Photo: Aleksandra Suzi/Shutterstock

12 Dead Giveaways You're From Finland

Finland
by Veera Papinoja Dec 13, 2015

1. You don’t go anywhere without rye bread.

There is no going on vacation to the Canary Islands or Greece without the magical black bread that gives us all superpowers. You live and breath this stuff, with some Oivariini and Oltermanni on top — it simply doesn’t get tastier.

2. You own a collection of Moomin cups.

We all know that you grew up watching the Moomins and learning everything there is to know about life from these white hippo-like creatures. Moomins are not something you let go of as you grow up, so you now own a designer collection of coffee cups with pictures of Moomins.

3. You’re a little afraid to leave Finland.

Us Finns are safe up here in the north (lintukoto, as we call it), from everything bad happening in the world. Traditional Finns think that travel is filled with danger, but nowadays we actually travel the most in the world!

4. Silence isn’t awkward for you.

Why say something when you have nothing to say? Finns find no sensible reason for speaking out loud unless they have something to say. Silence is fine, it can even be fun.

5. When you ask Mitä kuuluu? (How are you?) you actually mean it.

What I love about living in Finland is, that if someone asks you how you are doing, they honestly hope to know — hope that you will share whatever is on your heart. They want to know, what you are really going though.

6. When someone asks you to do something, you don’t ask questions.

Because you’re a hard worker. Whatever task you are given, you will handle it without questions. You’re reliable, and you always shows up on time.

7. You refuse to cross the street when the light is red.

You little rebel, you. Not even when there are no cars around, would you ever even consider walking across the road before the light turns green again. Absolutely not.

8. You love expensive, bad quality coffee.

Finland is most certainly not the country known for its quality of coffee, but we still drink the most coffee in the world — at least 4 cups of Presidentti or Juhla Mokka per day!

9. You love expensive, bad quality beer.

For some nonsense reason Finns drink incredible amounts of beer. But same thing, it’s pretty pricey and pretty bad. No matter how much you crave for beer, you cannot allow Koff, Karhu or Karjala to pass your lips.

10. You carry everything in your Fjällraven Kånken bag.

Finns are easy to recognize abroad, as each and every hipster kid will be carrying all of their belongings in their beloved Kånken bag with a cute little fox face logo.

11. You are lactose intolerant, but still drink milk.

Even though we also drink the most milk in the world, we’ve all managed to become lactose intolerant. Seriously, all of us.

12. Potatoes are the glory of each meal.

Finland is not the land of pasta or rice, but of potatoes. We are the masters of peeling, baking, cutting, mashing — salmon soup, perunarieska and pyttipannu — anything you can imagine, we can do it with potatoes. 

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