Aurë entuluva: One year living in Finland

(This article is about my life in Finland during one year, but is also talking about Finnish culture and Society; I will not mention all things but some that come to my mind.)

In August of 2018 I moved to Ylivieska (Finland). I had the chance of making an European Voluntary Service (European Solidarity Corps) in that town or in Stockholm (Sweden), but I decided to embrace Ylivieska. Why? Because I wanted to be in the countryside, scape from big cities - that’s the true. I wanted to find some peacefulness, be more immersed into Nature and having more quality of life. I knew Finland has big treasures that wanted to find out by myself.

I always wanted to live for an extended period in the Nordic countries, being the ones of my preference Sweden and Finland. Sweden maybe because of my favourite band (Opeth) and one of my favourite movie director (Ingmar Bergman) being Swedish, but I knew nothing about Swedish culture. I was interested in Finland because of its folklore, language, Nature and music culture (Jean Sibelius, Apocalyptica) and its big Heavy Metal culture \m/
I am a big fan of J. R. R. Tolkien and always knew that he was inspired in Finnish Folklore (such as the Epic Finnish Oral Poetry “Kalevala”), the Elfish language was somehow inspired in Finnish language; I knew that Finland has the best Education System in the World and Finnish People respect a lot private space and hate small talk - like I do. ;)

Somehow Finland was a destination that, for me, would be difficult to reach especially if I wanted to live there for a while. It never crossed my mind coming to that country neither as tourist, student or worker. Having the opportunity to live in central Finland for one year looked perfect! I really wanted to be immersed into Nature and in Finnish culture as well discover the country; being centralized would allow me to travel North and South with more facility. Anyway, Finland borders Sweden, Norway, Russia and it is relatively close to Estonia - if I wanted to travel to those countries would be easy since there are connections, some with more sustainable options such as train or boat (there are flights as well, but is not a good environmental option, something to avoid).

WHAT IS EVS/ESC?

EVS (European Voluntary Service, now ESC (European Solidarity Corps) is a project financed by European Union, previously was part of Erasmus plus (E+), and promotes working in other country as volunteer (non-professional job) for young people from 18 to 30 years old. It covers the travelling cost from the volunteer hometown to the place of the project and vice-versa (the travelling budget is calculated by the travel distance), provides the basic course of the language of the new culture (in my case I had Finnish lessons because I lived in a Spoken Finnish Region), gives accommodation (no need to find for a home, to pay for it and for the expenses!), Food Money (for Food) and Pocket Money (for "wasting" as we like) not much, but for me was enough to travel during my vacations : )

If I hadn’t this opportunity, most probably I wouldn’t discover Finland so early. It was great. ^_^ In my case I could put into practise my knowledge in videography, photography, cinema and develop graphic design skills, while I could develop portfolio. As many of other volunteers do, I was working also in a Youth House, but most of my time there I gave some help, tried to interact with kids, made some photo workshops to them and created a movie club. For me wasn’t a full time job there, since I had more office work.

EVS/ESC program it’s great to live and explore other culture, meet natives, expand horizons, get out of comfort zone, meet other EVS/ESC volunteers (because who does this project will meet lots of other EVS/ESC volunteers around the same country! – we have meetings during EVS/ESC trainings) and the best thing is that you don’t need to pay for this program : )
In the end everybody develops lots of skills and qualities; one example is learning a new language and improve English to the most! : ) During all the time lot of Soft Skills are developed. In the end a big percentage of the Volunteers become more active citizens, are aware of European Issues, are more open-minded and so on. Usually this programs main works are with Young people, disable people, refugees, NGO, etc. In my case I was working in a Youth House, so I was working with Youth and helping local Youth Organizations with video and media.

If you want to know about ESC programs, check the official link here: https://europa.eu/youth/solidarity_en

Quik note about this Volunteer program:
It can be Short or can be Long Term. Short is from 14 days until 2 months.
Long Term is from 2 months up to 12 months.
It is possible to make more than one Volunteering if First you make a Short Term and then a Long Term, but the opposite is not possible (I am not sure how many short-terms are possible to be made).
Volunteering Abroad is a learning process, during that time of Volunteering lots of new Skills are discovered and or perfected. During the process you make a reflection on your learning outcomes and you need to write them down for your final avaluation: the YouthPass. The YouthPass is a credited certificate by European Union, nowadays very valuable. You can add to your CV.

During Volunteering are 8 main competences that are explicit on YouthPass as Key Competences. The evaluation is the reflection in what you have learnt.

The revised Key Competences are:

Multilingual competence
Personal, social and learning to learn competence
Citizenship competence
Entrepreneurship competence
Cultural awareness and expression competence
Digital competence
Mathematical competence and competence in science, technology and engineering
Literacy competence

THE OTHER EVS FRIENDS

Some weeks after I come to Finland, as well lots or recent volunteers in Finland, we had the On-Arrival Training in Villa Elba (Kokkola, Finland). The training took some days. We made lots of activities to get to know each other, but mainly we were discussing about EVS program and its importance specially for a Democratic Europe; we had lots of fun and shared cultural experiences.

We could know where anybody lived in Finland and it was great to make a later visit. : )

In the middle of our Project we saw each other again in Sopukka (Sipoo, near Helsinki) during the Mid-term training, which was more chilled because was basically a break from work and to meet again our friends :)

I made a video about our On-Arrival Training, Feel free to see it if you wish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1GQ33NaYNk&t=4s

On-Arrival Training in Kokkola

I have a Serie of videos I made during my period in Finland with the name of "A PORTUGUESE IN FINLAND - EVS VLOG" feel free to watch on my youtube channel!
Every year there's the Volunteer Awards in which European Volunteers are asked to make a short video up to 1 minuto about their experience of EVS/ESC in order to inspire others to embrace in this adventure as well (it's not mandatory to do the video, but I decided to apply). So here is my video:

My Finntastic EVS

FINLAND AND ITS CULTURE

Finland is a Nordic country connected with Scandinavia, together forms the Fennoscandian Peninsula. (“The similar term Fenno-Scandinavia typically refers to a cultural or political grouping of Finland with Scandinavia (Denmark, Sweden and Norway), which is a subset of the Nordic countries”. Font: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fennoscandia )

FOREST

In Finland around 70 % is Forest. There people can camp, walk, pick berries, mushrooms, make bbq freely, because in Finland it’s a Human Right. In the Nature it’s possible to see lots of animals: deers, moose, owls, ravens, in some cases bears, among others. Forest area in Finland is larger than UK or Italy!

Forest is managed sustainably and it’s very important, as well, in the culture.
So many trees make the air more pure, being the Air from outdoors the cleanest in the world.

LAKES

Finland It is known as "The land of Thousand Lakes" it has 188 000 lakes to be precise.
Which is a natural and free swimming pool to everybody, any time of the year, yes, including winter which is super amazing to Swim in a frozen lake after Sauna <3

SAUNA

It’s super important in Finland. Sauna Culture is stronger in Finland than in other place in the world. It is, literally, part of the culture, practised in every family.
Almost every house has a sauna, sport centres have sauna, some Festivals and Restaurants have sauna, yes :D It can be made during any time of the year, but it’s very common to do it during winter, because it’s good to prevent cold and keep people warm.

Usually people make sauna naked and during winter is super amazing to go ice-swimming after sauna and come back again : )

Nudity is a normal thing seen with respect.

CLIMATE

midnight sun in Sodankylä

Temperatures can reach -30ºC in the North, but usually is dry cold so it’s not that unbearable if using the proper clothes and if you move. Sauna helps in keeping the body warm for long time.
Winter is very dark, Sun cannot rise at all in the North being 6 months of darkness (6 a.m, 12 a.m, 15 pm, 20 p.m will look the same – ALL BLACK), The South of Finland can have some hours of light, but Sun usually don’t shine, it’s very darksome and shy.

During Summer the Nights are eternal mornings, ‘cos the Sun will be in the Sky every hour. The Norther the brighter, so in Lapland at 1.a.m it’s possible to see the Sun shining and it keeps shinning 24 hours a day. In the South and Central Finland the Sun is not shining at 1 .m but the nights are super bright (maximum of “darkness” will be less than 3 hours) : ) At 3 a.m. sun can start shine : )

In Summer the Normal temperatures should not reach more than 22ºC, but because of Global Warming temperatures can reach 28ºC or more! I experienced 31ºC and got burned :o Temperatures like this are almost the temperature as South Europe! Which is not normal at all :’(

During summer be aware of the annoying mosquitos that will be everywhere!

LANGUAGE

I learnt basic Finnish but unfortunately I didn’t practise that much. Most important word is “NO NIIN!” which is used every time for lots of reasons eheh. :D Finnish language is a specific language which grammar and words are very peculiar and far from what most people know : ) A very close language and culture to Finland is Estonia. Those languages are considered one of the most difficult languages in the world. Both belong to Finno-Ugric Language.

Some words in Finnish came from Swedish or Russian; the most recent ones also from English. Some can be very similar or totally altered once Finnish people has difficulties in saying some letters, in this way they made it simpler to them. Most of Finnish people, for letters such as “G”, will automatically say “K”, for example: Hug comes Huk, because is not used in their language that often and it’s hard. “hard G”

It may cause you confusion, but most places in Finland have two names: in Finnish and Swedish! Because Swedish is also an official language in Finland! For Helsinki you may read as well “Helsingfors”, in Tampere (Tamperfors), but other places will change dramatically such as Turku (Åbo). Turku used to be the second capital of Sweden when Finland was dominated by Swedes. Swedish is mainly spoken in the South of Finland, especially near the coast. Some places speak only Finnish or only Swedish or both!

LIFE

The quality of live for me is really good, even in big cities there is less stress in relation with other countries.

Women and Men are seen as Equal, usually Woman assume leading role. In fact in Finnish language there is no difference between She and He, all people are treated equally. She and He is HAN. There is no gender in Finnish language.

Usually it is a very secure country to be and walk alone; children go alone to school; everybody that since start walking until elder stage rides the bike. Parents ride theirs children and babies on the bike (in special compartments). There is special road, everywhere in the country, just for bikes and people! They are never mixed with cars and usually cars always stop to let you come through. They may see somebody very far but they wait and stop to bikes and pedestrians cross.

FOOD

Finland has good oat quality which they use for porridge, bread, oat milk and oat yogurts.
There are plenty of berries that can be picked on the forest for free – other good thing is that in Finland there is no contamination in the forests which is possible to eat directly the berries without being washed.

Main food is based on Potatoes and some meat or fish (meat and fish are super expensive in Nordic Countries) and lots of cow milk. Meanwhile, I consider Finland a vegan friendly country, is not difficult to be vegan or vegetarian (and it can be much cheaper)

Makarra (Sausages) is very common when Finnish people make a fire in the Forest.

Tap Water usually is super good almost everywhere. It’s simply delicious! Helsinki has some of the cleanest tap water of all big cities in the world.

During Summer Ice creams are very popular!

Finnish people are fan of liquorice things. Most of people like “salmiaki” which is ammoniun chloride – it’s a thing that you either love or hate! :’D

Karl Fazer chocolates are highly delicious!

Coffee in Finland can be found in cafés, bars, any working place, people’s houses, supermarkets, even inside some random store :D Finnish coffee is American coffee. Finnish People are the Top World Coffee Consumers.

The main Bread in Finland, the “Finnish Bread”, is a dry one. It’s a kind of bread that has no preservatives and it can last for months without getting bad. It's an ancient receipt that preserves bread for months without any additive!

Pulla is a delicious desert that I recommend you to try : )

Finnish dry bread :)

Traveling throught Finland and to nearby countries

I was lucky to live in a place where train passes every hour to Helsinki, Oulu or Rovaniemi (where the Santa Claus Village is located, in Lapland); so when I wanted to travel I used always train. Even if I wanted to have bus I couldn’t unless I moved to other city and get it from there. Trains in Finland must be booked one month prior to get cheaper price. In Central and South Finland for some places it’s easy to find very cheap buses that can cost 1 € or little more (but will take all f***ing day). From Finland to Stockholm (Sweden) it’s possible to get Ferri from Helsinki or Turku /Åbo but I truly recommend to do it from Turku or To Turku because it’s much cheaper and you may see beautiful small Finnish islands in the sea. Turku is a nice city anyway. To visit Estonia is possible to get Ferri from Helsinki; to visit St. Petersburg (Russia) is possible get Ferri (without visa for 3 days and the trip takes 12 hours) or go by train (it takes 3h30) but in that case you need Visa. There is also Train to Moscow (but need Visa, of course). If you want to visit Russia I recommend spending as much time as you can! Maybe I will make one post later about it!

Of course there are airports (almost everywhere) but try to avoid it because we need to protect our world ;)

A view from the Sea Route from Turku (Finland) to Stockholm (Sweden) by Ferri

OTHER THINGS ABOUT FINLAND

- Finnish people are the Top world coffee consumers;
It’s one of the safest countries in the world!

- Finnish people love Winter Sports

- It’s very easy, safe and common to bike in Finland and is the main transport for lots of people.

- It has more than one official language: 5% of Population speaks Swedish; in Lapland there are the Sámi people whom they speak their own language.

- Every town/city has Youth Houses for Children and Youngsters.

- Most every town/city has a Traffic Parks for children. There they apply the driving rules while get some fun.

- NOKIA is Finnish and it’s a name of a town.

- Midsummer is very important to Finns and they usually spend it outside with friends and family as well in Cottages in the Forest.

- Plastic bottles and cans are recycled in supermarkets; every can has a return price.

- Alchool is not sold in supermarkets, only in Alko store.

- Good education, social security, health services and working conditions.

- They always take the shoes when go inside home (for hygienic and respect reasons)

- During winter the Sea, Rivers and Lakes froze, being possible to walk or drive on it!

- Wooden houses are super common, especially in countryside.-
Finland is a nice spot to observe Northern Lights! Enormous probabilities in the North (Lapland), good probability in some places in Central Finland, not great in the South unless it is quite strong and if there’s few light pollution. (I was able to see at least 3 times in the town I lived <3)
Almost all cities have Second hand shops.

- Angry Birds and The MOOMINS were created in Finland ( Everybody loves Moomins! Children, youngsters, adults, women and men! There is the Moomin Museum in Tampere and the Moomin World in Turku)

me in moomin museum

- Of course there are bad things:

- Big Alchool problems, lots of drunken people everywhere any time of the day! Usually they are not problematic, I mean, they don’t have aggressive behaviour, they just become potatoes or incredible annoying.

- Big social problems, can be very very shy (some drink to “overcome” that problem, which in fact make them more social, and most of the time annoying :/)
Windows. I think they are a big problem because usually are super small and doesn't open that much. Air indoors are usually bad because of that, but in other hand, air indoors is clean because of the Forest. I

- Being quiet is not a problem, ok? It’s part of culture and Finnish character. Please, take in consideration it’s a different culture which doesn’t like small talk. Silence and private space is a must in Finland! (I just wrote here because I know lots of people will complain about it – and see this as a “problem”)

The smaller window, only opens 5 cm maximum

CURIOUS? WANT TO VISIT?

I lived one full year in Finland and cannot imagine the idea of traveling like a tourist to Finland or other country, is not really my thing. In case you want to visit Finland you should do good Finnish things and also meet some nice Finnish people to guide you and talk and help you explore the culture, that’s my sincere opinion. If you just visit Helsinki, I would say it can be disappointing. But all depends what you want to do and how much time you have.

Finland is not like other countries; you may feel disappointed to see that Helsinki (capital) is not that “interesting”, but all depends what you want to do or see, and of couse, what you understand as "interesting". Helsinki is great for Rock and Metal concerts! For art is kind of good. There is nice design of buildings. One nice thing I recommend to visit in Helsinki is Oodi Library because is not a normal library, it's more a multifunction centre with an eccentric architecture. There you can have nice views, have coffee (there are two cafeterias), sewing machines, experimental corners, rooms for digital games, places for editing video and so one. Just make a visit, is free and very close to railway station! : )

Other cities can be a little standard in comparison to other Finnish cities.

Everywhere in Finland is possible to reach the Forest, but if, for example, you want to be really immersed into the culture, I recommend to be more into Forest, be in a cottage, meet native people (you can try using Couchsurfing to be hosted by people and meet natives, freely!), make sauna, walk in the Forest! Try to visit national Parks. I think Finland is more about Nature and Rock :D Sauna is free or very cheap in lots of places, in Helsinki it may cost a lot! Sauna can be mixed and usually made naked – Warning alert!

You may see, and it’s a fact, that there are lots of drunken people on the street, but they are not dangerous, only can be annoying.

Check this if you plan to visit Finland, maybe it can help: https://www.visitfinland.com/article/greatest-things-about-finland/

My life in Finland 💕

I could experience lots of things of Finnish culture such as making sauna regularly, walk in the forest, make makarra (sausages) in the fire in the forest, swimming in the lake during Winter and Summer.

I was in love with the Moomins - it’s very inspiring story, I was able to read the books in English that I booked from the town’s library. Where I lived the library has agreement with lots of Libraries of towns nearby (distance until more and less 50km) and it’s possible to make requisitions from other libraries and they bring the books/CDs/DVDs you want! I love that system.

My trips to Helsinki were most of the time to see concerts, for me a total paradise :D \m/
I could see lots of great artist, specially bands I could never see in my own country because, unfortunately, they don’t go there, such as my favourite Japanese metal band Dir En Grey.

I discovered so many great Finnish metal bands; went to ON THE ROCKS two times, it was amazing! Discovered Whispered and become fan immediately (same week as Dir en Grey). In the day of my Mid-Term training, when it finnished, I came back to Helsinki city centre to see a great tribute band to TOOL \m/.

In the end of June I come back to Helsinki again to go to TUSKA metal festival where lots of bands I admire were there including my favourite band OPETH. The environment is really amazing, the festival is not so big, it’s easy to move from stage to stage. For my Surprise, after OPETH concert it was HEILUNG and after HEILUNG to finish the day SLAYER performed. I was assisting to Slayer and suddenly 3 members of Opeth mixed themselves into the crowd and stood in front of me! I took 10 minutes to calm down and try to talk with them *_* I was very happy, I could talk with my long term idol Mikael Åkerfeldt *_* he is so nice and humble, was a great pleasure and happiness to me :) He've been at least 5 minutes talking, having a real conversation <3.
They were just in the crowd because they felt comfortable in that place. I assure you, all places I've been in Finland are quite and feel like home (it's what I feel).

me with Opeth in TUSKA \m/

During Tuska Metal Fest I stayed with my EVS friends that lived in Helsinki; after the festival I visited other EVS friend in Karjaa, an Eco-Village 1h distance from Helsinki; after that I made a trip to Russia by Train from Helsinki- St. Petersburg and few days later I moved from St. Petersburg to Moskow by night Train, and then Moskow - Helsinki by night Train.

Russian Train, sleeping compartment
(Very confortable, I must say!!)

my stamp notebook, first stamps from Russia

I visited quite lot of places in Finland: Kuopio, Kokkola, Oulu, Kalajoki, Ylivieska, Rovaniemi, Sodankylä, Tampere, Turku, Helsinki, Ranua, Syöte, Karjaa; and other countries nearby: Estonia (Talliinn and Tartu), Russia (St. Peterburg and Moscow) and Stockholm (in Sweden).

While I was traveling I made some videos that only show the places my eyes could see and that resulted the serie A PORTUGUESE IN FINLAND - EVS VLOG available on my youtube channel.

I had the best time of my life during that year I moved to Finland.
I found the peace , the quality of life I was looking for. I wasn't expecting of enjoying so much! I was well received by my hosting organization Ylivieskan Nuorisopalvelut! (ikuisesti kiitollinen <3), I lived in great conditions, I had flexible schedule, I met a lot of amazing People (Finnish and not Finnish). I felt inspired, I felt secure! I felt not judged, People respected me, trusted me, appreaciated my work and character, I felt so well, really, I hardly had a bad time. I did not face Cultural Shock because I came prepared, I knew more and less how was going to me be my life, how weather and people would be. I wanted to have a time of retreat and I believed I had, with my solitude and Nature, but also socialized and travelled a lot. I had a studio only for myself. I had my own space,but I was not necessarily alone. In the same building was living my mate, the other volunteer, with which I had great times : ) "Catching" Aurora Borialis, Dinners with friends, Going to Tuska and Moomin Museum and so one.

my evs mate Adrien and me and a gorila in the middle :D

Professionaly it was great to me because I did things related with my Area: Cinema, Video and Photography. I made lots of videos to local Youth organizations, I started doing Graphic Design Works, also covered some events with Photos, organized a bi-monthly movieclub in which I shown different kind of movies from different nationalities and had discussion about movies; and had the Big opportunity to organize an International Film Festival, in other words, being CEO of Kalajoki Film Fest. I had a proposal during the Volunteering to work for Kalajoki (other town nearby) and make an International Film Festival only with Portuguese Movies. I was working In Ylivieska to Kalajoki at distance and working for the Ylivieska town simultaneously. The Festival was in the end of August so I needed to stay 15 days more in Finland after the end of the official contract of my Volunteering and during those days I moved to Kalajoki in which the festival took place. I trully enjoyed the experience. I learned a lot, I watched amazing movies and we received the presence of Carla Ruaro, pianist and director of "Raízes - A Piano in the Amazon". She was present to talk to the audience and performed live with the musics from the movie. Her movie is online, please watch on Youtube.