Gategaeo ‘Gate’ Itkonen worked for over three years as a reporter for two English-language newspapers in Thailand, the Phuket Gazette and Phuket Post. She is married with one son.

I have just got a call from my friend telling me that her husband and some friends ran out from a steaming sauna and jumped naked into the snow in front of the house. She believed they were not drunk. I would be very surprised to hear this – if I hadn’t already been living here in Finland for three years.

I originally came from Phuket, a tropical resort island in the Andaman Sea. Among my favorite pastimes there was swimming in the clear, blue sea. To feel relaxed after tight deadlines I could just drive 10 or 15 minutes to the nearest beach and breathe in refreshing sea breezes.

After deciding to get married I left my island life for something quite different, first arriving in Finland in November when it was cold, dark and wet. So I started to look for a hobby to relax myself in this new kind of weather, never imagining myself in the sea here during wintertime. A public swimming pool was a good solution, and that was where my husband took me. I actually found it quite enlightening, and it gave me a chance to learn more about the Finns and their “shocking” aquatic habits.

It is common that people here go to the sauna and shower before swimming, as well as cleaning themselves off again from chlorine after swimming. There are separate changing and shower rooms for both genders.

I was informed beforehand that they all would be naked there, but I did not realise how it would be until I actually entered the shower room. In the first few minutes, I was stunned by the sight of those female figures, both young and old. Then came the awkward atmosphere, when I knew I had to just walk through them to take a quick shower and run with my swimsuit on to the pool.

Perhaps it all happened so fast, but to me those eyes kept staring at me, making things appear as if in slow motion. I guess that my being Asian made those Finnish ladies curious about what was underneath my clothes.

I tried calming myself, but still wondered when the other ladies would work out that I had everything the same as what they all have. It was at that moment I wished that Angelina Jolie or someone famous were there in the same room so that they would turn their interests and curiosity away from me.

I do not know how other Thais would cope with this. I told this to my female friends back in Thailand and they all seemed to agree that they wouldn’t choose swimming as a hobby if they happened to be living in Finland. I later chose to skip saunas because of the suffocating moment I had in the shower room.

Although I have previously seen topless female tourists on the beaches back in Phuket (it is illegal in Thailand, by the way), I did not expect to see bottomless locals now that I was here in Finland – nor did I expect to find myself being one of them.

Swimming is still my favorite hobby. I just have to get used to and be more comfortable in my own skin when surrounded by curious naked Finns.