thisisFINLAND Foreign Correspondents' Programme
Experiencing Finland through the young journalist's eyes
The year was 2013.
It was not that long ago. The word millennial was already a thing and we spent a lot of our time in Finland checking for the wi-fi password to post something on Facebook.
It was not that long ago. Someone in our group had a Furla bag and we shopped at H&M on Aleksanterinkatu.
It was not that long ago. We talked about startups, we went to Flow Festival and brought home ...
Freedom
In Finland, you can feel as free as a child. There is always something for everyone. You can find yourself easily in Angry Birds Activity Parks. It does not matter if you are child or not. That’s why when I found myself in a swing in Angry Birds Activity Park in Rovaniemi, I was there more than 2 hours.
Photo by Gunjan Sharma
Safety
In residence where I stayed, my room was near the road so ...
The Finnish Ambassador’s residence in central London is, compared to its neighbours at least, rather an unassuming abode. Set in the middle of Kensington Palace Gardens, the hushed and cordoned avenue behind Prince William’s pad at the far end of Hyde Park, the house dates back to the 1850s and has been the home of Helsinki’s man in London since 1952.
At both ends of the street ...
Before I came to Finland, what I’d known about this northern European country is its high rankings in many international comparisons of national performance such as the Global Peace Index or Technological Achievement. However, after numerous meetings with politicians and professionals, visits to business enterprises andinstitutions, trips to different parts of Finland, I ...
After almost three weeks of being back from the FCP, I was wondering how Finns are different from the people in rest of the world and came up with a checklist, ‘excess of things that make you Finnish’.
a) Coffee: I am almost a Finn by now in this sense. Go for an official meeting, conference, seminar, music concert, family dinner..whatever it might be coffee is a must. You have ...
Every year FCP has one weekend in the programme when the young journalists have an opportunity to travel to different families located all over Finland. The purpose of this weekend is to show what Finnish family life is about.
-So how was the family weekend this year?
I spoke with the families and the FCP participants about this weekend and asked their opinions and thoughts about the weekend. It ...
When my friends ask me how I feel about Finland, I always include the word “love” in almost every sentence. I love Finland, simple as that. And the reasons why? Let me tell you about the things that make me crazy about this Nordic country.
1. Sauna
Before I came to Finland, I wondered why Finns like sauna so much that it’s become an indispensable part of the national culture. The fact that there’re ...
There were lots of things I expected to find in the arctic circle–but Europe’s largest city (by area) wasn’t one of them! Rovaniemi, the “gateway to the Arctic,” is famously home to Santa Claus, hundreds of thousands of reindeer, and Lapland University. And its 8,000 square kilometers are also home to 60,000 people. That means a population density of eight people per square kilometer, ...
7.30am. Helsinki Airport, Vantaa. Golden morning sunlight spreads across the tarmac. I’m sitting on a Finnair jet, ready to leave the gate and set off northwards for Rovaniemi, Lapland.
Our two-night stay in Rovaniemi is the much-anticipated climax of our Finnish voyage — a sojourn away from the fast pace and the cosmopolitan air of Helsinki in the south. Spanning the almost unchartered ...
Beetroot is a source of happiness. At least it became so for me last weekend. Not only for me, but for 18 more people from all over the world. Why beetroot? Because it is a vital ingredient of traditional Ukrainian dish called «borshch». Thankfully, I had a chance to cook it and to introduce people from 18 countries to it. Furthermore, the occasion was worth doing it. It was the Independence ...