My Dear Finland,

I’m leaving home in less than a week, back to Belgium. I must say i’m really sad to leave you and will leave a piece of my heart and mind to this wonderful country which has been my home for 3 months.But I must smile at the fact that im sad its means this exchange was successful.I met a lot of new people which changed my view of how i see the world and the way i think! I’m more aware of who i am and how my culture and personal history influence the way im acting. i will try not to say oh this person is acting weird or  that not normal, now i will ask it because culture influence more than we think and misunderstanding are easely born.  This experience helped me to grow on a professional level and most importantly on a personal level.

“Tulen kaipaamaan Suomea, mutta en ole surullinen koska tiedän että tulen takaisin”

 

“I will miss Finland,but I’m not sad because I know I’ll be back”

I will even miss the cold o cold weather but i’m sure every time i will think about this experience i will smile at this magical experiences.Finland truly enchanted me.

Your Faithfully,

Olivia Lucarelli

Hofstede Belgium vs Finland

I found a site where I could compare both Finland and Belgium according to the Hofstede theory here are the results:

Belgium bleu                                                                                Finland purple

I will only discuss the point where Belgium and Finland have a big difference which are:

• Power distance:

This dimension deals with the fact that all individuals in societies are not equal. it expresses the attitude of an culture towards inequalities amongst people.

According to the Hofstede model Belgium is scoring 65 which is a high score on the scale which would mean inequality is accepted. On the other hand Finland is scoring very low with 33 percent which means: that Finland find equality important and doesn’t accept inequalities.

• Individualism vs collectivism:

This dimension show the degree of interdependence in a society maintains among it’s members.  This dimension is determined by the terms “I” or “We”.

Belgium and Finland are both “I” societies. In individualistic  societies people are supposed to look after themselves and  their direct family only.

I do think that personal factors of an individual is important in this way of thinking and should not be blinded by those general outcome.

• Masculinity vs femininity:

The fundamental of this dimension is what motivates people! Liking what you do( feminine) or wanting to be the best (masculine).

If you watch the score of Belgium on this dimension its 54 which means it’s a masculine society. Masculine society  are driven by competition, achievement and success. Being a winner or the best in a field is important.

On the other hand Finland is a feminine society which means the society dominant values  are quality of life and caring for others.

I have the feeling people are less stressed because there is less competition in the working life and that the opposite in Belgium where even in the study field you have a lot of pressure and stress to be the best or achieve good results.

• Uncertainty avoidance:

This dimension is a measurement of the extent to which the member of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations and have created belief and institutions that try to avoid these.

Belgium has one of the highest scores on this dimension and Finland score high too. Which means planning and structure is favoured! Sudden change can be stressful in those type of societies.

• Long term orientation:

This dimension describe how every society gas to maintain some links with his own past while dealing with challenges of present and future.

Belgium score 82 which is a high score on this dimension which mean it’s a pragmatic approach! A pragmatic culture encourage thrifts  and efforts in a modern education as a way to prepare for the future.

On the other hand you have Finland with the score of 38 which mean it is a normative culture. In normative cultures tend to prefer to maintain time -honoured norms and traditions and incline to view social society changes with suspicion.

• Indulgence

Belgium and Finland are scoring the same on this dimension 57 percent.

The indulgence dimension is defined by the extent tow which people try to control their desires and impulses, based on the way they were raised.

People in societies classified by a high score in Indulgence generally exhibit a willingness to realise their impulses and desires with regard to enjoying life and having fun. Indulgent culture bow to a positive attitude and have a tendency towards optimism. Not to forget that in those societies leisure time is important, so its seems normal those societies act as they please and spend money as they wish.

So Belgium and Finland are on the same wave length here.

To make this blog I used this site where you can compare other countries according to the Hofstede model. For the site I used see link below :

https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/belgium,finland/

My sight on the difference was really brightened by this model.

Friendly regards from Finland

Olivia

Compliments

Finnish people don’t often give a compliment but when they do its genuine and from the heart!! I do find it really nice to see how modest Finnish people are. Every time I gave a compliment they are saying its normal or its is not anything so special about it.

I do find the modest really loveable and a really nice virtue to live by.

Runeberg torte

Runeberg torte is a Finnish pastry flavored with almonds and arrack or rum  often raspberry jam is add on top of the torte inside a sugar ring.

Those are tarts made in honor of Runeberg a Finnish national poet and sold on the 5^th of February! honoring the birthday of the poet.

It’s delicious my internship tutor told me about it and gave me recipe and gave me one of her home made Runeberg torts for the occasion!!!According to a legend Runeberg enjoyed the tort every morning with some punch.

Friendly regards from Finland

Olivia

Helsinki visit with mom and Finnish nightmares book:

When my Mother and Harry came to visit me here in Finland I spotted this book a the train station!!

I was pretty impressed that all of the things in this cartoonish book about Finland where spot on !!!

See link below for more Finnish night mare blogspot or just type it in google and you will receive a lot of funny images to see: http://finnishnightmares.blogspot.fi/

My Mom ,Harry and I visited the different churches: (the picture below was from the stone church in helsinki my favorite)

we also visited the food market and shops in Helsinki.

I was really happy to see them and that day we walked a lot. we took a break in an Fazer coffee shop it was delicious.

I’m really happy that my mom visited me

Lucky Harry and my mom had the appropriate clothes for the cold weather.  It was a lovely day!

Friendly regards of the cold Finland!

olivia

Milk

I have noticed that Finnish people often drink milk with their lunch. I was really surprised by this as in my opinion milk is a morning drink to be used to make a warm hot chocolate, however I tried a glass of milk with my lunch when I was at Ruiskatu campus and I discovered that they actually work together and complement each other.

Fun fact in the shop you can find a lot of lactose free product because a lot of Finnish people are lactose intolerant!!

I would like to add that Finnish people really seems to love milk. I’m saying this because the milk assortiment in all the shops are pretty big!!

Friendly regards from Finland

Olivia x

Finnish language :

I still find Finnish really difficult as the fact that the don’t really use she and he… still surprise me  why don’t .

also the fact that some word change depending what you want to say in a sentence. Not to forget they don’t write capital letters for festive days and weekday ?!! confuse me a lot.

And how can I forget the letters I don’t use !! å ,ä,ö those three sound and letter we don’t have in my home country !! and the different pronunciation of the  alphabet letters are sometime quit hard for me.

Letter Pronunciation in finland!!

a             [a:]                       b             [be:]                     c             [se:]

d             [de:]                     e             [e:]                       f             [æf]

g             [ge:]                     h             [ho:]                     i              [i:]

j              [ji:]                       k             [ko:]                     l              [æl]

m           [æm]                    n             [æn]                     o            [o:]

p             [pe:]                     q             [ku:]                     r             [ær]

s             [æs]                     t             [te:]                      u             [u:]

v             [ve:]                     w            [ve:],                    x             [æks]

y             [y:]                       z             [tset]

å             [o:], [ruotsalainen o:]

ä             [æ:]

ö            [ø:]

And then you have noniin! This words is one of the most important Finnish words!

See video of Finnish stand-up comedian for the explanation link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtAd78dWUlA

Anecdote in the beginning I thought Finnish people gave a lot of compliments! Mooi means beautiful in Dutch so I thought Finnish where saying beautiful or beautiful beautiful turn out moi means hello or hey and moi moi means bey!!

extra :How I learnt to introduce myself in the Finnish course :

• Moika!!/ Moi!!/Hey!! (hallo)
• Minä olen Olivia lucarelli (I am Olivia Lucarelli)
• Minä olen kaksikymmentäkaksi (ik ben 22)
• Minä olen Belgiastia  (I am Belgian)
• Minä koitosin brusselista (im from brussels)
• Minä asun Turussa. (I live in Turku)
• Moi moi! (dag!)
• Nähdään (see you)

It’s nice I can  introduce myself yet I hope I while be able to have little conversations soon.

Fun fact: children in Finland have English class pretty early!!

I must admit that Finnish is a really  difficult language if it’s not native but I do think Finnish people think the same of other languages.It’s t always difficult when you don’t know the language and learning one is never easy!

Friendly greeting from Finland.

Olivia x

Karelian pies

I really like it  I even looked up the recipe so I could cook it in Belgium!

Its one of my favourite food in Finland I often eat it in the morning and add butter and mashed cooked eggs or omelette with it.

A Karelian pie is  a pastries with rye bread on the outside and rice porridge on the inside and as said before it can be pretty amazing.

See recipe down!!! You should try it its delicious

Link bellow for visual steps to cook this heaven made Karelien pies!!

https://www.saimaalife.com/recipe-finnish-karelian-pies/

Sweet regards !!

Olivia

Take your shoes off!

When you visit someone’s house you should take off your shoes while entering the house of the Finnish host! I heard that in Most Finnish households they remove their shoes at the front door and walk around wearing socks or slippers. This is not a rule in every Finnish household, If you see shoes stacked cleanly at the entrée of y the front door, it may be the case in that household if your not sure you should ask! In my family we are used to walk with barefoot so in the beginning getting used to put on slippers or socks was an adaptation.

Extra  tip :here in Finland its not done to come uninvited or unannounced!! My tutor told me I should always announce or be invited because the Finnish host must be able to prepare  them self for your arrival!

Friendly regards

olivia  x

Fazer !!!

I come from Belgium where our chocolate is world renowned, so I was scared that I would not be able to eat good chocolate. Then I found out about Fazer which is Finnish chocolate brand with a lot of different taste.the brand exist since 1891, a lot of years and expertise fazre not does not only sell chocolate. Fazer has a lot of different kind of tastes in his chocolate!  I must say I do prefer the simple milk chocolate.

see link for history of Fazer!!:http://www.fazer.com/fazer-since-1891/

My top 3 of fazer chocolate:

• The normal milk chocholate
• salt and caramel milk choclate
• bleuberry milk choco late!!

Funny fact :

Karl Fazer Milk Chocolate has always been wrapped in blue. In Finland, the blue colour of the wrapper is even copyrighted.

I’m surely going to by some Fazer chocolate for my family and friends in Belgium.Its not easy to say for me but Fazer has delicious chocolate!! maybe FAzer is a good competitor for the belgian chocolate!!

friendly regards from Finland

olivia