what is you biggest culture shock? positive and negative

[olofsson]

I almost forget to say that Finns not only make eye contact but they also smile at you in many, many situations in the street, shops, public transport, etc. They're always nice to strangers.

WOW! You and I are apparently living in two entirely different Finlands. I like the sound of yours. Mind pointing out the way?

May depend on what you've experienced before Finland too.

A "shock" is too much to say, but in connection with this I may add that I hadn't expected the relatively broad selection of this kind of behavioural norms either:

To my standards, a large part of them I've met seem to adhere to rather "raw working class" behaviour, or "uncivilized rural" ditto, at the same time as other families of rather similar social standing adhere to norms and manners that are more like their cultivated peers in, say, southern Germany.

But this is just finish, after all, Finnish finish!

[Susan]

I almost forget to say that Finns not only make eye contact but they also smile at you in many, many situations in the street, shops, public transport, etc. They're always nice to strangers.

WOW! You and I are apparently living in two entirely different Finlands. I like the sound of yours. Mind pointing out the way?

Hi ScubaGirl,

If you like how "my Finland" sounds you could spend a day with me doing some research, hopefully I can point you out in the right direction and you are probably going to 'see' and like the Finland I living in. I'm sure there's room for you here if you want to move to this side.

-Susan

[vincebel]

I almost forget to say that Finns not only make eye contact but they also smile at you in many, many situations in the street, shops, public transport, etc. They're always nice to strangers

Hey susan tell me in which city you live so i move there right away. Its true that they are making eyes contact but more in a analysing way like "from which planet does this guy come from?. For sure he s not one of us". and i can count the smile back on my hand since im in finland

Maybe im unlucky or i have bad teeth but for sure i dont care anymore to smile to people.

Accepting and learning about cultural differences broaden the mind and make us better citizens of the world in an already globalized culture

I lived in eight different countries in my life so i know what means accept differences and broaden my mind. Some finns might get out of their country sometimes too.

[vincebel]

Ok maybe im a bit negative towards how some finns behave in the street (no smile, look from top to bottom) but i never mentionned that as a negative cilture shock cos there is nothing to do with culture for me. Its just behaviuour. Im maybe in a small town where everybody knows each other.

Also i lived in Australia for two years just before to come here where the climatic conditions make the people happier i guess.

[ScubaGirl]

I'm happy Susan has had such lovely feedback from random Finns on the street, but I swear I have never heard of anything like this. I actually get very shocked when someone smiles back at me and then I realize that they are also a foreigner

[Susan]

Climate has nothing to do with happiness. That's a fact.
-Susan

Ok maybe im a bit negative towards how some finns behave in the street (no smile, look from top to bottom) but i never mentionned that as a negative cilture shock cos there is nothing to do with culture for me. Its just behaviuour. Im maybe in a small town where everybody knows each other.

Also i lived in Australia for two years just before to come here where the climatic conditions make the people happier i guess.

[ScubaGirl]

Climate has nothing to do with happiness. That's a fact.
-Susan

Hmm, with all due respect, where may I ask are you getting your facts from? There have been countless studies on the effect that weather has on one's mood.

[mCowboy]

so in reverse it should mean that people living in sunny places should be very happy... so what's with the Jihad then?

[ScubaGirl]

so in reverse it should mean that people living in sunny places should be very happy... so what's with the Jihad then?

I wouldn't necessarily consider 40+ degrees of weather a positive thing either

[helsinkilife08]

I know that I am happier when the weather is better. Latley I kinda feel like a bear. GRRRRRRR

[mCowboy]

I know that I am happier when the weather is better. Latley I kinda feel like a bear. GRRRRRRR

I thought you felt like a beer in the other thread... (Miller Lite)

[Susan]

I live in Helsinki.
I'm serious ScubaGirl, if you want spend some hours with me one day and I can show you what I say it's true.
What would I be making it up?

Oh, I didn't tell you, there was a rainy midnight, yes MIDNIGHT, last year when I was walking from Karakallio in Espoo to Pähkinärinne in Vantaa. It was cold and it was raining. It was during my first 2 months in Finland. I was lost and had no clue where to walk to get home. My emotional state was . . . sad, even though I was happy to be in Finland. What an irony!
Anyway, I turn around and I see a girl walking some meters behind me. I couldn't believe someone else was walking in the middle of the night. I waited for the girl and stopped her. I told her I was lost, where I lived and asked for some directions. She explained to me how to find my way and added it was a long way. Just after that, she offered me to walk with her and spend the night in her house. She told me she lived with her parents, a brother and 2 dogs and her parents would also be happy to see that she was helping someone. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. She was a 16 year old high school student. I was speechless. She looked at me, smiled and hugged me. Yes, a Finnish stranger hugged me. We walked to her house having an interesting conversation. When we arrived, she prepared tea and showed me the room I could stay in. She even offered me to have sauna if I wanted to warm up and relax before sleeping. I didn't have sauna of course, it was too much. The next morning when I woke up and went to the kitchen I met her parents. Her mother had tea ready for me and offered me breakfast. She showed me a map so I could see where I was but the girl offered me to walk me home as she was going to walk the dogs anyway.
I'm never going to forget about that.

-Susan

I'm happy Susan has had such lovely feedback from random Finns on the street, but I swear I have never heard of anything like this. I actually get very shocked when someone smiles back at me and then I realize that they are also a foreigner

[helsinkilife08]

Damn that is funny. I should stay on one thread. Or just go to bed!

[vincebel]

here is a part of a study about climate and happiness

The relationship between climate and self reported happiness is of particular interest because of the much discussed threat of anthropogenically induced climate change. Differential patterns of warming along with a changed distribution of rainfall promises to alter dramatically the distribution of happiness between nations with some countries moving towards a preferred climate and others moving further away. We find that higher mean temperatures in the coldest month increase happiness, whereas higher mean temperatures in the hottest month decrease happiness. Precipitation does not significantly affect happiness. In particular high latitude countries included in our dataset might benefit from temperature changes. Countries already characterized by very high summer temperatures would most likely suffer losses from climate change.

for the whole text http://ideas.repec.org/p/sgc/wpaper/20.html

its an abstract and not the full article

[buldozr]

Positive:
- Buses and trams have timetables that are followed.
- Tracts of forest beginning just out of downtown Helsinki.
- Weird non-urban fauna, like hares and "game" birds, walking out in the neighborhood. No stray dogs and cats.

Negative:
- It's impossible to flag down a taxi on the curbside.
- Choice of goods in stores is rather limited.