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

Lapland part 2: Party woop woop:

We went to the party from our organisation. We left from the cottages to do a walk for 20 minutes in a temperature of -20. This was really cold and I was happy that I was in the partyplace.

Because we weren’t with the a lot in Saariselka, the party wasn’t that big. We only went until 1.30am, because we were really tired because of the trip. We talked with the fellow students and with our guide Karkki. One positive thing was that the water was free! That we don’t have in Belgium. We went back and we did a walk in -28! It was so cold that I didn’t feel my face anymore. Also we did a little detour because we missed a turn. I was so happy when I was back under my blanket in the cottage.

fun fact about students in finland!!:

Party overalls: each faculty has his own colour in Finland we in Belgium have hat or sach!!

For the exchange student the overalls are bleu and Niels, Mara and I bought them at the ESN office in our campus. Normally health care students have a yellow overall with red pockets!(so I heard). people are really creative with the overalls!! and for each event they attend the can collect badge to put on the overall that’s really nice!!

example overalls in Finland bellow:

Friendly regards from Finland

olivia x

Lapland part 2: Swimming in the artic see +sauna:

I went to swim in the Norwegian sea, it  was really cold but  the sauna  made  the cold so bearable.

I must admit that the cold let me feel so alive.

Talking about sauna!!!

Sauna is a really important component of the Finnish culture!! There are approximately 5million persons in Finland and over 3million saunas in Finland so it mean nearly every house has a sauna!!

The sauna is a place to relax with friends and family but not only that you can relax in the sauna on a mental and physical level. I would like to dare to say that sauna for Finnish people is not a luxury ! but more must . in the old days it was common that mothers would give birth in sauna.

I do need to say that sauna is a relaxing thing  and does brighten your mental and physical health. I have the change to go to the sauna at least one day a week. Oh something important I should say most of time public sauna are  separated for woman and men  and you should not wear clothes or swimsuit in them!!

Tips in sauna:

• Take a shower before going in the sauna
• It’s important to always ask if you can add water (Löyly!)
• Don’t make a competition listen to your body
• No clothes no swimsuits in public sauna’s ‎
• Vihta is a branch that you are using in the sauna. You hit each other to the back with it for better blood circulation.

Friendly regards from Finland

olivia

Lapland part 2 :Santa clause village

When going to Lapland we visited the Santa clause village. I must admit I found it way overrated and to tourist for my taste. I did like the giant snowman but as for the rest of  the village that fascinating in my opinion. Maybe the fact we should pay 40 euro to take a picture with Santa clause and the fact there where more than one Santa clause in the village disturbed me.

Even small souvenirs were really pricey for what it was and I did expect it the village to have more houses and things to see. But yeah for me this was a bit of   a deception I had more expectation of it maybe to high which made the deception higher.

So always important to have realistic expectation and not put the  expectations to high so you can be deception. I do feel a bit sad I didn’t take a picture with the Santa clause because of the expensive price.

Friendly regards from Finland

olivia x

Fences(moose)

I saw that there where a lot of fences around the highway and was wondering why so I asked my tutor and she told me that was for the wild animals such as deer and moose etc. She said if you have an accident with a moose at a high speed it can be fatal for both the moose and yourself.

In Turku there is more chance of seeing a moose than a reindeer. I would like to see a moose but not in the highway as it could be very dangerous 😊. Perhaps I could visit a national park here in Finland, before I leave, in the hope of seeing a moose and maybe some other Finnish wildlife also.

Friendly regards

Olivia x