Perception of Finland

I’ve been living in close proximity of Finland for all of my life. So what are the things I know about Finland? What are the first thoughts that pass my mind when I think of Finland?

* Firstly, it’s the nature. When I think of Finland I have this picture of wild northern forest in front of my eyes. Pines, lakes, moss, lichen, blueberries, cloudberries, bears… Nature (at least in the southern part of Finland) should be quite similar to the one we have in Latvia. However I’m willing to see also the northern parts.

* Sports. Finland has a number of sportsmen that I know. Finland is home to many great drivers – Ari Vatanen, Kimi Raikkonen, Mika Hakkinen, Keke Rosberg, Tommi Makinen and many more. I also know some javelin throwers, ski jumpers, footballers and of course – ice hockey players.

* I know Finland for its brands – Nokia, Rovio, Iittala, Fiskars and some others.

* Then there is of course the image of highly developed education system. At least here in Latvia, Finnish educational system is kind of a paradigm.

* Language. I know that it’s from a completely different language group than most of European languages. Thus my knowledge of Latvian, English, German, Russian and Italian won’t help me in any way to learn Finnish faster.

* History – I know a bit of Finnish history – mostly about WW2. However I’m a bit confused about the post WW2 period – it looks a bit strange to me that Finland remained semi-pro-soviet for a decent period of time…especially taking into account the outcome of the war. I promise I’ll try to look more deeply into this part of Finnish history.

* As an economist I know about the crisis that hit Finland in the nineties. I know the current state of the economy, the wage agreements etc.  

* I know that Finns are sauna fans. But that’s quite the same here. :)

* Lately a lot of Finns are coming to Latvia to buy some alcohol, which in Latvia because of the excise tax differences is notably cheaper than in Finland and even Estonia.

And that’s almost it. As I wrote in my previous blog – there is nothing much I know about Finland. I’ll try to correct this already prior my arrival to Helsinki. 

Intro

Hi, my name is Igors. My permanent place of residence is Carnikava, a town close to Riga, Latvia. I also have a well-established blog in Latvian language (mostly on my travels); therefore I know how difficult it is to start a new one. You don’t actually have anything to tell the readers. Well, you even don’t have any readers/followers, which makes it all even more difficult.

Me in Helsinki earlier this year

However I’ll still have a try.:)  So why do I have to have another blog? The thing is – after living for 32 years in Latvia, I’ve decided to accept new professional challenges and temporarily move to another country. My occupation and also hobby is economics. For the last 10 years I’ve been working as an economist in state authorities of Latvia. However earlier this year I’ve singed a contract for a job in Helsinki. That’s right – I’m moving to Helsinki as of September.

I still have to finish my work here in Riga, finish some repairs for my house in Carnikava before I move. However already now I start drafting a to-do list for my move. I’m really excited because of the move. 
For the last decade I thought that my next stop will be Frankfurt, Brussels, London or Paris – the places which usually come into mind for economists. However, when an option of Helsinki occurred – I didn’t have to think twice. Beautiful nature of Finland, peaceful living, nice winters – those were the first things on my mind.

This blog will be dedicated to my life in Finland. I’ve checked the internet – there are a number of expat blogs about life in Finland. However they are usually quite similar – mostly the expats move to Finland from much warmer places, which kind of sets the tone for the blog – weather is discussed heavily. J Snow isn’t anything I haven’t seen – I actually love it. So I’ll try to stick to my findings regarding Finnish culture, people, architecture, museums instead.

And yes, I’m going to learn Finnish. I have a strong belief that you have to know at least basics of the language if you’re willing to move to another country. That’s simply a gesture of respect towards the locals. Yes, yes – I know, Finnish isn’t the easiest language. On the bright side – to learn Hungarian would be tougher… I’ve already started to learn some first words + started to read some history of Finland. It’s a bit surprisingly – Finland is a country only 40 minutes away by plane, but there is nothing much I really now about it. J

See you in my next blog posts! (even if nobody is reading this J)