I moved to the city, I was shocked to find that was how a lot of people greeted each other I don't like it! I especially hate kissing and hugging women because ....... I am a woman I would love to go to Finland where people don't go around doing that. It is so fake. And it is invasive

[@user-rw9ve3hu3u]

When it's minus 20 or 30 degrees in Celsius you can go outside and enjoy skiing and icehole swimming etc. 😊 And summer time it won't be dark but you just close your eyes and sleep.😉🤭

[@karomaalta4592]

The thing about karaoke is that finns really like music

[@annasmidova1404]

Sooo interesting ❤ i like your videos and this podcast is something else❤thank u ❤can you pls do slovakia and czech republic?

[@datingbeyondborderscast]

Will get to them for sure 😊

[@jukopliut]

Cosh this interview rubs the wrong way. Finally I manage to summarise what was "wrong" about it. To put it one word "Helsinki"

[@liahk1000]

Just a bit of feedback- slightly too much commercials for me. I realize I opt out of the videos after the second commercial when I realize there's another one so soon.

[@datingbeyondborderscast]

Didn't know! KZbin places ads automatically so I will have to go through and manually edit

[@Tomignostics]

Sorry that no one didnot got strenght to listen all this (****), there is lots of good points...

[@tekshino]

Heres my two answers to your questions 1.Actually Finns speak a lot to friends or family,but not so much for unknown people. 2. Bashing Finnish males or any other nation males as a foreigner even if in comical or joking side is shamefull and shows just how narrow minded and how stereotypical mindset people have around the globe....

[@Tomignostics]

shakespeare, danish...

[@zaroliina]

Yes our goverment is from hell right now.