I am spending the third week in Finland, so I have already meet quite a few Finnish people. I could say that they are very shy. On buses, they sit as far apart as possible, and if they don’t know each other, they don’t even say hello to each other.

I meet many Finnish friends through Rok, who is our neighbor and has been living here for 3 months. He works in a hotel where he meets a lot of people and hangs out with them even in the afternoon, so he often invites us along. Rok is also Slovenian and he likes our company, because we can speak in Slovenian language.

Sometimes in the afternoon, we go to the city with friends of Rok. At first they were very shy and uncommunicative, but after we were together for a while, they relaxed and talked a lot with us. Now we have become very good friends and it will be difficult for me to say goodbye to them, because we probably won’t see each other again. Our Finnish friends themselves admitted to us that here people don’t talk to each other and it is very difficult to make friends here.

Finnish people are very friendly, if you ask them anything they will answer and help you. When I went to the police station when I lost my wallet, the police officer told me that people here are very honest and in most cases they bring the wallet to the police without stealing anything. I think that’s very nice of them. They are also often in a bad mood and depressed. I think it’s because the weather is so bad and because it’s getting dark so early.

I would say they are very good people. I’m glad   that i meet them.

Alja Cencelj