Nina Ratavaara is a Swiss-Finnish student on the “Global Media and Communication” Master’s programme at the University of Helsinki. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in media science and Scandinavian studies in Basel and Hamburg.

I MOVED to Finland two years ago from Switzerland, starting off as an Erasmus student like many others. But contrary to most, Finland had been part of my life since birth, a destination of many family summer holidays and now the place I plan to live for many years to come. I distinctly remember one occasion in Helsinki when I was 13 years old: everywhere I saw people dressed in black and with long hair. What I did not know then was that on this particular weekend the Tuska festival took place.

Some years later, I was one of those people and the same festival had become a fixed programme point in my summer plans. The holidays in Hel(l)sinki were also a break from being disapprovingly eyed from the side, openly stared at in public or accused of worshiping the devil just because of wearing black clothes and listening to extreme metal – not to mention having piercings and tattoos. Thus one aspect that has impressed me over time is Finland’s lively metal scene and the openness of the general public towards this music and lifestyle.

Overall, I admire the passion of Finns with which they express their different musical tastes with their looks however inexpressive the cliché classifies them otherwise. And they do not only dress up for special occasions but you can see many styles displayed on a normal weekday. Possibly I only feel like this because the Swiss culture is inexpressive as well but with less room to express yourself. When it comes to aspects of social life like personal space or how long it takes to make friends, for me there is no big difference between the Swiss culture (that is to say the Swiss German one because the French and Italian parts have different mentalities) and Finnish one. Yet when it’s about tolerating different individual lifestyles, Finland is much more liberal.

I am also continuously surprised that at work alternative ways of life such as one closely tied to metal are mostly accepted. As long as you do a good job you’re allowed to be and express yourself without having to take on a more or less artificial professional identity to hide your choice of lifestyle. It is about you, your personality, your work and not about how you dress or what music you listen to.

Maybe the strong expression of individual and musical tastes has to do with the otherwise equally structured society – even though there are many cultural differences regionally, Finland in general seems to be a more homogenous society than Switzerland. The school and system of healthcare are the same all over as are the supermarket and Alko assortments. I do not miss trying to figure out the confusing cantonal differences in the Swiss school systems, but I do yearn for the diversity of off-licences where you can make unique finds and the regionally differentiated supermarket selections with products from local farms.

Or perhaps the “Finnish character” and society are just more ready to accept you however you are. Hence, from the outside Finland might be a more closed society than others but inside there is room to express yourself.