Shy and quiet?

Are Finnish people shy and quiet?

Last week I was talking to a woman at my placement, who could speak English and loved to talk to me. It was such a sweet person and she really reminded me of my grandma.

One subject we talked about was the shyness of Finnish people and that they can be quiet sometimes.

I'm not sure if this is just how Finnish people are, but the way that I noticed this is that a lot of Finnish people don't want to speak English. 

And that is a thing that I also heard at my previous placement. My supervisor there asked me if it felt to me as the Finnish people took me in. I told her honest that I didn't felt that way, because barely no one talked to me, or only after a week. She told me that that was what she expected to be my answer. She said that most of the Finnish people don't "like" foreign people and don't like to speak something else then Finnish or Swedish.

And lets be honest, sometimes this is so frustrating...

Another question that was asked was if I didn't felt really lonely... I had to think about that for a while. And maybe, yes, sometimes it is lonely when you don't always have someone to talk to. But it is also a challenge. A challenge to find a way where they do want to talk to you and let them feel that it is okay when their English is not always fluent.

So in the end I don't think that Finnish people are shy and quiet. The way they act around each other and how they treat each other looks so kind and full of empathy. And I think that after a while they want to talk to you and want to try to speak English. We just have to figure out a way where we both feel comfortable. And that is the real challenge.

Nähdään!

Aniek