300,000 is still a large population. Then there are the Lapps ... and gypsies. But I guess it is considered pretty much homogenous.
That's why swedish is our 2. official language. You're right about how homogenous we are and usually our mentality is really introvert. We still take some in to our lives, now we have huge sushi boom in all "big" cities (we don't actually have any big city in country, in my mind London is big city and it's population is more than Finland's population). Maybe food is easier to take what comes to other cultural things. Lapps and gypsies are minorities too and most of them live in capital city. Any clever idea is always welcomed in our society, but we need solid proof why it's so good to take in to be part of our introvert system xD Now almost everyone can speak english (some older people can't), so we are multilingual people around here. My english is 4/10 and trust me, I know how much better people are - 80% of my friends speak much better english. When you're going to high school in Finland you have studied english 7 years, after high school your english is pretty good (total 10 years study). Without knowing english you're in huge trouble in any university.
Welcome. And thx for sharing the cultural difference. I find those interesting. A common saying in the US is 'living the dream' as in 'hey men, how are things going?' response: 'oh, you know, livin the dream' This response is just as likely when things are great, ok, or not good. If you were thinking about a visit, dont worry about who our president is. The vast majority of the country is not different in any way a tourist would recognize from Clinton to Bush to Obama to Trump. The only difference is the names on the signs at the occasional protest. Just dont wear a MAGA hat in an urban area and you'll be fine
Welcome and enjoy your stay. PS. If you could hand me Kiira Korpi's phone nu,ber that would be great. Thanks.
True, that's an old joke. Actually who live in Turku like to mock people who's in Tampere (and vice versa), there is lot of same in other areas too, always mocking people who's living somewhere else. Turku is heavily influenced by Sweden, mostly because of optimal location - easy access from Stockholm. Some people around country think that Helsinki is full of dumb people, but for me it's just too crowded (for my taste). In Lapland is a joke: when you see 2 cards from window you know it's traffic jam. Lapland is nice place if you like to be alone. You can hike a week without seeing any other person and that's just golden (for introverts like me - social life is so overrated)
Welcome! About the lack of amazing or great, is it related to swedish lagom? That seems the most fitting description of the whole Scandinavia. And I love it. My interest in Finland came from Unreal World, the most amazing game I have played (Guinness book record for the longest game in dev: for 20+ years of development and counting). In the far north, we shall take you - as far as we can with the means of computer roleplaying. I am impressed by the social experiment with basic income(~900$) and I am really looking forward to the final results scheduled for release this year. Once I cooked with friends the traditional food(?) inspired by veikko huovinen lampaansyöjät. Amazing!!!!!! Is that a thing in Finland? I refused a job in Finland years ago and I still think about it =( BTW, traditional finnish music is EPIC! Uplifts my spirit every time
From my experience, Scandinavia is not that cold- say compared to eastern Europe. Sure, it's windier but not as cold(below the arctic circle). UK and Scandinavia although higher in latitude than say Ukraine, has warm Atlantic currents and oceanic influences and it cannot be compared with temperate continental weather. Dunno why its called 'temperate' because in the winter your **** gets frozen inside you without heating in 5minutes. I have experienced -40C/-40F temp in the mountainous region of Romania, for example. Your nostrils freeze when breathing
Click on search for posts about the incompetence and government expansion that occurred under your hero traitor Bush. Oh, and don't forget about his and your love for the military industrial complex.
Based on your propaganda I only see two, which is a drop in the ocean and proves modernpaladin to be correct.
Confederate flag =\= racist. It can be racist, but it can also just be a symbol for southern pride and/or rebellion. The first two images do not demonstrably depict racists. The third definitively does. Ill let critical thinkers figure out why for themselves.