WHAT I THINK ABOUT LIVING IN FINLAND (From a Mexican point of view)

Hello there!
From a Mexican and international perspective, seeing the differences between cultures is really exciting and funny. 🇫🇮
I hope you enjoy this video! Let me know what you think about it.
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INSTAGRAM: / ilhui
SUBSTACK: ilhuihernandez
( I also want to clarify something. In the video, I mentioned socialism as a background in some Nordic cultures. What I meant was not a past socialist established system but instead the presence of some elements of socialism in its system. Similarly to Sweden, both countries have an economic system that combines capitalism and socialism.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Kittos!

[@JoseyStranded]

Nice to see you are enjoying your time here. I, myself have always enjoyed my stay in Mexico in turn. Apart from Mexico City I've been to Acapulco, Cuernavaca, Durango, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Morelia, Toluca, Poza Rica and Puebla and of course Teotihuacán. That place was really impressive. :)

[@ravenfin1916]

There are approximately two to three million saunas in Finland, depending on the calculation method. There are now about 5.5 million people. But yes, there are enough saunas and in surprising places. SkyWheel in the Helsinki Ferris wheel, in the hockey arena and once was even in Burger King. Finland has never been socialist. Social democracy is the right word to express our political system. The Finnish outlook on life is largely based on the Lutheran way of life. Even though we have become secularized, our values and ways are based on the lottery of religions where we got a perfect match. I say this because, in general, countries where the Lutheran religion has been the main religion are doing relatively well today.

[@ilhuihernandez]

Thank you for the information about the saunas! Wow, that is quite a lot of saunas. Regarding the socialist comments, please find the clarification above the video: " I also want to clarify something. In the video, I mentioned socialism as a background in some Nordic cultures. What I meant was not a past socialist established system but instead the presence of some elements of socialism in its system. Similarly to Sweden, both countries have an economic system that combines capitalism and socialism."

[@Redfizh]

You can be afraid with sisu, courage is not necessary. It's more like a stoic determination and tenacity of purpose.

[@ilhuihernandez]

Thank you Redfizh, that is a great explanation!

[@brentglick6757]

Nice video! Still waiting on a pure sauna video! And maybe a video just about the water in Finland - That sounds great!

[@thedudefromrobloxx]

Also I agree, finnish people definetly live in a bubble of the world, we are used to things that don't exist in other places and we are not used to things that exist in other places

[@osclhelp]

Hi Ilhui and thank you for great video. I do understand where you coming from regarding Finnish been introverts but what I would like to say is keep on smiling and talk to people. They don't mind really. Worst thing for Finn is if they disturb somebody and get rejected. They are nice and helpful but YOU need to instigate conversation. If you do I am sure they are ready to talk to you. Many are shy to speak English but when they warm up there is no end in chat. Keep up good work and enjoy good things in life. X😊

[@avari6167]

Wow 🥰🥰🥰 not that snow but this youtuber. Welcome to Finland. I would be honored to show you easy Finland. The most beautiful part of Finland 😊

[@JakeKilka]

Quality of water should be great everywhere in Finland, but there are differences in taste and hardness sometimes even locally. People who brew beer know this!

[@alpovratia6488]

Muchas gracias Ilhui for your nuanced and appreciative presentation on "unique" sides of Finland, Finnish nature and society! It's doubly interesting because your native Mexico and society are so different, but also because of your wider international frames of reference. I too have lived for years in other more population-dense countries such as the USA and India. In Finland people are more friendly and outgoing of course in the more cosmopolitan capital Helsinki, but also in the east (regions of N & S Karelia, N & S Savo) even though not population-dense. ¡Le deseamos todo lo mejor!

[@ilhuihernandez]

Gracias y saludos!

[@LapinPete]

Japan is very populated and still they keep this similar mental personal space (not physical space) for example in public transport. Even in rush hour subway in Tokyo, you are still just minding your own business. So I claim it's more cultural than population density.

[@n3var1]

As someone living in Lahti I agree, people can seem cold but if you can connect with someone then you can have a friend for life. Also people appreciate their personal space and thus also they probably don't want to bother you with messages. Also please keep on smiling!

[@davidkelly132]

I agree, I live in Lahti and I don't wanna bother people but I would gladly talk to people if they talk to me so it's a bit weird

[@ilhuihernandez]

The more time I spend in Finland, the more I learn about your kindness as a culture

[@Nevis1988]

Great video, ofc more ^^

[@ArchieArpeggio]

Good quality of pure water should be basic human right everywhere in the world. I watched just couble days ago video from some poor Mexican village that has the highest rate of obese people and type 2 diabetes. That was becouse Coca-Cola were sold cheaper there than water. There were only one mark of botled water and that was owned Coca-Cola company. Such a sad thing and unbelivable too! To make liter of Coke you need 5 liters of pure water 😬. Every single shop sold Coke. The factory were near by at the next village.

[@ilhuihernandez]

Hello there! This is right. I wish everyone could have good-quality water, but it differs from reality. Around 2 billion people worldwide do not have access to purified water. This is 361 times the Finnish population. I was shocked to see Coca-Cola when I was working in rural Mexico as a symbol of status, and sadly, due to a lack of education, there are a lot of people with diabetes and associated problems, not to mention the environmental problems that this big company brought to Mexico.

[@ArchieArpeggio]

@@ilhuihernandez yes. It´s so sad how biccorporations exploit poor people just to make profit. Also that with all the technology that we have hadn´t used for common good for the people of earth. I also hate the hypcrisy for western world that steals the resources from other countries to make electric cars to "save" the planet and leaves them suffer from corrosion and destroying nature. Non of the big corporation takes responsibility what they are doing to those lands and landscapes. Just leaves all the waste behind after everything valuable is taken.

[@dennislindqvist1265]

It is a matter of time before the Chinese invade Russia due to water shortage. Lake Baikal will meet the same fate as the Aral Sea. That coca cola incident is entirely due to the capitalists being allowed to run wild. Unfortunately, the communists also turned out to be capitalists

[@ArchieArpeggio]

@@dennislindqvist1265 One of the biggest of this planet is that people think that the we have climate change problem becouse we produce too much of carbon dioxide. Well, plants needs that so the i would be much more worried for polluting pure water sources. In China and India all the dump and waste that they dump in to the water sources like lakes, streams and oceans are way more damaging. Also that Coce, Pepsi, Nestlé and other companies are robbing the low amounts of ground waters from the soils just to make money. I know that Coke and Nestlé would be egar to come in Finland and pump out our precious pure water sources to bottle it and sell all over the world. There is big markets for clean water already. I hope politicians wont change the laws ever to let them do that.

[@ellem8990]

​@@dennislindqvist1265​ I don't know how true that first part is, but I do worry about what's going to happen. Now that things are getting tough due to capitalism (+ global warming) and people seem to be leaning further right instead of the left, and I'm not sure how much time there even is, but seems like things might not go well. Even my mom said that our government is acting in a way that just brings the word "fascist" in to her mind (facism is capitalism in decay). I thought we were supposed to learn from history, but doesn't seem like it.

[@DoraNayelyGonzalez]

❤❤❤❤ I love it!!!

[@chifonico3850]

Que interesante video 😀❤️

[@johannalehtonen9590]

Would think that the disgust towards hierarchy here derives from original culture and history which destroyed it... Under Swedish oppression the Finns were peasants and the elite was foreign, mostly Swedes... They didn't speak Finnish, they didn't care about Finns, they just robbed the land and made Finns slaves (for the agriculture and war) Also in Finnish original culture there wasn't so much leaders that command but leaders that show the way, keeping everybody alive... So it's logic that we "hate them masters" (this phenomenon is called 'herraviha' in Finnish) and don't want to become ones... Exploiting weaker people, animals or nature is highly despised in our culture. And that's one thing I'm so proud of.

[@Atomisti]

A nice video, thanks for that. I had to put the subtitles on because the exercise bike is a bit far from the tv. It's strange how the AI that produces those texts always mixes Finns with fins which are something a fish has. But then it got it almost right by displaying "Finish" with a capital letter albeit a missing "n". Perhaps it meant "the finished people"? But, alas, then Finnish people turned into "fish people". What' s the obsession the AI has with the fish? They are supposed to be intelligent so that they make their guesses based on the surrounding words. Are the Finns in reality Fish people visiting the dry land in saunas occasionally, we just don't realize it? But, yeah, thanks for the interesting video! 😊

[@finnishculturalchannel]

Not quite more saunas than people, but certainly a lot. Estimates differ from two to three and half million saunas. In population comparisons Finland is around in the below-middle of the list (115th) . By population density somewhere in the bottom end. Around 300 000 Finns live abroad, and around 1 500 000 non-Finns have Finnish ancestry. Forest is sometimes called as Finns' church and safe haven. When thinking about people's mentality-along with nature-the neighbors and history with them should be taken account as part of that living environment. That relates also partly to mindset towards hierarchies. Finland has been a progressive state when it comes to equality and level of organization. It depends on the view point, but viewing from the Nordic countries, the Nordic model is most often viewed as a mixed economy rather than a socialist one. Some relating videos: "Fiskars - Our 365 year history", "Tampere - History and Heritage", "Lasten Suomi sata vuotta" and "AALTO - Official Trailer". One equalizing thing is sauna, which also turns things upside down what comes to the idea of Finnish personal space. A video on that: "UNESCO Sauna culture in Finland". On the other hand being into sports tells about competitiveness. There's a saying that Finland was ran on the map: "9 x Gold in 1 Games! Finland's Middle Distance Runner Paavo Nurmi | The Olympics On The Record". Being able to speak the local language fairly fluently is probably everywhere the key to be able to connect with the locals and their culture in a more profound way. If that language is hard to learn, connecting with the locals becomes automatically more difficult. Most find bubbly people delightful, so keep on smiling and talking. According to the reports, Finland tops the chart with total trips undertaken per person per year. According to that report Finnish cultural attributes makes Finns widely acceptable, as they are open, warm, sincere and have a travel-oriented culture as well. There's a saying 'Matkailu avartaa' (Traveling opens perspective). On Finnish pragmatism and nature of silence: "Bruce Oreck has an unusual sauna experience".

[@ilhuihernandez]

Thank you for your information about saunas. That is quite a lot of saunas! I like this conception of the forest as a safe haven. I will save these documentaries so I can watch it later on. Thank you, @finnishculturalchannel, for such valuable information that people can follow as well "Matkuilu avartaa"🌲🌲

[@MikkoRantalainen]

3:30 Finland doesn't have more saunas than people, but Finland does have more saunas than cars.

[@ilhuihernandez]

Agree! I must edit that part thanks for the feedback

[@thedudefromrobloxx]

Great video! And as a finn I agree about the culture especially and honestly I find it kind of a shame how withdrawn most people are with making friends in this country, it's one of our biggest weaknesses I think! Though the younger generations seem to be thankfully becoming more and more open. Because honestly I don't think the finnish way is very natural to human behavior, it's very suppressed and controlled. I'd encourage you to smile when you feel like it, because I feel like most people would appreciate it, they just wouldnt dare to do it themselves. Also because this culture has to change from stoical northern survivors that we were before to normal western europeans while keeping our culture of course

[@dennislindqvist8443]

It is strange that a language and a culture that has hardly anything in common with anyone ended up in the middle between Scandinavia and Russia. Estonian is the only language that has similarities to Finnish that I can hear.

[@lucone2937]

Finland and Sweden have over 600 years of common history from the Crusaders to the Napoleonic Wars when they were part of the same kingdom. All the Nordic countries adopted Lutheranism when the Protestant Reformation happened in 16th-century Europe. Modern Nordic societies are very secular and religion is only private matter, but Lutheranism may still have certain background influence how things are done. I think Nordic people are used to rely on state, good public services and police. In Finland young children can walk or bike to school on their own, or use local buses if necessary. In politics all the goverments are basically coalition goverments based on multi-party system and proportional representation in an electoral system. When Finland was a part of Russia as the Grand Duchy of Finland (1809-1917), it was an autonomous state with own legislation based on old Swedish laws, and own currency since 1860. Unrest in Russia and Finland during the First World War (1914-1918) and the subsequent collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917 resulted in the Finnish Declaration of Independence and the end of the Grand Duchy. Russia is the only reason why Finland needs a good army to defend its borders. It's been pretty peaceful since 1945, and Finland has been the member of NATO since 2023 to make things sure.

[@Tingletonttu]

Finnish has a lot of germanic influence.

[@kognak6640]

Finns and Estonians are basically what's left from Germanic and Slavic expansion to North on lands of Finnic tribes. Especially Russian expansion in last few centuries has been devastating. It's not Finns or Estonians who "ended up" anywhere.

[@butterflies655]

The culture is Nordic. Finland 🇫🇮is a Nordic country with Sweden 🇸🇪 Norway 🇸🇯 Denmark 🇩🇰 and Iceland 🇮🇸 culturally, politically, economically, religiously, and geographically.

[@johannalehtonen9590]

Finland is Nordic country because of politics, but actually there are Finnic people in Russia with many languages that are related to Finnish. Many of these people have their own states named after them, the closest ones being the Karelians (three different Karelian languages/dialects)... Then there's the Mari people who have even kept their original animalistic culture and "religion". Finns have a looooot more common with Russian people than with the rest of the Nordics, even Putin himself is half Finnic (Veps, if I recall right)... From the Nordic peoples we definitely have most common with Norwegians as they have similar kind of history (of oppression) with Swedes. My diving teacher in Greece was Norwegian, but I did big mistake and thought him to be Swedish... no, he wasn't and he was soooooo mad. At the next session my teacher was changed! Respect! 😅

[@Isaiah11823]

💙

[@davidkelly132]

If someone talks to me, I assume either they want 1. Help 2. Sell me something ... 46. Want to actually talk to me

[@urhonykvist8795]

Allso welcome and in winter the more your out the better. You get used to it. I know alot of people that are not from Finland but they say im not "normal" finn. Allso your a pretty foreign woman so its scary to talk to you. Im saying this as a gay guy. Have fun and hope you meet great friends. And yeah you have yo make the effort.

[@tomvidqvist4768]

You shoud try the small talk to finnish language.. and is it then easiest to understand the people who is not so sure about english language?

[@hronomarti]

but in Mexico there is cactus juice

[@kievitz]

Not any homogenous countries besides nordics??? what??? Finland is not a utopia in anyway, generations worked their asses off to achieve this, endured war, famine and prosecution. We were under Swedish and Russian control for centuries and our ancestors struggled away from them. We like peace and tranquility and what we are. We mind our own business.

[@ilhuihernandez]

Hello Kievitz, that’s true, and it is great and admirable that is a peaceful country I haven’t mentioned the opposite :) I do enjoy it and respect it as well. Have a great day ❤️ and smile 😊

[@urhonykvist8795]

More saunas than homes. So 2.5million or there about

[@Nevis1988]

And more saunas than cars :D

[@Atomisti]

One reason why it's hard to make friends and have social gatherings are the prices in bars and restaurants. Then again, in Germany the prices are very low, and yet it's hard to make friends with thevlocals. So, there must be more to it. But whatever the reason is, something should be done about it. Surely fixing the problem would make everybody happier, no?

[@mikaveekoo]

What? Finland has never been a socialist country. It has been a land of market economy from the very beginning but with strong public sector. Nowadays a nordic welfare state.

[@ilhuihernandez]

Hello Mika, you can read the clarification below the video 🙌

[@mikaveekoo]

​@@ilhuihernandez Ok. You are forgiven. 😁

[@MartinZanichelli]

Well, for us in Argentina, a "welfare state" and a "strong public sector" is a socialist state. You are doing "welfare" with the money of the citizens.

[@mikaveekoo]

@@MartinZanichelli People pay for services, people get services, that's the business idea of welfare state.

[@mikaveekoo]

@@MartinZanichelli kzbin.info8E1iY2okebU?si=mkwL1JZYo730SEQS