Typical things in Finnish life that drive even seasoned tourists crazy

Did you know that in Finland children can hear dinosaurs playing heavy metal, men carry their wives for a beer and that mayors can easily be thrown into the water with special merits? In this post, we will tell you why the country of thousands of lakes has become famous beyond Nokia and Angry Birds.

At the awesome.club we find the most impressive facts about Finland that will surprise even those who managed to visit this fascinating country.

In Finland there is a law that regulates the existence of “parking places” for dogs in each municipality. In the absence of such venues, entrepreneurs can even be fined.

In some Finnish universities, the tradition of not only awarding a diploma for an academic degree, but also a special saber, still holds. Although you must buy it yourself.

Finns are one of the most reading nations in the world. With a population of just over 5 million people, they order over 67 million books a year from libraries. You can even find private libraries at gas stations. And the most surprising thing is that in some of them it is possible to borrow not only books, but also musical instruments, sports equipment and even sewing machines.

In the world there are dogs that help blind people, and in Finland there are also special “reading dogs” that help children easily master the difficult Finnish language.

The Finnish language is one of the most difficult to learn, but J. R. R. Tolkien was so inspired by it that he took its grammar as the basis for creating the Elvish language. It should be noted that Finns have 40 synonyms for the word “snow”, but there is not one that means “please”. On the other hand, there are many funny words that are not in other languages. For example, “kalsarikännit”, which means “drinking in underwear”. Also in the Finnish language there are no verbs in the future tense, which are common for us.

To encourage employees to return from vacation, Finnish companies pay an additional bonus when a person returns to work after the rest period. Nobody hides their income because in Finland you can easily find out how much your neighbor or acquaintance earns simply by calling a special number.

The value of the speeding fine in Finland directly depends on the income of the lawbreaker: the higher your salary, the higher the fine. Therefore, one of the CEOs of a large Finnish company had to pay the highest fine in history for speeding: 116 thousand euros. He was driving at a speed of 75 km/h, where he was allowed to travel at only 50 km/h.

In some countries there are police officers on horses, but in northern Finland the guardians of order are aided by reindeer. This was done largely for advertising purposes, to help attract tourists to the northern regions of the country.

Finns like to spend time just with themselves, so there are bars in the country where you can drink quietly alone (drink alone), and in stores there are even special baskets for individual shoppers (Sinkkukori🇧🇷

The average Finn drinks around 77 liters of beer a year. To compare, in Brazil this number is 60.7 liters per person. That’s why it’s not surprising that in Finnish stores it’s easy to find special promotions for buying a thousand bottles of beer at once.

Almost all major universities in Finland have their own “party house”, which students can rent for free to hold any event. They look like ordinary residential buildings with a huge living room, several bedrooms and a private sauna.

Finland ranks first in the world in terms of consumption of coffee drinks. In a year, the average Finn uses 12 kilos of instant or ground coffee to brew their favorite revitalizing drink. By way of comparison: an Italian only needs 5 kilos of coffee a year.

According to the results of an unusual experiment that took place in 16 cities around the world, the capital of Finland was recognized as the city with the most honest inhabitants. The study consisted of the following: in all major world capitals, 12 wallets were left, in which the following information was found: phone number, family photo and some money. After the experiment, 11 of the 12 wallets were returned to their owners in Helsinki, while in other countries only half were returned.

There are about 2 million saunas for 5 million people in the country, even more than cars. Every large company and state institution has saunas for its employees, and even inmates of a Finnish prison can visit the sauna once a week. And, perhaps, the most original place where you can not only take a steam bath, but also eat, is a sauna in a popular hammock. fast food in Helsinki.

Finland has the highest amount of heavy metal bands per capita. There are more than 600 musical groups per 1 million inhabitants. Children have their own favorite heavy metal band, “Hevisaurus”, whose musicians play in dinosaur costumes and sing fun songs.

According to jocular tradition, the person who wakes up later in some Finnish families on this day is thrown into the water. In the city of Naantali the festival is celebrated in the following way: whoever made a special contribution to the development of the city is played in the local bay. All city mayors since 1950 have also received this honor.

In addition to the original wife-carrying competition, the country became famous for its phone-launching contest, as well as an international festival for playing imaginary guitar.

The recipe for a shot Unusual Finnish is very simple: cut a sausage, make a small hole in it, pour vodka and put mustard in your hand. First try the mustard, then drink the drink and quickly eat the small bowl made of sausage.

Those who like to have something salty after a sweet one or vice versa will like the taste of Finnish chocolate with a little fish.

Have you ever been to Finland? What impressed you most?