On January 1st 2018, I landed in Helsinki, Finland, after two years of life in South America. I left my bicycle in Cali, Colombia, and took up a 100-day job in an NGO for people living with hiv in this winter wonderland I occasionally have the privilege of calling home. On the 30th of April I will fly to Panama and continue my cultural exploration of Latin America, by cycling through Central America. In the meanwhile, my blog will occasionally hibernate.

The Finnish education system is a surprisingly well-known topic in Latin America. It’s everywhere; it’s on the newspapers, it’s on tv, it’s on social media and it’s been on documentaries. Just by googling the Spanish words “Sistema educativo de Finlandia” you get 784 000 hits, and by changing the order of the words a bit, the amount doubles. In fact, after hearing that I’m from Finland and after asking me all the basic questions, many people want to know the following: “Sissi, what’s so great about your education system?” Here’s what.

When speaking about intercultural communication, it’s often repeated by scholars in the field that it’s impossible to examine other cultures and their relations, without first taking a closer look at your own inherited culture and its influence on how we perceive the world. We are part of our culture and thus tend to act and expect others to act in a way that we have learned as “normal”.

Making new friends as an adult can often times be even more difficult than finding a partner (provided you’re looking for one). For “romantic” purposes there’s Tinder, online dating sites, bars and whatnot, but how about a database for likeminded people? Where is it that you meet potential friends (when not rock climbing…)? 

If someone told you you could cross Europe for free, while in the meanwhile getting to know local cultures, would you? What if the deal also included meeting wonderful people and seeing places that you just haven’t had the time, money or huge interest to visit? Places that you’d like to see, but for one reason or another, would just never book a plane ticket to go see. Well, good news: you can! As a proof, I went across Europe with strangers.

A STRANGERLESS DAY IN THE CITY!

Me and an old high-school acquaintance of mine ran into each other on a sunny summer day in Helsinki, Finland. We exchanged some words which lead into me joining Uuno Elias a couple of days later for a podcast in his studio. This composer and piano tuner lets his friends and strangers define the topics of the conversation, so this time it was all about people, fear and the unknown. If interested in discovering more, please listen to Uuno Eliaksen Talk Show (16. jakso): Sissi Korhonen (in Finnish).

For more episodes click here.

What I now see mostly as the best possible opportunity for meeting new people and discovering cultures still unknown to me, initially started out also as a journey about new places and self discovery. The focus of the trip has shifted from something I want to do into something I feel I need to do, mostly because of the urge for sharing local stories. This is all still coming up as soon as I get on the saddle again, but for now, here’s an article about the first part of the trip. Written by the Finnish Embassy in Argentina.