Life in Finland

stiig om buurd ,wringel.fine country in deed.

the place to find out about life in Finland. I'm sure You can find more info from the books. I myself have moved away from Finland 37 years ago and do not have any idea whats going on there. 2007 I am planning to visit for a month. I hope that I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Please feel like you are at home.You will found out that that we we´ll make your being here as comfortable as we can. Once again WELCOME TO FINLAND

on this website?

http://www.finlandforum.org/bb/index.php

As a Finn I'm probably not qualified to answer this enquiry (I'm one of THEM..) Hope you'll like it here.

it is a dumb idea, these people are pretty fucked up in their heads. Oh well, atleast I get a lot of pussy

Hey!

Where are you moving here? Are you going to study or work? Are you moving alone or with your family? I'd love to give you some more information and answer your questions as well as I possibly can :) You can mail me: [email protected]

It depends on where about in Finland you are planning to move to. If it's Helsinki you don't have to worry as it's quite cosmopolitan. But I would advise you to stay away from Häme (especially Lahti and surroundings!) as it is not a good place to live. Not even worth a visit!

1. Winter last's about 6 months in finland (unless your moving to south)so make sure you have something warm to wear.

2. When you visit in finnish home- take your shoes off before you enter. (weather is usually bad and people wont be happy if you walk around the house with muddy shoes...)

3. Don't try to wear a svimsuit in sauna. In sauna, everybody will be naked. Don't worry, nobody will look at you "that way" in sauna...

4. Do not try "small talk" to strangers unless they'r drunk. (Sober Finnish person thiks that your some kind of crazy or something, if you don't know them and start to talk about the weather or else...)

5. Don't get me wrong. Finnish people are very warm and nice. It just take some time before they let you close and let you know them.

about Finland
http://virtual.finland.fi/Picture_Book/

I advise you to move to one of these largest cities we have: Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa or Turku (the best weather) or maybe to Tampere.

As someone already told (in a rougher way), it may be hard to find sophisticated company in Finland. And the list of 5 tips that somebody wrote earlier on this conversation were facts.

If you're a black person or nether a christian nor an atheist I wanna warn you: unfortunately many finns are rasists :( luckily not all. Even if you weren't, finns can be really rude. (Well, nice and helpfull too :))

About you not speakin English. If you speak English or Swedish, you'll be just fine.

Well, I've said few bad things about my dear home Finland, so I'll now give you 5 good things about it:

1. Good public services such as nursing and school system etc.

2. Beautiful summers, which have lately been really warm, and when I say warm I mean it.

3. Many unnecessary festival days like "vappu" or "juhannus", when boozing is the word of the day.

4. Finnish is a safe country.

5. In the end, Finland is a great place to live :D

than some of the rest of Finns. But even they may need some time to get to know you first. After a Finn decided he or she likes you, you'll be treated like a friend. We are rather simple in that way - we have close frineds and then there are the rest - strangers and enemies. Be patient. Learn a few words of Finnish, and your attempts wil be appreciated. It sounds so cute to hear a foreign accent, speaking Finnish!

Young people are more keen to talk with you, I suspect, and their English is usually better than the older folk's.

I hope you'll enjoy it here.

and waste your life. Finland is a semi-agrarian society and very hard to integrate in. Many foreigners get insane in Finland, they get shut out from the opportunities available and get marginalised.

Think 64000 times before you come to Finland!!!

Regards

Finland sucks ass. If you want to kill yourslef while choking in penis then go ahead and move in this god forsaken land ROFL!

silence

http://storyambient.blogspot.com/

. . .

I moved back to live here after being away nearly 30 years, and sorry to say, very disappointed, as have been used to live in a different cultural climate.
It has taken more than 2 years to integrate, and still going on ...

I would advise you to think twice, perhaps to take a visit first, and then to think whether you wish to live in a country like this or not.
the weather is harsh, no daylight during winter much to speak of, people very closed and odd in they own way, lots of drunken people everywhere, a phenomenon which I have not encountered anywhere in this scale. I live in Helsinki and am scared to move around.

Of course, the above is a statement which is a general picture. Smaller towns and countryside is absolutely beautiful, and the people different.
Helsinki is a small city, but people think it is a huge metropolitan city.
In my honest opinion the Finns are very very self centered, and some of them do not really know what is going on in a real big world. The news are not update on political issues, such as media broadcast in newspapers and internet.
One has to read elsewhere, to get to the bottom of an issue.
Surveillance cameras are everywhere, and honesty, one does not feel sort of free anywhere. Big brother is watching.

Good luck to you, hot, if you are returning back to your roots! You will find many things have changed, and you might be very disappointed.
People drink too much, women show their cheap side, it is really sad, fights everywhere, not to talk about the climate.

Most of my friends have, nearly all of them, diabetes, they are depressed.
If you are white you are OK, any darker colour shade will not even give you a possibility to find a home to live in. Rasism flourished everywhere. The helth care sucks. Politians corrupt.

I cannot wait for a day when I can finally leave this country for a better one.

Welcome to the Paradise they advertise.

Finland would be absolutely amazing, with outstanding social system and preserved nature, except for the Finnish people. If you are from an english speaking country you may have some luck as many people may ridiculously idolize you and kiss your ass to an extend it feels awkwardly weird (but still flattering, in a slimy way). If you are from somewhere else, tough luck. Finnish people in their awkwardness and autism like social state are rude and stupid and their only social skill is the ability to tell you how great finnish school system is over an over again, endlessly until you die from boredom. They still don't invite you to anywhere though. Honestly - I tell you an example of how far their avoidance of leaving their tiny and pathetic comfort zone for other people goes - if their grandparents live in inhumanly conditions in elder people homes shitting blood in their diapers, instead of helping them a finn may just sign a petition - and now we are talking about the most compassionate type of a finn here. Most of them just continue their passive and boring life and won't take a risk of action of any kind in fier that it could result in something out of ordinary, like life. They would probably complain about injustice in these forums, but no way that someone would actually do anything for anyone else in real life. It's not a coincidence that the social system here is as good as it is - it has to be because people would just let each other die on the streets, really, even if it was their best friends or family. Too much of a social inconvenience to do anything. These people are inhumanly cold, self centered and terrible know-it-alls, not actually realizing a bit of what is going on elsewhere. This place suffers form a small village phenomenon, nation wide. If you come here don't try to be friends with finns, find some foreigners. It will take you years to get to a level where you get an invitation for a cup of coffee with a finnish person and then if you do they just talk about the school system anyway. On the other hand i would warmly welcome more foreigners here to invade the country just to get rid of this unsocial small minded population, so please feel welcome to widen the gene pool of these authority loving, small souled inbreds and hopefully in future there will born a nonpassive, friendly and non autistic finnish person to god forgotten, dark and penis shape piece of europe.

Don't come to Finland if you value your individual happiness.

The country and its people can be summed up by the following "law of Jante":

The ten rules state:

1. You're not to think you are anything special.
2. You're not to think you are as good as we are.
3. You're not to think you are smarter than we are.
4. You're not to convince yourself that you are better than we are.
5. You're not to think you know more than we do.
6. You're not to think you are more important than we are.
7. You're not to think you are good at anything.
8. You're not to laugh at us.
9. You're not to think anyone cares about you.
10. You're not to think you can teach us anything.

"These ten principles or commandments are often claimed to form the "Jante's Shield" of the Scandinavian people.

In the book, the Janters who transgress this unwritten 'law' are regarded with suspicion and some hostility, as it goes against the town's communal desire to preserve harmony, social stability and uniformity."

In other words, Finland in a nutshell. As a foreigner (especially if you are non-white), you will automatically be treated with hostility and suspicion. Finland is a very racist, xenophobic and paranoid country. Moving here was the biggest mistake of my life.

Well to be honest i felt my well beign and physical health went downhill as soon as i came here.

People are cold profiteurs, full of themselves yet many have zero self confidence.

They do nothing for you unless they get paid. They are very jealous folk. Bad manners or no manners at all mostly. Girls whoring around..

Lots of bullying in schools.

Weather sucks, overall architecture is from soviet union. People are truly weird and seem to be scared of everything..

Everybody dresses down. Strange strange...

Education not that great to be honest. Nothing enticing here tbw.

Finland is strange and not worth all the bravado given by media for the brainwashed finnish masses. Nothing truly great or exeptional. Just kinda dying a slow agonizing death here that all folks...

Finlands capital is helsinki.

The name tells you everything you are to look foward to when you enter: hell.

Worst country in the world and they think that they are the best. Brainwash, brainwash..

Don't came to Finland. I am mean, unless if you want to be discriminated by all the selfish Finns. Here you will find company's that discriminate you when you apply for jobs or during the interview and internships position that pas nothing for your work. Some HR will even ask if you were arrested based on you nationality. Here you will be through, if lucky, in a cleaning job where you will be exploited. You will be mistreat and inequality treated. Here people look at you as you were inferior to them, me me me me and only me. You will always be a foreign"ulkomailinen" even if you have born here. Here you will be depressed with the weather and Finnish depressing sad behavior. Finland is for Finn, that what you will hear here. Drunk Finn will judge you for your dark hair and eyes. And you will find even more shit. Finns are snobby. But, hey!! Not all, you will find awesome Finns too. Just like we all have good people among the shit people that reside in our own home country. One more thing. Finland is not as great as they think and advertise. If you are welling to tolerate all this crap then yeah , life in Finland is great. Good lucky

Please dont make the same mistake as many of us did. If you are happy where you are now, stay there and enjoy. I am 28 years old woman , have a steady academic background, good education and have traveled and live in other countries a lot. I have been here for 5 years and has been a nightmare, one of the worst mistakes. I was very happy in my homeland but came to live here because I marry a finn. I have been working all the way and experiencing bad things and mistreat.

Its a very uncompatible society, very rustic people, hard language, ultra expensive and with very bad and sad weather. Not welcoming to foreigners and generally no culture at all, they copy parts of others. People are alcoholic, in drugs (in central areas in the big cities) mean , cold, jealous, fake, dont accept aging (forever teens, you will see grannies in tight jeans and old men in fashion sneakers and caps) and backstabbers. I have learn here that having a degree in the universiity doesnt make you a polite oreducated person.

Working environments are very passive agressive. Employers are unethical, coldblooded and use you as much as they can and will try to pay you as less because you are a foreigner. They will bully you because of your lack of language skills and skin color sometimes.
If you read any good comments saying how amazing it is in here probably comes from somebody that doesnt go to work (unemployed , housewifes, etc)and enjoys benefits from the government and dont have to deal with the ugly part to have to fully integrate so their life might be easier.

Not all people are like this but the nice ones are a minority, honestly.

Wish you the best!

Im italian and going crazy witj finnish people. First they dont appreciatr their country and if you talk goid things about Finland they laugh at you. I think most of finnish people are defective in some way. They dont support each other, they cant feel love or happyness, they are dont mean but very jealous and negative. They have really weird logic for doing things and never help each other. If somebody are in trouble they just shout to it "get a life, dont try to get attention", they have no kind of respect for other human beings, they are mean to kids and elders.

Very inhibitional persons, they look like they would murder you.

And really acting normal here IS exotic!

Honestly you cant find anything good in finish people! Its like they are unfinished human beings!

Dont move here!!

Don NOT come to Finland if your habit is to complain of all your experience. We have already too many people from third world countries complaining EVERYDAY about too small apartmets, too small social benefits and All the lack that will have to suffer. And they get all that for free.

This country is shittiest place iv ever been and i am bare foot finn. This country is the most corrupt state in europe. Here rules Hyväveli organization.

How can you move into a sea? Finland doesn't exist.

Finland has beautiful nature but the climate and the anti-social attitude of Finns make life here unpleasant. If the cold doesn't bother u and u have friends abroad, then come.
Don't expect any empathy either from Finns. I had so many colds and other issues and whenever I communicated them to a Finn, they weither went silent or changed the subject. Apparently, it is rude to ask someone if they're OK or how can you help them. The attitude here is, 'Help yourself and don't rely on others for help.'. I'm looking forward to moving abroad :)

To begin with, I'm a Finn who has recently moved back after couple of years abroad.

Speaking on my behalf, I believe most of the negative comments on this board come from foreigners who have failed to integrate into our society. Having lived and studied abroad in a few countries myself, I can definitely imagine how difficult it must be to build friendships, learn the language (which is by all means hard to learn but many locals appreciate any effort to do so) and feel at home in Finland. These and many other constraints one may face in the beginning and years to come can have a negative, long-lasting impact on one's personal perceptions of our country as well as its people but I would like to stress few points that everyone should consider before giving their final judgement.

First of all, the weather may put you off and feel depressed, particularly if your origins are in the country with tropical climate without four seasons of weather that vary significantly between each other. However, as many foreigners have experienced this can also turn out to be something new and exciting for them, especially for those interested in sports and activities such as photography and trekking. So whenever you're feeling down, go out and explore the nature, even in winter when the Southern Finland turns into a one big dark place for few months. Or go up north to find the most beautiful landscapes we have to offer.

Second, I do agree that many locals ignore any contact coming from the foreigners, usually due to our personal shyness and sometimes distrust towards people who look and act different than most of us. But I can guarantee that these behavioral patterns apply to only some of us, usually uneducated and self-centered individuals who behave almost the same way regardless of the person in question. So in order to avoid such experiences, in particular before one possess sufficient Finnish skills and understanding of our culture, I would advice newcomers to seek out people with talent and international exposure. Highly-educated citizens are forced to cope with cultural differences including meeting people from different countries in their daily jobs and tend to respond more kindly to any act of contact. Moreover, meeting folks who share same hobbies and interests can be a great way to interact since you always have something to share and in common between you. If you have problems to find housing, a job or other common concerns, there is help available. You just need to figure out how to find it. This is where the government agencies and other parties can come to aid.

I also want to mention that despite the rather cold nature of our citizens, we are also trustworthy and tend to keep our word which makes it easier to arrange your life in here without the need to deal with corruption although bureaucracy can be overwhelming as in almost any country in Europe. Job market is challenging but I would say you're still better of in here with or without a job than in most places in the world. As already mentioned in other comments, the lack of beggars in the streets tells you something about the fundamentals of our current system which is still, although characterized with some fundamental defects, based on values of care and support. Schools on average are good and mostly free of political influence and social class concerns.

It's also essential to acknowledge that every country has its pros and cons and Finland is no exception. For fluent English speakers there may be better opportunities elsewhere but that is also related to one's profession and level of education. Many English-speaking countries including Australia, the UK and the US have made it more difficult for foreigners to immigrate into their countries. Half of the nations in Europe have to deal with growing amount of asylum seekers and political instability so people's perceptions toward immigrants are way more hostile than in here. But it's first and foremost about one's own views and needs as an individual. I can tell that I have learned to appreciate what we have in here after living abroad and whatever issues you face in here as a foreigner you'll probably have to deal with anyway no matter where you decide to move and settle.

I personally would like to see more hard-working people moving in as we're in need of them due to our demographics and aging population. Young generation in general is more open for newcomers so I expect things to get easier for future immigrants in terms of racism and cultural conflicts.

Do not waste your time coming to this boring, depressing shithole, full of unemployment, racism, and stupid people yes they are stupid like sheeps, probably there are better places, do not do the same mistake i did.

This country is so tiresome,
it's like the longer you linger around here,
the more you want out of here.
They talk of honesty, etc.
But honestly, about the most two-faced people
I have ever dealt with, not all but many, too many.
In Helsinki streets are real bad with holes and cracks,
bunch of uneven surfaces and gaps of all kinds!!
Very strange how bad roads in capitol city!!
Always digging up roads too, no quality repair.
This country has a lot of serious problems,
every country has problems and they may, may not
be different kinds, it's too much to explain here
but they have had so much fear throughout history
of begin invaded and so the geopolitical uncertainty
has done its damage! Allies have changed throughout
the years, history has a lot to do with all this.
I would like to exit this country for good but can't.
Stay away from here!

I truly wish that I could get out of here for good
but I cannot leave.
Once upon a time I had a great life in America,
I'll always love America,
I'll never forget the feeling of greatness,
The American Spirit!
I lived from coast to coast,
from Sea to Shining Sea!
Very special country The United States of America,
like no other on the Face of the Earth!
Thank You America!

Women are absolute whores.

Some of us here in hateful Finland,
we genuainly love America!
We don't agree with most Finns
who are bad mouthing the U.S.

I’m sick of the Finns and their stupid rules of subnormal people, I’m sick of workers coming into your house or being able to come into your house to repair something while you’re not there, in normal European countries this idiocy doesn’t happen, they talk a lot about the supposed honesty and that is a big lie, I have worked in a store and I have seen Finns steal. try to rip alarms off clothes, and even steal buttons from clothes, and so on, so don’t talk to me about stupid honesty, no worker is going to enter my house to repair anything if i am not there, that’s a crime , it is trespassing, I do not know if the worker is going to steal something or check my house to see what I have, because i do not know himat all, so ... another thing that bothers me is that these workers knock on the door and do not wait even 5 seconds, they think they have the right to open the door even when the tenant is inside, NO!! they have to wait a reasonable time for the owner or the tenant to open the door , if no one answer then they can enter, i have chosen to close the door from the inside and they have to wait for me to open it, i had already twice unpleasant situations that had happened to me because of these people. do not wait or respect, and i never leave the house without locking it, in this country some finns are already breaking into houses and apartments to rob, but of course they blame foreigners when many of those who steal they are finns

Short and sweet:
Stay away from here!

I had a very difficult time. There are very self centered, very selfish, narrow minded people here. Despite living close to ten years they never accepted me as friends and never interested to get to know me. Spent many precious years of my life alone here.

In some unusual ways many people here are
somewhat abnormal,
it may be because of history,
uncertainty of Independence and security issues
for decades.
The Cold War did a lot of damage to Finland.
There are some good parts too, like the countryside
with million cottages all over,
many of them built by individuals by themselves,
going back to years of WW1 and WW2.
There are/were heroes in Finland too.
Today's Finland is no more.
I do not recommend this country for a lifetime.

You may live 10000 years here and they will still not fully trust you, not fully accept you as friends. First of all it is impossible to make friends here. It is not exaggeration.
They never ever include foreigners in their plans, make their real friends.
People will tell you you have to be proactive. You have to act like a needy bastard to deserve the "friendliness" of these "superhumans". If you have a little bit of honor you will stay alone. Even when you ask to be included in things they purposefully exclude you, they will tell you it is for close friends and they can hang out with you seperately. They you will arrange meetings with them and they will lie by saying they are busy although you planned events and not hang out with you at all, or sometimes they won't even reply your messages and still post their hangouts with their few real friends. Honesty is a big bullshit and online marketing. People here are super jealous, super gossipy and they lie when needed. They talk so much after foreigners that you will feel like you are in a police state. Finland doesn't need a police because every Finn is a secret police. In this country trust exists only between Finns. A foreigners is seen as forever a foreigner so putting an effort to get accepted in society forever won't give you much back other than frustrations.
Another thing is they don't even have common courtesy here. People look grumpy entire time including the service people who deal with customers. They never smile to you, they are pretty much always acting rude, they can't care less, and act like you are the one need to deserve the service. I mean these people literally get paid to serve you and earning quite well. It is all fucked up in every way here.

In everyday life there is unfairness and
cowardly acts in Finland!

Such an empty country!
No vibes of any kind.
You will end up losing a lot of life if you end up here!
STAY AWAY FROM HERE!

Do not waste your time coming here there are no jobs, and if you are a foreigner forget about it, unless you want to do shitty jobs as a cleaner even if you have good education and skills, they will ignore you, they are 2 faced people, jealous, envious, this place is boring as hell, nothing interesting to do here, too much silence, at 5 pm you see no one on the streets, not so much opportunities to study, work or even to buy " something different" they do not even have their own amazon or ebay site, always the same boring shops like tokmanni, prisma, city market and nothing else, rude people with no manners, they still behave like wild animals, the goverment force you to do integration courses,learn the language, then to go to the ammattikoulu or vocational school, because they say..." it will be easy for you to get a job " bullshit do not fall in the trap, that is not true i have many foreign friends that can tell you stories about discrimination, racism, and years without getting a job, only Työharjoittelu ( working practice) so the employer does not pay you, and once you end the contract they do not even propose even part time job, no they just use you and then bye bye...and they really jealous people among themselves and foreigners

LET ME OUTTA HERE!!
Let me out of here, please.

I left Finland many years ago for many years,
but then I came back here many years ago,
so I was away from here a long time
and have been back now for a long time.

It has really been a great dissapointment altogether!
Many everyday happenings have changed
to much worse ways, to many to mention.
Basically almost everything.

I do wish I would have never returned here.

City governments of Finland
intentionally make daily life more difficult,
then in exchange for hard cold cash,
they let you have your way,
not realizing THEY, THE GOV., THEY WORK FOR YOU!!
YOU ARE THE BOSS, not them wannabes!

This country has a government that is not
for the people, it's own people.
Yet the gov is the people and vice versa.
It says something about the people of this country.

I'm just tired of everything Finland!
I would like to go back home to America!
I've been kinda stuck here but not sure why?
I guess my fate?!

This is a shit lying country,
has always played from both sides of fence!

Finland, a weak nation, never a leader!
I wish I could return back home to
The United States!!

Dis cunt'ry sucks hairy balls!

You will do much better in the Netherlands,
Germany, UK, Ireland or Austria for example!
Finland will be very difficult for you and
you may not even like it in the end?
This country is not a great country to live a life!
There are far worse places in the World no doubt!
But those countries mentioned above are
much better shots than to relocate to Finland.
No, don't do it!

Quite bad country to live a lifetime after all!

You don't wanna end up in Finland!
Believe me!