Surviving on my first days in Finland

Moi, it’s Mike here!

I’ve been living in Finland for eight months already, and I want to share with you some thoughts about my first days in this country!

Wednesday, 8th January 2020. It’s a cold, foggy day in northern Italy: in the long hallways of Milan Malpensa Airport you can see a boy carrying four suitcases and crying, 50% joy for realizing his dream and 50% fear of the unknown. 

So many mixed feelings inside of me... What if I don’t make any friends? What if the studies are too hard? What if this is the wrong life choice I'm going to regret?

However, when I finally landed in Helsinki, I felt like a new exciting chapter of my life was about to begin!

Let’s start with the boring stuff: BUREAUCRACY. During my first days I’ve been in so many different offices and filled so many forms and applications. Luckily everyone has been very helpful and nice to me, I cannot complain! 

I could feel a big cultural difference between Italy and Finland; everything looked so weird to me! I think the biggest cultural shock for me has been about food (yes, I’m extremely judgmental on food): I also tried Finnish pizza, but I’d rather forget about that 😊. Sometimes I miss Italian food so much, but I have also tried some unusual Finnish delicacies, such as reindeer meat (which is very good!). 

What impressed me the most during my first days in Finland, have been the gorgeous landscapes: my town, Porvoo, is lovely and appealing, and there’s a perfect balance between the urban environment and nature. I feel like I reconnected with nature a lot since I moved here, and it’s such a good feeling! I’ve been several times in Helsinki, too: when my Italian friends ask me how it is, I love to say that it’s a human-sized city, very dynamic and modern. And I would add that it’s a cool destination for parties 😊

One of the most common stereotypes about Finns is that they’re reserved, cold-hearted people. Although it may be the first impression you get, I can say that it’s not true! They just like to mind their own business 😊. I met truly amazing people and it has not been hard for me to make friends. And if you try to say some words in Finnish, a Finn may even smile to you! 

I can say, from an Italian perspective, that Finland is an underrated destination. When I was about to leave, someone asked me if I was moving outside Europe, or even if I was moving to Greenland. And the ones who knew where Finland is didn’t know a single thing about it! They are missing out a lot 😊

Life has not been that easy on the first days, I can’t hide that. However, I faced everything as a new adventure, as a chance to grow up! And when I think back to those first days in Finland, I just laugh and realize how far that boy carrying four suitcases and crying came. 

When was the last time you did something for the first time?