Seven Wonders of the World

Hello!

Have been pretty occupied lately so I've kind of "forgotten" to write this blog (mom & sister visiting, studying to the first exam I'll have here, parties...) but here we go again!
What I am going to write about today is seven wonders of the world, and with this I don't mean the ancient ones like the pyramids in Giza nor Statue of Zeus at Olympia, but cultural differences! :) That's something I come across with daily - both in good and in bad to be honest and some of them just manage to surprise me over and over again! :D So here is a list of things I personally as a Finn find so weird/funny/interesting/cool and what not:

1. Greeting. Some nations kiss on the cheek when they see each other. Well, nothing new in that, but somewhere you do it once, somewhere twice and somewhere three times. And for example the Italians kiss the left cheek first for some reason. So, first of all I have to get used to kissing people every time I see them and yes, even those people I meet on a daily basis! And then I have to remember if I all of a sudden have to start kissing the left cheek first, and last but not least I have to remember when to stop: after one or three kisses.....! Oh help me! (Yup, help is really needed, I never know what to do and I always end up being the awkward Finn not to know what to do. Will I ever get used to this amount of kissing??)
Well one of my friends actually told me about a study, where the effects of physical touching brings us joy and happiness and that we Finns should do it more often. So maybe I'll be the happiest after my exchange! :) So let's keep kissing each other and yes, I am sorry for the already happened awkward moments and for the coming ones too...


2. Financial (un)independence. In most of the countries university studies actually cost something and somewhere they might be really expensive. So people who are in their twenties are almost fully dependent on their parents! There is some kind of a student loan, but that's mostly for living, parents pay for the rent and studies. And in Germany the amount of the loan you get depends on your parents wages, even when you are 25 years old!! I do understand the financial support from the parents, because most of the students are not as lucky as we Finns to get 500€/month from the government (it's not a loan since we never pay it back) and schools are free. But I prefer it the Finnish way: Everyone gets the same amount because the assumption is that it doesn't matter how much your parents earn after you've moved out (the latest when you start studying at a university in your early twenties). Actually it's seen to be a little looser like in Finland if you can't finance (most of) your life after you've moved out :D

On the contrary my Chinese flatmate happily told me that Chinese parents are more than happy to finance their offspring til PhD, even help them with their mortgage even when they are done with studies and have a permanent job!!!
 


3. Winter. Haha I've noticed that winter is a word with the most variable meaning. Some people have never seen snow, the others a Christmas without snow. Some people ask me how I can deal with the coooold Finnish winter, and the answer is: easy. First of all I live in the southern coast so it's not that cold there. Maybe a couple of days -20 but that's pretty much it. And we usually have snow. If there's a lot of snow it's a lot lighter outside (very pretty!!!), you ca do a lot of different winter sports and usually the air is pretty dry too (and you can always wear more clothes, but when it's hot and you are already wearing a bikini and you are still hot there's not that much you can take off to cool down...). To be hones I hate "warm" winters: the darkness is killing me, not to mention the eternal rain and freaking damp air that actually is a lot colder than dry subzero climate because it's nastily digging deep under your skin and bones! So what I'm wondering, is How do you Central-Europeans cope with the eternal  darkness and gray, rainy weather that last for months??

vs

This....

...this????

4. Cold houses. Ok, Finland is cold in the winter, but the temperature inside the houses is never below 20 anywhere!!! We even have double, sometimes triple window glasses and heating at least under the bathroom floors. Here I sit at the desk that's in front of the window and my hair is sometimes moving from the wind that sneaks through the single window glass when it's a windy day! Here in Central-Europe the houses are very cold inside (this is not only based on my stay here in this crappy student housing!)! Or then the rooms are very warm but the corridors are super cold and that's why the doors have to be closed - so the warm air doesn't escape from the room. Again a question to most of you guys: How can you live in a house that is very cold?



5. Wearing shoes inside. We never do that in Finland! It's just gross. All the dirt comes with you from the streets to your house, eww. (Yes, I reason why I wouldn't want to have a dog - they are not wearing shoes and usually you do not wash their feet every time they come in). Even here in Studentendorf I used to walk around in my socks in the house (It didn't even pop into my mind to enter the kitchen wearing shoes or sitting in the restroom wearing converse!). At some point I had a closer look at the dirty floor and started to wear shoes inside just like everyone else. Haha and all of a sudden my flatmates stopped giving me weird looks :D But it's not good for your feet to wear (bad) shoes 24/7 besides your feet aren't breathing that much either (haha I know persons who'd have serious issues with wearing shoes 24/7 ;)). Oh, in primary/elementary school we weren't even allowed to wear shoes in the classrooms... Haha but in the junior high we were then again allowed to do that and ohh we were so cool and old when we had reached that age! ;)

Eww....

6. Dinner. In some countries you eat it at around 5pm, somewhere at around 10 pm :D Haha it always amazes me how people can be the whole day without eating barely anything and then eat a lot just before going to bed. I wold probably starve to death if I had to wait til 9pm before having a proper meal! It's  not that I need the energy while I'm sleeping, I need it during the day as a fuel to be able to accomplish the duties. (Oh and for us dinner isn't anything that takes very long to prepare nor to eat - how can people really have dinner for hours??) Well, I'm already starving 2 hours after having a big breakfast so the problem is probably in me.... Haha I guess I inherited my effective metabolism from my mom who is always hungry.
 


7. Being on time. This seems to be one of the most difficult things in the world to some people (I'm not going to say any names but I might point a finger at a specific French and a Slovak ;D). I always think that when you agree on meeting at 4pm it's like latest at 4.00. And haha when my mom and my sister were here we agreed on a certain time and I was there 10 min earlier and they were 5 min earlier than the agreed time or the other way round, it doesn't matter, the point is, that we never actually met at that agreed time, we met the latest 5 min earlier :D. And yes I am the person who is there a bit too early and at 4.03 tells herself not to call angrily at the other person telling she/he is late. Yes I know, I could never be unstressed living in a society where the time is an abstract concept.



Well, I guess there's a lot of small differences that I also face daily, but these have been the most significant and current ones. Haha, maybe I'll learn the secrets behind the rituals of greeting people smoothly not having to give myself a clap on the shoulder every time I manage to be cool and give an internationally know kiss on the cheek(s) without being awkwardly stiff, or learn to wait until at least 8 pm before eating something and when I do, eat it sophisticated in "aller Ruhe". Until then I'll have to excuse myself for being an awkward Finn.