The people are very friendly and helpful.  These are some of my experiences in dealing with people of Finland. This will be also used as part of my report about Finland for future student to reference at Mount Royal.

People of Finland

When me and Ronald first arrived student from the school came to pick us up. It took us a half hour to find them. I think they were expecting two young Canadians not a Chinese Canadian and a middle age Canadian traveling together. Once we hooked up with them they were very helpful they not only brought us to be apartments but showed us around Helsinki.  It was about midnight when we arrived so by the time they show us Helsinki every thing was closed but it was nice to see what the city looked like.

Last Train

One time we went to a bar and stayed to long and missed the last train home. A person seen that we didn’t know how to get home took a taxi with us to her place which was on the way and then paid for that part of the trip. She directed the taxi how to drop us off at the right place.  She then proceeded to call us and make sure we where ok. How is that for helping people!

Lost

Shopping

Students and Teachers

I would also recommend to students to take Local Area Networks and Internetworks from Erik Pätynen he was always fast to fix any problem with the Cisco part of the course and was always prompt with his e-mail request. His courses takes up a lot of time compared to the other courses.

The other course which should be taken is finish for exchange students which involved learning the culture and language of Finland. Marjo-Riitta Näyhö the teacher brought in food and drinks of Finland for the class to taste.

Lapland

Train Ride

It was 1 pm when a got on the train to Lapland. The first two hours of the trip were quit and not a lot happened. Then this drunk Fin sat in front of me and he just wanted to talk I keep telling him I don’t speak finish but he keep talking so a just nodded my  head.  The woman beside me told me some of what he was saying and he was telling me war stories. I began to understand what he was talking about by his hand gesturers and other non verbal communication this conversation lasted over 2 hours. I think the other people in the car were happy I was talking to him because he was bothering everyone in the car until I allowed him to talk to me.

The next person I talked to was a 13 year old kid who was heading to visit his father and he just wanted to talk about Playstation games and laugh at me for still playing Video games at my age we talked for about an hour.

Arrival

When I arrived in Rovanienmi the Capital of Lapland it was almost Midnight. At least I was dressed for the weather it was snowing and not to cold. I walked to the Shell gas station near the train station and asked directions to the Santa Claus hotel. He gave me a map and  showed me the way to the hotel he was very helpful. I was glad it was less then KM away.  I ended up staying at the Rudolph hostel which was half KM from the Santa Claus hotel but was owned by them.

What I Did

The next Day I walk up to the artic Circle and visited Santa Claus. I guess you need kids to make it exciting.

On Christmas Eve I want cross country skiing I enjoyed this they closed at 3PM I was the last one back so the workers drove me back into the town which was very kind of them. The told me some adventure stories on the way into the city. They also offered to give me a discount on snowshoeing if I wanted to learn.

On Christmas day I went downhill skiing I talked to a few people going up the lift with them. I found this ski hill a little boring after skiing in the Canadian Rockies two different short ski runs weren’t worth the effort.

The next Day I explored the town then went to the movie theater watched a movie I had an uneventful ride back to Calgary on the night train.

When talking to people in Lapland I found that they were more comfortable speaking in English the people in Helsinki and even the older population understood English.

Conclusion

The people of Finland are very friendly people and I would have no problems going back there to visit again. I find the people are more open to you if you try to speak some of their language. The most helpful words I will list below

Usefull Finnish words

The most important word is Kiitos which means thank you which I used every time a bought something or asked a question in English it shows that you’re at least trying to learn and respect the language.

Other words that is very useful

Puhutko englantia – do you speak English

Minä olen – I am

Kuka – who

Mikä – what      

Missa – where

0 - nolla, 1- yksi ,2 - kaksi, 3 - kolme 4 - neljä , 5 - viisi, 6 - kuusi, 7- seitsemän, 8-kahdeksan, 9-yhdeksän, 10- kymmenen

If you know the above information you can communicate at least enough to shop in stores and find out basic information.

I would also note not to use the phrase “Ah” at the end of English statements.  It sound in finish like you are saying no or a negative statement (ei, et, en) all the time.