Courtesy: Helsinki Times


Hats off to the Finns!

Thursday, 07 May 2009

Almost a year ago my girlfriend and I gave up our busy lives in London to move to Helsinki for a career break that may well extend to more than just a year.

In our former life back in London, we travelled around Europe duty bound to hit ‘stretch targets’ and ‘deadlines’ backed by our company’s mantra of ‘under promise and over deliver’. We armed ourselves with Blackberrys and laptops the size of Blackberrys (we could even work on the tube or at the airport; it was so exciting!) In the end, the excitement was too much and we decided to hand back our equipment along with our business cards, frequent-flyer and Oyster cards and head for Helsinki. And this is what I’ve learnt since I’ve been here...

Living abroad gives you two perspectives: first, on your host country; and second, on the country you leave behind. Understanding what works well and what doesn’t in both places presents an interesting comparison. For me I sensed that I had left behind the history and soul of Olde England, with its ancient tube network commissioned by Henry VIII, celebrity news and small talk. I had traded in those wonderful benefits for life in a modern, hi-tech economy in Finland. I wondered where everyone was when I first arrived; there was hardly anyone around, not even on a Saturday. It was the first week of August and I now believe that “Helsinki” was away at the kesämökki.

A degree of uncertainty and disbelief manifested itself among friends following our announcement that we were moving to “Finlandia” (as some people in Britain believe it to be called – so named after the vodka). Where we come from in north London, we knew about the French, Italians and Spanish because of their fine restaurants on every street and most of us half-heartedly studied these ‘core’ languages for a few months at school before switching allegiance to something like woodwork. So with few, if any, Finnish restaurants, little contact with Finns or any semblance of a meaningful football rivalry with England, it is difficult for the average Brit to get their head round it. My family and friends weren’t particularly concerned that I was leaving – I was in safe hands with my Finnish girlfriend, who possesses a wider range of English vocabulary than most of us.

Sport seems to be important to the Finns, from Paavo Nurmi to Sami Hyypiä. The Finns excel across a variety of sports, pooling their efforts into anything from driving cars to throwing javelins. So Friday evenings in Helsinki signal the end of the working week and the time to pack up your hockey stick and head for the nearest sports centre. I join the exodus to practise the noble art of futsal. It’s a great source of inspiration watching my fellow players showcase some of the finest football talent this side of the North Sea in the 25-40 age group. What life does to British and Finnish men in this age category can be cruel but they’re a happy bunch and even more effective in the bar after.

So after settling in well, the challenge for my girlfriend and I now is to establish and build a consultancy company to impart some of our business experience to help others. It’s a wonderful country. Hats off to the Finns!







Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com