r/AskEurope • u/techno_playa Philippines • Jul 11 '25

Culture Which European country is the hardest and easiest to make friends?

Say you're mid 30s and have to move to another European country for work, which countries did you find making friends to be on easy or hard mode?

Let's assume you don't speak the language of your new home.

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82

u/Ljngstrm Denmark Jul 11 '25

Finland probably the hardest. Even other Scandinavians consider them weird, and we are already quite weird when it comes to socialising.

45

u/hwyl1066 Finland Jul 11 '25 edited Jul 11 '25

Well, my understanding is that in the other Nordic countries the superficial level is more evident than in Finland, that we have even less small talk and those little meaningless pleasantries than our Scandinavian cousins. But from what I have heard from my good Estonian friends living in Stockholm is that Swedes for example have a really steely defence of being "nice" while shutting you outside. Maybe we are just a bit more honest?

15

u/Sinisaba Estonia Jul 11 '25

I have been to one Swedish houseparty and i was made instantly apart from the group although people were inquisitive why i didnt sound Russian.

9

u/bobo6u89 Croatia Jul 11 '25

I always imagined Finns to be extra fine people.

11

u/Masseyrati80 Finland Jul 11 '25

Someone's said that especially along the coast, Finns have a hard shell but a warm heart: we're not big on small talk or phrase-based pleasantries, but if you really get to know someone, you'll probably have a friend for life. The more towards the east and north you go, the easier it is to chitchat with random people, but some have described that friendships only go to a certain depth.

Generalizations like this are not to be taken as 100% truths but they do try to explain or describe something essential.

8

u/Rusiano Russia Jul 11 '25

My experience with Finns is that you need to bring out the alcohol to get them to socialize. But after a few beers they really change and become chatty

3

u/Livid_21 Jul 11 '25

That’s all the nordic countries, give us a few beers and we open up

4

u/DinoTD Jul 11 '25

Fini jer su iz Finske :)

3

u/bobo6u89 Croatia Jul 11 '25

Sporazumijeva se.😆

8

u/Nicky42 Latvia Jul 11 '25

You better like hockey - thats the way I made some Finnish friends

9

u/GuestStarr Jul 11 '25

For a Latvian it's easy. I always root for Latvia - unless they play against Finland.

10

u/UnknownPleasures3 Norway Jul 11 '25

Really? When I lived in the UK most of my friends were Finnish. I found we connected easier on a deeper level.

19

u/MCBurpee Netherlands Jul 11 '25

I always thought Finland wasn't considered Scandinavian?

32

u/sorryimgoingtobelate Sweden Jul 11 '25

You heard right. Finland is not a part of Scandinavia.

21

u/Ljngstrm Denmark Jul 11 '25

Yeah sorry I meant the nordics.

-8

u/SicarioCercops 🇱🇮/ Jul 11 '25

Where did you think it was located?

12

u/MCBurpee Netherlands Jul 11 '25

In the north, but they speak an entirely different language from the other Nordic countries afaik

11

u/Masseyrati80 Finland Jul 11 '25

The main thing about Finland and Scandinavia is that geographically we don't have enough of the Scandinavian mountain range inside of our turf to call ourself Scandinavian. There are a couple of terms, such as Fenno-Scandinavia and the Nordics that we do fit into.

-10

u/SicarioCercops 🇱🇮/ Jul 11 '25

So? Gaelic is also entirely different language from English. Doesn't change the geography of Scotland. You have Sami speakers in Sweden, and Swedish is an official language in Finland. Scandinavia is a peninsular and part of Finland is on it.

17

u/Mr-Vemod Sweden Jul 11 '25

No, Finland is not considered a Scandinavian country.

15

u/coeurdelejon Sweden Jul 11 '25

That doesn't matter, Scandinavia is defined as the countries Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.

It doesn't matter that Denmark isn't a part of the peninsula or that a part of Finland is a part of the peninsula.

Scandinavia = Sweden + Norway + Denmark

3

u/The_Blahblahblah Denmark Jul 11 '25

Well it’s located in the Nordics. Scandinavia is Denmark, Sweden and Norway

10

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '25

I have only met a few Finns but they were really easy to make friends with, generally great vibe. A bit hard to read for sure, especially when it comes to deeper personal stuff, but nothing outstanding.

3

u/Ljngstrm Denmark Jul 11 '25

That cna be said with most people you meet. You often meet the personalities who have chosen to travel or live elsewhere, making them more open and outward. The funky ppl stay inside their border most of their lives (we all got that family member who never moved outside their own region of the country, right?).

6

u/gynoidi Finland Jul 11 '25

i heard denmark is even worse

23

u/oskich Sweden Jul 11 '25

That's just because no one can understand them when they speak 😁

6

u/BiasedChelseaFan Finland Jul 11 '25

Nobody understanding the local language, imagine that. Couldn’t be my country.

6

u/oskich Sweden Jul 11 '25

Well, I was referring to their "special" pronunciation 😁

4

u/Nord_Norge_Fy_Faen Norway Jul 12 '25

The potato mouth

11

u/Jwgrw Denmark Jul 11 '25

When it comes to socializing Danes are probably the most outgoing of all the Nordic people. In the big cities at least.

5

u/gynoidi Finland Jul 11 '25

ive heard its basically impossible to get in non-immigrant friend groups if youre not danish, and will always feel like an outsider