'Learn happiness from the happiest people'

A person does yoga at Repovesi National Park of Finland. Visit Finland has launched the "Rent a Finn goes Virtual" campaign to showcase the Finns' natural way of life. / Courtesy of Visit Finland

By Jun Ji-hye

Visit Finland, the Finnish travel promotion organization, has launched a campaign dubbed, "Rent a Finn goes Virtual," to showcase the Finnish way of life.

The campaign in which Finnish people share their habits and traditions that can help people become calmer and happier comes as Finland was chosen by the United Nations as the world's happiest nation for the third year.

The 2020 World Happiness Report announced March 20 by the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) determined the ranking of 156 countries, scoring various aspects such as GDP per capita, life expectancy, social support and social freedom.

The Rent a Finn goes Virtual campaign is a new social media initiative, which lets people in on the Finns' natural way of life and the daily routines that keep them feeling happy.

The campaign picks up from Visit Finland's global Rent a Finn campaign in 2019, and provides interactive learning and encounters with "virtual happiness guides" from Finland.

The series focuses on five different areas of the Finnish lifestyle, showcasing different aspects of Finnish happiness in livestream sessions, called "Eat with a Finn," "Relax with a Finn," "Be active with a Finn," "Spend time with a Finn" and "Be happy with a Finn."

The happiness guides come from different career backgrounds, there is a Michelin star chef, a designer and a special needs teacher among others.

The live streams are on Visit Finland's Facebook (www.facebook.com/visitfinland) at 11:00 p.m. (KST) with discussion afterwards on Instagram Live (www.instagram.com/ourfinland).

The first session took place Friday, to be followed by weekly sessions over the next four weeks.

The first session, dubbed Relax with a Finn, featured virtual happiness guide Paivikki Koskinen, a journalist and therapist, who talked about the sauna and swimming, and how to prepare before visiting the sauna in nature.

In the second session, which will take place May 22, special needs teacher, cyclist, and coffee-shop owner Mirja Priha, together with designer and handicraft teacher Molla Mills, will talk about crafting and crocheting, learning Finnish, being in nature, exercises with the senses and cycling from the city center into nature.

The third session on May 29 will focus on how to stay active, featuring sailing and outdoors enthusiast Antti Etelamaki, and entrepreneur, coach and outdoors enthusiast Jukka Joutsiniemi. They will present sailing and exercising in nature as their happiness skills.

The fourth session on June 1 is Eat with a Finn, in which Michelin Star chef Sasu Laukkonen will talk about collecting wild herbs in urban environments and cooking with them.

In the fifth session on June 12, the village of Mathildedal will offer a village tour, helping viewers find the keys to happiness from many different sources.

"We want to encourage people to take care of themselves and their loved ones, while dreaming about their next trip," said Paavo Virkkunen, executive director of Visit Finland at Business Finland. "The Rent a Finn campaign of 2019 was a great success, and during these uncertain times, we want to give people the opportunity to learn about the secrets of Finnish happiness regardless of place or time."

In addition to the livestream series that will showcase how to eat with a Finn, relax with a Finn or be active with a Finn, people can apply for an exclusive one-to-one session with the virtual happiness guides.

People can apply to book their preferred topic and virtual happiness guide on the campaign site (www.rentafinn.com) until June 7.

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