Suomi Ikuisesti !!

That means Finland Forever! But before I start my story I should share that I just had the most delightful evening last night. I took myself to delicioius dinner at Penelope and then went to see The Drowsy Chaperone. Everyone in the world should run out and see that show. It was charming and delightful and I loved every second of it.

But on to the juicier stuff. Yael and I went to grab a drink after I got back uptown. We decided to try out a new place, one on Broadway and closer to her apartment. This bar is conveniently near a youth hostel. We didn’t really think about that though. We just wanted a casual place to buy cheap stoli-vanil-with-diet-cokes and talk about Alias. But we found ourselves next to 8 of the members of the Stadia Motorsport Formula Engineering team. They had just completed an international competition in Detroit, MI and they came in 5th Place! (Onneaxiholikon! -congratulations!)

At first they were not interested in talking. I tried to start conversation by asking if they were from Denmark. I asked this because I had on a previous occasion spent a very long evening with my friend Sara and two Danish boys we met. And during the course of that night I learned to proclaim SKOL! when raising your glass. So I thought maybe I could communicate with these gentlemen. But they were not from Denmark, and they were not interested in communicating. (and in case you are wondering, they do not say SKOL! In Finland, they say KIPIS!) But a short while later one of them asked us something. I have no recollection what it was, and then we all started talking. I have to say, I really enjoy meeting people from other countries. Especially Europeans. I just love learning about other cultures and sociological norms. For example, Finnish people don’t make small talk. Ever. And if they would, it would not be with strangers. Also, they drink a lot. And they have a big festival in the summer when the sun never goes down called Juhannus. And every day has a bunch of names attached to it so many people have a “name day” in addition to their birthday. And they have small celebrations (or maybe just a cake) on their “name days.’ Mine is August 11 this year. Maybe I’ll have a party!

Finnish people are proud of their young country (independent only since 1917) and do not like being associated with Sweden or Russia (both tried to rule them for too long) or any other Scandinavian areas. Helsinki, the capital and largest city only has 550,000 people or so, and the whole country only has 5 million. That’s a smaller population than all of New York City! They have small mountains up north in the lappland and so many lakes all through the country that there is a huge “cottage culture.” Kind of like the Hamptons. Everyone has a cottage house by the sea. Summer is an even bigger deal there than in New York where we have all kinds of events. They are so far north that they have very long winters with precious little sunlight, so they really get into it when the sun is around. …They all have a mandatory year of military service which they can complete at any time before 28. But most of them get it done right after high school. …I’m sure there’s more that Iearned, but that’s probably enough for now. Keep your eyes open for Finnish rock band HiM.