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Before I went to Finnland I wanted to get to know some words in Finnish. I watched some videos about basics for Finnish but it scared me of. I couldn’t remember anything of it. Sure I’m not the best in languages but I thougt maybe some of them would be usefull for the start and it would be nice to remeber some but it was to hard for me so I gave up till I arrived in Finnland.

Here I started again it was still realy hard to learn some words I couldn’t make any connection between Finnish and one of my languages I speak. My mother tongue is (Swiss-)German, I also speek English and a little bit of French, Italian and Spanish. So I wasn’t seeing any simmilarities, that was really hard but when I started my practical training I learnd some new words when I was organising things for the kids. I got to konw some words that are simmilar to my languages at least a little bit. Some exemples below.

Finnish	German	English
Maanantai	Montag	Monday
Tiistai	Dienstag	Tuesday
Keskiviikko	Mittwoch	Wednesday
Torstai	Donnerstag	Thursday
Perjantai	Freitag	Friday
Lauantai	Samstag	Saturday
Sunnantai	Sonntag	Sunday
pallo	Ball	ball
maito	Milch	milk
tee	Tee	tea
vesi	Wasser	water
hypätä	hüpfen	jump
oranssi	orange	orange
kravatti	Kravatte	tie
sukat	Socken	socks
housut	Hosen	trousers
pulpetti	Pult	desk
koulu	Schule	school
tennis	Tennis	tennis
kitaran soitto	Gitarre	Guitar
banaani	Banane	banana
sipsejä	Chips	crisps
limsa	Limo/ Limonade	lemonade
suklaa	Schokolade	chocolate
keksi	Keks	biscuit
lukea	lesen	read
tanssia	tanzen	dance
poni	Pony	pony
kissanpentu	Kätzchen	kitten

This model of Richard Lewis classifies cultural norms into Linear-Active, Multi-Active and Re-Active and combination of these norms (model attached). Basically, you can say most countries in Asia are Re-Active. Southern European, Latin American and African countries are mostly Multi-Active and northern Europe and North America are mainly Linear-Active.

People from Multi-Active untries (e.g. Italy) are more lively, they do many things at once and their priorities are not accocordet to a schedule, but accorded to the relative thrill or importance that each appointment brings with it. People from Linear-Active countries (e.g. Switzerland) like to have plans and stick to facts and their agendas. If we compare Finland with Switzerland with this model, both of the countries are mostly Linear-Active. However, the Finns ar more ractive then we are from Switzerlan. You can see that in some public places for exemple in the buses is a good example all the people are really quiet and if you speek you almost feel uncomfortable and as if you would borther the others.

I consider myself mostly as a Linear-Active person as it is shown in the Model but I think all of us have all the sides in us maybe one more than the others but still all of them exist in ourself.

There are a lot of different cultures all over the world but it’s important to understand that no culture is “better” than an other. Most of the people consider their home culture as the best culture. But every culture has its own advantages and disadvantages. The important thought to keep in mind is to be open for other cultures. At first, the other culture may seem odd to you, but if you get to know it better, you will maybe like it someday and you will start to understand their habbits.

Have you seen Finnish students walking around the city in their overalls, filled with patches and colors? What’s going on?! What are these weird party pants?!

Wearing overalls (haalarit) is a very big tradition among students in Finland. One could say that the official party outfit to Finnish students is the overall. They represent you and your fellow students as a collective, especially since every study field has its own overall color and/or design. Overalls come in all colours: blue, black, white, yellow, green, red, pink… etc. You can tell who belongs to your group just by checking out their overall colour!

If you have an overall, you are most likely to have patches (haalarimerkki) on it too. Plain overalls just happens to looks weird, and besides that, patches have meanings as well. They tell where you have been, who your friends are, what you like, which team you support… etc. Also, other party gear —like handcuffs, whistles and bottle openers— can be attached to your overall. You can’t find two of a kind – they are all unique! You can get patches in parties, trips, events and by buying them in the ESN office.

It is also quite common thing to exchange parts of your overall (usually a sleeve) with other students. That is to show love, friendship, side subjects or even having two main subjects. You can see people wearing them in every major student happening, like parties, meetings, excursions to other cities, and of course, Vappu!

Finland is not the only country in the world having such a strange party wear. The overalls tradition is around 30 years old. And just like so many other student traditions of ours, our Swedish student cousins are behind this tradition as well.

I really like the idea of the tradition. You can recognize the students by their overalls and you can see what their studyfield is. It makes everything more colourfull and you don’t have to think about what to wear to parties.

I arrived in the beginning of January and since then a lot has changed. The biggest difference is the sun. In the beginning of January the sunrise was at 09:23 and the sunset at 15:24. So the sun was shining only 6 hours. Now a lot has changed the sunrise is now at 07:18 and the sunset at 17:46. It is shining 4.5 hours longer then in the beginning of this year. Every day the sun is around 3 minutes longer at the sky then the day before. In end of december its the darkest time (5h 50min) and in end of june is the brightest time (19h 3min). I think the sun makes a lot of impact to your life and your lifestyle. In winter you always feel tired in in summer it will be hard to sleep because its always bright.

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We made a roadtrip to Skibotn. We rented two cars and have were driving up from Levi to Skibotn. It was a four hours drive to there. On our way we saw the scenerie and nature changing. We also saw a reindeer at the side of the road the first wild one we have ever seen. We rented a sauna and went ice swimming. It was freezing cold but it was deffenetly worth it. I`m really proud that we made it. But the best part was the evening. We waited in a little hut and hade sone snacks. Every few minutes one of us went outside to see of it is possible to see the Aurora Borealis. I was the first of us that spotted the Northern lights. It was really nice to make this experinece. It was one of my best days ever.

Yesterday we went to Tampere. Thats a city located 2 hours to the north/east of Turku. Tampere is in southern Finland between two lakes, Näsijärvi and Pyhäjärvi. Since the two lakes differ in level by 18 metres, the Tammerkoski rapids linking them have been an important power source throughout history, most recently for generating electricity

Tampere has always been a centre for inland traffic on land and water. Railway tracks from many parts of the nation meet at Tampere railway station, making it an important junction in the government railroad system. It is the second most important urban centre in Finland after the Helsinki region and the biggest inland city in the Nordic countries. In terms of population, Tampere is the third largest city in Finland, and the largest city outside the Greater Helsinki area. Tampere grew as a major market place and industrial centre in the 19th century. During the latter half of 19th century Tampere had almost half of Finland’s industrial labour. The town’s industrial nature in the 19th and 20th centuries gave it the nickname „Manchester of the North“.

It was really interesting to see the industrial buildings. Today most of them are used as cultural places for example museums or restaurants. One of the famousts factories is the cotton factory Finlayson.

1. Sauna is good for everybody. Only newborn and persons with serious illnesses as open wounds or heart problems shouldn’t go to a Sauna.
   Apart from this just enjoy it.
2. The finish Sauna is a place for cleaning your body and your soul. You don`t have to behave as in a church. Just relax and tune out.
3. An invite to a Sauna is an honor. Through a common visit to a Sauna you will get a special connection.
4. Colorful lights, aromatic scents and relaxing music has nothing to do with a finish Sauna. Real finish Sauna don’t have a lot of lights, don’t have Music and neither a special odor except fresh birch wood.
5. Finns are normally not going naked with strangers in to the sauna. But almost everyone has a privet sauna at home and there they are going naked.
6. In groups, men and women go to the sauna separately, but families go together. But if you want to go with a mixed group in to a public sauna it`s also fine.
7. „Vasta“ or „Vihta“ (the name depends on the region) is a bundle of fresh birch twigs with which you can gently beat yourself. This sounds strange, but it is very good for the skin – you will notice how soft and smooth your skin becomes. I have never experienced that but maybe I will during my stay in Finland. This sounds strange, but it is very good for the skin – you will notice how soft and smooth your skin becomes.
8. There are no rules about how often you can make an infusion. Whenever you feel like a nice cloud of steam, pour water over the stove and you’re done.
9. You will sweat a lot in the sauna, so you should drink plenty. Water is probably the best, but Finns prefer to drink beer and cider. Another core element of a Finnish sauna experience is frying sausages in aluminum foil directly on the stove or over an open fire.
10. There are no correct rules regarding the sauna, because it always depends entirely on the circumstances. The most important thing is to relax, chat, drink a few glasses and enjoy the wonderful feeling after the sauna that comes after you have cleaned your body and soul.

We went to Naantali and the prom there. First, we have driven with the bus to Nantaali. We were going to the coast and it was really nice I would like to see it in Spring or Summer again. We cooked sausages and marshmallows over the fire and hade berry juice to drink what typical is for Finns. After we ate lunch in the cafeteria we participated the prom. It was really interesting. We hade a prom at home but never as impressive as the one in Naantali. It was like in a fairytale prom where the prince and princesses are dancing in beautiful dresses. It felt like I would have been set back in time. The moments were magical.

I heard from one guy that they had to practice for it tree months.  And after I saw it I knew why. They danced a lot of dances of different styles it was really impressive. They danced for example Waltz and Tango I really liked it, but my favorite dance was a funny dance to a modern music mix at the end. It was a really nice day and after I saw that I would have liked to have a similar one to that. Mine was rally small and basic.

In Finland both of them are native but what are the differences and how can you differ them?

The bigest differences are sice and weight. An elk also called moose can get a shoulder height up to 2,40 meters and a weight to 800 kg simmilar to a little car. In europe the elks are a little bit smaller they can get around 500 kg. Reindeers are smaller than moose they can reach a hight up to 1,40 meters and maximal 300 kg.
The fur has sometimes simmilar colours so its hard to differ it by that.
The horns are an other option to differ them. The male Elks have normaly big shovel antlers. They can get a diameter as big as two meters. The female Elks dont have an antler. Reindeers have a rod-shaped horns and they`re shape can be very unregular. The female Reindeers do have antlers as well but only 20 to 50 centimeters high.

Elk

They can run up to 60 km/h fast. They have long legs wich are perfect for running throu the high snow. Elks normaly live by themself or in little Families. If you see an Elk crossing the street be prepared that an other could follow. For exemple a mother with her calve. Pay also atenttion to the warningsigns they are not only for decoration but a lot of tourists take them as a souvenir.

Reindeer

Reindeers are really sociable. They live in big herds. The Reindeers are used for milk, fur and their expensive meat. Circa a third of the population get hunted down every year for that. But the Reindeers are not in danger.
Through the breeds the population is stable. All arount the world exist estimated seven milion Reindeers.