Finnish Fridays and Saturdays

In Finland, it is usual for its inhabitants to go out and enjoy some party on Friday or Saturday evening. Our main character of this simple story, Peter is his name, have tried to explore more about this custom.

It is Saturday evening and Peter is preparing to enjoy really crazy time in one of the clubs in Helsinki. Around half past nine he left his flat to meet friends and catch a train to downtown. It was already a quite cold weather and groups of people with good mood were also travelling in the same direction. After few minutes they arrived at the Helsinki station and in the crowds they forge ahead out of the building. Here Peter realized, what was shady to him all the time. In the evening Finns are changing from shy people to somebody with totally opposite character and they are refuting all allegation about them as an shy nation. Peter could feel the real Finnish evening atmosphere.

Next way for him and his friends was the direction to the club, where was another surprise waiting for them. They reached the club a few minutes before the party officially starts and in front of the club there was a quite huge queue. The security allowed the entering exactly at the given time. He is used to go directly to a club without any waiting, because in his country it is open before some event should start. And it was not all. He have to show his I. D. before entering the club. So, Peter took out his I. D. and after careful control of one of the security member and paying a small fee he went in. It was also something new for him, because usually this kind of control is carried out by policemen on their random control in the club. It could be also the explanation of the queue which you can usually see in front of any club. After entering, Peter, like everyone who has just come, went straight to the bar. Then he quickly had a look on the menu and was nicely surprised. It was exactly the time of happy hour, what means a saving of money for him, because one beer costs him exactly one Euro except three Euro. So called happy hour is a really good invention, if you want to drink a lot and have enough many for the return train. It also explains why Finns get drunk in so short time. In Peters opinion, Finns are liable to be drunk in soon times. He do not have happy hours in his country. It is not necessary, because the beer is not so expensive than in Finland.

After Peter got the proper mood, he went to the dance floor, because DJ started to play his favourite music. It is hard to find same place on the parquet. The club, and especially the dance floor, is quite full. By a chance he met his local friend, who is so called “Swedish-speaking Finn” and she told him, that next day she will register him for some typical occasion. “It will be very funny”, she said. Peter as a foreigner did not have any idea, what she was talking about. So, he decided to invite her to a drink, because the happy hour was still continuing. They were drinking and Olga, it was her name, started to speak about this occasion. “It is a very special party, where all people are sitting together and eat a typical meal. This meal is preceded by schnapps, a shot of vodka or aquavit in a tiny glass. It is also common to sing during this occasion. You can sing together with all people, because some of songs are also in English, but usual languages are Finnish and Swedish. There is also a dedicated sing-leader who determines the interval between shots and leads the singing.” After this explanation Peter decided to take part in this interesting party and allowed Olga to register him. He had a lot of another questions connected with Finnish habits and he do not hesitate to ask Olga about that: “Can you also explain me, why there is no alcohol in supermarkets? I can find only some beer.” Olga answered to him: “Most alcoholic beverages are imported and sold by the government-owned Alko. In the supermarket you can find only lower strength beers and ciders.” “And can you tell me also something about Finnish propensity to drink a lot?”, was Peters next question. “It is true, that Finns have a reputation for drinking, but they consume about nine litres of pure alcohol per person per year. As I have read somewhere on the internet, it is an European average.” Peter was very thankful for this information and suggested to go back to the dance floor and enjoy the rest of the night.

After few hours of good party, around three o'clock a.m., he decided to go home. He did so according to the proverb: “Stop in the best.” So, he went out, headed for the railway station, got into night train and travelled one station back home. Then it took him about four minutes of trying to get home. He waked up in late morning and tried to make a human being from himself in front of the mirror.

Finland as an Expensive Country for Foreigners

It is Monday, the day, when Honza do not has a class and after Sunday, when all shops are closed, there is an opportunity to go shopping. And exactly that was Honza's plan. Except the necessary purchase of foodstuff he wanted to find some new winter jacket and another things.

The supply of foodstuff was going to end, so, firstly, the plan was to buy something to eat. For exchange student, as Honza was, the best way to buy something cheap means to go to the supermarket near his dormitory. He could choose between Lidl, S market and K market. What finally Honza did, was crossing a road and going to Lidl, the nearest one. Prices are not so bad there according to another shops in Helsinki, but in comparison to Honza's country, it was still twice more expensive.

So, necessary food was bought and now he was going downtown to buy a winter jacket. But where he should go? To some specialised store? It will be really expansive! Some Honza's friend told him, that it could cost up to 500 Euro. Finally, he decided to visit some sport store in Kamppi. His friend was not lying about the price. There was one jacket which costs 550 Euro. Of course, for Honza it was impossible and not essential luxury. But in some kind of “universal sport store” he found really cool winter jacket for 169 Euro. According to prices in his country, he have not found any difference. Warm winter jacket for not so bad price. He decided to buy it.

But it was all of common activities during this day. Honza will soon find out, how expensive could Finland be. Because he has bought a bicycle a couple of weeks ago, he used it a lot. However, he did a great mistake in understanding the rules. He thought, that he should ride his bike on the pavement, because in the centre there are special roads for bikes exactly on pavements. But around the centre there are not any roads for bikes. When he had to go there to arrange something and was returning on the bike on the pavement, he crashed into taxi which drove into crosswalk. Unfortunately, it was new Mazda from the year 2006, so quite expensive car. Because of the riding on the pavement, called police said, that Honza was found guilty of this accident. And the result of this accident? Fortunately, Honza was not hurt, also bicycle was in good condition, but there was a 10 cm long scratch on the car and the reparation will cost Honza up to 500 Euro. In his country it will be four times cheaper, but what can he do? Finland is an expensive country.

After two days of trying to find out, if some of his insurances will cover it, his mother told him, that since 1994, when they were building their house, she has paid one insurance in the case of unpredictable events and she has forgotten about this. A certain amount is automatically pulled down from the bank account. And exactly this insurance will cover it.

At the end of this day, Honza was thinking about why in Finland all things are so expensive to him and not so much for Finns. In his opinion, it was maybe because Finland is rather a social state which takes care of people. It means that all staff is expansive, but it is mainly because of the taxes included in the price. So, citizens have to pay a lot of money, but on the other hand the state provides them many services and their living standard is then getting higher. They do not need really huge salaries, but only enough money to buy something also with included taxes. That is, why their salaries are bigger than in Honza's country. For foreigners it can be expansive, if some accident would happened. They are supposed to have an insurance before visiting the country. And the only way how to get over this difference is simply to get used to.

Technical Things Everywhere (Things People Use Here Every Day)

Finland consider itself as a technical country with a lot of big or small inventions improving living standard of Finnish citizens. All people can use these technical things during the whole day from waking up in the morning to going to bed in the evening. On one character called Anna, I would like to describe you her common day full of technology.

Anna usually get up at eight o'clock. Her first steps leads to the bathroom, where she is using the first invention. It is obvious that in the water tap there is cold and hot water, but what is the small red button for? Finally she found out, that normally she can use cold and warm water, but if she need hot water, she has to press this button and then turn with water tap to the left side. It is because of her safety.

After cleaning of her teeth, she dressed up and prepared her breakfast with staff used also in her country. When she was leaving her flat, she locked a door with some kind safety key. A key, a thing which we are using many times during a day, is an invention of Finns. It was called Abloy lock, invented in 1919 by Emil Henrikson.

Because Anna is lazy, she used a lift which we can find in every block of flats. She went to the railway station to catch her train to downtown. The railway station on Helsinki is a real piece of modernity. In the hall there is a big table with all departures and arrivals. All is understandable divided and you can easily find your train. These to Helsinki are situated on the right side of the table. So, Anna chose the nearest one and went to the track number five. There is something interesting on public places in Helsinki that all door which could be opened automatically are opened in this way –almost everywhere. In three minutes, a nice Pendolino arrived to the railway station. Anna got into train in used her travel card to pay for the travel. She put it on the device with many buttons.

After few minutes she appeared herself on the main station and chose the fastest way to her school. She needed to check something on the internet before the school, so she went to the Aleksandria Institute. There are many computers available for students. They can also enter the computer room during the night by using another technical device – the magnetic key. But during the day it is open for anybody. Anna sat to one of these computers, logged in and in few seconds she was surfing on the internet.

If you will ask any Finn, how often is he using internet, he will answer you, that every day. In Finland, internet become a part of everyday activity. In every Cafeteria it is possible to surf through a wireless connection. Of course, Finns have their internet connection at home. All application forms and information for students in Finland are available on the internet.

Because it was few minutes before the first of this day lesson will start, Anna logged off the computer and went to the class in the university main building. Today she has a presentation and she decided to use all available technical devices to do it more interesting. It means, that she could choose between computer, of course connected to the internet, data projector, video and so on. She wanted to do a Power Point presentation. It was very easy to use all this staff, because all buttons were situated on the table in central control panel. Simplicity is so typical for Finns. Thanks to technical equipment of the class, her presentation was very impressive.

After the end of Anna's lessons she colludes with her friends to go to the club in the evening. They told her, that they will call her. Anna went home and waited for the call. Around six o'clock, her cell phone was ringing, so she took her Nokia and her friends told her, that they will meet together around ten o'clock in Studio 51, one of the clubs in Helsinki.

Anna thought, that Nokia is Japanese company, but it is not true. Nokia has Finland's origin. There is a town northward from Helsinki near Tampere, after which the company is named. In Helsinki, you can also find a specialised shop, where the newest and modest models of Nokia cell phones.

A few hours after, Anna entered the club. For a while, she was looking at a personal. What she found interesting was the way, how they were drawing the beer. It was not like in her country, where every beer is drawn alone, but they simply put some glasses into a device and pressed a button. The beer was drawn by this device.

When Anna returned from the Studio 51 club, she went to her bed. Before she felt into sleep, she was thinking about all the differences between Finland and her country. According to her, Finland is very innovating and technical country which takes a huge benefit for the rest of Europe.