4 months in 10 highlights

Last Saturday, May 11^th, I completed 4 months living in Finland.

Many things happened in these 4 months. Good things, mostly. And I’m so grateful for all those happy moments and for the nice people that made them possible.

I selected 10 important aspects/events of these 4 months. 

1. Trips – Germany, Tallin

I always had in my mind that when I was in Europe I should visit as many countries as possible. And that’s what Brazilians usually do when they come here. But living in Finland I realized that I’m not so close to all European countries and that travelling here is not as cheap as I expected. Even though, I had two good experiences first in Germany during Easter holiday (I visited Heidelberg and Munich) and a couple of weeks ago in Estonia (Tallin).

2. Vappu

This one is difficult to explain. You have to experience it to truly understand what it is like. But shortly, the May 1^st holiday in Finland is a colorful and exciting student celebration that makes streets crowded in a wonderful gathering that reminded me of Brazilian street Carnaval. And luckily the weather was perfect for the picnic in Kaivopuisto, a park where most people go to celebrate.

3. Sunday breakfast with Expats

In the beginning of my stay here, I wanted to meet new people and make friends, so I joined the InterNations social network for expats living in Helsinki where I found this group that get together every Sunday morning to have a cup of coffee and talk about random stuff. The interesting thing is that the group is never the same; people come and go all the time. I really appreciate the discussions about life here and it’s wonderful to learn about other people’s experiences and diverse backgrounds, even knowing that I might never see some of them again.

4. Sightseeing with Ana

Ana is a dear friend who works with me. She is also from a foreign country and has been living here for five years. I’m deeply thankful to her and her efforts to show me nice spots in Helsinki, including cozy cafés near the sea, panoramic towers with great views of the city, churches, public markets and so many things that I can’t even remember. Thank you, Ana!

5. Long wait for summer

Weather has never been such an important topic for me. But now I check the weather forecast every day and I feel that I’ve been waiting for the summer since I arrived, not because I miss the warm weather so much, but people here talk so much about it that I get influenced and find myself in the same expectation mindset. Despite the summer-anxiety thing, it amazes me to see all the spring changes! It’s so beautiful to see flowers blooming after all the snow. We don’t have the four well-defined seasons in Brazil, so that’s totally new to me.

6. Ice hockey

I’m not a sports person per se, but I do enjoy watching football matches and F1 races. Last weekend I went to see my first Ice Hockey game at the stadium. The match was between USA vs Austria as part of the International Ice Hockey Championship that is being hosted conjointly by Finland and Sweden this year. I really enjoyed the experience and now I’m watching the games on TV, whenever it’s possible.

7. Sauna

I already wrote a post about mysauna experience. But I had to mention it again since it was the ultimate Finnish culture event in these past 4 months, and the one I’ve been expecting the most, since the last time that I’ve been here in 2011.

8. Special people

It seems impossible to develop intimate friendships in such a short period of time. But I really feel that I’ve made great friends here already. In the beginning I felt that it would be too difficult to be close to anyone here because Finns are usually shy, reserved and don’t mix personal and work life. However, that certainly is not the whole truth and I met amazing people and they are friends that I would like to keep even if I move away.

9. Food

Not much to say here, just that I love food in Finland. It’s so authentic and simple. I don’t miss Brazilian food at all! (Maybe the picanha…)

10. Missing my Family

In Portuguese we have this beautiful untranslatable word called “saudade”. It refers to the feeling when you miss someone or something. So far, the saudade of my family has been the worst part of living here. I talk to them very often, almost every day.  But we have 6-hours difference, so it’s not that easy. The important thing is that they are happy for me and it comforts me that everyone is fine over there. 

(BTW, my sister and one of our friends are coming to visit next week and I'm so excited!!)

The Sauna Experience

Finally it’s time to share my sauna experience.

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been there and I was hoping I could try it one more time before posting here, but I already have my opinion about it.

It feels good!

I didn’t develop the Finnish passion for the sauna (yet), but it’s definitely something I would like to do more often.

The first minutes weren’t so good, though. I couldn’t breathe with all the hot steam coming from the rocks.

And for me the difference between a pleasant sauna experience and a hot humidity nightmare is the frequency people inside the sauna throw water on the hot rocks. Believe me, it feels horrible to breathe with that 100°C steam surrounding you.

If you want to learn more about the Finnish sauna, this page has a good and short explanation about löyly.

There are different types of saunas and the place I went has one of the few public smoke saunas (savusauna) in Finland. Directly from Wikipedia, the smoke sauna is “one of the earliest forms of the sauna. It is simply a room containing a pile of rocks, but without a chimney. A fire is lit directly under the rocks and after a while the fire is extinguished. The heat retained in the rocks, and the earlier fire, becomes the main source for heating the sauna.”

Savusauna at Cafè Kuusijärvi

For sauna enthusiasts, this traditional type of sauna should be a different experience than regular electric sauna, but for me, sauna amateur, it felt very similar (I also went to the regular sauna in the same place). The only difference was that the savusauna was unisex and people wear swimsuits. So I preferred that one, since for me the idea of being naked with strangers, sweating in a dark room is still a bit awkward.

For more information about the place, Cafè Kuusijärvi, here is their webpage. I strongly recommend the experience if you’ve never tried it. And in this place you can also try avanto, or ice swimming. (I didn’t)

Avanto - picture from http://www.helsinginkanoottiklubi.fi/

And Enjoy the Sauna!

:)

Hullut Päivät

And suddenly I realize that I've been living in Finland for 3 months now!
It's already half the total time I am supposed to stay here. And even though I miss my family so much, I don't want to leave yet.

The initial idea of this blog was to register my personal experiences related to Finland. But since I started it before coming here, my first posts were basically short researches I made about Finland, Finnish culture and life. But now that I'm here, I want to focus in my experiences, even though most readers seem more interested in general information about the country.

So, starting with a more personal phase of this blog, I wanted to share my impressions about Hullut Päivät or Stockmann's Crazy Days.

Starting yesterday (Wednesday 10th) Finland's most famous retailer starts these promotional days when you can find some bargains from cosmetics to electronics and even food.

It’s kind of a Finnish version of the Black Friday. And it was the only time here in Finland that I found myself in a really crowded place and I felt almost like if I was in São Paulo or some Brazilian big city.

And that experience reminded me why I love so much living here. You get all the benefits of living in a capital (for me coming from a small city in Brazil that’s great!) without the distress of living in a dangerous and crowded place. There is no chaos here. Everything is clean and organized. People are friendly and polite. It’s a great place to live and it compensates for the long winter period with all the darkness and the cold.

As for the Hullut Päivät, it was a bit disappointing that things were not that cheap as I expected. Or maybe I'm in a "cutting expenses" mindset now, trying to adapt to the expensive life here. But anyway, it was fun to see that Finns can go crazy sometimes.
All I got from there was a box of macarons. Good deal. :)
------
In spite of the name of the blog, I've never tried the sauna before!
And I'm so excited that I'll have may first sauna experience tomorrow!
Come back soon to share how was it.

One month living in Finland

Hey! Today I complete one whole month living in Finland!

I’m so happy that I could manage to live alone in a different country without major problems.

My company had an important role in that, since they arranged many things before I arrived. But of course I had to learn many things and do plenty of bureaucratic stuff.

For those planning to move to Finland, here are the basic things you’ll need to do after you arrive:

1. Get a Social Security Number. Believe me, you can’t do anything without that number. Even subscribing to Zumba classes. So go to Maistraati and get yours as soon as possible. (You have to wait few days, but at least you’ll have it delivered at your place). 
2. Open a bank account. I chose Nordea, but there are many options. It was really quick to get my new account; the card arrived in my place within one week.                        
3. Request a tax card. Call Vero (tax administrator) and ask for yours. You’ll need to give them some information, like estimate income for the whole year and (of course) Social Sec number.

Apart from the obligations, life in Finland has been good so far. I’ve eaten good stuff, went to documentary festival, visited flea market, learned to cope with the cold weather… I can’t complain!

And I finally got my internet connection (good one!) and I’m really happy about that!

The not-so-good part… I’m still struggling to make friends. People here are very kind, but also very reserved. They’re not so open to new friends. And the fact that most people I know are colleagues with their own families and children makes it a bit more difficult (If I was in college it would certainly be easier). But it’s ok. Yesterday I met some people from an expat internet forum, and they were really friendly.

 Below are some pics of this first month living in Finland.

Doc Point - Documentary Festival (I watched Sweet Dreams)

Blini Festival

Suomi Viina, not so good

Friday's Punainen Muna

Useful Links

Hi,

I still don’t have good internet connection in my place, so I’m struggling to post anything here.

But things will get better soon and I expect to post more often.

So this time I’ll just share some links that have been really useful (or just interesting) for me so far.

Weather Forecast

http://www.foreca.fi/Finland/Espoo

I check this daily. Although it doesn’t change much the way I’m dressing to go out, it does change my mindset when the temperature rises. However, this week has been the warmest since I’ve been here, but also the darkest one… Snowing and winding all the time. I miss the good old sunny days in which the temperature was -20°C.

Finland Forum

http://www.finlandforum.org/

This is reaaally useful for people living here or planning to move. It contains topics and discussions about every possible subject. And tips from locals or foreigners living here for a long time are very welcome!

This is Finland

http://www.finland.fi/

This one contains practical info about moving, studying and living in Finland. It also contains general information on several issues and some blog listing.

Transportation

http://www.hsl.fi/EN/passengersguide/goodtoknow/Pages/default.aspx

http://www.reittiopas.fi/en/

Ok, these are very important. And useful. I’ve been using a lot this journey planner. I’m still getting used to the names of the stations and the train lines. But I’ll learn by practice.  If you’re planning to use public transportation here (and you’re an over-planner like me), read the passenger guide. And use the journey planner, of course.

You Know You Have Been In Finland Too Long When…

http://www.hs.fi/english/extras/toolong

This one is funny! It’s an article from the English version of Helsingin Sanomat (they no longer has the English version, unfortunately) talking about “myths” of Finland and Finnish culture and people.

That’s it for today, hope it helps!

=)

PS: I forgot to mention that I follow Helsinki Tourism Office on Facebook (great events tips):
http://www.facebook.com/visithelsinki?ref=ts&fref=ts and BTW they just shared this amazing interactive map today: http://www.discoveringfinland.com/view-map/