Everything about Finland for foreigners

If you are living in Finland and you want to find natural ways to meet local people and learn more about local lifestyle you may find these tips useful. 1. Use internet and Facebook Facebook is a good way to get better contact to the people you already know in Finland. Facebook will not only help you to connect with your friends but it makes you easy to see what are they interested in. By checking the new groups they join and news they comment you will quikly learn many things about the lives of your Finnish friends. In most working places it's very normal to ask friends in facebook at least those colleagues you meet reguraly at work. If you are working in a smaller organization you can ask almost everyone to be your facebook friend. 2. Be active in NPF organizations There is huge number of all kinds of non-profit organizations in Finland. If you are interested in arts, sports, charity or culture you surely find an organization to join and meet people with similar interests.

http://www.vertaa.fi/ is a useful tool if you want to compare prices of airline tickets, electronical equipments, mobile phones or some other standardised products. It is a website that gathers information from various sources and tells you where you can buy specified item at lowest price. This service works very well for the most common items like TVs, cameras and airline tickets. Unfortunately the website is in Finnish but it is very easy to use if you understand few keywords and understand locic of website search tools. For example here you can search for airline tickets: http://www.vertaa.fi/lentoliput/ Here you can search for cheapest digital cameras: http://www.vertaa.fi/digikamerat/ Here you can search for books, games etc.: http://www.vertaa.fi/viihde/

Majority of the university education in Finland is in Finnish but here are some Master's degrees that are thougth in English at Helsinki Law Master of Laws (LL.M.) Diploma Programme , Helsinki University Economics and business Administration Swedish School of Econimics, several degree programs Helsinki School of Econimis, some programs are in Engliss, see list Others Helsinki University, Master's of Art, some programs in English

Finland is not in the center of Europe but there are still some cheap airlines that offer cheap flights to Finland and from Finland to central and southern Europe. Finnair, SAS, Blue1, Lufthansa, Air France and KLM among many other well known airlines are flying to Helsinki but there are also some low cost airlines that offer cheap flights. Helsinki-London and London-Helsinki This rout is operated by EasyJet. Tampere-London and London-Tampere If you wish to travel somewhere else than Helsinki this Ryanair flight can be a good choice. Helsinki-Paris and Paris-Helsinki EasyJet flies also to Paris and back. Helsinki-Berlin and Berlin-Helsinki Air Berlin flies to Berlin and also to Düsseldorf. Helsinki-Rome and Rome-Helsinki Norwegian is opening their direct fligt to Rome this spring (2011). In addition to these routes Norwgian flies direct flights to Nice, Alicante, Malaga and Split and by EasyJet you can fly also to Edinburgh. Between the Nordic countries there are m

Here are some basic facts about foreign driving licences in Finland. Driving licences issued in another EU or EEA country entitle the holder to drive motor vehicles in Finland equivalent to those indicated on the non-Finnish licence. The driver must be at least 18 years old. Also interim licences issued in Nordic countries are valid. A person residing permanently in a country that has signed the Geneva or Vienna Road Traffic Convention and who holds a national or international driving licence or an official Finnish or Swedish translation of a national driving licence is entitled to drive motor vehicles equivalent to those indicated on the non-Finnish licence for up to a year following entry into Finland, provided that the person fulfils the Finnish age requirement to drive such vehicles. Driving licences issued in any other countries do not give automatically entitlement to drive in Finland. On application, however, the police may grant a provisional driving licence for a maximu

If you are coming to Finland with family finding an English speaking kindergarten is important. If you are coming to Helsinki there are many options but in many other cities choices are limited or nonexistent. Here are some English speaking kindergartens at Helsinki area: HSAY Kindergarten http://www.hsaykindergarten.com/ International Childcare and Education Centre http://www.play-learn.com/ Päiväkoti Youngstar http://www.ys2000.com/ Sunrise Playschool http://www.sunrisefinland.org/ Oulunkylän Englanninkielinen Päiväkoti http://www.kindergarten.fi/ Bumblebees Kindergarten http://www.bumblebeeskindergarten.com/ For other cities you can try to find information from Expat Finland .

If you are considering moving to Finland it may be difficult to useful to know something about the most popula living areas in Finland. They are presented in order of popularity and it correlates with the price:-) Eira, Kaivopuisto and Ullanlinna This is area at the southern Helsinki is a living area between the city center and the Baltic Sea. It is very nice living area and from this area you can walk to the center or take a tram. Buildings of this area are usually from the early 1900 but most of them are renovated and in good condition. This area is rather peaceful and safe place and services are good, small shops and grocery stores are very close and big department stores at city center are easy to access. Westend and Kulosaari If you want more space around you and prefer bigger houses, Westend is the best place for you. Westend is a small luxorious area by the sea few kilometres from the Helsinki center to the west. There is a bus connection from Westend to the center but a c

If you are coming to Finland to work in white collar job your employer will most likely offer company mobile phone to you. If this is not the case here are some basic facts about mobile phones and operators in Finland. Phones Most mobile phones in Finland are sold without any operator package so you just buy a phone you wish and it is not locked to any specific operator and you can choose which operator you want. Some operators offer phones at discount if you make 36 months or 24 months agreement with the operator but these are not very often attractive if you compare prices. Operators When you have bought you phone without operator package you are free to choose which operator you want and make an agreement with them. For persons without permanent address in Finland prepaid is a good alternative. Prepaids can be bought at almost any market. Saunalahti  is one of the market leaders in prepaids. In general prices of SMS and domestic calls are not high but pay attention to the inte

Car rentals For temporary car needs renting is the easiest solution. There are many rentals in capital area and other cities. The big international companies like Hertz  and Avis are at of course easy choices. However local companies like Scandia Rent  or Easyrent  can be cheaper. Also Budget rental is one of the cheaper ones. If you need car more one interesting alternative is City Car Club . For temporary use it is not cheaper than rentals but if you need car more it is cheaper than traditional rentals. City Car Club cars are available only in Helsinki.

If you come to Finland to stay for only a short time it may be a good idea to buy some things as used and when you are leaving Finland you may not want to take everything for you. Good place to buy and sell things is http://www.huuto.net/ . It's a good marketplace for example: childrens toys, clothes, sports equipments etc. bicycles or scooters furniture electronical equipments etc.

Finnish language is not easy but if you decide to take it as a challenge and want to learn it here are some places where you can start learning it: University of Helsinki - Finnish for foreigners http://www.helsinki.fi/kksc/language.services/english/suomi.html Institute of adult education in Helsinki http://www.helsinginaikuisopisto.fi/eng/courses/finnishforforeigners.php Private language school Berlitz http://www.berlitz.fi/en/learning_a_language/group_instruction/berlitz_class/

If you are looking for a job in Finland the right place depends on what kind of educational background you have. In most of the open postions at least some level of Finnish language is required but there are some areas where it is not required. Most of them are in engineering or business/finance. Monster  is a leading recruiting media in Finland. The second most significant is Oikotie . These recruiting medias have wide range of open positions in all areas. If you are looking for jobs where higher education is not required best possibilities to find work are at recruiting agencies like Addecco. Here are some companies that have strong market positions in Finland: Addecco , Poolia,   Barona , Manpower , Varamiespalvelu and Staffpoint .

Looking for an appartment If you want to rent an appartment in Finland there are two websites where you should start: Vuokraovi is a leading marketplace for rental appartments in Finland. The website frame is available in English but most of the announcement texts are in Finnish. http://www.vuokraovi.com/vuokraovi/main/main.action?locale=en&theme=theme_en & Oikotie is the marketplace of a local newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. Unfortunately it is available only in Finnish. http://asunnot.oikotie.fi/vuokrapalvelu These two places are good starting points to learn more about the market. If you want to contact real estate brokers here are few companies to start with: Celine is a company which is focused on rental appartments for foreigners. If you are coming to work in Finland and looking for furnished appartment with excellet location this is the company to contact. http://www.celine.fi/ SKV and Huoneistokeskus are biggest real estate brokers in Finland. http://www.sk

The leading newspaper is Finland is definitely Helsingin Sanomat. This is THE neswpaper in whole Finland and not just at capital area. International edition of Helsingin Sanomat is here: http://www.hs.fi/english/?cmp=tm_etu_english Yleisradio is the leading TV-broadcaster in Finland. They offer news about Finland also in English. http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/news// Helsinki Times is a small international newspaper targeted to non-finnish speaking people living Finland. http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/htimes/

Writers of this block are family members of international family (Finnish-Swiss-Swedish). We don't want to make our blog as a tuirist quide but we want to give valuable hints for the foreigners staying in Finland for more than just few days. All comments are extremely welcome!