lol u r so right that finns love to hear about themselves 😂😂😂😂

I think the Finnish curiosity about what foreigners think of us is not about poor self-esteem like some "experts" have called it. To me it seems to be curiosity about ourselves, a desire to know ourselves. Living inside a single culture leaves you blind to the things that make it unique. By listening to foreigners talk about their experiences of all things Finnish, we are peering into a metaphorical mirror to see our reflection.

Finnish people are not shy but were pretty reserved towards unknown people. Our trust is earned slowly

90% of this video's viewers are finns cause this video is about good things in Finland XD

I was always so inspired by the Finns I built my own ulkosauna

Thank you for reminding me, that our country is a pretty good place to live.🇫🇮♥️

Finland has the #1 rated education system in the world. Ha Ha...I was thinking as I watched, this girl went on a mission to teach the Finns something but as I watched it was sounding more and more like they taught you something and then you admitted exactly that...you were the one who was profoundly changed not the other way round. So refreshing that an American would admit that...very cool.

Something a lot of foreigners (to Finland) don't realize about sauna culture is that nakedness is nonsexual. It is as if much of the world sees that _clothing_ is the thing that prevents wild orgies from happening and if you remove part or all of that, it's all Sodoma, Gomorra and Marquis de Sade. Seeing foreigners in their first sauna experience is funny because opposing to their possible prejudice about sex that must happen contrary to all Finnish claiming, it really is just bunch of people packed into a room that is intentionally so hot that the only thing that fits in your feelings and thoughts and experience is that OMG IT IS HOT IN HERE WE ARE ALL GONNA DIE SOON HOT HOT HOT HOT. After getting out, the limbic brain is cool and quiet for a while and expressing only gratitude of survival. This is when you can talk deep or just be quiet in a very deeply connecting fashion. Oh and the limbic brain is right about survival: if you are too long in the sauna, you will die because of overheating, dehydration or both. So when you feel like you must get out, get out.

finns living abroad often get mailed salmiakki and ruisleipä. it's a bit of a joke but it happens all the time!

Vacuum pack the rye bread and send it via airmail. When it arrives, put it in a freezer immediately to keep it fresh. Then when you want to enjoy some ryebread from Finland, just pop it in a toster (while still frozen) and you'll have warm and fresh rye bread readily available even in Texas. I had my parents send it to me like this when I lived in Japan.

I was an exchange student to Finland long ago. Your lists are basically the same as mine. Outstanding people who have polished their jewel of a country. Their one flaw is that they don't think highly enough of themselves, and so don't share their wisdom and outlook with the world enough. The one thing Americans could truly teach them is marketing/PR.

Hyvinhän se suomi sujuu.Thumbs up! I have cousin who moved to Texas from Finland.Welcome back anytime!

Watching the whole video like "oh stop it you" :D

The finnish shyness thing is less about being cold and more about respecting each others personal space, both on a mental and a physical level if that makes sense. :) We don't know the social boundaries of strangers and don't want to risk overstepping them. Silence isn't awkward to us because it means space to breathe, talking all the time feels smothering.

I was born in Finland I in Raahe and lived in Oulu until the age of five, when my family migrated to Australia in 1959. I have never been back but I would really like to see my homeland. A lot of what you mentioned was part of my childhood, such as other Finnish people, Finnish food, culture and singing was big in my family and we always had a sauna. Thank you for reminding me how beautiful Finland truly is. Pirkko from Queensland Australia.

We here in Finland have two words for "friend." We have "kaveri" and we have "ystävä." Kaveri is like your regular friend you can hang with and who has your back and all that, "ystävä" is a more profound bond, more akin to what Sam and Frodo are to each other, there's real deep loyalty in being an "ystävä" to someone, and they're the people who will stick by you even if it means they have to get a beating to do so. The more superficial friendships many people are used to, the kind that you hang around with every now and then and that's it, them we call simply associates, we don't even afford them the title of "kaveri." This is because most of us at some point, being from a small country and all, have experienced some form of profound loyalty towards us from another, and we give loyalty enormous value. That's why we're still not big on all that polyamory bullshit either, it's just disloyalty with consent and is a recipe for disaster and misery, not happiness and fulfillment.

The practicality is something a lot of foreigners don't notice. If it can be done better we are all over it. Basicly we are a country of amateur engineers (and actual ones too of course). We even got a tax now for wasteful plastic packaging now. Mostly because it's hard to recycle, but also because the smaller packaging is just more practical to use.

You mentioned Finland. Now we all have to go and meet at the Market Square! ;D)

My friend from Japan built a Sauna next to Fuji mountain, and he brought 20 kilos of kiuaskivi (sauna stove stones) from finland to Japan, since Japan has no bedrock and mainly consists of lava rock which has no heat storing properties.I love Finland and I have great respect for any person that has the courage to spend a winter here.

I have worked in 39 countries, visited more than 50, married 2 foreigners and still my home is where my bed is. Finn I am and more I am away, more I love Finland.

Kiitos videosta! Olen suomalainen, asun Ruotsissa. After more than 40 years of living abroad I'm still 100% Finnish, and will always stay that way. I've watched the two other videos as well, and now it strikes me you've missed one thing about us: WE ARE STUBBORN!! :)

I cried a little while watching this... I'm so proud of you, my finns!

It's absolutely true that we hate boasting about our own achievements, but at the same time we get all giddy when the rest of the world notices something we did well. That's the party time right there. Just let your actions speak for yourself and if someone notices be very proud

Ruisleipä, easy resept: Ingredients 8 dl Sunday Coarse Wholemeal rye flour 1 ps. Sunday Dry yeast 1/2 tablespoon salt 2 teaspoons sugar In addition 5 dl of water Measure the rye flour into a 1-liter glass jar. Add the unopened dry yeast bag, salt, and sugars to the jar. Craft the instruction manual under the side of the jar or print it here. 5 dl of water 1 tbsp rye bread ingredients Heat the water to 42 degrees (celsius) (well above hand temperature). Stir in the dry yeast. Add the rye bread ingredients in a few portions and mix until smooth. Cover the dough with a cloth and let rise for 1 hour. Set aside the dough on a rye-floured table and divide it into two parts. Bake both pieces of dough on baking paper with perforations using flour as an aid. Prick the bread and bake in a 230 degree (celsius) oven for 50 minutes.

Big hug from Finland! Great to hear you had nice time here,!You made really nice points that are hard to see when you have actually lived here all your life. That is the main reason I want to watch these videos since they open up my mind to see the world around me :)

"An american, a Frenchman and a Finn saw an elephant. American wondered wow much money he could make with that elephant. A Frenchman was thinking how many different dishes he could prepare from that elephant. A Finn was thinking what that elephant thinks of him." So tell me more about what you think about Finland =)

I appreciate you americans about your communication skills and unprejudiced attitude. You make everything sounding so easy and fluent, your health self-confidence makes that possible. Your messaging make me feel good. You are really genuine people more than we finns these days I think.

Your videos about Finland/Texas are amazing! I have visited Finland a number of times and felt completely happy, secure and comfi - like the little boy alone in the bus. A number of observations are the same that you'd find here in Denmark except for the outdoor saunas that I have also enjoyed. Come back to the Nordic countries (y) You understand the feel! - Lovely videos (y) .. and the Finns are outstanding people.

Public transportation is decent in the larger cities but it's definitely an overstatement to say that it works everywhere

Rachael, I love, love, love this segment. I enjoyed seeing all the Finland pictures and remembering all the interesting sites and foods. Great Job.

Thank you so much for these videos, please keep posting them!!! So amazing of you to share your personal experience, it can be really helpful for someone who is living here in Finland and might be struggling with same issues you were here.

8 seconds into the video.. Let me guess... Door locks that work perfectly. I have never seen better door locks anywhere in the world.

Ahh I’m currently on an exchange in Finland and yess Finland is such a special place 🤩

Really happy to hear how genuine and honest you are when talking about your expectations when going to Finland and what you actually learned while having been there for a while. That's how you learn humility in the right way. I'm sure you're a wonderful person and it would have been an honor to have met you here and been able to talk with you about a variety of things. You're so much welcome back any time. Just one thing though... Please don't brake against the 3rd commandment.. Or any other. Wishing you all the best and God bless 😊

Thank you for your kind words for Finland. It means a lot to me.

I liked a lot your 10+ things about Finland. Everyday life here ( Arkielämä , as we say) makes people little bit numb about all good things & places there are here in Finland. But this arkielämä still goes on well for most people here. And i thank you about everything you said on video cause it is reminder for me about the place i live in. And it is a good place to be. Hope you have a chance sometime to come back to Finland. All the best for you in life!

Short summer, foreigners keep saying that, as a finn I dont feel our summer is short, I mean it's 5 months long sometimes to us, but for you it's like 2 weeks :D But then again, when you like the cold, summer feels too long and winter too short, even in southern Finland.

Thanks for reminding, its good to live in country of real opportunities and freedom, Finland

People from America have been raised that they live in the best of all possible worlds. When venturing abroad, especially in Northern Europe, they are astonished to find out they have been lied to all of their lives 24/7 by politicians, by news anchors on their news channels, and by teachers in their schools.

I was sent there by my Finnish father to work on my aunt’s farm every summer to keep me out of Jersey City he’ll hole in the 60sand 70s.I feel what you saying,I have a child there and grandchildren that I didn’t know about because they have the ability to have a child without child support.She kept a secret because she didn’t want to break my life apart.I am blessed.

Moi, Raakkeli! Ihana nähdä sun kauniit kasvot! 😘🙋❤👑 Was a fun surprise that KZfaq suggested your videos. What a lovely way to remind of the beauty we often forget we have here. Hope to see you soon!

Being a half-finn and half swede, I take half-pride in these videos ^^

Thank you Rachel for your videos. I am half Finnish (my dad was born in Alavus) and I grew up in California. I visited Finland many years ago and now I'm going back and bringing my grown children and husband. YOur videos helped me remember some things that I MISS in Finland...for me I miss outdoor dancing platforms in midsummer, Finnish makkara (sausages!), sauna, massage, lakes everywhere and pines everywhere ( my name is Manty :) )

Thank you for your kind words. You know Finland well.. That was all true. Kiitos 🇫🇮

All those things that you've listed... they just make me want to pack some things and fly to Suomi on the spot -- going to Finland has been a dream of mine for over ten years! I also love that they put the emphasis on practicality -- why buy many things because they're 'pretty' when you could spend less on useful stuff? Being a creative, I feel that I could be happy there, and you seem to feel the same about the fact that they actually encourage their young ones to do what they love, and I'm not even talking about their education system! Anyway, the uniqueness of Finland is something to experience at least once in a lifetime, right? Thanks a lot for your feedback video!

We're shy only when we're in this particular unnatural state called sobriety.

Message to Rachael's husband - well done chap, what a lucky guy you are, what a lovely girl.

Hi Rachael, thank you so much for this video! All as you tell, made me proud too. If you don't mind I would like to share this with my two true American friends who through me have been able to "dive into" the Finnish, um..diversity, and they love it! Thanks again and God bless you!

I 've been to different countries across Europe and my favorite was Finland. People are so kind and open-minded, they incredibly trust each other as well as strangers, really loved that country and if I get the chance to come back I won't miss it

I loved this video. ❤️ I'm Finn and sometimes forgetting how awesome country I live. Thank you reminding me.

This is fun for me. My ancestors came from Tornio and Oulu in 1913 and settled near Calumet, Michigan in the northern most part of Michigan near Lake Superior. I spent pre-school years living with my mother's parents on their farm, and was bilingual Finn and English. If you want to talk about our experiences, well, let's do.

Just drinking Juhla mokka, the best :D

If you loved Finland so much and ever go back there please visit Estonia as well, many things you have talked about are similar if not same in here as well and we have a beautiful old town and nature in here as well. Also we love the saunas but maybe not as much as Finns 😅😄 love your channel and your videos, it's nice to see things from a foreigner's perspective 😉☺️

Now I wanna go to Finland.

I just moved from the United States back to Finland and miss many things from the states a lot. Your videos are great and remind me of the great things in Finland. However, I miss the U.S. small talk culture.

Thank you for this video. I'm a Finn and I do appreciate how you speak for our small country. This is a cold country to live but the best society I've found so far. Greetings from Turku! :)

Summer in Finland lasts three months like all of our four seasons. 3×4=12=practical ;)

Great video.. happy that you enjoyed your stay :) with love from Espoo, Finland.

1:24 This reminds me... I was on my way home when I met this asian woman. She was wearing long winter coat, fur & all, thick gloves, boots, hood & scarf. I had been in sauna at my friend's place, so not only was I wearing nothing but T & shorts, I also had wet hair and skin. Our eyes met for a very long instant. I still remember it.

For me (as a Finn) the biggest one was about public transportation. You make it sound like there's something magical about safety and security

Salmiakki, makkara, perkele.

I'm planning some day to visit America, I'm sure it will be interesting to letting people break my private space :D and greet every one.

Thank you Rachel. You are so right: I feel akward listening to your kind words. But deep inside I am so glad to realize that a lot of what you say is just what people NEED to hear. All of it actually. And living in Turku myself and after spending almost 40 best years of my life here raising a family and having a wonderful career as a teacher here, I loved to hear that you lived in Turku, which used to be called the asshole of Finland. We don’t hear much of that anymore because the economy is booming, for one thing. God bless you. I love to hear more from you and your channel. Love from Juha in Finland

Sounds about right. Thanks for the kind words about our country . Good to hear that someone is roofing for us in Texas :) 'Cause you just don't mess with Texas...

i want to visit in usa and drive route 66 with motorcycle; i love my home country and i loved to watch your video from my home country. i hope that you have change to make second trip to here. god bless

0:09 Yep, and not just people in Finland. Us here in Norway feel the same way. ^^ Although hearing about people in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland from people from outside the region is a close second. :-P

Hi! I’m from Finland and living in Sweden since way back! It’s really nice and fun to watch your videos and hear you talk about my home Country! I have Son living in LA and I’m going to visite him in this October. If you wore nearer I would bring you Ruisleipää! May God bless you! 💖☀️👍🏻🇫🇮

Had lived in Iceland for 17 years - my ex-wife is Icelandic -. Even though the place is magical, people are very friendly (what is considered rude / a nogo or not differs from country to country), it had been very interesting to discover the language, landscape, culture in general, I had often felt homesick - particularly in spring which arrives late or maybe never😉 according to central European standard - ... had also missed the forest. Some tourists say they don't like the Icelandic food, which I cannot understand ... fish and lamb meat are excellent (though prefer Swiss cheese and bread). Think I would find it interesting to visit all the countries in the world, but have my favourites: Finland, Canada, Sweden and Germany. Have not been to Finland yet, spent 4 weeks holiday in western Canada many years ago which was amazing, have only seen Malmö in Sweden and only been to a few places in Germany. Staying abroad for a limited period of time or forever makes the difference for me. Some of the Swiss people I got to know in Iceland would never want to move back to "crowded" Switzerland😉. Hello from Zürich😃

I really like your open mind and how easily you seem to have shredded your prejudices. That is intelligence. It seems somewhat “untexan” to my prejudge-mental mind.

Ok video but in finland only cheap thing is clean water.

Nice video. Everybody thinks that American don´t care about other people but it takes the thing that you have to live there to notice all the different things. Thanks Rachel this video made me smile! Kiitos!

My favorite place - miss my friends and relatives, need to get back there!

I moved to Finland for 4 months now n planning to be here for a very long time here :) Was searching about Finland video n found urs.....very cool tho, i feel connected, ah yeah btw you have stunning eyebrows xx

I'm a sucker watching videos where people try salmiakki. It sometimes leads me into videos with genral talk about the weird country where people eat salmiakki.

Love your videos! You say you learned a lot from your time in Finland, and it works the other way around, too - I lived in Texas for a year and came back another person. Everything you say about the nice things in Finland is true, but you guys have so so many great things that we Finns should learn from, too!

Recycling has gotten even better over here. Before you had to go to like a recycling area that was built for the whole neighbourhood (which was still only like a 15 min walk) but now (at least in my experience from where I've lived) each apartment building has all of the recycling bins in their own garbage area/little hut thing

I do have to mention that religion and god-belief isn't that big of a deal here. Even though most people are members of the church I suspect the especially younger people aren't religious. God is just a non-factor for most of my friends family and acquaintances

👏Don't👏you👏dare👏judge👏our👏coffee👏

OMG I am so hooked up to your opinions about Finland. Note that I am new to learn other peoples opinions about Finland. I am currently going school (ammattikoulu for adults) learning new things and it's free. I love to meet new people in my school. Some of them are from different countries and that's one thing what I like. I just like hearing peoples opinions. I must recommend your channel to my other friends. Greetings from Finland :)

First words when i klicked this vid " Because there is nothing that finnish people enjoy more than having a foreigner talk about finnish people and Finland". Got me there lol :D. Feels pretty good to be finnish after this one :D Thanks alot :)

7:15 - You need a gun to travel "safely" on a public bus in Texas?!!! That is sad! Quality of life includes being relaxed and a clean enviironment.

Perkele how dare you say bad things about Juhla Mokka Just kidding liked the video and welcome back to Finland

0:06 You know it! Why, I don't know, but it's really entertaining to see someone foreign experience the weird things we live every day.

You're a very special kind of Christian. Especially for an American Christian. You show many of the things that I like in that religion and none of the things that played a huge part in my departure from it ( there were also many theological, ontological and moral reasons too, at least from what we might call mainstream Christianity - for many years now I am a Unitarian). I wish there were more people like you wearing the image and the face of that religion and speaking for it instead of the many smug, Conservative, judgmental bigoted folks... The way you said that you went to Finland to give and to teach but you ended up receiving and learning is just precious and honest and dear to my soul. God bless you!

I drink a lot more coffee than average Finn and I think that Juhlamokka is garbage. Its very bitter and just tastes very bad. I cant understand why Finns love Juhlamokka

Juhla Mokka is awfull coffee!

turku in january is freeeeezing cold. come to lapland. its totally different. +2c on the seaside is much colder than -25c in inland where the air is dry and heres no wind at that weather. and the "kaamos" (polar night) is not dark, we have only different shades of blue and orange.

Yeah we do love it when people talk about Finland😍

I think when there is a lot of snow, it is the best

Thank you. You are good people,to tell us Finns,what we are not allways remember for ourselfs. Love you,and wellcome back.

I truly love to watch these things just to learn more about foreigners and learn to embrace what makes a finn a finn

I just love listening foreigner talk about finland :D, it's like listening yourself in the news

One thing I really missed when I was in America was ruisleipä. Not salmiakki because I don't eat that so much in Finland even.

I love you vlogs about Finland. While I have not been there yet, I am trying to talk my wife into a trip there. We have just recently guiding a Finnish style wood burning sauna in our backyard here in central Texas. I am quite certain that it is the only one like it in our city. My wife is somewhat Finnish in her inbred introvertedness. Neither one of us can stand being late for an appointment. I hope that you are able to make your planned return trip to Finland.

Hats off to you still knowing a few finnish sentences :) Considered one of the hardest languages to learn.

In the same way your trip to Finland was some kind of an eye opener. I felt the same going to US (SD) from Sweden. Even if California and San Diego was a pleasant experience, I could not stop thinking about some of the negative things and how these are slowly coming to us. Like fast food (EVERY WHERE), obesity, consume-alism, a devided class society and homeless people at the rock bottom. So I believe it’s good to travel to see and experience other countries culture, habits asp, just to be able to reflect over some of the ‘quirks’ of your home country.

It's nice to see that Finland made you learn something new. :)

Well turku is beautyful and aura joki im werry glad to hear that you had a great time in my country god bless you and your family 🇫🇮🇫🇮🇫🇮🤗🤗🤗

Hieno video meistä. kiitos paljon

This video is so sweet! Ruisleipä is reeally good I love it :)