The Motions

Once again Finland proved that it has various aspects that us Helsinki-based people might know nothing of.

Last weekend me and my two friends traveled to the Swedish speaking lands north of Vaasa. We stayed in Nykarleby, where about 90 percent of the people speak Swedish as their first language. From time to time it felt like we were in a totally different country than the one we lived in. There were occasions when we had to speak English to other Finns, because our skills in the second national languge, Swedish, are quite poor. And in the other hand, the people we were communicating with didn’t know any Finnish.

But for me the biggest culture shock might have really been the tractors. We do have teenagers driving around the city with mopeds in south too, but there we saw cruising groups with mopeds, moped cars and tractors! And even the snowing that made us stay warmly inside didn’t stop them.

We were also quite surprised about the very religious atmosphere in Jakobstad, where we spent half a day. We ran into multiple churches and noticed that even the logo of the city carries the cross, anchor and heart, the christian symbols of faith, hope and love.

These photos are about exploring. I really want to encourage everyone to see their own countries more. People are always spending a lot of money traveling abroad, and not understanding that going closer doesn’t mean lesser fun and fewer experiences.