5 Things That You Should Prepare For When Moving To Finland
I moved to Finland in April of 2012. I gave up a job that I had been at for 5 years, said goodbye to my family and friends, withdrew £1,570 from my bank account and changed it to euros, and hopped on a disgusting, cramped plane (We'll just call it... Brianair) to Finland. And all for the same reason as 99% of immigrants from western civilizations in Finland. I met as Finn of the opposite sex. During our 2 and something years together in England, she told me much about life in Finland and how everything is so much better there. I didn't believe her at first. I was stubborn and under the impression that front doors were supposed to have a half inch gap underneath them to help with the circulation of the air, because that's the way the British fit them. I was certain that £9.11 per hour was a suitable wage for somebody who worked from 1am to 9am every night.
But it turns out I was wrong. Doors and windows are actually supposed to keep the cold out. Who knew right? And £9.11 per hour is about how much a 16 year old shelf filler should be earning. A night-shift fork lift truck driver should actually earn around €20 per hour. 5 years. I've lost out on around 50 grand over the last 5 years!
So now I'm in Finland and I'm very happy. But there were a few surprises when I arrived. It wasn't as simple as it sounds. Here are 5 things that you should prepare yourself for if you plan on coming here. This is from the point of view of an English person remember, so some of it may be less unusual to some of you. I've excluded the language because it's far too obvious to be honest it's actually pretty easy. See my first article for more details.
5. Alcohol Laws and Prices
If you're from the UK, you'll be very used to being able to pop to the supermarket to buy 18 cans of beer for £10. A bottle of wine starts at about £3 and goes all the way up to a tenner. Any wine that's more than a tenner is only for very special occasions.
Now come with me to a place around 2,500 kilometres north-east, to Turku, my current home. We'll walk to the nearest supermarket and check out the beer offers. We arrive at the small alcohol section of the shop. There's nothing stronger than beer available because you can only buy alcohol up to the strength of 4.7% in a normal shop or supermarket. For anything else, you have to go to Alko. A normal can of beer in a supermarket costs around €3. That's roughly 3 times more expensive than in the UK. So we look at the crates and boxes because surely it must be cheaper in multipacks right? It isn't. A crate of 24 beers is the price of 1 beer multiplied by 24. That's €72. Occasionally you'll see a pack of 24 on offer for say €26 and you think "Hey, that's not too bad, it's still twice the price I'm used to paying but it's better than anything else here". But you become deflated again when you realise that it's 24 330ml cans... yea, the size of a can of coke. Beer in tiny cans is an abomination to us British. No British supermarket would dare to put tiny cans out on the shelves, for fear of riots.
You've now reluctantly paid out the €26 because that actually was the best offer, and we're on our way to Alko because you're Finnish girlfriend has asked you to pick up a bottle of wine. You queued up in the supermarket for 10 minutes and now you have to do it again. Even though every Alko is right outside a supermarket, they are no allowed to put them inside so that you can make all your purchases in one go. That would be far too logical and time saving.
We're at Alko. You're nervous because you're carrying a crate of beer and naturally the cashier is going to think that you're buying it and you're going to have to explain to them that you have already paid for it but you had to come in to Alko to buy a little more. You'll show them the receipt and all will be fine. But why put us through that? It's so unnecessary.
The wine starts at around 7 euros. That's not too bad really because even the cheapest ones are usually quite nice. But you know that you're buying the cheapest one, that's not a nice feeling. At least in England if you spent £6-7 on a bottle of wine, you'd have the satisfaction of knowing that you could have gone cheaper but you decided to splash out.
Congratulations. You've spent €33 on 24 beers and a bottle of wine. In your first few months here, you may be reluctant to share.
Oh yeah, did I mention that you can't buy alcohol from any shop after 9pm? Be ready for that. If at half past eight you feel like you might possibly fancy a beer later, go to the shop. Just in case, because your only other option will be to go to the pub...
The first pub that I went to in Finland was an Irish bar in Vaasa. You'll soon learn that every Finnish city has its own "Irish" pub. You'll also learn that hardly any Irish people go to them, because they're nothing like real Irish pubs. If you're Irish and you get angry when you see an English person pull a pint of Guinness incorrectly, don't go to Finland, you may kill someone. They don't even pull a pint of Guinness here. They press a button and exactly 0,5 litres pours straight down into the glass, kind of like a coffee machine. I walked into this bar and I asked for a pint of Stella (I'm not an angry man, I genuinely like the taste). The guy gave me a rather small bottle of Stella and politely asked me for seven euros. I felt violated to say the least. I then drank Hobgoblin all night because it was only €4, the cheapest thing that they had. Usually a pint of beer will cost between five and seven euros in a bar in Finland. I've gotten used to this. What I still get a little angry about every time I hand over my money, is the fact that they don't actually do pints. They give you your drink in a pint glass sure, but it's not filled to the top. It's filled to the 0.5 litre mark about a centimetre from the top. I have silently cursed every barman/barmaid that has ever served me in this country.
4. The Sauna
You have probably been told all about the sauna if you're still living in your home country with your Finnish significant other. You've probably been told how relaxing it is. And how nice it is in the summer. And how nice it is in the winter.
You may have even already used a sauna before. In the UK they can be found in spas and gyms and hotels. Here's how my first sauna went, at a gym in Maidstone. I went in, sat down, stood up 5 minutes later and walked out. It's so darn hot in those things I just can't stand to be in there for more than a few minutes. Finns love the sauna. There are just under 6 million people in Finland today and around 2.5 million saunas. Think about that for a second.
But you already know about the saunas. There's nothing to surprise you there. Actually there is. For example, Finns often go in the sauna naked and in groups. This is very common. Call me old fashioned but I don't get naked for my friends and family.... yeah family. Families go into the sauna together naked. The people that do this will say things like "It's perfectly natural, we're all family we have nothing to hide, they've seen it all before". I don't care. I would never get into a sauna naked with my parents, brothers and sisters. It's weird. End of! I am of course talking about families with children. I'm quite sure that when the children are all grown up, the women and men in the family take separate saunas, but it's still weird. If you're a guy, and you're moving to Finland one day with a Finnish girl, beware! Her dad and brothers may expect you to get in the sauna with them, naked. Fortunately, this hasn't happened to me...yet.
This won't be a problem for everyone. The men who take ages to get changed at the gym for example. You know, the guys who once they have taken their pants off, take ages to put new ones on. They casually dry their hair and clip their nails, scrotum swinging, while I'm waiting in line for one of the closed cubicles to become available so I can get changed with a little privacy. Those morons will love the sauna.
3. The Paperwork
If you're moving to Finland from within the EU as I did, you'll expect it to be relatively simple. Go there, tell them your name and date of birth. Welcome! It's not that simple. You have 3 months to register before you have to leave. To register, you go to the local police station, wait for 2 hours and tell a nice man or woman that you have moved to Finland. They will then give you some forms. Yay! This was quite possibly the most stressful part of my life, apart from the time I accidentally left my rucksack at Mcdonalds, inside which was a brand new Sega Dreamcast. I was like 13. To qualify to register, you have to give a good reason for moving to Finland. If you have a job, it's easy. I didn't. I had to prove that my girlfriend and I had lived together for at least 2 years in England, and register under "Family ties". This wasn't easy. For starters, we had lived together almost exactly 2 years, so I needed proof of our entire cohabitant relationship. Secondly, we had lived together in 2 separate places, one of which we rented from a devil woman who kept our deposit, and the other.... well technically we didn't live together. But after a lot of emailing and visits back to the police station, I got registered. It wasn't a nice experience and I was glad when it was over....
Until I was told to take my certificate of registration to the magistrate's office along with proof of my current address. Fine, did that. More waiting and trying to get paperwork together. Didn't take long though. They then told me to go to the TE office and register as unemployed. Argh! I was starting to hate Finland. I went there, I told them I was unemployed and looking to study Finnish. They took my details and told me to go home and keep looking for work and study places while they see if they can get me into one of their courses.
I eventually got into a course. I was so happy. I had been in Finland for 4 months and nearly spent all of my savings on rent and food alone. So you can imagine how annoyed I was when I didn't get any money for being on the course for another 3 months. I had to go to Kela.... and then the TE office... and then back to Kela. I filled in the same form 3 times and finally, I got paid. It's not easy to get used to. There is a form to fill out for everything here.
Then there are the certificates. Certificates for everything. I think I got about 2 certificates in my whole life before I moved here. I have 4 from Finland already. Want to work in a restaurant? You need a hygiene pass. Want to work in a bar? You need an alcohol sale pass. Want to drive a fork lift truck with 5 years of experience of driving a fork lift truck? 5 day course with a certificate at the end. One day off work with a cold? Go to the doctors, you need a certificate. Finland is a great country, but it's destroying the rainforests with bloody certificates!
2. The Winter
Well, If you're moving to Finland, obviously you know that it will be cold in the winter. There can't be any surprises there. It's actually quite exciting. When the coldest you've ever felt is about minus 10 degrees, and you know that it could get down to minus 30 degrees, you can't wait to see what it feels like. Actually it's not that bad. It's much less humid here and when it's that cold, it's never windy. The coldest days in the UK feel colder than the coldest days in Finland to me. Because it's wetter and windier. The coldness probably won't get to you. But the darkness... that's different. When you go to school/work in the morning in pitch blackness and come home at 4 o'clock and it's dark once again, and this goes on for months, It does get to you. Winters in Finland are depressing. The few hours of sunlight can be very nice. The sun shines brightly on a wintery day in Finland, just not for very long, and usually when everyone is stuck inside at work anyway. It's a fact that Finnish people drink more, argue more, fight more and commit suicide more in the Winter. They still don't do it much, suicide is quite uncommon in Finland.
Do yourself a favour. Don't use energy saving light bulbs in Finland. Light the place up like you're sending a rescue signal into outer space, just to keep you from going insane.
1. Finns
Finnish people. I've met many lovely Finnish people. I've made friends and have a great time with them. But Finnish people in general are extremely unsocial. So much so that they actually can be quite rude. This will be more of a shock to an American than a Brit, so I'll translate all the English words that you don't have in America from proper English into American English in brackets. Americans are extremely friendly and social (to each other at least, not to countries that have some oil stashed away) so unsocial people appear downright rude to them. If you live in a block of flats (apartment building) and you say Hi/Moi/Hei/Howdy partner to your neighbour (neighbor), that neighbour (neighbor) will probably say nothing. He/she will deliberately avoid eye contact and get away from you as quickly as possible. You have just ruined their day.
Bus drivers. In Finland most people who use the bus get a weekly/monthly bus card. This way the bus driver doesn't have to speak to, or even acknowledge his passengers. They just walk on, swipe their card, and sit down. If you get on with change, and say your destination, you have interrupted the bus driver's rhythm. This is the worst part of his job. He has to tell you the price. He actually has to speak words to another human being, and you did that to him. He hates you. You have just ruined his day.
The person at R-kioski. R-kioski is a strange place. It's like a shop, but you can also gamble there. They have fruit machines, the little TV's and everything. There are also a couple of standing tables next to the coffee machine. They sell food, but usually just noodles, apples, sliced ham, and quite bad ready made sandwiches. Each R-kioski also contains a staff member. They work one at a time. One person mans the shop and that person is the most bored person that you will ever meet. Imagine having a job where you have no colleagues. You just stand there and wait all day, serving customers and filling the shelves all on your own. And roughly once a month, comes a holiday. Mother's day, independence day, or just some random flag day when all shops and banks and businesses are closed, but R-kioski is still open. Nobody prepared for it. Nobody went shopping the day before. None of the immigrants even knew that this day was coming. So everyone goes to R-kioski. They buy ready made sandwiches, noodles, whatever they can. They put the R-kioski drone through absolute hell. They're all going home to their families, or for a nice day out somewhere while he/she has to stay in a tiny shop all day long. Don't upset this person, and don't spark up a conversation. He/She doesn't like you, or anyone else. This person has grown to hate all people. This, is a true Finn.
Finns keep to themselves. They like their friends and families. They do not like you. At least not yet. They just don't want to talk to you because they don't know you. Finland is basically like London but with more personal space. If you want to be friends with someone, an incident has to occur. You have to be put in a situation where you are forced to talk to each other on several occasions. And then maybe, just maybe, you'll be invited to the sauna.
But it turns out I was wrong. Doors and windows are actually supposed to keep the cold out. Who knew right? And £9.11 per hour is about how much a 16 year old shelf filler should be earning. A night-shift fork lift truck driver should actually earn around €20 per hour. 5 years. I've lost out on around 50 grand over the last 5 years!
So now I'm in Finland and I'm very happy. But there were a few surprises when I arrived. It wasn't as simple as it sounds. Here are 5 things that you should prepare yourself for if you plan on coming here. This is from the point of view of an English person remember, so some of it may be less unusual to some of you. I've excluded the language because it's far too obvious to be honest it's actually pretty easy. See my first article for more details.
5. Alcohol Laws and Prices
If you're from the UK, you'll be very used to being able to pop to the supermarket to buy 18 cans of beer for £10. A bottle of wine starts at about £3 and goes all the way up to a tenner. Any wine that's more than a tenner is only for very special occasions.
Now come with me to a place around 2,500 kilometres north-east, to Turku, my current home. We'll walk to the nearest supermarket and check out the beer offers. We arrive at the small alcohol section of the shop. There's nothing stronger than beer available because you can only buy alcohol up to the strength of 4.7% in a normal shop or supermarket. For anything else, you have to go to Alko. A normal can of beer in a supermarket costs around €3. That's roughly 3 times more expensive than in the UK. So we look at the crates and boxes because surely it must be cheaper in multipacks right? It isn't. A crate of 24 beers is the price of 1 beer multiplied by 24. That's €72. Occasionally you'll see a pack of 24 on offer for say €26 and you think "Hey, that's not too bad, it's still twice the price I'm used to paying but it's better than anything else here". But you become deflated again when you realise that it's 24 330ml cans... yea, the size of a can of coke. Beer in tiny cans is an abomination to us British. No British supermarket would dare to put tiny cans out on the shelves, for fear of riots.
You've now reluctantly paid out the €26 because that actually was the best offer, and we're on our way to Alko because you're Finnish girlfriend has asked you to pick up a bottle of wine. You queued up in the supermarket for 10 minutes and now you have to do it again. Even though every Alko is right outside a supermarket, they are no allowed to put them inside so that you can make all your purchases in one go. That would be far too logical and time saving.
We're at Alko. You're nervous because you're carrying a crate of beer and naturally the cashier is going to think that you're buying it and you're going to have to explain to them that you have already paid for it but you had to come in to Alko to buy a little more. You'll show them the receipt and all will be fine. But why put us through that? It's so unnecessary.
The wine starts at around 7 euros. That's not too bad really because even the cheapest ones are usually quite nice. But you know that you're buying the cheapest one, that's not a nice feeling. At least in England if you spent £6-7 on a bottle of wine, you'd have the satisfaction of knowing that you could have gone cheaper but you decided to splash out.
Congratulations. You've spent €33 on 24 beers and a bottle of wine. In your first few months here, you may be reluctant to share.
Oh yeah, did I mention that you can't buy alcohol from any shop after 9pm? Be ready for that. If at half past eight you feel like you might possibly fancy a beer later, go to the shop. Just in case, because your only other option will be to go to the pub...
The first pub that I went to in Finland was an Irish bar in Vaasa. You'll soon learn that every Finnish city has its own "Irish" pub. You'll also learn that hardly any Irish people go to them, because they're nothing like real Irish pubs. If you're Irish and you get angry when you see an English person pull a pint of Guinness incorrectly, don't go to Finland, you may kill someone. They don't even pull a pint of Guinness here. They press a button and exactly 0,5 litres pours straight down into the glass, kind of like a coffee machine. I walked into this bar and I asked for a pint of Stella (I'm not an angry man, I genuinely like the taste). The guy gave me a rather small bottle of Stella and politely asked me for seven euros. I felt violated to say the least. I then drank Hobgoblin all night because it was only €4, the cheapest thing that they had. Usually a pint of beer will cost between five and seven euros in a bar in Finland. I've gotten used to this. What I still get a little angry about every time I hand over my money, is the fact that they don't actually do pints. They give you your drink in a pint glass sure, but it's not filled to the top. It's filled to the 0.5 litre mark about a centimetre from the top. I have silently cursed every barman/barmaid that has ever served me in this country.
4. The Sauna
You have probably been told all about the sauna if you're still living in your home country with your Finnish significant other. You've probably been told how relaxing it is. And how nice it is in the summer. And how nice it is in the winter.
You may have even already used a sauna before. In the UK they can be found in spas and gyms and hotels. Here's how my first sauna went, at a gym in Maidstone. I went in, sat down, stood up 5 minutes later and walked out. It's so darn hot in those things I just can't stand to be in there for more than a few minutes. Finns love the sauna. There are just under 6 million people in Finland today and around 2.5 million saunas. Think about that for a second.
But you already know about the saunas. There's nothing to surprise you there. Actually there is. For example, Finns often go in the sauna naked and in groups. This is very common. Call me old fashioned but I don't get naked for my friends and family.... yeah family. Families go into the sauna together naked. The people that do this will say things like "It's perfectly natural, we're all family we have nothing to hide, they've seen it all before". I don't care. I would never get into a sauna naked with my parents, brothers and sisters. It's weird. End of! I am of course talking about families with children. I'm quite sure that when the children are all grown up, the women and men in the family take separate saunas, but it's still weird. If you're a guy, and you're moving to Finland one day with a Finnish girl, beware! Her dad and brothers may expect you to get in the sauna with them, naked. Fortunately, this hasn't happened to me...yet.
This won't be a problem for everyone. The men who take ages to get changed at the gym for example. You know, the guys who once they have taken their pants off, take ages to put new ones on. They casually dry their hair and clip their nails, scrotum swinging, while I'm waiting in line for one of the closed cubicles to become available so I can get changed with a little privacy. Those morons will love the sauna.
3. The Paperwork
If you're moving to Finland from within the EU as I did, you'll expect it to be relatively simple. Go there, tell them your name and date of birth. Welcome! It's not that simple. You have 3 months to register before you have to leave. To register, you go to the local police station, wait for 2 hours and tell a nice man or woman that you have moved to Finland. They will then give you some forms. Yay! This was quite possibly the most stressful part of my life, apart from the time I accidentally left my rucksack at Mcdonalds, inside which was a brand new Sega Dreamcast. I was like 13. To qualify to register, you have to give a good reason for moving to Finland. If you have a job, it's easy. I didn't. I had to prove that my girlfriend and I had lived together for at least 2 years in England, and register under "Family ties". This wasn't easy. For starters, we had lived together almost exactly 2 years, so I needed proof of our entire cohabitant relationship. Secondly, we had lived together in 2 separate places, one of which we rented from a devil woman who kept our deposit, and the other.... well technically we didn't live together. But after a lot of emailing and visits back to the police station, I got registered. It wasn't a nice experience and I was glad when it was over....
Until I was told to take my certificate of registration to the magistrate's office along with proof of my current address. Fine, did that. More waiting and trying to get paperwork together. Didn't take long though. They then told me to go to the TE office and register as unemployed. Argh! I was starting to hate Finland. I went there, I told them I was unemployed and looking to study Finnish. They took my details and told me to go home and keep looking for work and study places while they see if they can get me into one of their courses.
I eventually got into a course. I was so happy. I had been in Finland for 4 months and nearly spent all of my savings on rent and food alone. So you can imagine how annoyed I was when I didn't get any money for being on the course for another 3 months. I had to go to Kela.... and then the TE office... and then back to Kela. I filled in the same form 3 times and finally, I got paid. It's not easy to get used to. There is a form to fill out for everything here.
Then there are the certificates. Certificates for everything. I think I got about 2 certificates in my whole life before I moved here. I have 4 from Finland already. Want to work in a restaurant? You need a hygiene pass. Want to work in a bar? You need an alcohol sale pass. Want to drive a fork lift truck with 5 years of experience of driving a fork lift truck? 5 day course with a certificate at the end. One day off work with a cold? Go to the doctors, you need a certificate. Finland is a great country, but it's destroying the rainforests with bloody certificates!
2. The Winter
Well, If you're moving to Finland, obviously you know that it will be cold in the winter. There can't be any surprises there. It's actually quite exciting. When the coldest you've ever felt is about minus 10 degrees, and you know that it could get down to minus 30 degrees, you can't wait to see what it feels like. Actually it's not that bad. It's much less humid here and when it's that cold, it's never windy. The coldest days in the UK feel colder than the coldest days in Finland to me. Because it's wetter and windier. The coldness probably won't get to you. But the darkness... that's different. When you go to school/work in the morning in pitch blackness and come home at 4 o'clock and it's dark once again, and this goes on for months, It does get to you. Winters in Finland are depressing. The few hours of sunlight can be very nice. The sun shines brightly on a wintery day in Finland, just not for very long, and usually when everyone is stuck inside at work anyway. It's a fact that Finnish people drink more, argue more, fight more and commit suicide more in the Winter. They still don't do it much, suicide is quite uncommon in Finland.
Do yourself a favour. Don't use energy saving light bulbs in Finland. Light the place up like you're sending a rescue signal into outer space, just to keep you from going insane.
1. Finns
Finnish people. I've met many lovely Finnish people. I've made friends and have a great time with them. But Finnish people in general are extremely unsocial. So much so that they actually can be quite rude. This will be more of a shock to an American than a Brit, so I'll translate all the English words that you don't have in America from proper English into American English in brackets. Americans are extremely friendly and social (to each other at least, not to countries that have some oil stashed away) so unsocial people appear downright rude to them. If you live in a block of flats (apartment building) and you say Hi/Moi/Hei/Howdy partner to your neighbour (neighbor), that neighbour (neighbor) will probably say nothing. He/she will deliberately avoid eye contact and get away from you as quickly as possible. You have just ruined their day.
Bus drivers. In Finland most people who use the bus get a weekly/monthly bus card. This way the bus driver doesn't have to speak to, or even acknowledge his passengers. They just walk on, swipe their card, and sit down. If you get on with change, and say your destination, you have interrupted the bus driver's rhythm. This is the worst part of his job. He has to tell you the price. He actually has to speak words to another human being, and you did that to him. He hates you. You have just ruined his day.
The person at R-kioski. R-kioski is a strange place. It's like a shop, but you can also gamble there. They have fruit machines, the little TV's and everything. There are also a couple of standing tables next to the coffee machine. They sell food, but usually just noodles, apples, sliced ham, and quite bad ready made sandwiches. Each R-kioski also contains a staff member. They work one at a time. One person mans the shop and that person is the most bored person that you will ever meet. Imagine having a job where you have no colleagues. You just stand there and wait all day, serving customers and filling the shelves all on your own. And roughly once a month, comes a holiday. Mother's day, independence day, or just some random flag day when all shops and banks and businesses are closed, but R-kioski is still open. Nobody prepared for it. Nobody went shopping the day before. None of the immigrants even knew that this day was coming. So everyone goes to R-kioski. They buy ready made sandwiches, noodles, whatever they can. They put the R-kioski drone through absolute hell. They're all going home to their families, or for a nice day out somewhere while he/she has to stay in a tiny shop all day long. Don't upset this person, and don't spark up a conversation. He/She doesn't like you, or anyone else. This person has grown to hate all people. This, is a true Finn.
Finns keep to themselves. They like their friends and families. They do not like you. At least not yet. They just don't want to talk to you because they don't know you. Finland is basically like London but with more personal space. If you want to be friends with someone, an incident has to occur. You have to be put in a situation where you are forced to talk to each other on several occasions. And then maybe, just maybe, you'll be invited to the sauna.
