All tagged Finland
Water evaporates, twirling and enveloping me as I look out over the snow-covered lakeshore: my skin prickly, breath foggy and limbs immobile in absolute relaxation--the post-sauna nirvana. Summer twilight--blue and purple hued--the city is asleep as I bike on cobblestones. I'm a little drunk on wine but mostly the light. Feel familiar? These are my memories of Finland. Sensations of home etched into my skin. Yet they are collective.
Empathy is a personal trait that is inert to all humans, yet taking a look at two modern European democracies we can see that empathy is also a societal norm that manifests itself in very different ways between cultures.
I began to wonder my culture’s take on being proud whilst walking down the streets of Helsinki and spotting a couple of University of Helsinki cotton bags.
In September, I moved from the Helsinki metropolitan area to Jyväskylä in Central Finland. To add to my normal moving angst, all kinds of small town girl nightmares were running through my mind. I mean every small town in Finland is the same, right?
I wonder what this culture looks like through her eyes and whether she feels at home here. Does she view our social reservation as a form of segregation or our diffident demeanor as indifference? I start rewinding the events of the past 20 minutes, feebly attempting to see the “normal” every-day occurrences of my bus ride as something strange and unfamiliar.
Over the past few weeks since my degree was finally registered and made official with the faculty, I've spent some time looking back over those years, trying to comprehend the full significance of this long trek I've taken, before it does finally reach its conclusion.
