First Impressions of Finland: The Peeps

What can I say? After Finland turned out not to be a cliché winter wonderland - not to mention I have seen zero reindeer...rude - the people turn out to be every great thing I have heard. And more.

First things first, I'll give you a little background to Finland's demographics.

With a little over 5 million people, Finland is one big country (130,596 sq mi) with not so many residents. Let's put it this way, it is almost identical in land mass to Germany, but with 75 million less people. Needless to say, it is waaay down on the population density ranking scale.

Hello...hello....hello (how do you write echoes?) (source)

Forbes Magazine ranked it as the 3rd happiest country in the world. Only being out done by Denmark and Norway. Yeah, rub it in you happy a-holes :)

Here is what Forbes had to say:

"Excellent education, universal health care, plentiful personal freedoms, trusted government, peaceful. Lots of R&D and low business startup costs give the Finns economic strength. But as is to be expected in a country with the highest redistribution of wealth, only 75% of Finns believe working hard will help them get ahead."

Sounds pretty nice, huh?!

Yeah Finland! (source)

 And from what I have seen so far, Finns are just a happy group of folks. They have been nothing but overly welcoming and friendly. They smile, make small talk, ask questions and listen. Really, just are going above and beyond to make the hubs and I feel right at home.

And it really does feel like we are just at home. The hubs keeps saying "doesn't this remind you of Canada??". Between the people, climate and love for the game of hockey, if I can just block out the Finnish, I might think I'm right back in North America!

Another random thing, the Finns can par-tay. Ok, hopefully I don't have to keep clarifying myself that I don't know every single Finn so I am not stereotyping, but the ones I know sure know how to make the most of a good time.

After the Euro Cup Ice Hockey Championships in Finland! (source)

I think it is due in part to the high price of alcohol. If you can only afford to go out once a week, you better make it count.

Did I mention that beers at the bar cost about 7 Euro?? Yeah, that's over $10 right now. Gulp!

And want to hear why you will really love/hate them?? They aren't all blond, but a lot are. And those that are have beautiful, almost bleach blond hair and light skin with perfectly smooth and flawless complexions. Ok, maybe this is something that only a girl would notice here, but it is true. Thanks for selling the Scandinavian dream, Finland! 

A former Miss Finland herself. I pay heavy for that color! (source)

Anyways, as ya'll can tell, the people here have already added so much to our time in Finland. Can't wait to stereotype, I mean, get to know them even better!