I think one of the main stereotypes
for Finland is that it's dark and cold. As much as stereotypes can be
a bit annoying and untrue sometimes, like in Canada we do
not put maple syrup on
everything, they can be very true for as many times as they are
untrue, I have proof via my international friends that Canadians,
myself included, do say some words funny. When I told my Study Abroad
Advisor at the university I did my Bachelour's Degree at, she
immediately told me, “you know it gets really dark there, right?
You'll have to deal with that. The last person that went there had to
come home early because of it” and all I wanted to say back was “I
know it's not the same but we are in Canada and it does the same
here, not so extreme, but it's not like we live in Brazil.”. What
Im trying to get at here is that it does
get dark and cold here;
the Finns even have a word for these “polar nights”, kaamos,
so you know it's a big topic here.
As
much as I hate to bring this up because it's annoying when that's all
someone knows or talks about concerning Finland, but, it's something
that has been on my mind lately, and definitely a topic among people
I go to school with. Once October hits, it basically rains all the
time here. I like rain, don't get me wrong, but when everything is
damp almost 24/7 it kinda bums you out and makes going outside quite
a chore sometimes. Luckily, October was busy for me and is actually
one of my favourite months (read: I went to Helsinki and it has
Halloween), but now that it's November, and it's getting dark around
4pm, I'm definitely noticing a change in things, mainly everyone is a
bit grumpier. The Finnish word for November,
marraskuu, translates to
death moon
so that basically sums November up for me. When I lived in Helsinki I
don't think I noticed the change as much even though I didn't have
nearly as busy a life, both social and academic, as I do now. I think
I didn't notice it that much because the city lights brightened
things up and I lived pretty close to the city centre/I was in the
centre a lot because that's where school was. But now that I'm in
Tampere, I don't live nearly as close to the city centre, it's a
smaller city so that means less lights, and I'm not in the city
centre as much because school isn't right downtown.
I need to start going to the city centre more often because that
means that I get away from being at school all the time; a change of
scenery is a really
good thing. I don't know if it's to help combat the darkness, but,
Tampere does this cool thing in the winter months where they put
lights up along the main street, Hämeenkatu,
and
some of the side streets. I don't think they can really be deemed
Christmas/holiday lights since they are put up and turned on at the
end of October and some of them are in no way Christmas themed,
unless Tweety Bird and tulips are Christmasy. Either way, it's really
nice when you come out of the tunnel that leads from Tammela (the
area my university is in) to Hämeenkatu
and as soon as you get out of the tunnel, BAM, pretty lights to fight
the darkness!
 |
| Photo by me, lilacviking, Tampere, Finland. December, 2011. |
 |
| Im just realizing now that this is a very Finnish picture. Marimekko advert and Lonkero advert in one shot. Photo by me, lilacviking, Tampere, Finland. December 2011. |
It's
easier to deal with the darkness when there's snow on the ground. As
much of a pain in the ass snow can be, it really is better than a
winter with no snow. The snow really brightens everything up when
the natural or artificial
light reflects off of it and don't even get me started on sunny,
clear days in the winter when it' just so crispy outside. I'd much
rather have that than endless rain, I guess that means I shouldn't
move to the UK. I'm not really bothered by snow or winter that much,
it actually makes me feel closer to home *waves tiny Canadian flag*.
I basically grew up on a ski hill north of Toronto because my brother
and I were ski racers. Every weekend from when I was 3 till I was 14
was spent on the ski hill and my brother is a director of ski racing
in British Columbia; snow is not an issue for us, but even I have a
hard time with the short days and long nights. But I know it's really
hard for a lot of foreigners to adjust to kaamos; it's enough of an
issue that it gets brought up numerous times during orientation and
we get lots of emails about sessions dealing with it
for international students. They've got a few “light rooms” at
the universities here, which are rooms with UV lights that you can go
and sit in for 30 minutes to get your daily vitamin D dose, and there
are countless activities happening to encourage people to go outside
for something other than school. There's
this mood disorder called Seasonal
Affective Disorder
(SAD) that really shows it's face during this time, my Mum's got it
and it really affects her. This is one thing you've gotta be careful
about in the winter time because it can be more serious than just
having the ”winter blues”. My
way to combat against the gross feeling between nice autumn weather
and nice winter weather is to do
something.
It can be mighty hard to actually make yourself get out of your comfy
bed, get dressed and actually go outside for no other reason than to
get outside, but it's something that is completely necessary unless
you want to become a grumpy hermit. Plan stuff with friends, it
doesn't have to be anything more than going for a drink or a big
group walk, go for a walk by yourself, go to the movies, SOMETHING. A
good thing about kaamos is that you can see the Northern Lights,
revontulet
in Finnish, better! Hopefully I can catch some this winter and get
pictures! If
you think it's annoying your friends, ask anyway cause I'm sure they
are feeling the same way. If it's really gross weather, i.e. it's
rainy like crazy and really cold, have some friends over and bake a
cake. There is a reason that people always comment on Finns being
depressed (which I think is a required question or comment when
interviewing Finnish bands), as much as it is over-exaggerated,
because it is something that even the locals have issues with, and,
a lot of Finns will tell you to drink because there's nothing else to
do during kaamos (yay for more stereotypes!), but maybe you should
stay away from falling into that statistic.
Even though it
does get dark and cold here, don't let that dissuade you from coming
to this lovely country. I know I rage when Finland is featured on
travel shows, which is not often at all, and they go to Finland
during the worst months and all they talk about is how depressing the
country is; “well yea, it's depressing because you are from
California and you are there in the middle of January.”. If you
want to come here, even if you've never seen snow before but really
want to, come in the summer. I like to think that the reward for
dealing with the long nights in the winter are the long days in
summer months. Like I've said before, I haven't been in Finland for a
full summer before, and won't be here for the summer solstice,
Juhannus,
this year either, but it's so nice at the end of May when it's almost
10pm and it's only just dusk. There's
a saying that's something along the lines of ”you don't get flowers
without going through some shit”; Finland's shit is kaamos and the
flowers are the long summer days.
