What are Finnish Men like - Dating Guys from Finland

Located in the northernmost part of the world, Finland is an amazing country, endowed with natural beauty and hard-working, no-nonsense, well-educated people. The men especially are quite interesting to know, once they are able to get past their initial reticence and open up to you. So if you are looking forward to socialize with the Finns, here are a few points you can keep in mind about Finnish men.

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Rather shy

The first time you come across male Finns, even in a social setting, you may feel that they are cold and reserved. However their formal behavior is more a result of shyness rather than willful reticence. You will find that they are rather uncomfortable at maintaining eye contact while speaking to you. Also Finnish people prefer keeping a certain distance to people they are talking with. Depending on the situation, Finns' personal space is from one to two meters, at the very least. So don’t be surprised if a Finnish guy doesn’t greet you with effusively – like hugging or kissing your cheeks. Indeed they stay away from physical contact even with the people they know. And the most that they will do when meeting a stranger is to shake hands. In fact in large get-togethers where a lot of people have gathered, there are usually no formal introductions – people simply nod to each other and mumble out their names or even wear a name badge to avoid the “embarrassment” of formal introductions.

Also a Finn likes to talk as little as possible. So you may find that engaging in social chit-chat with a stranger one of the most difficult experiences for a Finnish guy. While you are perfectly comfortable talking about your job, friends, country or the last vacation you took, when it is his turn to make small talk, he is likely to go all red, start sweating and after a long silence, finally come up with something unintelligible. This though is not a problem with the language - nearly every Finn can speak English, most even speak it very well, but these situations make them forget almost everything.

Like to party hard

However this is not to indicate that Finns don’t know how to live it up. Even if Finnish men take time to open up to foreign women, once past the initial barrier, you can have the time of your life, partying with them. On weekends, after the usual round of entertaining or dancing is over at the restaurant or nightclub, Finns go to something called "jatkoille" or “continuations". It means, a group of Finns go to someone's house or apartment and continue drinking and partying. However if you are particular about a more sedate evening, you can expect to be treated to a conventional dinner date. However it is a good idea not to be too enthusiastic “traditional” Finnish food –  most Finns do not have “traditional” food anymore since it requires too much preparation and moreover it is rather bland because of the long winters required most food to be soured, salted or dried to preserve it. Only a few things, such as rye bread and sour milk or "piimä" are still used.
However if you still insist on trying real Finnish food, your partner would probably end up ordering things like sausage, pea soup, meatballs, pizza, mashed potatoes, hamburgers, fries, ad meat sandwiches – which Finns actually eat most of the time. The one thing you can look forward to while hanging out with Finnish guys is having lots of coffee. Finns are avid coffee drinkers and when in their company, you will be offered coffee all the time. And It is customary to drink at least one cup each time.

The culture of Sauna

Your Finnish boyfriend will probably be eager to showcase the culture of Sauna when you are visiting his country. A sauna is a room which is traditionally heated to 120° Celsius plus or about 250°F plus, and contains an oven filled with red-hot stones. Traditionally, the oven is heated with firewood, but electric sauna ovens are almost as common. Almost every Finnish house has a sauna – here, it is not considered to be a luxury. In the sauna, there are several ascending wooden benches ("lauteet") for sitting, typically three or more levels, with the highest place being the hottest. When everyone is seated, water is poured upon the stones. This releases steam. Actually the sauna does not get any hotter, but the steam makes the heat feel much more. When in the sauna, you may be offered a drink like lager, beer or cider. The traditional sauna food is grilled cheap sausage ("lenkkimakkara") with mustard and tomato sauce and in fact sometimes the sauna is also used to prepare food like slow-roast pig and grilled sausages!

In Finland, it is common for whole families go to the sauna and when in there, people take off their clothes. So be careful of what you are getting yourself into, since in Finland people are much more accepting of public nudity than in most other parts of the world.

Finnish celebrations

Despite your Finnish boyfriend not being an enthusiastic conversationalist, he will be sure to let you have a good time. And for this you can thank the country’s spirit of festivities which peaks around two times in a year. The first season of celebrations is at Christmas time which apart from all the shopping and partying also includes a customary visit to the sauna; this season also includes New Year which is a time for large-scale feasting and drinking. The other time for celebration is the Midsummer weekend which falls somewhere near the end of June, after 21st day. Usually everyone gets at least four days' vacation at Midsummer weekend and they spend this weekend away from home like a mini-vacation. If your Finnish guy is rich, you can expect to spend it at his summer house – relaxing in the sauna and indulging in luxurious hospitality. Even if your boyfriend cannot afford all that, you can have the time of your life accompanying him to a rock concert many of which are organized during this time in Finland.