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!

:)