5 Differences between Italy and Finland

Hi everyone!

Recently two months have passed since I arrived in Finland and I think I understand something of this country, so I decided to compare it with my home country and see what are the main differences and the things that have most surprised me.




1  Nature

This has been the first thing I noticed in Finland: since I took the train from Helsinki to Suonenjoki I saw kilometers and kilometers of forests, interrupted occasionally by some wonderful lake and it was just awesome. I have also been in cities like Jyväskylä, Kuopio and Kokkola and it was amazing to see how these are full of trees and surrounded by nature. I have seen that many Finns are not surprised to see so many lakes and an interrupted forest, and I can understand it because they see it every day, but for me, coming from Rome has been a really appreciated news.




2  People

This was probably the most important difference because in Italy I used to see a lot of people every day and always have someone to talk to, but here is a little more difficult. In fact it often happens that people do not greet or remain silent. Obviously not all Finns are like this, as in Italy we are not all friendly and noisy but there are shy people, so here I met people who never stop talking. In Finland is simply more hard to find new friends, but when it happens you create a very strong bond. Finally, in the place where I am there are very few people then those few times when you can spend time with friends become very important.




3  To thank

This is a very simple, but also a very nice point. My impression is that here in Finland people thanks for everything! I really love this thing: people thank the bus driver, the waiters and I even heard that in some classes the students thanked their teachers. But my favorite is to thank when you have finished eating, I really don't know why other countries don't do this, I think it is a very polite attitude and it should be brought in particular to Italy where meals are an important moment of the day.




4  Criminality


Premise that I am not an expert in this area so whatever I will say will be just a result of my impressions, I noticed that on average the criminality is very low, especially outside the big cities like Helsinki, Turku and Tampere, where it is anyway less than many cities in other countries. I think it is mainly due to the conception of society, I've seen that most of the people is very respectful of others and as a result, they are honest. My country, unfortunately, is also known for the Mafia, and I understand that. It is a serious problem and, in addition to this, sometimes people do not care of others and think only of themselves creating serious issues such as tax evasion and corruption. This is why I was so surprised of the standard of living here.




5  School


The school has been and is still the thing I most love in Finland because here it is really special. The idea of choose the subjects each period is something that really makes me interest to topics and very curious to try new subjects. Also in Italy you can choose but only one time at the age of 14. After the middle school in fact you can choose the kind of high school like classic, scientific, artistic, etc. but then all classes have the same subjects for all the year. I prefer much more the school system here because I think that this give more liberty to students which are no longer forced to study subjects they don't like. In addition to this there is a collaborative relationship between teachers and students, and usually all students have a personal computer or tablet, and the results are obvious! The Finnish school is in fact considered one of the best in the world.




That said, I do not mean that one of these countries is better than the other because they are both special, both have significant and less significant things: I greatly appreciate the nature and sincerity of the people of Finland while in Italy I love the beauty of the places and the sensation everywhere you go  to feel at home. Finally I would recommend anyone to visit at least once these two countries because they are full of surprises and can give strong emotions.