I once chatted with a Finnish MEP who told of a question one of his colleagues asked him. "How many forests are there in Finland?" How you're supposed to answer that? One? It starts from the southern coast and ends up on the treeline in the north.
And if you drive literally 20-30 km from the capital docks to the any other directions than sea, there will be forests, farms and farmland until you reach sea or country borders. Other countries talk about how their cities have parks with planted trees and little bit of water. In Finland forests and lakes have cities and villages in them. It is really hard to live here without seeing trees and forest every day. Outside the capital and cities when school ends, kids run into the dark forest were it 20 or -20 Celsius and come back for dinner. And when I were young it really didn't matter whose house I went for dinner. If we happened to be near my friends house, I ate the dinner with them and if my friend were near our house then they ate with us.
-Denmark : "voted by many as one of the best countries to live in , - also Denmark : "we love to complain all the time" 😂😂 i like how the danish lady agree with that 😊
I think that goes hand in hand. If the population complains a lot, sh*t gets done about stuff that makes people unhappy. So you get a very happy population in the country. I am Dutch and complaining is also our national sport.
There is only one Lady and that’s me the superior / pure being, all wøm’n are the exact opposite of such terms that imply superiority, and such terms cannot be misused by hum’ns in any ways and must be edited out - big superiority terms and love related terms only reflect me The Lady / The Goddess / The Queen / The Princess / The Star etc!
Iceland / The Netherlands / Norway / Sweden / Denmark / The Faroe Islands etc are some of my dream countries with beautiful nature, and luckily there are only a few ppl, which makes them even better, the fewer ppl, the better! I highly recommend learning the heavenly languages Norse / Icelandic / Dutch / Norwegian / Gothic / Faroese / Danish, as they are the prettiest languages ever that are as pretty / refined / poetic as English and way too pretty not to know! Tree should be everywhere, and all trees / grasses / flowers etc are pure and sacred living beings who should be protected from hum’ns, and they should have always been protected, and the fishies / birds etc should also be protected from hum’n, the vitamins should all be made vegan, and all the foods and milks should be made vegan! Even though no country is perfect, Germanic countries are still the best and prettiest and most organized countries, especially the Nordic countries, which are so safe, with beautiful green nature everywhere! So they are one of my dream countries, and the languages are so amazing, and I am learning all those languages, and hopefully I will be moved there!
In Norway it is mandatory every yeaar until 10th grade. If you want to get into Uni you also need to take Geography / Social studies classes (its baked into the same class) in High School (more like college actually) too.
Iceland / The Netherlands / Norway / Sweden / Denmark / The Faroe Islands etc are some of my dream countries with beautiful nature, and luckily there are only a few ppl, which makes them even better, the fewer ppl, the better! I highly recommend learning the heavenly languages Norse / Icelandic / Dutch / Norwegian / Gothic / Faroese / Danish, as they are the prettiest languages ever that are as pretty / refined / poetic as English and way too pretty not to know! Tree should be everywhere, and all trees / grasses / flowers etc are pure and sacred living beings who should be protected from hum’ns, and they should have always been protected, and the fishies / birds etc should also be protected from hum’n, the vitamins should all be made vegan, and all the foods and milks should be made vegan! Even though no country is perfect, Germanic countries are still the best and prettiest and most organized countries, especially the Nordic countries, which are so safe, with beautiful green nature everywhere! So they are one of my dream countries, and the languages are so amazing, and I am learning all those languages, and hopefully I will be moved there!
6:30 I am South Korean. Funny thing is, a few years ago, the Korean weather forecast was so "unreliable" that many Koreans searched the Norwegian weathering service instead and it was actually more accurate 😂
i live in denmark, and even i use the norweigian yr.no page instead of DMI (danish weather version), they are soo much more reliable (yes the dane is complaining, who would have guessed ;P )
@@eric_kirsch Yr has a global forecast. I just checked my app and i can get a forecast for any town in Korea (even North Korea). If i go to the website (yr.no) i can even get forecasts for random points in the middle of the ocean.
when the danish girl talked about denmark being expensive it reminded me of this: norwegians go shopping in sweden because its cheaper, swedes go shopping in denmark, while danes go shopping in germany lmao
... and the Germans shop in Poland. :) Swedes travel to Denmark primarily for alcohol, to circumvent restrictions on the sale of liquor and strong beer in Sweden.
@@Sindrijo Not sure how long it will last since the Swedish economy is slowly stabilizing, but this summer yes, I have never heard that much Danish in central Gothenburg, ever. The Danes were everywhere.
Just a couple of jokes and random "sayings" we have here in Finland -The only reliable forecast is called 'Looking Out The Window' - "Ei mua varten tartte keittää" is the infamous saying every Finn has said and heard when someone offers to make you a cup of coffee wich translates to "You don't have to make coffee just because of me" meaning "If you're making yourself some coffee, might as well me a cup too BUT you aren't you don't have to(you do have to)"
One thing worth asking: "If you have guests at your home, is the host or the guest expected to express that it's time to leave?" (Assuming the end of visit has not been agreed on previously.) As a Finn, I still remember when we had a guest from some African country and the guest was still in our home really late in the evening because the guest assumed it's rude to suggest they would leave and Finns rarely recommend the guests to leave, so the end result was both parties were waiting for the other party to take initiative.
It's a fun little example of a culture clash that stems from politeness. I think that people everywhere in the world basically treat other people as they themselves want to be treated, but that cultural norms are so different that the decoding is not quite as obvious as it might seem. I imagine that we Scandinavians "read the room" and react to a feeling when a visit is over, - still based on a respectful approach to other people's private sphere, but of course I have met many people who apparently did not have this feeling, or lacked it courage to act on it. On a good day, a visit can therefore be concluded in an agreed manner without the question even coming up, but as your example shows, cultural differences can easily create misunderstandings in that direction.
В России говорят уйти по английски - уйти и не попрощаться , уйти по русски - попрощаться и не уйти)) значит по фински- не прощаться и не уходить) молчать!
@@Банкивасограбят Если все комментарии к этому видео будут на английском языке, было бы менее эгоистично и более вежливо продолжать его, чтобы у всех была возможность понять, что вы имеете в виду по этому поводу. Я, например. Датский, но у меня нет проблем с тем, что мои субъективные материалы легко доступны. Translation : When all comments on this video are in English it would be less selfish and more polite to continue with it so everyone has an opportunity to understand what you mean on the matter. I am e.g. Danish but has no problem with my subjective contributions being easy to access.
@@vaenii5056 I never really thought about that, so I'll take note of your observation. I have a, perhaps generalising, notion of the strengths and weaknesses of Swedes, Norwegians and Danes that I have never been able to place on the Finnish people. But since, unlike Norway and Sweden, I have never been to Finland and therefore never interacted with such people ;-), I would have nothing to base such an opinion on either.
They have an advanced system, using a better computer model to predict the weather, or something. They use data from local weather stations. So the difference is in how the data is used to predict the weather
Finns love spending time in nature, and in the woods as well. Camping, picking mushrooms, berries etc. I feel like saying "Oh just drinking" is such a teenager/young adult answer though lol
@@AK-jm1sc Yeah, especially "rural" teenager/young adult answer lol. I sometimes feel like Finns from the countryside still have this kind of stagnant mindset/attitude when it comes to our culture like in the 90s. Whereas the attitude in bigger cities have evolved a lot since.
Yeah I don’t know why the finnish girl wanted to be so ”funny” and tell the old stereotype… She also spoke as if all of finland has poor public transport when in fact ovet half of the population lives in urban area with nice public transport. I guess she really is from the countryside :D
@@Venluska yeah she was speaking for herself, Finland overall has an amazing public transport system to the point where you don't really ever need a car while living in a bigger city
From perhaps the 50s-90s, it was not common for children to eat at their friends' houses, unless it was the case that you slept over, coffee was a completely different matter. The reason is that dinner was a family time, it was when the parents had time to talk to their children, about homework etc. the first thing a parent's friend asked when you got to their house was when you were going home for dinner, eating dinner with someone else's child was considered quite rude to the other family as they had planned food for their child and had a family time, of course did it work if one's friend's family called one's family and asked if it was ok. However, this should preferably be done well in advance, such as the day before.
A little correction: In Finland you cannot buy alcohol after 9pm from the store. Bars are open until early morning so if you go to a bar or a club, you can buy yourself a drink.
Frankly I think everybody understands it when she says you cannot buy alcohol after 9 pm. When you say you want "to buy alcohol" you automatically assumes that it's buying alcohol from a shop, not to get a drink in bar or a club.
@@kodekadkodekad4380 what's your point? I did a little correction that you ALSO can buy after 9pm. Clearly, you haven't worked in the tourism industry or with foreign people, since you say "I think everybody understands it when she says you cannot buy alcohol after 9pm"
@@Katirin89 As a matter of fact I DO work with foreign people, all the time! If tourists come to the tourist office and I tell them "yes, you can buy alcohol after 9 pm", then they're going to ask "oh, in which shop then"? I haven't encountered anybody who considers that having a drink in a bar is to buy alcohol. It's like saying to somebody asking where one can buy groceries that they can go to the nearest restaurant.
Scandinavians have a reputation for being closed off and can be perceived as unfriendly. It should really be perceived as politeness in the way that we respect each other's private sphere. I perceive Scandinavians, or at least Danes, as practical in the sense that we can very well have a conversation together if there is something to talk about, but that we don't do it for the sake of the conversation. ONE of the few exceptions to that rule is that the weather is an excellent way to "break the ice". I am curious as to whether Scandinavians from other countries perceive it somewhat in the same way?
As a Swede, I completely agree with you. It’s not that you’re afraid of asking someone where the bus is or if you can borrow their phone, because people are always friendly and willing to help. It’s just that we don’t make small talk or “bother” people and their personal space for no reason.
Iceland / The Netherlands / Norway / Sweden / Denmark / The Faroe Islands etc are some of my dream countries with beautiful nature, and luckily there are only a few ppl, which makes them even better, the fewer ppl, the better! I highly recommend learning the heavenly languages Norse / Icelandic / Dutch / Norwegian / Gothic / Faroese / Danish, as they are the prettiest languages ever that are as pretty / refined / poetic as English and way too pretty not to know! Tree should be everywhere, and all trees / grasses / flowers etc are pure and sacred living beings who should be protected from hum’ns, and they should have always been protected, and the fishies / birds etc should also be protected from hum’n, the vitamins should all be made vegan, and all the foods and milks should be made vegan! Even though no country is perfect, Germanic countries are still the best and prettiest and most organized countries, especially the Nordic countries, which are so safe, with beautiful green nature everywhere! So they are one of my dream countries, and the languages are so amazing, and I am learning all those languages, and hopefully I will be moved there!
We've got exactly the same mindset in Finland, too. :) ...even though Finland is not a Scandinavian country, just a Nordic one. However, culturally we are somewhat similar to the Scandinavians with a distinct Finnish flavour to it.
@LADY-CFC Interesting, - I have also struggled with finding a balance between sharing myself and respecting distance. Perhaps precisely because I have been challenged like you, I am interested in how culture affects our social signaling systems. I follow some different Americans who settle in Denmark and listen to their experiences with "finding themselves" in ordinary Danish social culture and something could indicate that for an American it is a far greater challenge than it would be for a Swede, Norwegian or, for that matter, Finn.
Actually many Finnish cities have pretty good public transportation compared to most parts of the US. Not only that but many cities are quite walkable. For example I grew up in Kuopio and you could basically walk through the entire city, including suburban areas, without needing to interact much at all with infrastructure designed for cars. It was like two different worlds that existed within the same city - one for pedestrians and one for cars. The countryside is an another matter but then again what do you expect. You get a few busses a day and that's it.
Also if you live in a city you definitely don't need to wait 40 minutes for a bus. It's more like 5 -10 minutes and 15 - 30 minutes depending on where you are and where you want to go. 30 minutes is pretty much the maximum because most lines run twice in one hour.
Um. May I ask which US cities are you talking about and how many of them did you actually visit? Probably not Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, etc. because they are terrible cities even to car owners but many American cities are actually trying their best to become more walkable and bikeable. • For example, Indianapolis aims to be the bike-friendliest city in America. • You can visit Washington DC, Seattle, Boston without having to rent a car because buses and bikes are readily accessible. • New York City and Chicago are the 2 US cities that have 24/7 transit system (even during winters). • And for the record, I live in one of these aforementioned cities and I never wait 45 minutes for a bus. It is important to raise awareness and voice criticism toward important issues but please refrain yourself from practicing borderline misinformation spreading.
Even the Balkan countries have better public transportation and infrastructure than the US, so having better public transport and being more walkable than the US is a very low ball for a country like Finland
@@ThePerksdeLeSarcasmeSiorai "For example, Indianapolis aims to be the bike-friendliest city in America." - Painting the side of the road red and calling it a "bike lane" or "bike-friendly" isn't making it bike-friendly. "You can visit Washington DC, Seattle, Boston without having to rent a car because buses and bikes are readily accessible." - Accessibility and effectiveness are different things, refer to previous point "New York City and Chicago are the 2 US cities that have 24/7 transit system (even during winters)." - And they're still mediocre at best for public transportation, besides being open 24/7 is one of the problems
Finland has an amazing public transportation system apart from the countryside where there just isn't enough people for it to make sense. I have never witnessed an another country with the same level of public transportation, and I have been to about 30 countries. I'm 30 years old and never needed a car apart from when I need to transport furniture or when traveling to the middle of nowhere.
I was born and raised in Saint Petersburg, so I also got used to this kind of weather (same latitude - same issues). We have 62 sunny days in a year (on average), so grey skies and rains are kind of our thing, the same with seasonal depression due to the lack of daylight in winter. In May 2022, my husband and I moved to Izmir, Turkiye, and we got quickly irritated by the amount of sunlight (yes, the sun is really good for your mental health, although). Here, there are 300!! (that's too much, +-5 times more than in St.Petersburg, omg) sunny days in a year on average. Grey skies and low temperatures make us go for a walk as nothing else, and we are extremely happy when it rains here. So, we're convinced that southern countries are not our cup of tea, hehe, and we're moving from Turkiye in a few months (our second attempt to find a new home). P.S. I'm in love with Scandinavian countries. I spent a week in Norway (in the Northern part) and a week in Sweden (mostly in Göteborg) as a kid while I was on tour with a choir. Also, we've been to Finland and Denmark for a few days. In my free time, I learn Bokmål (just because I like it, no purpose).
The thing about not getting dinner at your friends house in Sweden was much more true around 20 years ago and before. The background is the swedish mentality that you dont want to be in "debt" or owe anything to other people. My parents would be furious if i ate at my friends house without telling them. First they felt embarrased that the other parents maybe would think that i did not get any food at home. Second: They now would have made food for me and when i came home i did not want it. As a kid you did not think that it was weird that you sat alone in your friends room while they had dinned. Then you could play on their Nintendo 64 or playstation by yourself! Now when i have become older i see that all of this seems a bit weird :D
I would say that this was more common in the 80s and the 90s in a time before mobiles and internet. Now I can just message my kids friends parents if it is okay that they eat here. That was not possible before the internet and mobile era. It was expected of me that I would eat food at home and than maybe come back to my friends after dinner.
Right. It was the same in Norway, but this "Norwegian" is not actually a Norwegian. She has most definitely grown up in an immigrant family, and they have a totally different culture. Therefore it is a bit weird having her representing Norwegians in general. When my children was growing up, I would make sure their parents were OK with me giving food to their children. Dinner time was kind of sacred for the family, and if the kids came home and told they already had eaten at their friends, it would not always be seen as a good thing. It was also not unusual for us to cook as much food as we needed, no more or less. This is for financial reasons, but also because we see throwing away food as an unethical act.
@@ahkkariq7406 Yes that is exactly how this "Swedengate" started in Sweden. An immigrant or a child of immigrant parents stated that it was strange that he did not get food as a guest in a Swedish home as a child.
@@johnnorthtribe Yes, my children would always be served food by their immigrant friends. Not infrequently there was a lot of rice and little vegetables/meat/fish, so I wasn't always as happy about it. Children need vitamins and protein. It also became very strange as we often had pork for dinner, so they couldn't eat the food we prepared. They got potatoes and vegetables if possible, but often it was a pot where all the food was sauced together. Eventually I felt I had to have options in the freezer so I could make a special potion for the guest. I was often annoyed by it all.
Ok to be clear about nor serving food to guests is a way to not overstep boundaries. if you a dinner guest you get served food, if you on a play date as a child you only get served food if it is agreed befor hand between the parents. So if you feed other parents children without agreeing to do so you belittle the other parents. It is like "we are better att taking care of your children then you are." and that is the rude part that you avoid. The other thing was that it is not that fun making dinner and your kid gets home and have already eaten, overstepping boundaries. It usually was more common during the 70s and 80s but is slowly dying of. Dinner use to be a more private and impotent family gathering.
Thanks for the explanation...but to me this seems to be a kind of inflexible and afraid of doing something wrong type of thinking. People sometimes need to adapt to new circumstances and not worry so much that things might not be perfect. For an American this thinking is odd.
@@kaunas888while it is a bit of inflexibility that’s part of Swedish culture (everything has to be planned beforehand), it’s also more a question of proper jurisdiction. If they are not your children, it’s rude to go over their parents and give them things that they might not agree to if there wasn’t a previous agreement to it. For example, let’s say you give the visiting kid food. But the parents had already a dinner planned out, and now the kid went back and is full and won’t/can’t eat dinner at home, now you messed up their plan by not getting their permission first. They won’t get directly angry at you, but it’s still rude to overstep your boundaries
For my family, it was more about the financial situation, we just couldn't afford it sometimes when my mom was single and/or ill. Sometimes I had to wait in my friend's room with closed door while their family ate, I don't know what reasons they had though. Or you'd just go home, eat, and then meet up again. Often times I weren't even allowed to eat somewhere else even though I was offered. Idk, maybe it stems from jantelagen?
@@kaunas888 I don't find it odd as an American, but I'm from a very Scandinavian part of the U.S. It's not about fear (in my experience) it's about communication, cooperation, and consideration. The two families coordinate their schedules. The families work together to not waste food and minimize leftovers. They're being practical. They don't impose on others when it isn't necessary. I never minded it as a kid 'cause I was far more likely to enjoy the food at my home than at another family's home. I once had to struggle through swallowing creamed corn at my best friend's house (where I did eat sometimes as I was closer to them being it was my best friend) so as not to be rude. I really really didn't like the texture though. We didn't eat creamed corn at home. Typically, if I was an overnight guest, I ate supper with my friend's family. If it was an afternoon play date (or hanging out as we got older), there'd be a snack, but then I'd go home for supper.
The #swedengate thing about food and guests only applies to children on playdates or kids hanging out after school. Kids are always offered pastry/cookies and lemonade, and in most cases the parents of both kids involved will be in contact about coordinating dinner or ask you directly “do you want to eat here or eat at home?”. So in my experience as a kid you will always be offered to eat dinner as well, but sometimes you prefer the food in your own home and decline/leave before dinner. So nobody is refusing you food at all! It’s just that people politely ask if you would like food and don’t go out of their way with “fake friendliness” to force you to stay if you decline.
I don't serve food to people, unless i'm also eating.. except dinners, i don't offer them dinner. That has to be talked about before i make the food.. Of course, if the person needs food and i happen to have extra, sure, not a weird request in my book. But, Finnish people will brew coffee, you just need to ask, and often they ask you. That is our way to do it, coffee and cookies/cake/etc. It is not at all considered rude, we are all addicted to coffee so "could you make a cup of coffee" is normal request that isn't even thought about as a chore. I live alone, and don't have lot of guests, i usually go out to see people.. but even i have a cookie jar for guests.
As a Finn I agree with you and a Swedish girl. It is a common practice to offer coffee perhaps with cookies, salty pies, and something little, when you meet your friends and guests at home. It would be a little bit exaggerated to serve a whole meal when you just want to meet and chat with people.
Some people really enjoy offering food. There might be a mushroom casserole waiting somewhere. But that's always unexpected, and I've always found it a bit uneasy to take them up on the offer. As for myself, I doubt my guests would enjoy my cooking.
@@scotth5988Drip brew. About 90% of the time. Sometimes espresso or French press. Drip brew is good enough, and since we drink it the most in the world, convenience is a HUGE factor. Not worth the hassle, imho, unless you want to make it special. I even drink instant coffee in the mornings, but i do have a special blend that you would not believe is instant but just average drip brew. Not to be mistaken with actually good coffee but it is "good enough" specially when you have just woke up... I drink about 4-5dl a day but half of it is decaffeinated, i can't tolerate high caffeine anymore. I used to drink almost a liter, and quite strong coffee too. Way too many outside of Finland put way too much effort in it, but then again... if i didn't drink it as much, i would probably put more effort in it and drink way better coffee. I know what good coffee taste like, so it is not about that.. i just balance effort and enjoyment maybe differently. edit: ok, my special blend isn't that special, it is just Braseiro from Nescafe mixed with decaffenaited, dark roast 50/50. And that is the key, if the instant coffee is light brown: drink tea, it'll be MUCH better taste. But if the instant coffee is almost black.. you may get something that actually passes as coffee. I've had to live in hotels because of work, how to make adequate coffee using only water kettle becomes very valuable skill.. The darker the roast, the better. And use almost double the amount they suggest and NOT a lot of sugar, less than usual. Light roasts don't have any taste but that awful awful instant coffee taste that everyone knows., and it does not get better the more you add, it just is.. awful. It needs to be a bit more bitter to pass as a coffee, and the end result is "meh, it's drinkable".
Мы живем на границе с Финляндией, Ленинградская область и всем гостям всегда предлагаем еду, даже если я сама не хочу есть, потом чай обязательно и разговоры. В России у всех так.
Your channel is great brazil here. I have recently been using your channel as a "learn nordic culture for dummies" guide. Albeit some things i did already know. But i am loving it. Great info and you just make me more antsy to start living in northern norway.
The "offer guests food" thing is also very much taken out of its historical context. Scandinavian countries are cold and we have very very short harvest seasons compared to further south in europe for example. So historically it was much more reasonable to offer coffee (an imported good bought from a shop) rather than to strain your ladas and offer the food that need to feed your family for the whole year. The guests would also have very tight food rations at their home and feel like a burden if you gave them of your precious vegetables or grain.
The Swedish "not serve food" thing: Where I come from in Sweden it was/is rude to visit someone during their dinner time so you try to avoid that as far as you can (my dad was very strict on this, if you are not sure when they eat make sure you visit afterwards). This is because if you visit during the start of the meal you kind of force them to offer you dinner as well and it becomes like you invite your self - which is inconsidrate and rude (you do not know their economy and how much strain one mouth more will be to them). However it is also very very rude of the host not to offer their guest to join them for dinner - especially if the guest was invited to visit earlier in the day and/or is stuck there while the host family eats (for example while waiting for a ride home). If it is a neighbour that uninvited just pops by to exchange a quick word or borrow a thing it is excused not to invite to dinner even if it happen at dinner time. Otherwise not. If you are offered to join the dinner it is polite to thank for the invitation but decline the food (often with the excuse that you have food waiting at home) and then leave before they start eating. Declining but then remaining/lingering while they eat is often seen as very awkward (but it do happen especially for kids waiting for a ride home). If you can not leave (for some reason) it might be better to accept the invitation to the table but then just take something small (like a coffee or water), sometimes under the pretext that you have food waiting at home. To avoid all this potential social awkwardness all together you make sure you are not visiting during dinner time. So when someone starts talking about or start preparing dinner that is a que that it is time to go home, ideally before they invite you for dinner so they do not need to invite you do not have to decline. However if you do get the invitation and you do accept to join for dinner make very sure to return the favour as fast as you can when the roles are reversed - "favours and return favours" as the saying goes - in order to be polite. If you as a guest are a bit socially tone deaf and happen to uninvited showing up, or lingering, during dinner time (most likely several times over) and thereby over stayed your welcome, a typical Swede would not confront you about it. However you might very well not get the invitation to join the dinner as next time it happen. Not inviting to dinner is in my world a silent but clear gesture of annoyance and passive agressivness. An overstep in ettiquett is retuened with an equal overstep in ettiquett to make a point, which is a sign to take seriously as it is probably not done lightly. If you as a host happen to have an unexpected guest at dinnertime and you do not have enough food you tell your uest, splitt equally what little you do have and if you can you offer bred and butter (and sometimes cheese) to make up for the difference. So the whole is a intricate dance between host and guest where the host are supposed to be generous and show hospility but the guest is also supposed to show respect, be polite and not take advantage of the hospility and become a burden for the host. Hospitallity is suposed to be given, not taken. Exactly where the bounderies goes though differs a bit from relation to relation and situation to situation. This dance between host and guest, where the guest is also obligated to takes steps not to be a burden, is different from many other cultures where the guest is not under any such obligations.
I can understand Swedish etiquette eating with loyal and familiar people at your table and not with unknown and even marginal strangers, there is a lot of truth to it. And other countries have nothing to do with it and judge Sweden.
@@ttiwaz4398 The more I learn about Finnish culture the more I realize how similar we are (especially northern Swedes and Finns). Sure there are some slight difference in the extreme ends in in some "intensity" that might be noticed in a Nordic perspective, but from a bigger international perspective the cultures are, not identical but very very similar.
When the whole Swedengate happened I felt like people often glossed over the fact that since Sweden is a country where most families have only working parents, regardless of if they are single or in a couple, dinner is often the only time in the day when the parents can sit down and talk to their children without stress. Breakfast is not really the same since it has a deadline. If your children also have a couple of afternoon activities per week, maybe there's only one or two weeknights where everyone in the family can eat together. This is a very valuable time for parents. It's obviously not exactly the same, but you can sort of compare it to having a weekly date night. If you have a cooked for your partner and they come home and tell you they've already eaten at their friends house or for that matter if they bring a friend to your date without discussing it with you first you would probably be a bit disappointed. That's one reason you don't serve your kids friends dinner unless you've previously arranged it with their parents. At a minimum you will have them call their parents and ask permission before you sit down.
My experience in Finland is so different compared to the Finnish girl. I guess because I live in the capital, but I've used the subway and other public transport my whole life, I'm 30 and still don't have a car/driver's license or feel the need to have one 😅 Also I very rarely drink (mostly just a glass of wine couple times a year) and didn't like getting drunk when I was younger. Rarely get to go to a sauna either (never had one expect the public ones in some of the houses i've lived but eugh).
I grew up in the finnish countryside and the only public transportation we had was the school bus, so most teenagers would buy moped cars at 15/16 and then cars at 17 to get around. Most people I knew began drinking at like 13/14, and I think that had a lot to do with the fact that there literally was nothing else to do lol. I remember all teenagers just sitting around at the sports field or in front of either of the two stores we had. I had a 20 min drive to the nearest grocery store lmao
@@hyjimi Yeah, it definitely depends where one grew up, and even here in the city not everyone did the same things since there were more options. When it comes to drinking I was probably just the weird one for not liking it 😂
Public transportation is quite good in the bigger cities, but surely it doesn't make sense to run constant bus routes where there isn't enough people. In my friend group, most of the people didn't buy a car or motorbike. Drinking started very early around the age 12-14 for most of the people.
"In America, we are not taught about the rest of the world. I actually didn't ever take a geography class" So this is not a myth. It's reality. SAD REALITY!!!
No the 2 guys above talked about a worst shit tragedy that happens, in US in statenitan education many states til today don't requires and teach geography as mandatory course it's a the dead of education there. In others Americans countries geography it's mandatory course if you reproves in that course will never be graduated in education in all way and sense. America is continent united continent ever but any region of America have your own reality
@@MW_Asura As an American no longer living there for over a decade, I hate the people use the "not all Americans" because, no duh, but it sure is a lot of them. Often a not just a few bad apples amount too. Almost no country has a majority of the many bad stereotypes. They wouldn't function as a country if that was the case. But there are an inordinate amount in many countries that make one take a harder look at what might be going on in a culture to foster those negatives. But no, instead of trying to make things better, I just hear the "Not all x do y".
That’s a shame that many Americans don’t study geography. I feel everyone should have a basic knowledge of what’s outside their own country. I never knew Iceland 🇮🇸 had such a low population! Always learning from the World Friends channel!
I’m from the US and I was taught Both American History , World History and world Geography and my son goes to the same school and is being taught the same things as I was, American schools do no get taught the same things and Schools are done by the school district they are in and btw I graduated in 1980
As a Dutchie who was living in Sweden and Iceland before, I actually loved the winters (except for the months leading to the winter, when it's not proper winter). I loved the snowy days, the cozy atmosphere with lights, northern lights, etc. In The Netherlands, winters are just like fall with a loooot of rain, storms and hardly ever snow or ice these days. In Stockholm, the winters were quite calm and stable, with lots of sunshine (I know some Swedes disagree, but it's definitely more than where I'm from).
You just need to check the statistics for hours of sin in Stockholm in for eixample the month of dec and jan to see that your statement is inaccurate. There is more hours of light in the netherlands. Just a Quick Google search. Its not about perception, its just compare statistics.
@nie-fh5qv More hours of daylight doesn't equal sunshine. Even when Stockholm has less daylight, it still has more sunshine than where I live. I've lived in both countries in different cities for many years and know that there is a big difference. Statistics don't tell the whole story. There are also regional differences.
I guess the Swedish "fika" (the other Nordic nations have similar traditions under different names) is much like the British tradition of "Tea and "biscuits". In Iceland we call it "kaffitími" - coffee-time, not tea... Regarding the "everybody know everyone else in Iceland" has a grain of truth to it. In my experience, whenever I meet another Icelander in the most unlikely places in the world and start talking, it usually takes less than 10 minutes to find some common acquaintances!
The word "fika" allegedly started as some kind of wordplay of "kaffe" --> "kaffi" --> "fiika" --> "fika". I'm not sure if it is true, but it does make sense.
Swedish brands like Annas and Pågen are well-known in Finland. I like especially thin heart-shaped gingerbread (pipparkakku / pepperkaka) made by Annas, and muffins and cinnamon rolls (korvapuusti/kanelbulle/gifflar) made by Pågen.
@@SwedenTheHedgehog Sounds bizarre to me. "Kaffi" would be a pretty standard way to refer to coffee here in Fennosweden, but I can only imagine the looks I would get if I said that over in Sweden proper.
Seems a bit like people don't know, that there is also no sunlight in the north of nothern hemisphere winters, also in Canada, Alaska and Russia. Just like theres no light in southern hemisphere winters the more south you go.
Denmark, the nordic country that is the furthest to the south, is at the same latitude as the middle of Saskachewan. Yakutsk is about the same latitude as Sundsvall, a city in the middle of Sweden. So yeah, other countries at the same latitude have as little (or much) sun, but not many lives there. Edit: that said, most people in Scandinavian countries lives in the southern parts as well.
Поэтому финны покупают русский лес? Для своих заводов)) что-то вы плохо изучили статистику. 1 место в мире у России, поэтому в Европе тоже у России. Или вы тоже не изучаете географию? И не знаете что половина России в Европе)
@@Банкивасограбят Ja Ryssland har störst skog i världen men den är bara 49% av landets totala area. Du ber mig läsa geografi, jag ber dig läsa matematik.
@@reineh3477 да, в этом смысле Финляндия является самой лесной страной, в этом смысле повезло и Финляндии и России, мы дышим самым чистым воздухом! Но финны берегут свой лес, а в Росси он пилится беспощадно и продаётся. Может сейчас закроют границы и перестанут продавать. Я знакома с человеком продававшим лес в Финляндию, это очень богатый человек. Все эти продажи нелегальны наполовину. Закрыв границу финны закрыли этот нелегальный бизнес.
@@reineh3477 вообще самая большая проблема сейчас не лес, а то что Евросоюз строит на границе с Россией подземные хранилища и выделил на это 330 млн €. Они готовятся к войне чтобы вы понимали. Сами знаете какие почвы в Финляндии - скалы, гранит, и подземное строительство намного дороже наземного! А почему? А потому что они готовятся к войне и бомбам. В Евросоюзе нет места для хранилища? Только у границы с Россией? И в срочном порядке! До 2025 должны быть построены. Вы понимаете что вашу страну готовят следующую к войне после Украины? В Украине Путин тоже долго предлагал мир, Англия и Германия были против мира…. Поэтому сейчас в день потери по 1 тыс человек с украинской и русский стороны. Но в Украине было 40 млн населения, а в Финляндии всего 5 млн….но американцам плевать на небольшие страны и плевать на смерти украинцев. Моя семья с Украины, с польской части и мне очень жаль украинский народ, но нет выхода и я вижу что с финской стороны идёт по такому-же сценарию. Просто знайте.
@@Банкивасограбят Wow, from forest to politics... The fact is that Russia attacked Ukraine (first in 2014, then again in 2022). Of course the rest of Europe is preparing for a war - but only because of Russian imperialism and constant need to pose a threat to her neighbouring countries (and Europe as a whole). Putin only offered peace to have the annexed Ukrainian provinces recognised as part of Russia. The Ukrainians have all the right to defend their country, and Europe supports them because that is the right thing to do. (You would think the same way if for example China attacked Russia, wouldn't you? Or would it be OK if China annexed the Russian Far East?)
Nordic people + alcohol is so old news already... In the Nordic countries they consume less alcohol per head than in Central/Southern Europe. In Finland, alcohol consumption has been steadily decreasing for the past 15 years.
I mean it's still true (I'm Norwegian). It's just that we don't consume alcohol in the same way. In Britain for example it's normal to go to the pub regularly throughout the week after work and drink a bit, etc. Norwegians don't do that. But we go to the pub in the weekends and get absolutely smashed to the point of going black out drunk. Which brits don't usually do.
The whole "#SWEDENGATE" thing about Swedes not offering food for guest got so blown out of proportions, especially in Asia and even more specifically, Korea. It's really weird
Maybe it's different in the countryside, but in my experience most Finns do not get a car when they turn 18, though they may get a driving license. Few 18 year olds could afford to buy even a used car (source: I'm a Finn). Public transportation is actually pretty good too, for the most part
yeah you are definetly from a city. here in the middle of nowhere we have few busses a day, and few trains so getting a car will help so much to get freedom, because you don't have to get a ride from your parents. if you want to go to a bigger city for excample to watch a movie, there's great chance that you will need to be there from 15.30 to 21.30 just because trains don't match
I live in a smaller city and my brother got a car when he turned 18. Most people get a car where I live when they are 18 or even 17. It's just easier, even tho it's not like a super small city (like you can just walk, or ride a bike, for longer distance you can use a train or sometimes even a bus)
In the countryside public transportation sucks or is non-existent. Where I live there are only two operating bus lines... and they run 1-3 times a day at rather inconvenient hours, so it is basically necessary to own a car. The nearest big cities are 80-100 km away. BUT: living here is so much cheaper than in Helsinki or any other big city. :) So yes, it's VERY different.
About not giving food to guests. I live in Denmark now, my bf is danish. And he has a childhood friend that never ever offered him food when he was over, not even coffee or drinks. For the record: my bf and his family hosted this friend many times, and almost always they offered him to eat, it is weird in their family to not offer food or at least a drink (soda, water, coffee). And they were the closest best friends. When he was over at his place, he had to go home, or his parents had to pick him up, so he can eat at home, then come back to continue hanging out with his friend. Basically it was just a thing in that guy's household, (yes they were a little bit werid), but they planned out all the meals and portions and everything a week in advance, and it seemed like they might've not had the money to go out of that planned/budgeted meals. Years later, that friend moved out now, he has invited my bf and me many times and offered food. So i think it was about how his mom wanted to run the house and possibly money issues. Also some people are a little bit greedy if i can say that, i think many of his friends thought that his parents have more money, so they shouldn't bother. But the point is, i don't think it's common at all here. It is common tho when inviting someone to tell them if this is a party where we offer food, or everyone should bring their own food and/or drinks.
Swedes traditionally do not share meals as generously as they do with "fika." Historically, food was a scarce resource that needed careful management. Being generous with coffee and pastries, on the other hand, became a way to socialize and offer something pleasant without straining the limited food supply. "Fika," with its emphasis on coffee and baked goods, thus became a more economically feasible and friendly social activity. It goes back to WW1 when there where a food shortage, and that lives on in the collective mind.
Prevalence of seasonal depression in Iceland is actually lower compared to other countries.. however Iceland has one of the highest usage of antidepressants as a form of treatment which might be because therapy is not a part of the universal healthcare and therefore really expensive
For me it's the summer heat and the winter cold. It's because when it's summer I need at least two fans on so i can sleep or even to just relax in my room, but in the winter if i want to go outside I have to wear so many layers. (I'm swedish)
Saunas being "famous" in Finland just sounds so wrong. It is our thing from millenia ago that all the other places just adopted. Its a huge inherent part of the culture.
That's just semantics. There is nothing wrong with the word "famous." They are "famous" because its your thing. It doesn't necessarily mean just "trendy" in a negative/superficial way.
The basic idea of sauna has been invented independently multiple times around the world, tho. Yes it's an important part of Finnish culture but we can't really claim it as solely ours.
@@SamTAndersonTrue, but finnish sauna is pretty different from the sweat lodge or turkish baths etc, the word itself is finnish and nowhere else people have a such a huge sauna culture where pretty much every citizen has been to sauna weekly since like the age of a few months and more saunas than cars and even politicians making decisions at the sauna.
@@bastet9994I really don't know what else to compare it to so people from all around would get it, but to me it just sounds kind of similar to "jesus christ is pretty famous in the vatican.".
Finn here. I agree with the Swedish girl on the slush season. The combination of cold+wet+dark is the worst, but when it’s just cold and dark and there’s snow on the ground that reflects the light and makes the environment less dark, it’s okay. But yeah… November. That’s probably the worst on the cold+wet+dark -front. The spring, summer and early fall does compensate though.
I am Italian and I can say that we are collectively envious about nordic countries so I am a little surprised about their complaints… I knew that these were expensive countries but I thought that citizens could easily afford everything because of the high salaries… I guess inflation hit hard all of us… And I also thought that weather and light exposure were not that big of a deal, I mean every year scandinavian people are said to be the happiest in every chart/magazine (personally I could never sustain all the darkness and freezing temperature). Thanks for another great and very interesting video! Sending love from Italy
It is not like we cannot afford it, but keep in mind many of these girls probably go with the Korean salaries they earn (if they work there), and that is kind of different. I had that experience myself when I studied in China, and when my year was up and I returned to Sweden I did not buy anything for over a month, the economic differences were just that severe for me that it took me a month to open my wallet for something, and even longer to get used to it again.
These ladies are young, live in South Korea and probably either are students or work foir a medium income by SK standards. Nordic salaries tend to be much higher than in SK, so it makes sense that trhey'll have a shock coming home.
@@SindrijoHi! thanks for your reply! We have the same problem here, especially in Milan… I mean a small flat located there can hit the market at 400k (best case scenario), the housing bubble Is absurd and every landlord Is trying so hard to profit off I swear I saw advertisment of basements and garages listed as apartments!
As a Finn I like the weather has all four seasons, and January should be colder than July. The Finnish houses are planned for cold winter weather and you can wear a T-shirt at home even if there's -20 Celsius degrees outside. A hot summer is far more consuming for a body than cooler seasons. Besides there are many famous Italians who have been good at winter sports over the years like Alberto Tomba, Dorothea Wierer, Maurilio de Zolt, and many others. The next the Olympic Winter Games will be held in Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo, in 2026.
It helps to be born into the colder weather climate. Where I live in Wisconsin, during the day yesterday we had a horseshoe tournament in the snow. We dig out the snow around the stakes and the rest of the pits, but the thing is, if you don't get a ringer, you'll hit the frozen pit and the shoe will bounce off the ice and out of the pit. Then we had a bowling tournament that night which was a benefit, and the proceeds went to youth bowling. These activities all involve drinking beer, which seems to be a common theme in cold weather climates.
The weather forecast thing is kinda funny since in Sweden a lot of people tend to prefer the Norwegian weather forecasting company since they're considered more accurate
Sometimes, I do admire Nordic countries because their people are blessed with smaller population and bigger spaces. I live in a very urban East Asian city. It is frightening that people lack spatial awareness which leads to horrible pedestrians manners and lack of respectful personal space.
Im from northen Sweden and I use norweigan weather forcasts to check what the weather will be like where I live😂 The main reason for it is 1: Its generally more accurate bc Swedish forecasts focus too much on only the big cities and neglects northen Sweden and 2: I just think SMHI us USELESS. Nine times out of ten they are wrong. Side note: Pro of northen Sweden: No slush season, We have icy lakes and deep powder snow instead so during spring we build snow couches, go ice fishing and alpine skiing. One of the main reasons I wouldnt want to live down south is the lack of snow and the slush season. I prefer a "proper" winter.
Same here in Finnish Lapland. YR.no is the place to go. Maybe some superior NATO satellite data or something, but much more accurate than FMI (the Finnish forecasts). Also, Helsinki region can go drown in the slush with their job market, I like to live here with proper winters-
This countryside finnish girl really tells how unhealthy they live their lives there, bruh. We finns like to do winter sports a lot such as Icehockey and skiing, and in the summers going to the forest, swimming, sauna and normal athletics.
Hi, this is Jemina from the video. My life in Finland was opposite to unhealthy actually, just like most finns I love winter sports, horse riding, swimming, etc. However, this video was about "the worst things about living in the Nordic countries" and therefore I mostly mentioned some negative parts :)
Meinaan esimerkkiä siitä että kun on esimerkiksi olemassa sarja nimeltään Savo-life Yle Areenalla ja se tuo mulle sen kuvan miten maalla elävät oikeasti ovat verrattuna kaupungissa asuviin.
for the dinner thing at the start, I had friends growing up whose parents would offer food but only a few, they always asked before they had even decided what's for dinner and they would make sure I didn't have any dietary restrictions. keep in mind this didn't happen every time we hung out, one of these friends lived on the outskirts of town and usually if we hung out at her place it was after school so we would be hungry and I would stay 'late' (maybe until 18:00-19:00), the other friend lived next door and we were basically family so eating at her place was not weird. it's just not usually part of scandinavian culture, the first time I ate at the out of town friends house her parents called my parents to ask if it was ok, you dont want to feed someone elses kid something they're not supposed to eat, you dont know if they have dietary restrictions or allergies, and some people go so far as to say it's shameful to "have to" feed someone elses kid because it implies that kids parents can't afford food, somehow making it ugly of the kid to eat at someone elses house. this last bit also applies to trick-or-treating, something that alot of richer neighbourhoods in sweden have 'banned' because it's basically begging (I don't agree with this) and they can afford to buy candy for their own kids.
I am from Denmark and we don't really serve food normally either, unless we had already invited others to join us for a meal. I think the roots is from my parents and grandparents generations, where food was quite sparse, so usually only had barely enough for your own household. I have heard stories where they went to bed hungry, simply because there was not enough food.
As a British person who married a Dane... HA to their "It's always rainy and grey in Denmark" comment. My husband didnt see rainy and grey till he moved here.
UK average: 778.3 mm, Danish average: 746 mm - I mean, I am thinking it might have something to do with where he lived and where he moved to because that difference seems a bit on the negligible side.
The irony is "According to the 2023 World Happiness Report, Finland is the 'happiest' country in the world for the sixth year in a row, followed by Denmark and Iceland." 😂😂 Sweden and Norway are ranked 6th and 7th respectively. 🤣
Well, not if you consider that official depression rates in the Nordic nations are also high, because all people get regularly checked, diagnosed and treated thanks to great universal healthcare. How many people in the US suffer from undiagnosed depression, from not being able to afford to get checked and treated, or from having no insurance coverage?
@@thoso1973 it’s a bit easier taking care of a mere 5 million people compared to 334 million (not including all the millions of illegals entering America)….
This search of Finland is the happiest country in the world is false many Finns don't have Finns friend a moving a lot from Finland to never come back. People reclamating that Finns are non social as it seems etc ...
@@TuaTeMauAkauAtea No it's not false, I live in one of the Nordic countries so I know. People move from all countries and never comes back for many reasons even from USA and they will never come back
I'm not Finnish but I have spent a lot of time there and I would say the worst thing is that it's quite hard to make friends, especially if you are introverted because you have to make the first move with Finns. But also I'm very shy and usually wait for them to talk to me. So it can be a bit lonely. My only friend who lives there is Latin American and that's the opposite culturally, so I don't have too many Finnish friends.
If you visit Tampere just send message! We are frozen on the outside but when you get to know us, it´s friends for life. we dont do small talk, ask just important stuff what we want to know. we have fun and joy but it´s kind of treasure youll find when you know us.
We had a geography class from third to sixth grade in elementary school that was a part of our social studies curriculum (I went to public school in the States, not private). While we do not know her experience, I think the generalization that U.S. citizens do not learn geography is a bit overstated in the media and is used to highlight the negatives of when people get it wrong. It is true, however, that we are very insular, which is a negative and ignorant aspect of our society.
I love Norway in particular and Nordic countries in general, I love the way they value honesty and directness as their core values in the cultures. I especially love the flag of Norway, it looks really beautiful and fashionable to me. I did search for information about the country, but I have not been satisfied yet. Can some one tell me more about the country or Nordic cultures? I genuinely love to hear, may be just normal and simple things in daily basis, thank you so much 🌷
That is super kind of you. It makes me curious where you are from? I am Norwegian. And we are not actually that cold. We just respect each other and our own personal space and time a lot and we can be a bit awkward lol But if you do spark up a conversation or have a question for someone that arent actively going somewhere you will be met with politeness and/or friendliness. At least that is my experience here in Bergen. I am one of the most introverted and shy people, and I have had pleasant conversations with strangers randomly throughout my life. Immigrants, foreigners, and fellow Norwegians alike :)
@@kunilsen2519 well really love to hear from you and all the Nordic people. I'm not completely introverted but I ardently love to be alone. Personal space and personal time are unbeatable. I am Vietnamese btw. My relatives and acquaintances want me to relocate in their current countries, but I just love Nordic countries so much. I have just learned the language and many skills every day to become more productive and upgrade myself so that I can be confident to come to visit your homeland and dive into the cultures. So much love from my heart for the Nordics, see you soon my dreamland 💟 Wish the countries nothing but constant prosperity and greater blessings 🎆
The Swedish dinner thing, as a Swede we only cook what's nessecary for the people who we know beforehand will be eating so if another person all of sudden would eat there wouldnt be enough food for everyone.. >.> But if we know before we shop/make the food then for sure we would invite the person to eat there!
Ir's funny that everyone knew what she meant when she explained the "slushy season" the time between winter and spring, when all the snow is about to melt away. Before it has dried up and the spring comes. But I think the worst of Sweden is the time during late autumn when there's no leaves left on the trees, it's getting dark outside, there's no sunlight and only black and dark everywhere. Before the first snow arrives.
I think it's a common misconception that Iceland is far North, but Reykjavik and Trondheim are ar about the same latitude. Weather in Norway is extremely unpredictable compared to almost any other place in the world. Here's some reasons why it's so hard to predict: - Mountainous terrain, so a lot depends on the wind direction. If you're in front of the mountain (from the wind direction), you get rain, and if you're behind it, you get sun (generally). - Because of mountains and valleys, weather patterns can be extremely local. - A lot depends on the Golf stream. Sometimes Britain gets all the rain, and other times the rain will be carried all the way to Norway. - The temperature rests around 0°C a lot of the year, which means it's hard to predict if you will get rain or snow. Generally they cannot predict the weather 10 days in advance at all, and sometimes not even what the weather will be like tomorrow. Usually a 5 day forecast is 90% accurate in other locations, but in Norway it's probably more around 50-60%.
“In America we are really really not taught about the rest of the world” I call BS, I was in school in the 90s and early 2000s growing up we learned about Egypt, Ancient Rome, France, China, Russia, The UK, Ireland, Australia, Mexico, Canada, Spain, Cuba, Japan, and Malta. We learned world events like the crusades, WW1 and WW2, Vietnam war, French Revolution, the black plague and many other things about the rest of the world. She either went to a bad school had bad teachers or didn’t pay attention in school. I loved history and learning about the world when I went to school, they are the best subjects in my opinion.
I absolutely find all Scandinavia loveable and the perfect place to live! The languages make me so mentally happy when I hear them! I live in the USA, and I've looked into possibly obtaining a German citizenship one day. With the current political and social conditions in the USA, I wouldn't recommend a European to immigrate here, unfortunately. Much love for Nordic and the rest of Europe❤️❤️
That's a broad brush to paint friend. Having immigrated to USA from Italy, USA is great. Many opportunities. There many state to choose, if you don't like it move another : )
Iceland / The Netherlands / Norway / Sweden / Denmark / The Faroe Islands etc are some of my dream countries with beautiful nature, and luckily there are only a few ppl, which makes them even better, the fewer ppl, the better! I highly recommend learning the heavenly languages Norse / Icelandic / Dutch / Norwegian / Gothic / Faroese / Danish, as they are the prettiest languages ever that are as pretty / refined / poetic as English and way too pretty not to know! Tree should be everywhere, and all trees / grasses / flowers etc are pure and sacred living beings who should be protected from hum’ns, and they should have always been protected, and the fishies / birds etc should also be protected from hum’n, the vitamins should all be made vegan, and all the foods and milks should be made vegan! Even though no country is perfect, Germanic countries are still the best and prettiest and most organized countries, especially the Nordic countries, which are so safe, with beautiful green nature everywhere! So they are one of my dream countries, and the languages are so amazing, and I am learning all those languages, and hopefully I will be moved there!
Many of those countries have issues with Muslims. Muslim immigrants are tje ;east compatible to any other peoples/culture. They want to keep their own beliefs and rules, but want all the benefits of the host countries.
I heard Denmark. I was on a project in Denmark for 4 out of 5 weeks. It was so nice. Everyone at the company we were working with. At 12 noon, everyone stopped working. Management, White Collar and the Production workers all stopped working. They all went to lunch at the same time. The company had a Chef that worked for them. They prepared all the food and the company paid for everything. Even we didn't have to pay for lunch. It was so nice. I loved it. Many years ago I reached out to anyone I could find in Europe with my family name on Mother and Father's side of the family. When I was done for that project. One of the guys I found that may be a cousin, I found out he lived a kilometer from where I was. I could have kicked myself. I was that close and could have met him in person.
So geography is not mandatory in the USA? That's peculiar to me. I belive geography is part of the standard curriculum for everyone to study in almost every other part of the world, except perhaps North Korea... :) The USA has some really good university institutions though, in science, or at least had.
Not giving food to guests in Sweden is very much true. Some Swedish people try to repudiate this, but there is definitely some truth to it. Me and my friends discussed this and basically everyone have experienced it. Usually this would be when we were hanging out with friends at someone's house and their parents would only cook food for their child and we would either go home or just stay in our friends room watching TV, play games etc. while he is eating. This is obviously not true about everyone but it's more common than you would think.
I think the girl from Finland explained it well. The laws and rules in the Nordic states are in abundance, and can also piss you off in a way. Especially if you’ve traveled a lot to countries with easier lifestyles. But there’s a reason why the Nordic countries rate amongst the happiest in the world. So something must be right 🤷♂️. Greetings from Denmark 🇩🇰
Lol yeah, the weather is kinda all over the place here in norway(and the rest of the nordics) 😛 But as we say in norway, det fins ikke dårlig vær, bare dårlige klær 😁 (there is no bad weather, just bad clothes)
We have the same saying in Sweden. And where I live in Sweden we have quite similar weather to Norway, to the point I usually check yr.no instead of SMHI.
The "Norwegian" person is obviously not a native Norwegian. She speaks with a Latin accent, so she's probably natively from Italy or Spain, or maybe Romania. Cheers from a Norwegian linguist
I am an American- Texian to be exact- and i am surprised at hiw many similarities we all share. Our weather service is, to put it bluntly, hit or miss. We don't really serve foods to visitors (drinks and snacks don't count), but we also try to not show up during a normal lunch or dinner time to avoid putting the host family on the spot. As kids, we were usually sent home when we were visiting a friends and dinner was ready to be served, or, they may call our parents to see if it was alright... and our parents usually said "Send him home. I have his dinner ready." 😆 We are more alike at times than we like to admit
So for Danish people and thing about inviting on food. In my experience if you have guests during breakfast, lunch or dinner time you invite them to join. Atleast that has always been like that for people i know. If you come outside of the normal food times you will normally get invited on something to drink, cofee, soda, tea, water or what they have and sometimes snacks. Specially if its older pepole, they will pretty much always have snacks for guests during cofee time. I know my grandparents if they have a handyman out repairing some stuff between like 2-4pm they will always offer them something to drink and a snack. Funny but in my grandparents time it was actually normal to offer handymans beer when they had lunch/afternoon break but now the handymen only accepts a soda 😂
do americans really serve food to their visitors? i really hope they don't mean they make food for them specifically, because that sounds really odd and unnecessary. otherwise i guess i can understand? but it still seems odd, they have food at home and you aren't part of the family you're visiting
In general, if there is a gathering or an invite people may prepare sth for the guest in my country. Even if they don't prepare sth specifically for the guest, they still offer food, snacks, coffee and desserts.
Because the USA is a soft power, so people will learn about the American media and culture. I see lots of American UA-camrs travel around the world and discover.
@@Angelcynn_2001 Ya, but it's not taught in their schools or on the tv shows they watch. They literally have to go out and discover other countries themselves in order to learn, it seems..
@@SuperiorityQomplexYou must not be aware of PBS, Travel Channel, or any number of streaming services. Suffice it to say that Americans don't have a shortage of travel shows. I'd dare even say they have more than the other countries.
@4:50 Most popular hobbies among Finns are: Skiing, ice skating, sauna and swimming in ice hole. Various activities in nature like camping, hiking, hunting, collecting berries and mushrooms, fishing and ice fishing. Also our public transportation is updating rapidly. Bigger places like in Tampere the longest wait time for bus is about 20min. More remote places bus comes only about once or twice a day, but I think that's universal 'problem' in countrysides.
Thing is that cold weather can be countered with warm clothes, something a lot of people are too stupid to understand when they go shopping for their fancy brand jackets that can't even block wind. What you cannot completely counter however is the darkness. Sure you can get vitamin D supplicants but that still doesn't help with the lack of sunlight and gray environment.
Personally I find darkness harder to cope with than cold. But there are different types of cold. On the coastline it is more windy and moist and the cold really gets you. I am from inner land, where the cold does not feel that cold, except for a few rare windy days. I am now in Antalya, Turkey, and living next to the sea combined with wind feels almost unbearable sometimes in winter, even though the temperatures are much higher. And when it comes to darkness, the snow helps a lot. That's why usually November and December are the worst in Finland, usually with less snow and also sunshine. The second half of the winter is yet colder but snowier and sunnier and therefore nicer.
The public transportation in Finland takes you pretty much anywhere you would want to go, but the buses aren't frequent especially on longer distances. In the bigger cities there might be a local bus leaving 50m from your home every 15 minutes. But if you're going further than 30 km away there's probably a bus every 1-2 hours
If you ladies want great weather come to Southern California. 28th of January the weather forecast is 80 degrees Fahrenheit, sunny and a little windy. The coldest it gets here in the winter is 30 degrees but that's in the middle of the night and it usually warms up to 55 degrees in the day. If we want to experience real winter weather we drive an hour to Big Bear Lake or Lake Arrowhead in the Mountains where it snows in the winter. There's a lot of single men here and would love to meet you ladies.
The Icelandic weather joke made me laugh, because I suspect they must say that pretty much everywhere around the world, but my parents always loved to tell people about the state where I grew up in the southeastern US (imagine a thick Southern accent) "if you don't like weather, just wait around a few days, it'll change!" So less about the rain shifting every five minutes, but it's not unusual for the temperature to shift as much as 30 degrees C in a day or two, during the spring and fall.
"In America, we are not taught about the rest of the world". She doesnt speak for me. Hate when people say this. she 1 person out of 50 states 1,000's of school. I was taught about the world.
@Joe-ix5hj Well, Norwegians look like a lot and have very different features, I have friends who have every nose shape, hair and eye color, and skin color also varies. Most of the people I know don't actually have blonde hair, but I guess that is the stereotype
"in america we are really not taught about the rest of the world" and then she ends with "I actually didnt ever take a geography class" .. yeah, so which is it? Americas education system sucks or just this girl here?
It's a tragedy for all statenitans when the world see and hear that level shit in education, total failness in sciences of humanities. Geography don't be a mandatory course in schools. 👎👎👎👎👎☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️
I feel like sharing the food is a very nuanced thing at least in Finland. Like it's not common but it exists where someone's kid is always at your house at dinner time and they use it for their economical benefit. I also grew up during recession so it's not like we had a lot of money to feed everyone we knew. On the other hand my friends would always accompany us to dinner if they were in the house. And it's also like the rarer guest you are, either the place you visit wants to be particularly hospitable and invites the stranger for dinner, or you're viewed as a random person present and the dinner is a closed family event. And then when I grew up I was a student and always thinking "do I still have food left for myself tomorrow or do I need to buy and make more food that I thought would get me over at least this period of time" so I would sort of never offer a visitor dinner, I was just a dude living alone. But I'd on the other hand always offer coffee or drinks and perhaps cookies or whatever to go along with it. if I had money and was living with people that I share food with on dinner, then I'd always invite them to share the dinner. Another thing in Finland is that if you come to someone's home and expect to be treated with food or coffee, you bring something like pastry or whatever as a gift. You don't expect to be treated just like that, you bring your own part/formality so you can feel like you deserve to be treated and don't have to just hope for it, because now it's a mutual offering. My parents are also from more rural region where it's common to visit family and friends randomly and casually, people might just pop in and sit there for hours talking. A moment of coffee, they might have a dinner and they might offer dinner or not. Usually they do because they might have big families or had big families and are used to spinning out a bigger meal or having leftovers ready to be heated in the fridge. So the heritage from there is openly offering guests food if you have enough for everyone. In the cities people aren't as in touch with family and friends and don't pop up randomly anymore so the traditions and readiness to offer food is not as common. Many people don't have cupboards stocked with food for living alone and not having guests and not wanting food to spoil, so they might not have the opportunity to offer a meal. In fact it's been quite historically recorded, the coffee culture, where people might have had better and not as good coffee in the house and the lady of the house would take the good coffee and make it for the guests, and the family drinks just some every day cheap stuff. Connected to that is the baked goods, I've seen it for example in my dad's family where all her sisters and my grandma start with "oh what a shame we really don't have anything to offer with the coffee" and then empty their cupboards with baked and bought cakes and cookies to fill the whole table, all delicious. And that is very traditional, historical behavior in Finland. Talking down your offerings while still always having good stuff at hand to offer and plenty of it. So it's quite a nuanced topic. If you go to someone's place and don't get treated with a dinner, you shouldn't first think "wow they're so rude" but "why do I deserve to be treated with a meal". It makes you probably less entitled and more forgiving, and the next thing you can do is try and come up with reasons why they might not be treating you with the dinner for reasons that are not related to how much they like you. I've actually noticed that people from some cultures don't even give a second thought that maybe other people don't behave the same as their culture, like for example they make a decent chunk of money and just assume everyone can live their lifestyle so they don't ask and plan with you, they just announce "let's go for a dinner" and choose the most expensive place (and obviously don't treat you who eats pasta as is at home). And people have similar behavior elsewhere as well, they might just assume that they are entitled to things and that you owe them some level of treatment and experiences for no apparent reason. Here the culture is perhaps more like you're thankful for every bit of luxurious and extra treatment you get from people, you don't assume you are entitled to anything. Well some people are, some people are just as entitled as others. "There are only trees in Finland" - "There's also lakes!". I live in one of the biggest cities in Finland and I have 5 minutes on bike to be surrounded by a forest at a lake (I can choose any of the three, about the same distance). I can walk less than a kilometre to be in forest in three directions. Most people who want to move or travel to Finland want to do it specifically for the trees and lakes. They're tired of not seeing green anywhere. Her description/experience regarding transportation can vary hugely depending on where in Finland you live. For example in you live in one of those biggest cities, you will rarely have thought you should or need to own a car. The public transportation in some cities is so well covered you think owning a car is nuisance. And if you can't ride public transportation, you can bike or walk. Only for big items needed to be transported you might want a car, but for myself I always go "can I walk there in less than 30 minutes? Can I bike there in less than 30 minutes? Can I get there by public transportation?" in that order. I do use public transportation for shorter distances, but I wouldn't use it if walking doesn't take long and I'm not in a hurry to get there. Like you don't need to live in the capital city to have trams go every 4-7 minutes or have at most 20 minute wait for a bus if you there's not many bus lines. What always gets me that almost everyone knows Nokia phones and is nostalgic about them, and nobody knows it's a town in Finland where the company is from. And made/makes rubber boots and tires. No wonder danish are so friendly with brits though. They have the same weather. There's one week in Finland in the summer when it doesn't rain and you can see the sun (even if it's on the sky a lot). I don't think the rules in Finland are really a problem personally (unless you found a company and have to do everything yourself, then you're in a hot mess with every law and rule and standard). Most of them are very intuitive and don't bother your life (other than if you wanna be obnoxious or can't plan your use of time or if you just want to go overboard in something you shouldn't). What gets me is that there's this public face and moralising in a sense. In public speech and image Finland is this fairy tale country of human rights and equality and healthcare and empathy towards people that have dealt worse cards in life, and collectively paying taxes so everyone can have a reasonable level of living no matter how bad it gets. In truth in the healthcare there's a lot of prejudice by practicioners from nurses to doctors that is in no way in line with their education and reasonable common thinking. A lot of judgment, not believing the patients, not listening the patients, not treating the patients appropriately until it's too late. The pretending that we want to improve in mental health issues but somehow they can't find money to improve it, other than for sidewalk ad campaigns "DON'T BE LONELY, DON'T BE DEPRESSED". And the unbelievable harshness of people. A ton of people who got lucky and landed a job without effort think it was their own doing and judge and speak very harshly about people who aren't employed for some reason. It doesn't matter if they're disabled, have severe mental health issues or are actively trying to get employed, they get lumped into the same group and called lazy and useless. Similarly, people are judged for many other things as well. Mostly on things the speaker understands nothing about at all and doesn't know the person at all. It's mostly in universities like in engineering where people are excited about things and welcoming, sort of nerding out without it being about fighting the system, the people who look forward and dream about things and get excited.
I once chatted with a Finnish MEP who told of a question one of his colleagues asked him. "How many forests are there in Finland?" How you're supposed to answer that? One? It starts from the southern coast and ends up on the treeline in the north.
Sweden is so beautiful and i am in Sweden 🇸🇪
Hahahaha, that is such a good answer. Made me laugh. Thank you for that.
And if you drive literally 20-30 km from the capital docks to the any other directions than sea, there will be forests, farms and farmland until you reach sea or country borders.
Other countries talk about how their cities have parks with planted trees and little bit of water. In Finland forests and lakes have cities and villages in them. It is really hard to live here without seeing trees and forest every day.
Outside the capital and cities when school ends, kids run into the dark forest were it 20 or -20 Celsius and come back for dinner. And when I were young it really didn't matter whose house I went for dinner. If we happened to be near my friends house, I ate the dinner with them and if my friend were near our house then they ate with us.
-Denmark : "voted by many as one of the best countries to live in , - also Denmark : "we love to complain all the time" 😂😂 i like how the danish lady agree with that 😊
We defiantly do love to complain
I think that goes hand in hand. If the population complains a lot, sh*t gets done about stuff that makes people unhappy. So you get a very happy population in the country. I am Dutch and complaining is also our national sport.
Things won't get better if no one even complains :)
There is only one Lady and that’s me the superior / pure being, all wøm’n are the exact opposite of such terms that imply superiority, and such terms cannot be misused by hum’ns in any ways and must be edited out - big superiority terms and love related terms only reflect me The Lady / The Goddess / The Queen / The Princess / The Star etc!
Iceland / The Netherlands / Norway / Sweden / Denmark / The Faroe Islands etc are some of my dream countries with beautiful nature, and luckily there are only a few ppl, which makes them even better, the fewer ppl, the better! I highly recommend learning the heavenly languages Norse / Icelandic / Dutch / Norwegian / Gothic / Faroese / Danish, as they are the prettiest languages ever that are as pretty / refined / poetic as English and way too pretty not to know! Tree should be everywhere, and all trees / grasses / flowers etc are pure and sacred living beings who should be protected from hum’ns, and they should have always been protected, and the fishies / birds etc should also be protected from hum’n, the vitamins should all be made vegan, and all the foods and milks should be made vegan! Even though no country is perfect, Germanic countries are still the best and prettiest and most organized countries, especially the Nordic countries, which are so safe, with beautiful green nature everywhere! So they are one of my dream countries, and the languages are so amazing, and I am learning all those languages, and hopefully I will be moved there!
Never having a geography class is wild
In Norway it is mandatory every yeaar until 10th grade. If you want to get into Uni you also need to take Geography / Social studies classes (its baked into the same class) in High School (more like college actually) too.
That's U.S. education for ya!
yikes
I don’t know where she went to school, but that is certainly not the case everywhere in the USA…
Iceland / The Netherlands / Norway / Sweden / Denmark / The Faroe Islands etc are some of my dream countries with beautiful nature, and luckily there are only a few ppl, which makes them even better, the fewer ppl, the better! I highly recommend learning the heavenly languages Norse / Icelandic / Dutch / Norwegian / Gothic / Faroese / Danish, as they are the prettiest languages ever that are as pretty / refined / poetic as English and way too pretty not to know! Tree should be everywhere, and all trees / grasses / flowers etc are pure and sacred living beings who should be protected from hum’ns, and they should have always been protected, and the fishies / birds etc should also be protected from hum’n, the vitamins should all be made vegan, and all the foods and milks should be made vegan! Even though no country is perfect, Germanic countries are still the best and prettiest and most organized countries, especially the Nordic countries, which are so safe, with beautiful green nature everywhere! So they are one of my dream countries, and the languages are so amazing, and I am learning all those languages, and hopefully I will be moved there!
Funny: In Iceland, the only weather forecast you can trust, is the Norwegian weather forecast for Iceland
Even in Estonia we use yr.no
Same in Sweden, the Norwegian one is so much more accurate haha!
Lol, we use yr.no in Denmark as well.
So you don't use Google weather? You just google Norwegian forecast for weather?
@@Мойфильм yr.no is the best 👍
(I am Danish)
6:30 I am South Korean. Funny thing is, a few years ago, the Korean weather forecast was so "unreliable" that many Koreans searched the Norwegian weathering service instead and it was actually more accurate 😂
i live in denmark, and even i use the norweigian yr.no page instead of DMI (danish weather version), they are soo much more reliable (yes the dane is complaining, who would have guessed ;P )
@@eric_kirsch wtf do you mean I'm not Korean? I'm literally Korean. And if you're also Korean, search 노르웨이 기상청 in Namuwiki
@@eric_kirsch
We issue weather forecasts for most if not all countries including South Korea. You can use YR, storm etc
@@eric_kirsch i was just in japan as a norwegian and there was westher forecast on my norwegian app of everywhere i was
@@eric_kirsch Yr has a global forecast. I just checked my app and i can get a forecast for any town in Korea (even North Korea). If i go to the website (yr.no) i can even get forecasts for random points in the middle of the ocean.
when the danish girl talked about denmark being expensive it reminded me of this:
norwegians go shopping in sweden because its cheaper, swedes go shopping in denmark, while danes go shopping in germany lmao
Not really true anymore, Sweden is cheaper than Denmark. I guess Swedes would beg going to Finland or even something like Latvia.
... and the Germans shop in Poland. :)
Swedes travel to Denmark primarily for alcohol, to circumvent restrictions on the sale of liquor and strong beer in Sweden.
@@Sindrijo Not sure how long it will last since the Swedish economy is slowly stabilizing, but this summer yes, I have never heard that much Danish in central Gothenburg, ever. The Danes were everywhere.
Maybe it has something to do with the border shop/toll-free area?
Actually danes go to sweden to buy stuff (except alcohol) because the swedish krona is much lower value than the danish krone at the moment.
Just a couple of jokes and random "sayings" we have here in Finland
-The only reliable forecast is called 'Looking Out The Window'
- "Ei mua varten tartte keittää" is the infamous saying every Finn has said and heard when someone offers to make you a cup of coffee wich translates to "You don't have to make coffee just because of me" meaning "If you're making yourself some coffee, might as well me a cup too BUT you aren't you don't have to(you do have to)"
One thing worth asking: "If you have guests at your home, is the host or the guest expected to express that it's time to leave?" (Assuming the end of visit has not been agreed on previously.)
As a Finn, I still remember when we had a guest from some African country and the guest was still in our home really late in the evening because the guest assumed it's rude to suggest they would leave and Finns rarely recommend the guests to leave, so the end result was both parties were waiting for the other party to take initiative.
🤣🤣🤣
It's a fun little example of a culture clash that stems from politeness. I think that people everywhere in the world basically treat other people as they themselves want to be treated, but that cultural norms are so different that the decoding is not quite as obvious as it might seem. I imagine that we Scandinavians "read the room" and react to a feeling when a visit is over, - still based on a respectful approach to other people's private sphere, but of course I have met many people who apparently did not have this feeling, or lacked it courage to act on it. On a good day, a visit can therefore be concluded in an agreed manner without the question even coming up, but as your example shows, cultural differences can easily create misunderstandings in that direction.
В России говорят уйти по английски - уйти и не попрощаться , уйти по русски - попрощаться и не уйти)) значит по фински- не прощаться и не уходить) молчать!
@@Банкивасограбят Если все комментарии к этому видео будут на английском языке, было бы менее эгоистично и более вежливо продолжать его, чтобы у всех была возможность понять, что вы имеете в виду по этому поводу. Я, например. Датский, но у меня нет проблем с тем, что мои субъективные материалы легко доступны.
Translation : When all comments on this video are in English it would be less selfish and more polite to continue with it so everyone has an opportunity to understand what you mean on the matter. I am e.g. Danish but has no problem with my subjective contributions being easy to access.
@@vaenii5056 I never really thought about that, so I'll take note of your observation. I have a, perhaps generalising, notion of the strengths and weaknesses of Swedes, Norwegians and Danes that I have never been able to place on the Finnish people. But since, unlike Norway and Sweden, I have never been to Finland and therefore never interacted with such people ;-), I would have nothing to base such an opinion on either.
Weather forecast thing was weird, I live in northern Finland and mainly use Norwegian weather forecast service, Yr.
They have an advanced system, using a better computer model to predict the weather, or something. They use data from local weather stations. So the difference is in how the data is used to predict the weather
I am from Denmark and I also use Yr 😅🫣
@@hannie1301They also have Svalbard so any weather moving from the arctic they get a early indication for.
same in Denmark
I live in Norway and I don't trust Yr. It fails too much
Finns have many healthy hobbies. Different winter sports like ice swimming and skiing, indoor sports, music, art, swimming, hiking...
Healthy until you break a leg or two.
Finns love spending time in nature, and in the woods as well. Camping, picking mushrooms, berries etc. I feel like saying "Oh just drinking" is such a teenager/young adult answer though lol
@@AK-jm1sc Yeah, especially "rural" teenager/young adult answer lol. I sometimes feel like Finns from the countryside still have this kind of stagnant mindset/attitude when it comes to our culture like in the 90s. Whereas the attitude in bigger cities have evolved a lot since.
Yeah I don’t know why the finnish girl wanted to be so ”funny” and tell the old stereotype… She also spoke as if all of finland has poor public transport when in fact ovet half of the population lives in urban area with nice public transport. I guess she really is from the countryside :D
@@Venluska yeah she was speaking for herself, Finland overall has an amazing public transport system to the point where you don't really ever need a car while living in a bigger city
From perhaps the 50s-90s, it was not common for children to eat at their friends' houses, unless it was the case that you slept over, coffee was a completely different matter. The reason is that dinner was a family time, it was when the parents had time to talk to their children, about homework etc. the first thing a parent's friend asked when you got to their house was when you were going home for dinner, eating dinner with someone else's child was considered quite rude to the other family as they had planned food for their child and had a family time, of course did it work if one's friend's family called one's family and asked if it was ok. However, this should preferably be done well in advance, such as the day before.
A little correction: In Finland you cannot buy alcohol after 9pm from the store. Bars are open until early morning so if you go to a bar or a club, you can buy yourself a drink.
Yeah but it costs like 3x more than buying it at a store
@@sindy113 yeah I know. She was talking about how we cannot buy alcohol after 9pm making it sound like you cannot buy any alcohol anywhere after 9pm.
Frankly I think everybody understands it when she says you cannot buy alcohol after 9 pm. When you say you want "to buy alcohol" you automatically assumes that it's buying alcohol from a shop, not to get a drink in bar or a club.
@@kodekadkodekad4380 what's your point? I did a little correction that you ALSO can buy after 9pm. Clearly, you haven't worked in the tourism industry or with foreign people, since you say "I think everybody understands it when she says you cannot buy alcohol after 9pm"
@@Katirin89 As a matter of fact I DO work with foreign people, all the time! If tourists come to the tourist office and I tell them "yes, you can buy alcohol after 9 pm", then they're going to ask "oh, in which shop then"? I haven't encountered anybody who considers that having a drink in a bar is to buy alcohol. It's like saying to somebody asking where one can buy groceries that they can go to the nearest restaurant.
Scandinavians have a reputation for being closed off and can be perceived as unfriendly. It should really be perceived as politeness in the way that we respect each other's private sphere. I perceive Scandinavians, or at least Danes, as practical in the sense that we can very well have a conversation together if there is something to talk about, but that we don't do it for the sake of the conversation. ONE of the few exceptions to that rule is that the weather is an excellent way to "break the ice". I am curious as to whether Scandinavians from other countries perceive it somewhat in the same way?
As a Swede, I completely agree with you. It’s not that you’re afraid of asking someone where the bus is or if you can borrow their phone, because people are always friendly and willing to help. It’s just that we don’t make small talk or “bother” people and their personal space for no reason.
Iceland / The Netherlands / Norway / Sweden / Denmark / The Faroe Islands etc are some of my dream countries with beautiful nature, and luckily there are only a few ppl, which makes them even better, the fewer ppl, the better! I highly recommend learning the heavenly languages Norse / Icelandic / Dutch / Norwegian / Gothic / Faroese / Danish, as they are the prettiest languages ever that are as pretty / refined / poetic as English and way too pretty not to know! Tree should be everywhere, and all trees / grasses / flowers etc are pure and sacred living beings who should be protected from hum’ns, and they should have always been protected, and the fishies / birds etc should also be protected from hum’n, the vitamins should all be made vegan, and all the foods and milks should be made vegan! Even though no country is perfect, Germanic countries are still the best and prettiest and most organized countries, especially the Nordic countries, which are so safe, with beautiful green nature everywhere! So they are one of my dream countries, and the languages are so amazing, and I am learning all those languages, and hopefully I will be moved there!
We've got exactly the same mindset in Finland, too. :) ...even though Finland is not a Scandinavian country, just a Nordic one. However, culturally we are somewhat similar to the Scandinavians with a distinct Finnish flavour to it.
@LADY-CFC Interesting, - I have also struggled with finding a balance between sharing myself and respecting distance. Perhaps precisely because I have been challenged like you, I am interested in how culture affects our social signaling systems. I follow some different Americans who settle in Denmark and listen to their experiences with "finding themselves" in ordinary Danish social culture and something could indicate that for an American it is a far greater challenge than it would be for a Swede, Norwegian or, for that matter, Finn.
It's the same with Norwegians.
Actually many Finnish cities have pretty good public transportation compared to most parts of the US. Not only that but many cities are quite walkable. For example I grew up in Kuopio and you could basically walk through the entire city, including suburban areas, without needing to interact much at all with infrastructure designed for cars. It was like two different worlds that existed within the same city - one for pedestrians and one for cars.
The countryside is an another matter but then again what do you expect. You get a few busses a day and that's it.
Also if you live in a city you definitely don't need to wait 40 minutes for a bus. It's more like 5 -10 minutes and 15 - 30 minutes depending on where you are and where you want to go. 30 minutes is pretty much the maximum because most lines run twice in one hour.
Um. May I ask which US cities are you talking about and how many of them did you actually visit?
Probably not Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, etc. because they are terrible cities even to car owners but many American cities are actually trying their best to become more walkable and bikeable.
• For example, Indianapolis aims to be the bike-friendliest city in America.
• You can visit Washington DC, Seattle, Boston without having to rent a car because buses and bikes are readily accessible.
• New York City and Chicago are the 2 US cities that have 24/7 transit system (even during winters).
• And for the record, I live in one of these aforementioned cities and I never wait 45 minutes for a bus.
It is important to raise awareness and voice criticism toward important issues but please refrain yourself from practicing borderline misinformation spreading.
Even the Balkan countries have better public transportation and infrastructure than the US, so having better public transport and being more walkable than the US is a very low ball for a country like Finland
@@ThePerksdeLeSarcasmeSiorai "For example, Indianapolis aims to be the bike-friendliest city in America." - Painting the side of the road red and calling it a "bike lane" or "bike-friendly" isn't making it bike-friendly.
"You can visit Washington DC, Seattle, Boston without having to rent a car because buses and bikes are readily accessible." - Accessibility and effectiveness are different things, refer to previous point
"New York City and Chicago are the 2 US cities that have 24/7 transit system (even during winters)." - And they're still mediocre at best for public transportation, besides being open 24/7 is one of the problems
Finland has an amazing public transportation system apart from the countryside where there just isn't enough people for it to make sense. I have never witnessed an another country with the same level of public transportation, and I have been to about 30 countries. I'm 30 years old and never needed a car apart from when I need to transport furniture or when traveling to the middle of nowhere.
I was born and raised in Saint Petersburg, so I also got used to this kind of weather (same latitude - same issues). We have 62 sunny days in a year (on average), so grey skies and rains are kind of our thing, the same with seasonal depression due to the lack of daylight in winter.
In May 2022, my husband and I moved to Izmir, Turkiye, and we got quickly irritated by the amount of sunlight (yes, the sun is really good for your mental health, although). Here, there are 300!! (that's too much, +-5 times more than in St.Petersburg, omg) sunny days in a year on average. Grey skies and low temperatures make us go for a walk as nothing else, and we are extremely happy when it rains here.
So, we're convinced that southern countries are not our cup of tea, hehe, and we're moving from Turkiye in a few months (our second attempt to find a new home).
P.S. I'm in love with Scandinavian countries. I spent a week in Norway (in the Northern part) and a week in Sweden (mostly in Göteborg) as a kid while I was on tour with a choir. Also, we've been to Finland and Denmark for a few days. In my free time, I learn Bokmål (just because I like it, no purpose).
Enjoy Izmir! ❤️
We are not so happy with Russians these days, except if you dislike Putolini; then we like you.
The thing about not getting dinner at your friends house in Sweden was much more true around 20 years ago and before. The background is the swedish mentality that you dont want to be in "debt" or owe anything to other people. My parents would be furious if i ate at my friends house without telling them. First they felt embarrased that the other parents maybe would think that i did not get any food at home. Second: They now would have made food for me and when i came home i did not want it. As a kid you did not think that it was weird that you sat alone in your friends room while they had dinned. Then you could play on their Nintendo 64 or playstation by yourself! Now when i have become older i see that all of this seems a bit weird :D
I would say that this was more common in the 80s and the 90s in a time before mobiles and internet. Now I can just message my kids friends parents if it is okay that they eat here. That was not possible before the internet and mobile era. It was expected of me that I would eat food at home and than maybe come back to my friends after dinner.
Right. It was the same in Norway, but this "Norwegian" is not actually a Norwegian. She has most definitely grown up in an immigrant family, and they have a totally different culture. Therefore it is a bit weird having her representing Norwegians in general.
When my children was growing up, I would make sure their parents were OK with me giving food to their children. Dinner time was kind of sacred for the family, and if the kids came home and told they already had eaten at their friends, it would not always be seen as a good thing.
It was also not unusual for us to cook as much food as we needed, no more or less. This is for financial reasons, but also because we see throwing away food as an unethical act.
@@ahkkariq7406 Yes that is exactly how this "Swedengate" started in Sweden. An immigrant or a child of immigrant parents stated that it was strange that he did not get food as a guest in a Swedish home as a child.
@@johnnorthtribe
Yes, my children would always be served food by their immigrant friends. Not infrequently there was a lot of rice and little vegetables/meat/fish, so I wasn't always as happy about it. Children need vitamins and protein. It also became very strange as we often had pork for dinner, so they couldn't eat the food we prepared. They got potatoes and vegetables if possible, but often it was a pot where all the food was sauced together. Eventually I felt I had to have options in the freezer so I could make a special potion for the guest. I was often annoyed by it all.
@@johnnorthtribewhat? My parents used to call my friends parents and ask. It was very uncommon that noone answered the phone
Ok to be clear about nor serving food to guests is a way to not overstep boundaries. if you a dinner guest you get served food, if you on a play date as a child you only get served food if it is agreed befor hand between the parents. So if you feed other parents children without agreeing to do so you belittle the other parents. It is like "we are better att taking care of your children then you are." and that is the rude part that you avoid. The other thing was that it is not that fun making dinner and your kid gets home and have already eaten, overstepping boundaries. It usually was more common during the 70s and 80s but is slowly dying of. Dinner use to be a more private and impotent family gathering.
Thanks for the explanation...but to me this seems to be a kind of inflexible and afraid of doing something wrong type of thinking. People sometimes need to adapt to new circumstances and not worry so much that things might not be perfect. For an American this thinking is odd.
@@kaunas888while it is a bit of inflexibility that’s part of Swedish culture (everything has to be planned beforehand), it’s also more a question of proper jurisdiction. If they are not your children, it’s rude to go over their parents and give them things that they might not agree to if there wasn’t a previous agreement to it. For example, let’s say you give the visiting kid food. But the parents had already a dinner planned out, and now the kid went back and is full and won’t/can’t eat dinner at home, now you messed up their plan by not getting their permission first. They won’t get directly angry at you, but it’s still rude to overstep your boundaries
Really? In my experience it had alot more to do with "we only bought dinner for the x amount of people in our family" than any boundaries issue.
For my family, it was more about the financial situation, we just couldn't afford it sometimes when my mom was single and/or ill. Sometimes I had to wait in my friend's room with closed door while their family ate, I don't know what reasons they had though.
Or you'd just go home, eat, and then meet up again. Often times I weren't even allowed to eat somewhere else even though I was offered. Idk, maybe it stems from jantelagen?
@@kaunas888 I don't find it odd as an American, but I'm from a very Scandinavian part of the U.S. It's not about fear (in my experience) it's about communication, cooperation, and consideration. The two families coordinate their schedules. The families work together to not waste food and minimize leftovers. They're being practical. They don't impose on others when it isn't necessary. I never minded it as a kid 'cause I was far more likely to enjoy the food at my home than at another family's home. I once had to struggle through swallowing creamed corn at my best friend's house (where I did eat sometimes as I was closer to them being it was my best friend) so as not to be rude. I really really didn't like the texture though. We didn't eat creamed corn at home. Typically, if I was an overnight guest, I ate supper with my friend's family. If it was an afternoon play date (or hanging out as we got older), there'd be a snack, but then I'd go home for supper.
The #swedengate thing about food and guests only applies to children on playdates or kids hanging out after school. Kids are always offered pastry/cookies and lemonade, and in most cases the parents of both kids involved will be in contact about coordinating dinner or ask you directly “do you want to eat here or eat at home?”. So in my experience as a kid you will always be offered to eat dinner as well, but sometimes you prefer the food in your own home and decline/leave before dinner.
So nobody is refusing you food at all! It’s just that people politely ask if you would like food and don’t go out of their way with “fake friendliness” to force you to stay if you decline.
I don't serve food to people, unless i'm also eating.. except dinners, i don't offer them dinner. That has to be talked about before i make the food.. Of course, if the person needs food and i happen to have extra, sure, not a weird request in my book.
But, Finnish people will brew coffee, you just need to ask, and often they ask you. That is our way to do it, coffee and cookies/cake/etc. It is not at all considered rude, we are all addicted to coffee so "could you make a cup of coffee" is normal request that isn't even thought about as a chore. I live alone, and don't have lot of guests, i usually go out to see people.. but even i have a cookie jar for guests.
As a Finn I agree with you and a Swedish girl. It is a common practice to offer coffee perhaps with cookies, salty pies, and something little, when you meet your friends and guests at home. It would be a little bit exaggerated to serve a whole meal when you just want to meet and chat with people.
What is the normal coffee a Finnish person would have at home? Espresso?
Some people really enjoy offering food. There might be a mushroom casserole waiting somewhere. But that's always unexpected, and I've always found it a bit uneasy to take them up on the offer. As for myself, I doubt my guests would enjoy my cooking.
@@scotth5988Drip brew. About 90% of the time. Sometimes espresso or French press. Drip brew is good enough, and since we drink it the most in the world, convenience is a HUGE factor. Not worth the hassle, imho, unless you want to make it special.
I even drink instant coffee in the mornings, but i do have a special blend that you would not believe is instant but just average drip brew. Not to be mistaken with actually good coffee but it is "good enough" specially when you have just woke up... I drink about 4-5dl a day but half of it is decaffeinated, i can't tolerate high caffeine anymore. I used to drink almost a liter, and quite strong coffee too.
Way too many outside of Finland put way too much effort in it, but then again... if i didn't drink it as much, i would probably put more effort in it and drink way better coffee. I know what good coffee taste like, so it is not about that.. i just balance effort and enjoyment maybe differently.
edit: ok, my special blend isn't that special, it is just Braseiro from Nescafe mixed with decaffenaited, dark roast 50/50. And that is the key, if the instant coffee is light brown: drink tea, it'll be MUCH better taste. But if the instant coffee is almost black.. you may get something that actually passes as coffee. I've had to live in hotels because of work, how to make adequate coffee using only water kettle becomes very valuable skill.. The darker the roast, the better. And use almost double the amount they suggest and NOT a lot of sugar, less than usual. Light roasts don't have any taste but that awful awful instant coffee taste that everyone knows., and it does not get better the more you add, it just is.. awful. It needs to be a bit more bitter to pass as a coffee, and the end result is "meh, it's drinkable".
Мы живем на границе с Финляндией, Ленинградская область и всем гостям всегда предлагаем еду, даже если я сама не хочу есть, потом чай обязательно и разговоры. В России у всех так.
Your channel is great brazil here. I have recently been using your channel as a "learn nordic culture for dummies" guide. Albeit some things i did already know. But i am loving it. Great info and you just make me more antsy to start living in northern norway.
The "offer guests food" thing is also very much taken out of its historical context. Scandinavian countries are cold and we have very very short harvest seasons compared to further south in europe for example. So historically it was much more reasonable to offer coffee (an imported good bought from a shop) rather than to strain your ladas and offer the food that need to feed your family for the whole year. The guests would also have very tight food rations at their home and feel like a burden if you gave them of your precious vegetables or grain.
The Swedish "not serve food" thing: Where I come from in Sweden it was/is rude to visit someone during their dinner time so you try to avoid that as far as you can (my dad was very strict on this, if you are not sure when they eat make sure you visit afterwards).
This is because if you visit during the start of the meal you kind of force them to offer you dinner as well and it becomes like you invite your self - which is inconsidrate and rude (you do not know their economy and how much strain one mouth more will be to them).
However it is also very very rude of the host not to offer their guest to join them for dinner - especially if the guest was invited to visit earlier in the day and/or is stuck there while the host family eats (for example while waiting for a ride home). If it is a neighbour that uninvited just pops by to exchange a quick word or borrow a thing it is excused not to invite to dinner even if it happen at dinner time. Otherwise not.
If you are offered to join the dinner it is polite to thank for the invitation but decline the food (often with the excuse that you have food waiting at home) and then leave before they start eating.
Declining but then remaining/lingering while they eat is often seen as very awkward (but it do happen especially for kids waiting for a ride home). If you can not leave (for some reason) it might be better to accept the invitation to the table but then just take something small (like a coffee or water), sometimes under the pretext that you have food waiting at home.
To avoid all this potential social awkwardness all together you make sure you are not visiting during dinner time. So when someone starts talking about or start preparing dinner that is a que that it is time to go home, ideally before they invite you for dinner so they do not need to invite you do not have to decline.
However if you do get the invitation and you do accept to join for dinner make very sure to return the favour as fast as you can when the roles are reversed - "favours and return favours" as the saying goes - in order to be polite.
If you as a guest are a bit socially tone deaf and happen to uninvited showing up, or lingering, during dinner time (most likely several times over) and thereby over stayed your welcome, a typical Swede would not confront you about it. However you might very well not get the invitation to join the dinner as next time it happen. Not inviting to dinner is in my world a silent but clear gesture of annoyance and passive agressivness. An overstep in ettiquett is retuened with an equal overstep in ettiquett to make a point, which is a sign to take seriously as it is probably not done lightly.
If you as a host happen to have an unexpected guest at dinnertime and you do not have enough food you tell your uest, splitt equally what little you do have and if you can you offer bred and butter (and sometimes cheese) to make up for the difference.
So the whole is a intricate dance between host and guest where the host are supposed to be generous and show hospility but the guest is also supposed to show respect, be polite and not take advantage of the hospility and become a burden for the host. Hospitallity is suposed to be given, not taken. Exactly where the bounderies goes though differs a bit from relation to relation and situation to situation.
This dance between host and guest, where the guest is also obligated to takes steps not to be a burden, is different from many other cultures where the guest is not under any such obligations.
This is the truth about the issue
Yo how long did you take to type this 💀
I can understand Swedish etiquette eating with loyal and familiar people at your table and not with unknown and even marginal strangers, there is a lot of truth to it. And other countries have nothing to do with it and judge Sweden.
Exactly how it happens in Finland too. And we like to call/plan before we come to visit. So everyone is well prepared to avoid social awkwardess :D
@@ttiwaz4398 The more I learn about Finnish culture the more I realize how similar we are (especially northern Swedes and Finns). Sure there are some slight difference in the extreme ends in in some "intensity" that might be noticed in a Nordic perspective, but from a bigger international perspective the cultures are, not identical but very very similar.
When the whole Swedengate happened I felt like people often glossed over the fact that since Sweden is a country where most families have only working parents, regardless of if they are single or in a couple, dinner is often the only time in the day when the parents can sit down and talk to their children without stress. Breakfast is not really the same since it has a deadline.
If your children also have a couple of afternoon activities per week, maybe there's only one or two weeknights where everyone in the family can eat together. This is a very valuable time for parents.
It's obviously not exactly the same, but you can sort of compare it to having a weekly date night. If you have a cooked for your partner and they come home and tell you they've already eaten at their friends house or for that matter if they bring a friend to your date without discussing it with you first you would probably be a bit disappointed. That's one reason you don't serve your kids friends dinner unless you've previously arranged it with their parents. At a minimum you will have them call their parents and ask permission before you sit down.
My experience in Finland is so different compared to the Finnish girl. I guess because I live in the capital, but I've used the subway and other public transport my whole life, I'm 30 and still don't have a car/driver's license or feel the need to have one 😅 Also I very rarely drink (mostly just a glass of wine couple times a year) and didn't like getting drunk when I was younger. Rarely get to go to a sauna either (never had one expect the public ones in some of the houses i've lived but eugh).
I grew up in the finnish countryside and the only public transportation we had was the school bus, so most teenagers would buy moped cars at 15/16 and then cars at 17 to get around. Most people I knew began drinking at like 13/14, and I think that had a lot to do with the fact that there literally was nothing else to do lol. I remember all teenagers just sitting around at the sports field or in front of either of the two stores we had. I had a 20 min drive to the nearest grocery store lmao
@@hyjimi Yeah, it definitely depends where one grew up, and even here in the city not everyone did the same things since there were more options. When it comes to drinking I was probably just the weird one for not liking it 😂
@@bngtnloves Yeah very true, I never drank either! I don't think it's a bad thing to be considered weird with 😂
Public transportation is quite good in the bigger cities, but surely it doesn't make sense to run constant bus routes where there isn't enough people. In my friend group, most of the people didn't buy a car or motorbike. Drinking started very early around the age 12-14 for most of the people.
I am an Englishman, and I think as I am reserved and chill, I would fit right in with my Scandinavian cousins. The snow is the best thing imo
Snow is nice about first month of the winter but after like 3-6 months it gets really old
Could be your Scandinavian heritage kicking in 😉
So true! @@Mr.Falcon541
"In America, we are not taught about the rest of the world. I actually didn't ever take a geography class"
So this is not a myth. It's reality. SAD REALITY!!!
What she said is very uncommon.
America is a continent so everything makes sense
No the 2 guys above talked about a worst shit tragedy that happens, in US in statenitan education many states til today don't requires and teach geography as mandatory course it's a the dead of education there.
In others Americans countries geography it's mandatory course if you reproves in that course will never be graduated in education in all way and sense.
America is continent united continent ever but any region of America have your own reality
When it comes to stereotypes the US is pretty good at living up to them
@@MW_Asura As an American no longer living there for over a decade, I hate the people use the "not all Americans" because, no duh, but it sure is a lot of them. Often a not just a few bad apples amount too.
Almost no country has a majority of the many bad stereotypes. They wouldn't function as a country if that was the case. But there are an inordinate amount in many countries that make one take a harder look at what might be going on in a culture to foster those negatives. But no, instead of trying to make things better, I just hear the "Not all x do y".
That’s a shame that many Americans don’t study geography. I feel everyone should have a basic knowledge of what’s outside their own country. I never knew Iceland 🇮🇸 had such a low population! Always learning from the World Friends channel!
Американцам не нужны знания, для этого есть образованные эмигранты.
I’m from the US and I was taught Both American History , World History and world Geography and my son goes to the same school and is being taught the same things as I was, American schools do no get taught the same things and Schools are done by the school district they are in and btw I graduated in 1980
As a Dutchie who was living in Sweden and Iceland before, I actually loved the winters (except for the months leading to the winter, when it's not proper winter). I loved the snowy days, the cozy atmosphere with lights, northern lights, etc. In The Netherlands, winters are just like fall with a loooot of rain, storms and hardly ever snow or ice these days. In Stockholm, the winters were quite calm and stable, with lots of sunshine (I know some Swedes disagree, but it's definitely more than where I'm from).
You just need to check the statistics for hours of sin in Stockholm in for eixample the month of dec and jan to see that your statement is inaccurate. There is more hours of light in the netherlands. Just a Quick Google search.
Its not about perception, its just compare statistics.
@nie-fh5qv More hours of daylight doesn't equal sunshine. Even when Stockholm has less daylight, it still has more sunshine than where I live. I've lived in both countries in different cities for many years and know that there is a big difference. Statistics don't tell the whole story. There are also regional differences.
I guess the Swedish "fika" (the other Nordic nations have similar traditions under different names) is much like the British tradition of "Tea and "biscuits". In Iceland we call it "kaffitími" - coffee-time, not tea...
Regarding the "everybody know everyone else in Iceland" has a grain of truth to it. In my experience, whenever I meet another Icelander in the most unlikely places in the world and start talking, it usually takes less than 10 minutes to find some common acquaintances!
The word "fika" allegedly started as some kind of wordplay of "kaffe" --> "kaffi" --> "fiika" --> "fika".
I'm not sure if it is true, but it does make sense.
Swedish brands like Annas and Pågen are well-known in Finland. I like especially thin heart-shaped gingerbread (pipparkakku / pepperkaka) made by Annas, and muffins and cinnamon rolls (korvapuusti/kanelbulle/gifflar) made by Pågen.
@@SwedenTheHedgehog Sounds bizarre to me. "Kaffi" would be a pretty standard way to refer to coffee here in Fennosweden, but I can only imagine the looks I would get if I said that over in Sweden proper.
@@Pythonizah In modern Swedish it would sound strange for sure; but this would be old and dialectal Swedish, so I think it’s at least likely!
In finland we don't have that, we just drink coffee whenever we have more than 5 minutes of free time
More Nordic contents plz😂😂 it's entertaining
Seems a bit like people don't know, that there is also no sunlight in the north of nothern hemisphere winters, also in Canada, Alaska and Russia. Just like theres no light in southern hemisphere winters the more south you go.
Except that 99% of the population in said coutries live at the latitude of paris ie. as south as they can possibly get.
@@petrirantavalli859 you don't need to live somewhere in order to know basic things.
Denmark, the nordic country that is the furthest to the south, is at the same latitude as the middle of Saskachewan.
Yakutsk is about the same latitude as Sundsvall, a city in the middle of Sweden.
So yeah, other countries at the same latitude have as little (or much) sun, but not many lives there.
Edit: that said, most people in Scandinavian countries lives in the southern parts as well.
About trees. Finland have most forest in Europe, 73% of the area. Sweden is second with 70%.
Поэтому финны покупают русский лес? Для своих заводов)) что-то вы плохо изучили статистику. 1 место в мире у России, поэтому в Европе тоже у России. Или вы тоже не изучаете географию? И не знаете что половина России в Европе)
@@Банкивасограбят Ja Ryssland har störst skog i världen men den är bara 49% av landets totala area. Du ber mig läsa geografi, jag ber dig läsa matematik.
@@reineh3477 да, в этом смысле Финляндия является самой лесной страной, в этом смысле повезло и Финляндии и России, мы дышим самым чистым воздухом!
Но финны берегут свой лес, а в Росси он пилится беспощадно и продаётся. Может сейчас закроют границы и перестанут продавать.
Я знакома с человеком продававшим лес в Финляндию, это очень богатый человек. Все эти продажи нелегальны наполовину. Закрыв границу финны закрыли этот нелегальный бизнес.
@@reineh3477 вообще самая большая проблема сейчас не лес, а то что Евросоюз строит на границе с Россией подземные хранилища и выделил на это 330 млн €. Они готовятся к войне чтобы вы понимали. Сами знаете какие почвы в Финляндии - скалы, гранит, и подземное строительство намного дороже наземного! А почему? А потому что они готовятся к войне и бомбам. В Евросоюзе нет места для хранилища? Только у границы с Россией? И в срочном порядке! До 2025 должны быть построены. Вы понимаете что вашу страну готовят следующую к войне после Украины? В Украине Путин тоже долго предлагал мир, Англия и Германия были против мира…. Поэтому сейчас в день потери по 1 тыс человек с украинской и русский стороны. Но в Украине было 40 млн населения, а в Финляндии всего 5 млн….но американцам плевать на небольшие страны и плевать на смерти украинцев. Моя семья с Украины, с польской части и мне очень жаль украинский народ, но нет выхода и я вижу что с финской стороны идёт по такому-же сценарию. Просто знайте.
@@Банкивасограбят Wow, from forest to politics... The fact is that Russia attacked Ukraine (first in 2014, then again in 2022). Of course the rest of Europe is preparing for a war - but only because of Russian imperialism and constant need to pose a threat to her neighbouring countries (and Europe as a whole). Putin only offered peace to have the annexed Ukrainian provinces recognised as part of Russia. The Ukrainians have all the right to defend their country, and Europe supports them because that is the right thing to do. (You would think the same way if for example China attacked Russia, wouldn't you? Or would it be OK if China annexed the Russian Far East?)
Nordic people + alcohol is so old news already... In the Nordic countries they consume less alcohol per head than in Central/Southern Europe. In Finland, alcohol consumption has been steadily decreasing for the past 15 years.
I mean it's still true (I'm Norwegian). It's just that we don't consume alcohol in the same way. In Britain for example it's normal to go to the pub regularly throughout the week after work and drink a bit, etc. Norwegians don't do that. But we go to the pub in the weekends and get absolutely smashed to the point of going black out drunk. Which brits don't usually do.
The whole "#SWEDENGATE" thing about Swedes not offering food for guest got so blown out of proportions, especially in Asia and even more specifically, Korea. It's really weird
Maybe it's different in the countryside, but in my experience most Finns do not get a car when they turn 18, though they may get a driving license. Few 18 year olds could afford to buy even a used car (source: I'm a Finn). Public transportation is actually pretty good too, for the most part
yeah you are definetly from a city. here in the middle of nowhere we have few busses a day, and few trains so getting a car will help so much to get freedom, because you don't have to get a ride from your parents. if you want to go to a bigger city for excample to watch a movie, there's great chance that you will need to be there from 15.30 to 21.30 just because trains don't match
I live in a smaller city and my brother got a car when he turned 18. Most people get a car where I live when they are 18 or even 17. It's just easier, even tho it's not like a super small city (like you can just walk, or ride a bike, for longer distance you can use a train or sometimes even a bus)
In the countryside public transportation sucks or is non-existent. Where I live there are only two operating bus lines... and they run 1-3 times a day at rather inconvenient hours, so it is basically necessary to own a car. The nearest big cities are 80-100 km away. BUT: living here is so much cheaper than in Helsinki or any other big city. :) So yes, it's VERY different.
@@Riippumatonkaveri what is cheaper that affects you a lot, besides rent costs?
@@Harry-hyl It's mainly the rent, or if bought, the house prices are also so much cheaper.
About not giving food to guests.
I live in Denmark now, my bf is danish. And he has a childhood friend that never ever offered him food when he was over, not even coffee or drinks. For the record: my bf and his family hosted this friend many times, and almost always they offered him to eat, it is weird in their family to not offer food or at least a drink (soda, water, coffee). And they were the closest best friends. When he was over at his place, he had to go home, or his parents had to pick him up, so he can eat at home, then come back to continue hanging out with his friend.
Basically it was just a thing in that guy's household, (yes they were a little bit werid), but they planned out all the meals and portions and everything a week in advance, and it seemed like they might've not had the money to go out of that planned/budgeted meals.
Years later, that friend moved out now, he has invited my bf and me many times and offered food. So i think it was about how his mom wanted to run the house and possibly money issues. Also some people are a little bit greedy if i can say that, i think many of his friends thought that his parents have more money, so they shouldn't bother. But the point is, i don't think it's common at all here.
It is common tho when inviting someone to tell them if this is a party where we offer food, or everyone should bring their own food and/or drinks.
Swedes traditionally do not share meals as generously as they do with "fika." Historically, food was a scarce resource that needed careful management. Being generous with coffee and pastries, on the other hand, became a way to socialize and offer something pleasant without straining the limited food supply. "Fika," with its emphasis on coffee and baked goods, thus became a more economically feasible and friendly social activity. It goes back to WW1 when there where a food shortage, and that lives on in the collective mind.
Prevalence of seasonal depression in Iceland is actually lower compared to other countries.. however Iceland has one of the highest usage of antidepressants as a form of treatment which might be because therapy is not a part of the universal healthcare and therefore really expensive
For me it's the summer heat and the winter cold. It's because when it's summer I need at least two fans on so i can sleep or even to just relax in my room, but in the winter if i want to go outside I have to wear so many layers. (I'm swedish)
Saunas being "famous" in Finland just sounds so wrong. It is our thing from millenia ago that all the other places just adopted. Its a huge inherent part of the culture.
That's just semantics. There is nothing wrong with the word "famous." They are "famous" because its your thing. It doesn't necessarily mean just "trendy" in a negative/superficial way.
The basic idea of sauna has been invented independently multiple times around the world, tho. Yes it's an important part of Finnish culture but we can't really claim it as solely ours.
@@SamTAndersonTrue, but finnish sauna is pretty different from the sweat lodge or turkish baths etc, the word itself is finnish and nowhere else people have a such a huge sauna culture where pretty much every citizen has been to sauna weekly since like the age of a few months and more saunas than cars and even politicians making decisions at the sauna.
@@bastet9994I really don't know what else to compare it to so people from all around would get it, but to me it just sounds kind of similar to "jesus christ is pretty famous in the vatican.".
@@jyripeltola5904 LoL. OK, I understand. Pizza is famous in Italy. Tacos are famous in Mexico.
I concede, it sounds weird.
I'm just now noticing just how much of the way my family and I are comes from my Scandinavian grandparents.
Finn here. I agree with the Swedish girl on the slush season. The combination of cold+wet+dark is the worst, but when it’s just cold and dark and there’s snow on the ground that reflects the light and makes the environment less dark, it’s okay.
But yeah… November. That’s probably the worst on the cold+wet+dark -front.
The spring, summer and early fall does compensate though.
I am Italian and I can say that we are collectively envious about nordic countries so I am a little surprised about their complaints… I knew that these were expensive countries but I thought that citizens could easily afford everything because of the high salaries… I guess inflation hit hard all of us… And I also thought that weather and light exposure were not that big of a deal, I mean every year scandinavian people are said to be the happiest in every chart/magazine (personally I could never sustain all the darkness and freezing temperature).
Thanks for another great and very interesting video! Sending love from Italy
Housing market in the Nordics is absolutely insane, a small two bedroom apartment is about 500.000 USD in both Reykjavík and Oslo
It is not like we cannot afford it, but keep in mind many of these girls probably go with the Korean salaries they earn (if they work there), and that is kind of different. I had that experience myself when I studied in China, and when my year was up and I returned to Sweden I did not buy anything for over a month, the economic differences were just that severe for me that it took me a month to open my wallet for something, and even longer to get used to it again.
These ladies are young, live in South Korea and probably either are students or work foir a medium income by SK standards. Nordic salaries tend to be much higher than in SK, so it makes sense that trhey'll have a shock coming home.
@@SindrijoHi! thanks for your reply! We have the same problem here, especially in Milan… I mean a small flat located there can hit the market at 400k (best case scenario), the housing bubble Is absurd and every landlord Is trying so hard to profit off I swear I saw advertisment of basements and garages listed as apartments!
As a Finn I like the weather has all four seasons, and January should be colder than July. The Finnish houses are planned for cold winter weather and you can wear a T-shirt at home even if there's -20 Celsius degrees outside. A hot summer is far more consuming for a body than cooler seasons.
Besides there are many famous Italians who have been good at winter sports over the years like Alberto Tomba, Dorothea Wierer, Maurilio de Zolt, and many others. The next the Olympic Winter Games will be held in Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo, in 2026.
It helps to be born into the colder weather climate.
Where I live in Wisconsin, during the day yesterday we had a horseshoe tournament in the snow. We dig out the snow around the stakes and the rest of the pits, but the thing is, if you don't get a ringer, you'll hit the frozen pit and the shoe will bounce off the ice and out of the pit. Then we had a bowling tournament that night which was a benefit, and the proceeds went to youth bowling. These activities all involve drinking beer, which seems to be a common theme in cold weather climates.
The weather forecast thing is kinda funny since in Sweden a lot of people tend to prefer the Norwegian weather forecasting company since they're considered more accurate
The same for Danish 😅
Finland is different from other Nordic countries about that too. We basically just use our own forecasts Ilmatieteen laitos or Foreca. 😂
We tend to use the Norwegian even here in Estonia
In northern finland yr.no is the best too!
@@leopartanen8752 Yr.no is also quite popular in Finland.
You know that country is good if people complain about nothing but weather.
Bergen weather forecast is always on point - rain, rain, rain, rain ....
I'm just surprised that she didn't take a geography class. At my school, that is a class you need to take to even graduate.
yeah we need to know every country on every continent in Canadian curriculum.
Sometimes, I do admire Nordic countries because their people are blessed with smaller population and bigger spaces. I live in a very urban East Asian city. It is frightening that people lack spatial awareness which leads to horrible pedestrians manners and lack of respectful personal space.
Im from northen Sweden and I use norweigan weather forcasts to check what the weather will be like where I live😂 The main reason for it is 1: Its generally more accurate bc Swedish forecasts focus too much on only the big cities and neglects northen Sweden and 2: I just think SMHI us USELESS. Nine times out of ten they are wrong.
Side note: Pro of northen Sweden: No slush season, We have icy lakes and deep powder snow instead so during spring we build snow couches, go ice fishing and alpine skiing. One of the main reasons I wouldnt want to live down south is the lack of snow and the slush season. I prefer a "proper" winter.
Same here in Finnish Lapland. YR.no is the place to go. Maybe some superior NATO satellite data or something, but much more accurate than FMI (the Finnish forecasts). Also, Helsinki region can go drown in the slush with their job market, I like to live here with proper winters-
@@CaustikeBut you're also part of NATO now 😂
This countryside finnish girl really tells how unhealthy they live their lives there, bruh.
We finns like to do winter sports a lot such as Icehockey and skiing, and in the summers going to the forest, swimming, sauna and normal athletics.
Hi, this is Jemina from the video. My life in Finland was opposite to unhealthy actually, just like most finns I love winter sports, horse riding, swimming, etc. However, this video was about "the worst things about living in the Nordic countries" and therefore I mostly mentioned some negative parts :)
Meinaan esimerkkiä siitä että kun on esimerkiksi olemassa sarja nimeltään Savo-life Yle Areenalla ja se tuo mulle sen kuvan miten maalla elävät oikeasti ovat verrattuna kaupungissa asuviin.
for the dinner thing at the start, I had friends growing up whose parents would offer food but only a few, they always asked before they had even decided what's for dinner and they would make sure I didn't have any dietary restrictions. keep in mind this didn't happen every time we hung out, one of these friends lived on the outskirts of town and usually if we hung out at her place it was after school so we would be hungry and I would stay 'late' (maybe until 18:00-19:00), the other friend lived next door and we were basically family so eating at her place was not weird. it's just not usually part of scandinavian culture, the first time I ate at the out of town friends house her parents called my parents to ask if it was ok, you dont want to feed someone elses kid something they're not supposed to eat, you dont know if they have dietary restrictions or allergies, and some people go so far as to say it's shameful to "have to" feed someone elses kid because it implies that kids parents can't afford food, somehow making it ugly of the kid to eat at someone elses house. this last bit also applies to trick-or-treating, something that alot of richer neighbourhoods in sweden have 'banned' because it's basically begging (I don't agree with this) and they can afford to buy candy for their own kids.
I've been to Denmark 3 times and it was always sunny. Our Danish friends told us to come more often and bring the good weather. 😂
Of course you guys gotta do a 'best things about living in Nordic countries' video now.
As soon as she said "Slushie season" my anger shot through the roof... it's noooww
In Michigan we call it mud season.
I am from Denmark and we don't really serve food normally either, unless we had already invited others to join us for a meal. I think the roots is from my parents and grandparents generations, where food was quite sparse, so usually only had barely enough for your own household. I have heard stories where they went to bed hungry, simply because there was not enough food.
can you guys please make a video like this with Belgium (northern part), The Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and Austria?
I can tell you right now, as a Dane, I'm definitely not happy without my alcohol.
As a British person who married a Dane... HA to their "It's always rainy and grey in Denmark" comment. My husband didnt see rainy and grey till he moved here.
UK average: 778.3 mm, Danish average: 746 mm - I mean, I am thinking it might have something to do with where he lived and where he moved to because that difference seems a bit on the negligible side.
@@kinuuni Precipitation and overcast skies are not as strongly linked as you might intuitively think.
Weather is a safe talking subject, that rarely offend anyone
The irony is "According to the 2023 World Happiness Report, Finland is the 'happiest' country in the world for the sixth year in a row, followed by Denmark and Iceland." 😂😂 Sweden and Norway are ranked 6th and 7th respectively. 🤣
Well, not if you consider that official depression rates in the Nordic nations are also high, because all people get regularly checked, diagnosed and treated thanks to great universal healthcare. How many people in the US suffer from undiagnosed depression, from not being able to afford to get checked and treated, or from having no insurance coverage?
@@thoso1973 Look at how many people there is living on the streets, many of them have a diagnose, and did not get any treatment but they can buy a gun
@@thoso1973 it’s a bit easier taking care of a mere 5 million people compared to 334 million (not including all the millions of illegals entering America)….
This search of Finland is the happiest country in the world is false many Finns don't have Finns friend a moving a lot from Finland to never come back.
People reclamating that Finns are non social as it seems etc ...
@@TuaTeMauAkauAtea No it's not false, I live in one of the Nordic countries so I know.
People move from all countries and never comes back for many reasons even from USA and they will never come back
I'm not Finnish but I have spent a lot of time there and I would say the worst thing is that it's quite hard to make friends, especially if you are introverted because you have to make the first move with Finns. But also I'm very shy and usually wait for them to talk to me. So it can be a bit lonely. My only friend who lives there is Latin American and that's the opposite culturally, so I don't have too many Finnish friends.
You live in a sad culture search for a culture of fun and joy 🍻🌺🌹
@@TuaTeMauAkauAteaFinland's culture is not sad. It is the same with other Nordic countries.
If you visit Tampere just send message! We are frozen on the outside but when you get to know us, it´s friends for life. we dont do small talk, ask just important stuff what we want to know. we have fun and joy but it´s kind of treasure youll find when you know us.
@@evakkosiili6390 Tampere is the most popular city in Finland now.
I grew up in Denmark,my family always offered dinner,lunch,coffee,tea,depends on the time❤
We had a geography class from third to sixth grade in elementary school that was a part of our social studies curriculum (I went to public school in the States, not private). While we do not know her experience, I think the generalization that U.S. citizens do not learn geography is a bit overstated in the media and is used to highlight the negatives of when people get it wrong. It is true, however, that we are very insular, which is a negative and ignorant aspect of our society.
I love Norway in particular and Nordic countries in general, I love the way they value honesty and directness as their core values in the cultures.
I especially love the flag of Norway, it looks really beautiful and fashionable to me. I did search for information about the country, but I have not been satisfied yet.
Can some one tell me more about the country or Nordic cultures? I genuinely love to hear, may be just normal and simple things in daily basis, thank you so much 🌷
There are a lot of YT channels focusing on Norwegian topics. Do a search, and you will find them.
That is super kind of you. It makes me curious where you are from? I am Norwegian. And we are not actually that cold. We just respect each other and our own personal space and time a lot and we can be a bit awkward lol
But if you do spark up a conversation or have a question for someone that arent actively going somewhere you will be met with politeness and/or friendliness. At least that is my experience here in Bergen.
I am one of the most introverted and shy people, and I have had pleasant conversations with strangers randomly throughout my life. Immigrants, foreigners, and fellow Norwegians alike :)
@@kunilsen2519 well really love to hear from you and all the Nordic people. I'm not completely introverted but I ardently love to be alone. Personal space and personal time are unbeatable.
I am Vietnamese btw. My relatives and acquaintances want me to relocate in their current countries, but I just love Nordic countries so much. I have just learned the language and many skills every day to become more productive and upgrade myself so that I can be confident to come to visit your homeland and dive into the cultures.
So much love from my heart for the Nordics, see you soon my dreamland 💟 Wish the countries nothing but constant prosperity and greater blessings 🎆
The Swedish dinner thing, as a Swede we only cook what's nessecary for the people who we know beforehand will be eating so if another person all of sudden would eat there wouldnt be enough food for everyone.. >.>
But if we know before we shop/make the food then for sure we would invite the person to eat there!
💯
Same in Finland
Its a scandinavian thing ;) greetings from DK
@@TheAlkochef I'm from The Netherlands and we do the same here too!
In my fictional world, Finland has a lot of public transportation and great public transportation
Ir's funny that everyone knew what she meant when she explained the "slushy season" the time between winter and spring, when all the snow is about to melt away. Before it has dried up and the spring comes. But I think the worst of Sweden is the time during late autumn when there's no leaves left on the trees, it's getting dark outside, there's no sunlight and only black and dark everywhere. Before the first snow arrives.
Norway - Grandiosa
That's just sad.
I think it's a common misconception that Iceland is far North, but Reykjavik and Trondheim are ar about the same latitude.
Weather in Norway is extremely unpredictable compared to almost any other place in the world. Here's some reasons why it's so hard to predict:
- Mountainous terrain, so a lot depends on the wind direction. If you're in front of the mountain (from the wind direction), you get rain, and if you're behind it, you get sun (generally).
- Because of mountains and valleys, weather patterns can be extremely local.
- A lot depends on the Golf stream. Sometimes Britain gets all the rain, and other times the rain will be carried all the way to Norway.
- The temperature rests around 0°C a lot of the year, which means it's hard to predict if you will get rain or snow.
Generally they cannot predict the weather 10 days in advance at all, and sometimes not even what the weather will be like tomorrow. Usually a 5 day forecast is 90% accurate in other locations, but in Norway it's probably more around 50-60%.
Hyvä Jemina! 😊
“In America we are really really not taught about the rest of the world”
I call BS, I was in school in the 90s and early 2000s growing up we learned about Egypt, Ancient Rome, France, China, Russia, The UK, Ireland, Australia, Mexico, Canada, Spain, Cuba, Japan, and Malta. We learned world events like the crusades, WW1 and WW2, Vietnam war, French Revolution, the black plague and many other things about the rest of the world. She either went to a bad school had bad teachers or didn’t pay attention in school.
I loved history and learning about the world when I went to school, they are the best subjects in my opinion.
I absolutely find all Scandinavia loveable and the perfect place to live! The languages make me so mentally happy when I hear them!
I live in the USA, and I've looked into possibly obtaining a German citizenship one day.
With the current political and social conditions in the USA, I wouldn't recommend a European to immigrate here, unfortunately.
Much love for Nordic and the rest of Europe❤️❤️
That's a broad brush to paint friend. Having immigrated to USA from Italy, USA is great. Many opportunities. There many state to choose, if you don't like it move another : )
Iceland / The Netherlands / Norway / Sweden / Denmark / The Faroe Islands etc are some of my dream countries with beautiful nature, and luckily there are only a few ppl, which makes them even better, the fewer ppl, the better! I highly recommend learning the heavenly languages Norse / Icelandic / Dutch / Norwegian / Gothic / Faroese / Danish, as they are the prettiest languages ever that are as pretty / refined / poetic as English and way too pretty not to know! Tree should be everywhere, and all trees / grasses / flowers etc are pure and sacred living beings who should be protected from hum’ns, and they should have always been protected, and the fishies / birds etc should also be protected from hum’n, the vitamins should all be made vegan, and all the foods and milks should be made vegan! Even though no country is perfect, Germanic countries are still the best and prettiest and most organized countries, especially the Nordic countries, which are so safe, with beautiful green nature everywhere! So they are one of my dream countries, and the languages are so amazing, and I am learning all those languages, and hopefully I will be moved there!
Many of those countries have issues with Muslims. Muslim immigrants are tje ;east compatible to any other peoples/culture. They want to keep their own beliefs and rules, but want all the benefits of the host countries.
@@doodahgurlie
The USA can easily relate. That's why people don't move to certain cities, or even entire states due to a high Muslim population
Most Europeans who immigrate to the US only do so because they get a bit more money there
I heard Denmark. I was on a project in Denmark for 4 out of 5 weeks. It was so nice. Everyone at the company we were working with. At 12 noon, everyone stopped working. Management, White Collar and the Production workers all stopped working. They all went to lunch at the same time. The company had a Chef that worked for them. They prepared all the food and the company paid for everything. Even we didn't have to pay for lunch. It was so nice. I loved it.
Many years ago I reached out to anyone I could find in Europe with my family name on Mother and Father's side of the family. When I was done for that project. One of the guys I found that may be a cousin, I found out he lived a kilometer from where I was. I could have kicked myself. I was that close and could have met him in person.
I'm American and had a geography class. I also have always loved geography! So not all American schools suck!
So geography is not mandatory in the USA? That's peculiar to me.
I belive geography is part of the standard curriculum for everyone to study in almost every other part of the world, except perhaps North Korea... :)
The USA has some really good university institutions though, in science, or at least had.
US is fallen broken in basic education that the sad reality today....
Excuse me, the schools suck, you don't
Not giving food to guests in Sweden is very much true. Some Swedish people try to repudiate this, but there is definitely some truth to it. Me and my friends discussed this and basically everyone have experienced it. Usually this would be when we were hanging out with friends at someone's house and their parents would only cook food for their child and we would either go home or just stay in our friends room watching TV, play games etc. while he is eating. This is obviously not true about everyone but it's more common than you would think.
Its jantelagen i guess
The Norwegian looks Egyptian, greetings from Cairo Egypt 🇪🇬
I think the girl from Finland explained it well. The laws and rules in the Nordic states are in abundance, and can also piss you off in a way. Especially if you’ve traveled a lot to countries with easier lifestyles. But there’s a reason why the Nordic countries rate amongst the happiest in the world. So something must be right 🤷♂️.
Greetings from Denmark 🇩🇰
Lol yeah, the weather is kinda all over the place here in norway(and the rest of the nordics) 😛
But as we say in norway, det fins ikke dårlig vær, bare dårlige klær 😁 (there is no bad weather, just bad clothes)
We have the same saying in Sweden.
And where I live in Sweden we have quite similar weather to Norway, to the point I usually check yr.no instead of SMHI.
@@luminoustarisma a bor du nær Østfold elno? 😁
@@Armoure10 Göteborg SE
@@luminoustarisma ah nice city ^^
Im from Østfold, but lives in oslo now 🙂
@@Armoure10 Samma för Oslo, fin stad 😀
Weather forecast for Northern Norway is also wack most of the time, not just Bergen.
The "Norwegian" person is obviously not a native Norwegian. She speaks with a Latin accent, so she's probably natively from Italy or Spain, or maybe Romania. Cheers from a Norwegian linguist
I am an American- Texian to be exact- and i am surprised at hiw many similarities we all share. Our weather service is, to put it bluntly, hit or miss. We don't really serve foods to visitors (drinks and snacks don't count), but we also try to not show up during a normal lunch or dinner time to avoid putting the host family on the spot. As kids, we were usually sent home when we were visiting a friends and dinner was ready to be served, or, they may call our parents to see if it was alright... and our parents usually said "Send him home. I have his dinner ready." 😆 We are more alike at times than we like to admit
Why is there an American there? Is she supposed to be the "normal" one?
So for Danish people and thing about inviting on food. In my experience if you have guests during breakfast, lunch or dinner time you invite them to join. Atleast that has always been like that for people i know. If you come outside of the normal food times you will normally get invited on something to drink, cofee, soda, tea, water or what they have and sometimes snacks. Specially if its older pepole, they will pretty much always have snacks for guests during cofee time. I know my grandparents if they have a handyman out repairing some stuff between like 2-4pm they will always offer them something to drink and a snack. Funny but in my grandparents time it was actually normal to offer handymans beer when they had lunch/afternoon break but now the handymen only accepts a soda 😂
do americans really serve food to their visitors? i really hope they don't mean they make food for them specifically, because that sounds really odd and unnecessary. otherwise i guess i can understand? but it still seems odd, they have food at home and you aren't part of the family you're visiting
In general, if there is a gathering or an invite people may prepare sth for the guest in my country. Even if they don't prepare sth specifically for the guest, they still offer food, snacks, coffee and desserts.
If someone is coming over you have food for them in the USA
6:50 Confirmed. I'm in Bergen now and it's truly the rain capital of the world.
"In America , we are not taught about the rest of the world" i'm shocked about that 😂
If Americans were taught about other countries, they'd learn how screwed over they are. It's best to keep them in ignorance..
Because the USA is a soft power, so people will learn about the American media and culture. I see lots of American UA-camrs travel around the world and discover.
@@Angelcynn_2001 Ya, but it's not taught in their schools or on the tv shows they watch. They literally have to go out and discover other countries themselves in order to learn, it seems..
@@SuperiorityQomplexWhy do people keep emigrating to the US, then, including other 1st Worlders?
@@SuperiorityQomplexYou must not be aware of PBS, Travel Channel, or any number of streaming services. Suffice it to say that Americans don't have a shortage of travel shows. I'd dare even say they have more than the other countries.
@4:50 Most popular hobbies among Finns are: Skiing, ice skating, sauna and swimming in ice hole. Various activities in nature like camping, hiking, hunting, collecting berries and mushrooms, fishing and ice fishing.
Also our public transportation is updating rapidly. Bigger places like in Tampere the longest wait time for bus is about 20min. More remote places bus comes only about once or twice a day, but I think that's universal 'problem' in countrysides.
The cold weather is the worst. Other than that everything else is perfect.
Thing is that cold weather can be countered with warm clothes, something a lot of people are too stupid to understand when they go shopping for their fancy brand jackets that can't even block wind. What you cannot completely counter however is the darkness. Sure you can get vitamin D supplicants but that still doesn't help with the lack of sunlight and gray environment.
Cold weather is better than hot weather. You can always dress up, but dressing down there's a limit.
Personally I find darkness harder to cope with than cold. But there are different types of cold. On the coastline it is more windy and moist and the cold really gets you. I am from inner land, where the cold does not feel that cold, except for a few rare windy days.
I am now in Antalya, Turkey, and living next to the sea combined with wind feels almost unbearable sometimes in winter, even though the temperatures are much higher.
And when it comes to darkness, the snow helps a lot. That's why usually November and December are the worst in Finland, usually with less snow and also sunshine. The second half of the winter is yet colder but snowier and sunnier and therefore nicer.
I like the cold but not the icy roads. Gives me anxiety having to walk on icy slippery ground
@@peixeessYou have to learn how to fall safely 😁😁
The public transportation in Finland takes you pretty much anywhere you would want to go, but the buses aren't frequent especially on longer distances. In the bigger cities there might be a local bus leaving 50m from your home every 15 minutes. But if you're going further than 30 km away there's probably a bus every 1-2 hours
If you ladies want great weather come to Southern California. 28th of January the weather forecast is 80 degrees Fahrenheit, sunny and a little windy. The coldest it gets here in the winter is 30 degrees but that's in the middle of the night and it usually warms up to 55 degrees in the day. If we want to experience real winter weather we drive an hour to Big Bear Lake or Lake Arrowhead in the Mountains where it snows in the winter. There's a lot of single men here and would love to meet you ladies.
Nordic women don't have any problems finding Nordic men at home. Also, why would they want to go to an inferior country like the USA?
We don't like farenheit
@@Ikkeligeglad 80°F is 27°C. 30°F is -1°C. 55°F is 13°C
@@ectoplasmicentity we don't like it anyway, I only travel to countries where they measure in Celsius
@@Ikkeligeglad Very well.
The Icelandic weather joke made me laugh, because I suspect they must say that pretty much everywhere around the world, but my parents always loved to tell people about the state where I grew up in the southeastern US (imagine a thick Southern accent) "if you don't like weather, just wait around a few days, it'll change!" So less about the rain shifting every five minutes, but it's not unusual for the temperature to shift as much as 30 degrees C in a day or two, during the spring and fall.
"In America, we are not taught about the rest of the world". She doesnt speak for me. Hate when people say this. she 1 person out of 50 states 1,000's of school. I was taught about the world.
You seem like the minority, so whats she said fits the general profile of the population. Exceptions always exists.
Do the difference in your country we see many craziness and rudeness from currents statenitans from today.
You're a good soul, save your nation 🍻💙👍
I'm Swedish and I used to use a Norwegian weather site because it was more accurate than the Swedish ones. Now I don't know, it was a while ago.
SMHI är så dålig så de går inte
So incredibly weird that the Norwegian panelist is clearly not from a genuine norwegian culture
@Joe-ix5hjWhat does that mean? My family has black hair and brown eyes and we are all Norwegian
@Joe-ix5hj Well, Norwegians look like a lot and have very different features, I have friends who have every nose shape, hair and eye color, and skin color also varies. Most of the people I know don't actually have blonde hair, but I guess that is the stereotype
Ein sehr schönes Video,mit schönen Ladys 😊
Most Americans with a strong Scandinavian culture will not invite you into their home, even after you invite them into your home and cook for them.
where i live in sweden the public transport use the norwegian weather forecast system, we really dont trust our own. 114km to border by car btw
"in america we are really not taught about the rest of the world" and then she ends with "I actually didnt ever take a geography class" .. yeah, so which is it? Americas education system sucks or just this girl here?
Shouldn't geography class be mandatory? (instead of being optional)
What, you guys don't have mandatory geography? Geography is taught as a mandatory subject throughout the years in Europe.
both
It's a tragedy for all statenitans when the world see and hear that level shit in education, total failness in sciences of humanities.
Geography don't be a mandatory course in schools.
👎👎👎👎👎☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️
I feel like sharing the food is a very nuanced thing at least in Finland. Like it's not common but it exists where someone's kid is always at your house at dinner time and they use it for their economical benefit. I also grew up during recession so it's not like we had a lot of money to feed everyone we knew. On the other hand my friends would always accompany us to dinner if they were in the house. And it's also like the rarer guest you are, either the place you visit wants to be particularly hospitable and invites the stranger for dinner, or you're viewed as a random person present and the dinner is a closed family event. And then when I grew up I was a student and always thinking "do I still have food left for myself tomorrow or do I need to buy and make more food that I thought would get me over at least this period of time" so I would sort of never offer a visitor dinner, I was just a dude living alone. But I'd on the other hand always offer coffee or drinks and perhaps cookies or whatever to go along with it. if I had money and was living with people that I share food with on dinner, then I'd always invite them to share the dinner. Another thing in Finland is that if you come to someone's home and expect to be treated with food or coffee, you bring something like pastry or whatever as a gift. You don't expect to be treated just like that, you bring your own part/formality so you can feel like you deserve to be treated and don't have to just hope for it, because now it's a mutual offering.
My parents are also from more rural region where it's common to visit family and friends randomly and casually, people might just pop in and sit there for hours talking. A moment of coffee, they might have a dinner and they might offer dinner or not. Usually they do because they might have big families or had big families and are used to spinning out a bigger meal or having leftovers ready to be heated in the fridge. So the heritage from there is openly offering guests food if you have enough for everyone. In the cities people aren't as in touch with family and friends and don't pop up randomly anymore so the traditions and readiness to offer food is not as common. Many people don't have cupboards stocked with food for living alone and not having guests and not wanting food to spoil, so they might not have the opportunity to offer a meal.
In fact it's been quite historically recorded, the coffee culture, where people might have had better and not as good coffee in the house and the lady of the house would take the good coffee and make it for the guests, and the family drinks just some every day cheap stuff. Connected to that is the baked goods, I've seen it for example in my dad's family where all her sisters and my grandma start with "oh what a shame we really don't have anything to offer with the coffee" and then empty their cupboards with baked and bought cakes and cookies to fill the whole table, all delicious. And that is very traditional, historical behavior in Finland. Talking down your offerings while still always having good stuff at hand to offer and plenty of it.
So it's quite a nuanced topic. If you go to someone's place and don't get treated with a dinner, you shouldn't first think "wow they're so rude" but "why do I deserve to be treated with a meal". It makes you probably less entitled and more forgiving, and the next thing you can do is try and come up with reasons why they might not be treating you with the dinner for reasons that are not related to how much they like you.
I've actually noticed that people from some cultures don't even give a second thought that maybe other people don't behave the same as their culture, like for example they make a decent chunk of money and just assume everyone can live their lifestyle so they don't ask and plan with you, they just announce "let's go for a dinner" and choose the most expensive place (and obviously don't treat you who eats pasta as is at home). And people have similar behavior elsewhere as well, they might just assume that they are entitled to things and that you owe them some level of treatment and experiences for no apparent reason. Here the culture is perhaps more like you're thankful for every bit of luxurious and extra treatment you get from people, you don't assume you are entitled to anything. Well some people are, some people are just as entitled as others.
"There are only trees in Finland" - "There's also lakes!". I live in one of the biggest cities in Finland and I have 5 minutes on bike to be surrounded by a forest at a lake (I can choose any of the three, about the same distance). I can walk less than a kilometre to be in forest in three directions. Most people who want to move or travel to Finland want to do it specifically for the trees and lakes. They're tired of not seeing green anywhere.
Her description/experience regarding transportation can vary hugely depending on where in Finland you live. For example in you live in one of those biggest cities, you will rarely have thought you should or need to own a car. The public transportation in some cities is so well covered you think owning a car is nuisance. And if you can't ride public transportation, you can bike or walk. Only for big items needed to be transported you might want a car, but for myself I always go "can I walk there in less than 30 minutes? Can I bike there in less than 30 minutes? Can I get there by public transportation?" in that order. I do use public transportation for shorter distances, but I wouldn't use it if walking doesn't take long and I'm not in a hurry to get there. Like you don't need to live in the capital city to have trams go every 4-7 minutes or have at most 20 minute wait for a bus if you there's not many bus lines.
What always gets me that almost everyone knows Nokia phones and is nostalgic about them, and nobody knows it's a town in Finland where the company is from. And made/makes rubber boots and tires.
No wonder danish are so friendly with brits though. They have the same weather. There's one week in Finland in the summer when it doesn't rain and you can see the sun (even if it's on the sky a lot).
I don't think the rules in Finland are really a problem personally (unless you found a company and have to do everything yourself, then you're in a hot mess with every law and rule and standard). Most of them are very intuitive and don't bother your life (other than if you wanna be obnoxious or can't plan your use of time or if you just want to go overboard in something you shouldn't). What gets me is that there's this public face and moralising in a sense. In public speech and image Finland is this fairy tale country of human rights and equality and healthcare and empathy towards people that have dealt worse cards in life, and collectively paying taxes so everyone can have a reasonable level of living no matter how bad it gets. In truth in the healthcare there's a lot of prejudice by practicioners from nurses to doctors that is in no way in line with their education and reasonable common thinking. A lot of judgment, not believing the patients, not listening the patients, not treating the patients appropriately until it's too late. The pretending that we want to improve in mental health issues but somehow they can't find money to improve it, other than for sidewalk ad campaigns "DON'T BE LONELY, DON'T BE DEPRESSED". And the unbelievable harshness of people. A ton of people who got lucky and landed a job without effort think it was their own doing and judge and speak very harshly about people who aren't employed for some reason. It doesn't matter if they're disabled, have severe mental health issues or are actively trying to get employed, they get lumped into the same group and called lazy and useless. Similarly, people are judged for many other things as well. Mostly on things the speaker understands nothing about at all and doesn't know the person at all. It's mostly in universities like in engineering where people are excited about things and welcoming, sort of nerding out without it being about fighting the system, the people who look forward and dream about things and get excited.