Hi, Sara, your passion for China really impress me. Wish your dream come true.Probably it’s coming true right now.

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Thank you for your comment Rufus Yao. My dream was to come to China and that have already came true. Also another dream is coming true so I should find some new things to dream about.

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hello,sara.I found your blog via QQ,and I like your blog.I also want to know more about Finnish culture.And,could you tell me some famouse books written by Finnish?Thanks.
I hope to you will reply me soon.

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Hello Autumn and thanks for commenting. Maybe I could write sometime about Finnish culture and compare it to Chinese one.

Your question about the books is little bit challenging because I usually read books from Chinese authors (but in English).

If you want to read some classics check out these: Sinuhe Egyptian by Mika Waltari or Seven Brothers by Aleksis Kivi.

But right now maybe the most spoken author is Sofi Oksanen with books Stalin’s Cows, Baby Jane and Purge. Purge was the best book in Finland in 2008.

I have to say that I haven’t read the books I just mentioned. I would like to read Sofi’s books when I have the time.

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Hi.Sara.I’m coming again. How are you lately? The weather begins cool in Guangzhou.Take care of yourself.
I have some questions.What kind of language do Finnish people use?Do they use English to talk to others?I felt puzzled about your other two blogs in Finnish: Xue opiskelee Paasykoeblogi.I have no idea about what kind of languages it is.

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Nice to see you here again so soon Autumn! Yes the weather is cooler now and I love it!

In Finland we speak Finnish. It is very different from English. Our second official language is Swedish, also very different from Finnish. I studied Swedish for 6 years because we all have to, but I forgot everything because I never used it. Almost everyone in Finland can also speak English. And it’s compulsory to study it.

Those blogs you mentioned are written in Finnish. You can’t understand them without learning Enlish. Xue opiskelee means Xue studies and it’s about my life and my studies. Paasykoeblogi means Examblog and it’s about university entrance examinations and how to prepare for them.

If you have any other questions please feel free to ask. I’m happy to answer. Take care!

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Sara,I found your blog via your comment on Speaking of China. I am a Chinese guy and like your blog.

I am very impressed to what you said”Almost everyone in Finland can also speak English” . Because English is compulsory to study in China too,young generation began to study it in middle school,but after graduation of college,most of them still couldn’t speak it.I think the reason might be the difference between Mandarin and English is much bigger than the one between Finnish and English?
Is Mandarin much difficult to learn than English to a Finnish girl?

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Hi Kurt and thank you for commenting. Nice to hear that you like my blog.

Sure English is closer to Finnish than Mandarin because the first two are both written with letters, not characters. And learning English is much easier for me than learning Chinese.

I started learning English when I was 9 years old but some kids start at the age of 7 or even little bit earlier. We have extremely good education system in Finland so it might have something to do with our language skills.

Chinese is difficult to learn because it is so different. But more than difficult it is hard work. Grammar is more simple than in European languages and it’s good for me because I hate learning grammar.

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Hi Sara,

Its nice meeting you here, I think i will be following your blog pretty closely since you are so passionate about the Chinese culture, I have been in China for two years, Study medicine at Jilin University, has been busy with School, didn’t bothered to immerse myself in their culture but i hope i may learn off from people like you. Its peculiar country for impractical people, like how they go about their stuff. Anyways keep ‘em coming.

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Thank you for your comment Mohamed Burhan. Really nice to hear that you have enjoyed reading my blog. China really is interesting place and sometimes (often) hard to understand. I have 24/7 immersion because of my Chinese better half.

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Sara,today is Chinese tranditional fastival— Double Ninth Festival.Enjoy your time in Guangzhou.Maybe you can go climbing.(just tranditional custom) :)

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Autumn, Thanks for reminding me! I would have totally forgotten this without you. Happy Double Ninth Festival to you!

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hi,sara!could you tell me how to make a blog like yours？your blog looks good

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Thank you Serena. The easiest way is to go to www.wordpress.com and start a blog there.

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Oh,Sara,unbelievable! I found my hometown in your photo gallery! You have been on the street of my neighbourhood~~Haha

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Thank you for commenting Gaby! Oh, that is a nice coincidence. Your neigbourhood seems interesting :) I also got your email and will reply when I have more time.

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hei Sara, tosi mielenkiintoinen blogi. Rupean seuraamaan.

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PS ja ihana layout, mistä sait nuo upeat kukat?

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Moi Hanna. Kiitos, kiitos. Oma blogisikin on erittain mielenkiintoinen ja seuraan aina uusia merkintoja. Kunpa sita itsekin paasisi joskus kirjoittamaan millaista on julkaista esikoisromaani :) Tama layout on ihan WordPressin peruskokoelmaa, ainoastaan tuo bannerikuvan temppeli on oma valokuvani.

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To me Finnish is just as exotic and interesting as Chinese and I considered studying Finnish at university, but decided to study Chinese. It took so much effort that I balk at starting studying Finnish.

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Thank you for commenting Patrick. It’s really a surprise for me that you considered studying Finnish. I have to say that the grammar is quite tricky :) Finnish is just maybe little bit too exotic and maybe pretty useless. You made a good choise to study Chinese.

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Hi Sara, I just sent you a friend request on facebook and bookmarked your blog. Hope you are having fun in Guangzhou!

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Sara Reply:
December 3rd, 2010 at 3:15 am

Thank you Angela. I’m having a lot of fun in Guangzhou. Really nice to hear that you enjoy reading my blog.

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Sara,Merry X’mas!

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Sara Reply:
December 26th, 2010 at 5:19 am

Merry Christmas Autumn!

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Hei!
Englanti ei ole suomessa pakollinen aine. Yksi vieras kieli ja ainakin 2011 vaaleihin asti toinen kotimainen ovat pakollisia. Lisäksi voi ottaa toisen ja kolmannenkin vieraan kielen. Nykysysteemissä ei oikein hyödynnetä kielten sukulaisuutta:( Ruotsin sijasta voisi opiskella pohjoismaisia kieliä (ok, islanti on hankalampi) ja valita kielet kokonaisuuksina: germaaniset (ruotsi, saksa, englanti, dutch), latinalaiset (espanja, italia, portugali, tagalog) seemiläiset (heprea, arabia) jne. Jos lapsi oppii koulussa yhden joka kieliryhmästä niin muiden oppiminen helpottuu. Ja pienenä kielten opiskelu käy ihan itsestään niin paras aloittaa päiväkodista. Minulle aikaanaan saksa ja englanti oli helppoja kun osasin ruotsia valmiiksi, joten olisi ollut enemmän hyötyä opetella venäjää tai kiinaa. Lapsena olisi joutanut paremmin pänttäämään hanzeja!:)

And in english for non-finnish readers: English is NOT compulsory in Finland. It is only compulsory to study one foreign language + Swedish, at least until the parliamentary election in spring 2011. Note to foreigners: Swedish is not dearly loved by the Finnish schoolchildren because 1) it is deemed useless as it only has some 20 million speakers (who all speak English) if you count in Norwegians and Danes and the tiny Finnish minority 2) Finland was colonized by Sweden for centuries and as Swedish was the language of academia, civil servants and military, it caused unproportional socio-economic benefits for the Swedish-speaking population (already present in Finland since…the ice melt or something). Some still feel about the Swedish-speakers as the Malay or Filipino towards their succesfull Chinese minorities. So in the upcoming elections language teaching is a hot topic and most Finnish parents would gladly trade their kids’ Swedish lessons for Russian or Chinese, for example. In the current system it is possible to study two foreign languages from the lower primary school (starting at grade 2.-5.) and a third or even fourth in upper primary and upper secondary. Commonly chosen is German, Italian, Russian and Spanish. Japanese is booming in upper secondary due to the cultural invasion of manga&anime. The current system does not make enough use of the familiar ties of (european) languages. Instead of Swedish the kids could aswell learn Nordic languages, the subject their teachers studied in university (since they already love Norwegian hard-rock and wages & Danish beer). The germanian languages (German, English, Dutch) could be grouped, latinic (spanish, portuguese, italian, tagalog) also, as well as semitic (hebrew, arabic) and so on. Definitely one hanzi-based should be made available for everyone so we Finns wouldn’t be such illiterates in Asia. Let the kid choose one from every “language family” at an early age, when language studies are literally a childs’ play, and they can easily grasp the other languages of the group later, if they need them. Best to start learning in kindergarten when theres plenty of time to draw hanzi with crayons. In my times learning German and English was maybe too easy, since they are very related to Swedish, which I already spoke at home(no I’m not filthy rich, quite the opposite). Learning Russian or Chinese would have been way more useful.

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Sara Reply:
January 18th, 2011 at 1:28 am

Ning Ning, Thanks for commenting and sharing this information! I have truly thought that English is compulsory to us and only now found out that it isn’t. But I can say that basically most of the Finnish people will learn English at school because there isn’t other options and English is quite useful language. When I started learning English at the age of 8 on 3rd grade we didn’t have any other options. Later on 5th grade I started German but never knew that I could have skipped English and just study German. No one ever talked about it. Only in the university it was a choise to study one foreign language and it could be almost any language.

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I found your blog from your facebook link, and i am enjoy reading your writing. It is really fruitful. I was in Oulu 3 months last year, Finland is an amazing place.
Nice to meet you on cyberspace.^.^

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Sara Reply:
February 5th, 2011 at 7:35 am

Thank you for commenting Rongwu. Really nice to hear that you’re enjoying my blog and I’ll do my best to keep it interesting. I really appreciate yours and others opinions. Interesting to hear that you’ve been to Oulu. It must be quite different than in the southern Finland where I’ve lived. I think I have never been to Oulu. Nice to meet you too!

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Hi Sara,

You are an admin for an website about univeristy in Finland, So i hope you may be able to answer me few qurstions about applying Phd in Finland. My major is International relations, and got my Master degee from Renmin University, and Bachelor Degree at Deakin University. How can i apply for Phd in Finland? Is that any Phd Program in English? Which uni in Finland is specializing International relations, especially China?

Thanks for your help

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Sara Reply:
March 21st, 2011 at 7:34 am

Hi Sam, I will do my best to answer you. First you should check out this website: Study In Finland. There’s a lot of information about studying in Finland and also Phd programs. From here you can also do a search of ready-made doctoral programmes.

But this is important: “In Finnish universities, Doctoral level studies can be available either as ready-made Doctoral programmes (please consult our Study Programmes Database) or as tailor-made Doctoral level study and research opportunities. Therefore, not all the Doctoral level study and research options are covered in our database. If you wish to work for a doctoral thesis in Finland, you should contact the institution concerned or relevant department directly and make sure that your own field of specialisation is represented there. The university can then assist you in questions regarding when and how to apply.”

I’m not sure if there is anything that would combine international relations and China. There is international politics for example in the University of Helsinki (in the capital) and East Asian Studies in the same university. I think you should first check out the Study In Finland website and then look the websites of Finnish universities and when you find a place with your major then send email and ask more.

Was this any help?

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Moi Sara,
Kiitos blogini kommentoinnista. Tuo About sivu olikin mulle ihan outo juttu, oon niin ensikertalainen blogin kirjottaja :) Oma blogisi on aivan mahtava, aihe liikuuttaa minua syvästi, sillä kiina on vetänyt minua puoleensa jo pitkään (mm. maon pieni punainen kirja on sisustusmielessä hyllyllä). Kerran siellä käyneenä, kanttonissa juuri ja hainanilla, ja hinku on kova päästä sitä enemmän ekplooraamaan. Oli hieno löytää blogisi, tästä sait itsellesi uuden vakiolukijan.
Tsemppiä elämään.

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Sara Reply:
April 9th, 2011 at 9:21 am

Kiva kun tulit kommentoimaan :) Ja onpa mielenkiintoista kuulla, etta Kiina kiinnostaa! Itse olen ollut aivan fani jo suhteellisen nuoresta lahtien. sen verran kiehtova ja outokin tama maa on. Kiitos!

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我看了一些你的文章，作为一个老外中国和作为一个老中在北欧所受的待遇实在太大了：中国人一般对外国人非常友好热情，特别是中国的大学生，他们很乐意与外国人比如博主这样的外国美女打交道；而作为一个生活在瑞典的老中，我不得不说，瑞典人民和芬兰人民太冷了！cold as stone!除非醉酒，否则大多数芬兰人瑞典人根本懒得搭理外国人，尤其非欧洲人，the words that uses one of my acquaintance say：They completely ignore you as if you never existed.

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Sara Reply:
April 20th, 2011 at 2:39 am

Chinese people and including students, are really curious people. They have lot of questions and even they are shy, sometimes they have the courage to come to speak with as laowais. 哈哈 You are right! Finnish people can be quite quiet and some of us need a drink to begin a conversation. But I like that in Finland no one cares when I walk in the streets. No one is shouting hello, missy missy or buy a watch! In China I sometimes get way too much attention and it’s nice to go to Finland where people just let me be.

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青 Reply:
April 20th, 2011 at 10:09 am

Well,that is the culture difference,Environment, as I see it, has a far-reaching influence on one personality. The Europe of the north is scarcely populated.It is colder in the north & Nordic.and Traffic was badly dislocated by the heavy fall of snow in winter.especailly that in Nodic,Winter is take most time of one year,therefor,Finnish have to stay alone in the past and now,As time passed, they got accustomed to being alone.in the past,Loneliness has fostered their religious feeling and their taste for meditation and recollection.
I am afraid that if i stay here too long time, i will become too quiet and used to loneness.actually,i am already effect by Sweden………………

but,In China you sometimes get way too much attention just because you are “Laowai”,because you have a white face looks totally different from each other，opposite attach，people always curious when they see something&someone different,whatever Chinese or Finnish,Swedish，for example,when i visit some small town in sweden where most people never see asian before, they do the same thing as you meet.
and i found a very interesting point: althrough most swedish used to stay alone and quiet,but they are eager to conversation,they just always constrain own sentiment.that why there are many people here need the help of alcohol to release themself.

Friends agree best at distance.for Chinese,too far;for swedish finnish,too close,sometimes i am really confused:may be most of swedish friends never look me as a friend. People tend to close their heart as the growing of age,especially to a foreigner.

不管怎么样，祝你在中国能有一个开心的生活，莎拉

APROPÅ： talar du Svenska eller Kinesiska?

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Sara Reply:
April 24th, 2011 at 8:09 am

I hope you can learn to take good sides from both of the cultures, Chinese and Swedish. I like your idea about enviroment affecting cultures and people. I am sure there is a connection between dark rainy autumns plus cold long winters and a Finnish way of living and thinking.

Making friends with people from another cultures isn’t always easy. You are worried that Swedish friend don’t consider you as a friend. I’m worried that to Chinese people are only interested having a foreign friend, not having me as a friend.

I hope too that you will have good time in Sweden and when you go back to China, you will have nice memories from there.

Jag talar inte svenska. I studied Swedish for over six years, but because I never used it I forgot almost everything. My Chinese is much better than my Swedish right now.

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