How to make it in Finland

This time I knew something new about cultures. So, R.Lewis divided them in three groups which can be seen below. Monoactive cultures allow the execution of only one case per unit of time. Therefore, representatives of monoactive cultures plan their lives in a certain sequence and make up schedules, sometimes for several months and even years in advance. Once assigned, the event can no longer be canceled. Mono-active cultures are primarily Germans and Swiss. Time moves linearly from the past through the present to the future. They try not to think about the past, plan the present in detail and worry about the future...

In his theory of cultural measurements, a Dutch sociologist, a specialist in management theory, Gert (Gerard Hendrick) Hofstede (b. 1928), proposed a set of indicators defining the cultural characteristics of different peoples. The study, conducted by G. Hofstede, consisted in questioning a large number of employees (more than 1000) of a transnational corporation in more than 100 countries for their attitude to work and behavior in the workplace. As a result, five indicators (criteria) were formulated, according to which he distinguished cultures: 1) distance from power (from low to high): 2) isolation...

That's it, I guess :) In two days my exchange program ends and I'll go back home. This expirience teached me a lot, it was wonderful time here in Turku. It wasn't always clear what to do and how to manage it, but this journey showed me how much I'm capable of, and this is actually priceless...

Finland is also known by amout of wonderful bands, especially in rock music. I know them for so long and I'd like to share my favourite top-3 :) 1. The Rasmus These guys started off as energetic teenagers playing funk. Later they became a stylish rock band with deep lyrics. In 2004 there were few places in the world where they would not play their song “In the Shadows” on the radio, the single from the album Dead Letters, which became an international hit. 2. Sunrise Avenue This band from the city of Espoo has won the hearts of millions with its melodious pop rock...

Finnish women are free, independent, educated, but it wasn't always like this. In the Finnish parliament, women make up 42% of deputies, among their ministers 36%, in the top management of stock exchange companies 23%, and directors in state-owned companies 39%. In Finland, women occupied the posts of Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, Minister of Defense, and, of course, everyone remembers President Tarja Halonen, who was elected to this post twice. In Finland, women have achieved almost everything, but this required hard work...

Finland is a recognized leader in the recycling of bottles and paper and now seeks to minimize the amount of household waste sent to landfills. For the Finnish household, sorting, processing and recycling has long been turned into a daily routine. The Finnish waste recycling rate is commendable when it comes to bottles and cans that are returned by the state scheme. The return percentage of refillable bottles is almost 100%. The recycling of aluminum beverage cans and plastic bottles is respectively 96% and 94%...

What I hear a lot while being in Finland is complains about "bad weather". Usually I hear it from exchange students like me, but who came from somewhere like Italy where it's always warm, but sometimes I hear it from locals too. Let me say, it's not that bad :) In my hometown it's always like this - cold, grey, rainy, so for me there is no different. A distinctive feature of the Finnish climate is a combination of cold winter and warm summer. The average annual temperature in Helsinki is + 5...

Finland has a high level of education. The difference in results between schools is insignificant, and almost all students finish school on time. Preparatory education, secondary education and education of the second stage are free, further education in most cases is also free. It is assumed that everyone, regardless of the level of family income, should have equal opportunities in order to get a quality education and become an active citizen of the country. For me as for a student it's more interesting...

As a part of one of my courses I was meant to attend some workshops, and "Fun with languages" was one of them. Actually, I attended it twice :) As it states in the name of workshop - it was real fun. I've been interested in learning Spanish a long time ago, but I don’t have an free time to learn it in Russia. Lucky me, there was a group for learning this beautiful language at this workshop. We learned some tongue twisters, asked Ivan about something about reading rules and pronunciation and tried to compare that with our native languages...

Certain stereotypes have taken root in the minds of each person: about countries, cities, places and, finally, about people, more precisely about nationalities. Stereotypes are born before us, they stem from the culture of the people, or rather a different view of people's lives. Before going somewhere, we have a baggage of stereotypes that someone imposed on us: the media, colleagues, friends, and so on in a vicious circle. As many people, I've heard some stereotypes about Finland and the Finns in particular...

In previous post I wrote about cultural iceberg and what unvisible parts does every culture have. Okay, we arrived in foreign country. What's next? Everything is so unfamiliar, it's hard to understand why everyone behave the way they behave. What do we may feel? Misunderstanding, embarrassment, awkwardness, sometimes even anger. In one word - we are in shock. Cultural shock. Cultural shock - emotional or physical discomfort, disorientation of the individual, caused by falling into a different cultural environment, a collision with another culture, unfamiliar place...

Being an exchange student means to interract with people from different countries and cultures. Culture is not only what we see, but also something that cannot be seen through the eyes, for example, views on raising children, importance of personal space, assumptions and so on. That is what theory of cultural iceberg about. When we see an iceberg, only its tip gets in sight, and everything else remains hidden from the eyes. The same thing happens with people. Many people think that different aspects of culture are represented only by the “top”, which is easy to see...