IN FINLAND, Valentine’s Day is a relatively discreet occasion. Unlike its Anglo-Saxon cousin, the Finnish ystävänpäivä is more generally about celebrating friendships, rather than being a day just for lovers. Nevertheless, the overabundance of pink hearts and factory-made confessions of love (in the form of Valentine’s Day cards) that go with the original V-Day are enough to turn off just about anyone.

INCREASING numbers of students from all over the world are now coming to Finland to complete degree level studies and, as has been more tradition, as exchange students. As is the case with most students who travel abroad to study, most of the foreign students in Finland flock to the capital area, with its bright lights and buzzing social scene.

Add a pair of headphones to the list of items to bring with you when heading out clubbing.

The Finns (the people, not the political party) have invented some bizarre things in their time. Swamp football and wife carrying are two of the more well-known odd pastimes originating from this land of the midnight sun, but a slightly trendier, if ultimately ridiculous, habit that began here has recently spread around Europe. Silent discos are club nights where partygoers listen to music on headphones, together, in a large room. Supposedly the first example of such an event, at least visually, was in a 1969 Finnish science fiction film called Ruusujen AIka. In the seventies the idea failed to set the world on fire before it was resurrected by some British people during the early noughties.

Although voice-over dubbing is utilised only for children’s films in Finland, the local scene has nothing to be ashamed of in terms of quality.

UNLIKE IN many other European countries, generally TV programming and films in Finland are subtitled. We Finns like to think of this as a sign of openness to other languages and cultures, in addition to largely explaining our relatively good English skills. And yet the main reason behind the practice is, disappointingly, a financial one: dubbing is many times more expensive than subtitling, making it unfeasible in such a small market as Finland.

An average of 200 people drown in Finland every year.

ASIDE from an abundance of daylight that leaves most newcomers to these shores scratching their heads, summer in Finland is also renowned for something less than amusing, with many dying each year because of drowning accidents.

An average of 200 people drown in Finland every year, the public’s fascination with such unfortunate statistics peaking with the annual figure reported in the media of how many people drowned during the juhannus weekend.

THE TRUE FINNS may not have secured a place in Finland’s new government, but by receiving 19 per cent of the vote in April’s election they have caused an absolutely huge stir. This self-professedly populistic, eurosceptic party is additionally accused of such things as racism, xenophobia, religious intolerance and homophobia.

The party argues in its election manifesto that it values (nation-based) diversity but that to preserve such diversity at the global level requires more homogeneity within states. Genuine heartfelt sentiment, or simply a convenient way to justify the promotion of narrow-mindedness and the impoverishment of minority rights?

FOR a nation that holds the naked sauna sacrosanct, it seems somewhat contradictory that Finns are never happier than when covered head to toe in clothing. Just as the cities and towns of Finland are warming to bearable temperatures, and being outside in short sleeves is no longer dangerous to your health, so everybody rushes to the forest where they have to cover every inch of their flesh against blood sucking mosquitoes.

There are around 40 species of mosquito in Finland but only three main culprits when it comes to biting humans. And they don’t actually bite – they pierce the skin with a sharp proboscis and suck up the blood, stopping it from clotting with a drop of their saliva. It’s this saliva that causes the skin to swell and itch.

COMMONLY known in Finland as sima, and consumed during the First of May (Vappu) celebrations, mead is traditionally a honey wine. Finnish mead doesn’t always include honey, however, although its Finnish name is a synonym of mesi, which means honey. The most common Finnish sima recipes include water, sugar, syrup, yeast and raisins, and are spiced up with the pulp and rind of lemon.

Historically, mead is often associated with the Vikings. Legend tells that the Norse god Odin was weak when it came to his favourite drink: in order to grow wiser and stronger he took a sip of mead after negotiating his payment – he had to sacrifice one of his eyes.

Get your gloves out: a one-day campaign to clean up the country is approaching!

ONE day to clean up an entire country? Yes, that’s right. Cleaning Finland – in one day! is a nationwide event that will see thousands of volunteers committing themselves to ridding Finland of waste in under 24 hours.

The event is part of the larger international movement Let’s Do it! that originated in Estonia in 2007. Instead of waiting for a faceless ‘them’ to clear nature and cities of waste, a group of friends decided to take matters into their own hands and came up with the concept ‘One country, One day’.

RESEARCHERS at the University of Helsinki and the Sibelius Academy in a recently published journal article have shown that our willingness to listen to music is at least partly determined by our genes. Although the study by no means dismisses the importance of environmental factors when it comes to our music-listening preferences, it does emphasise the influence our biological make-up has on our propensity to listen to music.

This latest study is but a smaller part of a bigger research project looking into the biological basis of musical aptitude that started in 2002 and published the first of a number of articles in 2008.