One of the main difference about an italian and a finnish person is this:
If you move in Rome nobody will ever ask you "why you moved here?".
They know why. The best city in the world, best food, sun is shining and bla bla bla. So as italians they think they are the center of the world (we are in the center of the map, geographically in the center, this help to think that
you are in the center). Usually there's nothing more than Italy. The power and the important of a nation is calculated considering the football importance. So brazil, argentina, france, germany, spain maybe? (i'm not an
expert) are important country, or anyway known countries, the rest are like 3rd word. We have just sort
of US imitation problem not related to football but this is a common world problem nowadays

....the point was that an italian won't even ask why you moved. They think that is the center of the world so it's normal that people are going there.

As you know I come from a 1000persons place. I had to go 24km to high school. And there they were also thinking to be the center of the world too. Can you imagine? a 24.000persons place ;)
Then I moved in Rome...and of course...if every town in italy think to be the center of the world what about the Eternal City?

In Finland is different! Everybody, everybody will ask you "why you moved here? Seriously...what the hell let you move here? Nokia? Do you have a girlfriend? Why in finland?"
Maybe is the geographical isolation, maybe is the culture differences but not considering yourself the center of the world make you more curious, like this is not the end, there's so much more to see, to discover.
That was my philosophy. Coming from a small place....you can't consider it the center of the world. But still, it's easier to love it even if you won't live there forever. And after seeing how many people already consider
themself to live in the center of the world..it helps to open your mind and to be a bit modest.

So I think finnish are really open minded people. They are curious, they know the world is small and they want to travel. Lot of them want to live finland, they sort of hate this place, the winter, someone for the people,
it's normal.

But then they live....and they have lot of interesting experience around the world...but they miss Finland. They start to see how Finland is nice place compared with the place they are that of course it's a nice place but it's
not like home.

Italians travel with a different spirit. They are terrible tourist. They don't travel to know more, they travel sort of conquering the world again ;) Looking for italian food, italian restaurant, italian people to talk with.
We go on holiday in places where you can find lot of other italians and we rarely travel alone (I use we instead of Italians...the sense is 99% of the italians ;)
So when you are abroad then you start to miss your home just cause you where expecting to find same culture in a different country and you complain about the price, everywhere is more expensive then home, about food. And you miss home cause it's so hard to adjust to a different culture if you don't respect or consider that there's other cultures too
That's why I love here. (in Finland)
Cause it's not the center of the world. Cause people are complaining but strongly loving this place. It feels like home. And finnish people are extremely curious and in the latest year they showed
it inventing lot of revolutionary product. Linux..Nokia...and all I can see around are a lot of brilliant minds

Of course mc donalds is coming here too...fast...bringing mtv and more shit. But this is still a pure country. That doesn't want to look perfect and doesn't see itself as a perfect country cause nobody, almost no finnish will
ever tell you that this is a nice place to live. But you can feel the vibration, the energy the effects that this kind of thoughts have on people behaves

So these are still confusing ideas and my english again is not good enough to express it.

I hope I managed to give you sort of idea about what I am thinking ;)
And sorry for the long email
C.

[this is a long email I wrote to a friend]

Anyway...now it has been a week that I'm going to run everyday and today I did 6km in less than 40min. It's my personal record at the moment ;)

Here you can track my route

Irish guy mentions to Finn -"Listen, here in Ireland sometimes happens a very big
party: everybody is drunk, cars destroyed on the streets, loud music, shop windows broken, young people puke outside bars, in busses, everywhere, next day everbody has hangover - It's called Saint Patric Day."

Then finn replays: "Really? In Finland it's called Friday.."

Maybe I need someone that speaks italian to practice. I don't speak english, I don't know how to explain many thing in english. It's hard to learn another language using english that is not my native language.

And it's hard to learn finnish. Last week has been terrible. Maybe I didn't study enough, it can be, but I've never made so many mistakes during the exercises.

I have problems with monikko, plural.

am I giving up? did I already?

The good thing is that here everything else (except the language) is wonderful Yesterday I took wonderful pictures in Kaivopuisto

1. You rummage through your plastic bag collection to see which ones you should keep to take to the store and which can be sacrificed to garbage.

2. It's acceptable to eat lunch at 11.00.

3. Your front door step is beginning to resemble a shoe shop.

4. You think it's normal that 22 year olds need fake ID’s.

5. When a stranger on the street smiles at you, you assume that:

a. he is drunk
b. he is insane
c. he is American
d. he is all of the above

6. You don't think twice about putting the wet dishes away in the cupboard to dry.

7. A friend asks about your holiday plans and you answer "Oh,I'm going to Europe!" meaning any other Western European country outside Scandinavia.

8. You no longer scrunch up or fold your paper money. You always put your money in your wallet.

9. Silence is fun.

10. The reason you take the ferry to Stockholm is:

a. duty free vodka
b. duty free beer
c. to party...no need to get off the boat in Stockholm; just turn around and do it again on the way back.
d. all of the above

11. Your coffee consumption exceeds 6 cups a day and coffee is too weak if there is less than 10 scoops per pot.

12. You pass a grocery store and think "Wow, it is open, I had better go in an buy something!"

13. Your native language has seriously deteriorated;you begin to "eat medicine", "close the lights off", "open the television", and tell someone "you needn't to!" Expressions like "don't panic" creep into your everyday language.

14. You associate pea soup with Thursday.

15. Your idea of unforgivable behaviour now includes walking across the street when the light is red and there is no WALK symbol, even though there are no cars in sight.

16. Your notion of streetlife is reduced to the few teenagers hanging out in front of Helsinki railway station on Friday nights.

17. Your bad mood becomes your good mood.

18. Sundays no longer seem dull with all the stores closed, and begin to feel restful instead.

19. "No comment" becomes a conversation strategy.

20. You finally stop asking your class "Are there any questions?"

21. The fact that all of the "v's" and the "w's" are together in the phone directory seems right.

22. Your old habit of being "fashionably late" is no longer acceptable. You are always on time.

23. Hugging is reserved for sexual foreplay.

24. You begin to understand Jussi Jyylanpaarvi's broadcast of the hockey game.

25. You refuse to wear a hat, even in -30 degree weather.

26. You hear loud-talking passengers on the train. You immediately assume:

a. they are drunk
b. they are Swedish-speaking
c. they are American.

27. You give up on trying to find fat-free food and pile on the butter,cream and sugar.

28. You know how to fix herring in 105 different ways.

29. You eat herring in 105 ways.

30. You no longer look at sports pants as casual wear,but recognise them as semi-formal wear.

31. You can now reconstruct the missing letters on a building.For example MERI.........LIITTO OY.

32. You have undergone a transformation:

a. you accept mustamakkara (Black-blood sausage) as food
b. you accept alcohol as food
c. you accept.

33. You understand why the Finnish language has no future tense.

34. You no longer have to search for the flushing mechanism on the toilet.

35. You no longer see any problem wearing white socks with loafers.

36. You no longer correct people who say MAC Donald's.

37. You just love Jaffa.

38. You've come to expect Sunday morning sidewalk vomit dodging.

39. You know that "I got a new boyfriend." means "I got laid last night."

40. The next day when they say "We broke up." you know it means " He didn't call."

41. You know that "religious holiday" means "let's get pissed."

42. You enjoy salmiakki.

43. You know that "mens public bathroom" is another phrase for sidewalk.

44. You know that more than three channels means cable.

45. You get all the Swedish jokes.

46. When you're hungry you can peel a boiled potato like lightning.

47. You've become lactose intolerant.

48. You accept that 80 degrees C in a sauna is chilly, but 20 degrees C outside is freaking hot.

49. You don't think twice about wearing sandals indoors and Wellington's outside.

50. You stand in a bus if you can't find a vacant pair of seats.

51. Finland winning a medal at the world hockey championships is less important than beating Tre Kronor.

52. You think it's perfecctly normal spending more than 50% your salary on phone calls, cigarettes and alcohol.

53. The only couple talking in a tram or a bus always seems to annoy you.

54. You refuse to cross a totally empty street until there is a green light.

55. You are immediately suspicious when somebody starts talking to you in the street.

56. You no longer have a problem accepting money from someone bumming a cigarette.

57. You seriously consider visiting the sauna more than three times a week.

58. You're training for Vasaloppet.

59. YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE LIVE ANYWHERE BUT IN FINLAND!!!