University of Helsinki
Before I came to Finland, I was constantly asked by my friends and colleagues with their puzzling expressions “Why Finland?”. Even after my arrival, the same question seems to be the fixed starter of every conversation with new people. Frankly speaking, I hate this question, because I don’t know what to say; or because my reason sounds very unreal and unconvincing – that is about chemical reaction.
I heard of Finland from my middle school geography class for the first time when I was 14. Then this word hibernated in my little world for more than half decade until I got my first Nokia phone on my 20th birthday. Then this disconnection went on for another half decade until I browsed an old friend’s blog. She studied her bachelor in Finland and the blog was about her Finnish friends and her own experiences in Finland. Well, the articles in her blog are plain, no passionate recommendation or exaggeration. The pictures are also cool in tone. But there emerged this chemical reaction. My intuition told me that it would be the place I want to go. Then I gave up my original plan of studying in France and concentrated totally on the application for the University of Helsinki. And finally I arrived here in Helsinki in late autumn last year. After going through silver-coated winter and now at the time of enjoying the warm sunshine and looking forward to the enchanting legendary summer, I have found out my concrete reasons of “Why Finland?”.
Finland is the wonderland in real world. It is dotted with thousands of lakes; it is covered 70% by forests. Flowers decorate its picturesque spring and summer, berries and mushrooms feed its affluent autumn, white snow and crystal ice safeguard the purity of its winter. It is the place where Santa Clause lives, polar light dances, happy Muumi and Angry Birds cohabit harmoniously.
Finland is artistic. If Jean Sibelius, the grandmaster of music represented the past glory, today it is remembered as the soul of mental music that incubated world class bands such as, Children of bodom, Nightwish, Dreamtale, H.I.M.,Stratovarius, Negative… Besides music, the Finnish design is also the state-of-the-art. The curling-shaped Finland pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo attracted great attention from our Chinese people. The city of Helsinki was crowned with 2012 world design capital. It is said that there are two enviable resources one can enjoy in Finland, one is the lakes and forests gifted by the nature; the other is the design created by the people. You may find the pervasive sense of design from ceramics of Arabia and glasses of Iittala, from buildings of museums and universities, from the dresses on children and adults, and from the gardening in the corner of the street.
Finnish people are honest, frank, warm-hearted, introverted and homeliness. They are neither as noble as English, as aggressive as American, nor as enthusiastic as south-European, as romantic as French. They are like German, but slightly lack of rigidity. Finns love nature, their happiness lies in contentment. They are firm, tenacious and brave with strong but unassuming sense of national pride and confidence. Simo Häyhä demonstrates Finnish courage, Kimi Räikkönen shows Finnish speed and my favorite movie “Christmas Story” tells you more about Finns.
If I were asked again with “Why Finland?”, my respond will be “Why not Finland?”…
Finland nostalgia
My first year in Finland will soon be over. However, it is as if yesterday that I set feet on Helsinki. I still clearly remember my very beginning anecdotes in this spotless land. During the first few weeks, most of my daily conversations with Finns began with 4Ws: where, what, when and how. Although I carried question marks everywhere; I didn’t even feel I was in a foreign country. Because my exoticism seemed to be totally ignored here, comparing to my first trip abroad in France, where people naturally stopped on their way and started to say bonjour. While Finns would seldom initiate small talks unless they were drunk, or at least half drunk. But meanwhile I was deeply impressed by their patience and warmth when I asked for help. Of course the top ranking FAQ was about directions. And “come with me” was, in my opinion, the top ranking answer by Finns. Thus, I believe it is the Finnish peculiarity that makes foreigners feel neither too hot nor too cold. In other words, we feel as comfortable as at home.
Rilke wrote in his poem that nostalgia is to the passing places one is still affectionate about. Now standing in the middle of my master’s study in Finland, even before it passes by, I start to be nostalgic. I miss the combat with the loneliness during the first few weeks of my arrival last September. I miss the endeavor for understanding the teachers and lectures in the beginning, how frustration turned into determination and eventually satisfaction. I miss the sound of silence orchestrated with golden falling leaves and soft sunshine beams from the late autumn forest behind my apartment. I miss the first DIY hot pot I had in my friend’s place. Despite of lacking raw materials and ingredients, we tried all possible substitutes to the hot pot, along with joy and fun. I miss the Christmas party in my Finnish classmate’s cozy apartment, where I was teaching seven classmates to make Chinese dumplings, with eight people squeezing around a small table cheering for the born of their first dumplings. I miss the indigenous Finnish sauna, steaming first then jumping into the frozen lake and again steaming, jumping …
I know wherever I haste or rest in the future, Finland is going to be the place my nostalgia embedded in.
Text and Pictures: MA Qian, international Student Ambassador