On the main page you can see that the Guide to Finland has two ready “chapters”: Introduction and Origins. I’ve written but not yet proofed a third, Ice, that will go before Origins: it’s unusually serious stuff. My very faint plan at the moment is something like this:
- Introduction
- Ice
- Origins
- Finnish history (around three chapters)
- Many “cultural” chapters (like No-Talk, Pastimes, Language, Mindset, Axes and alcohol, and Gloom)
- Some “practical” chapters (like Travel tips, Flora & fauna, Don’t do these, and Random clues)
- Some disclaimers
Writing all this won’t be as bad as you might think — I’ll ruthlessly recycle what I’ve written before, polishing and expanding and making things funnier and more coherent. If you want an example, think the post No-talk for exchange students, except only better. Or, if I really flip, the Sounds of Finland-CD-post.
The order of writing will be quite random, and the timetable even more so.
This won’t be a guide that helps you to find a monument or catch a train. This will, I hope, be something you can amuse and maybe fortify yourself with, be you in Finland or somewhere far away.
An ideal audience might be an exchange student newly come to Finland, sure of where she must live and what to study, but uncertain of what the people are really, really like. This guide is my attempt in answering that.
Do I sound like a pompous prick? If I do, just quickly imagine this is being read to you by someone making fart-noises and funny faces. That’s what I strive to be.
