THE SPANISH AND THE SNOW

SNOW

 

 

And finally the real snow came to Finland!! It was a huge surprise when l woke up on a Saturday morning, like any other day and find out that it has been snowing the whole night. I love when the city is cover by the snow and it is totally white.

I get dressed, had quick breakfast and got out to play with the snow, yes you read right, play with the snow, not only kids enjoy playing in the snow, spanish too.

 Is not true that in Spain  is summer all year, in some spanish cities snows also at this time of the year, specially if you live in a mountanious areas. In Madrid, the city were I am from, it snows only once or twice per year, but not as much snow as in Finland, normally the snow doesn´t last more than two days, and it is a big chaos at the city.

I like snow fights a lot, I normally lose, I have to recognise that I am slow making the snow balls  and also a bit clumsy, is hard for me to walk on the snow, I normally fall down many times, my friends make jokes about how I walk on the snow, they think that I am walking like a penguin, but I don´t agree with them. The activity I like the most is make a snowman!!!! Is not so easy at the beginning, you need lot of patience and a right technique.

This was one of my first time making a snowman, as you can see the result was not so wonderful, but I had lots of fun making it. I didn´t know well how to make a big compact snow ball for the body. I am pretty sure that with practise I will make a nice snowman some day. Please Finnish people don´t destroy snowmans at the street if is not yours!!! It is not nice to find out the next day that your snowman is not there anymore. 

 



 

INDEPENDENCE DAY IN FINLAND

INDEPENDENCE DAY

 

 

The 6th of December Finland celebrate it independence day, as all of you know Finland was conquered by Swedish and later on by Russian. Finland became independent in 1918, and became a european member in 1994.

Each city have a different way of celebrating. Last year I was in Jyväskylä for the independence day, and the tradition in this city is made a kind of parade full of finnish flags and candles around the city center, everyone can participate in this parade, you just need to carry some candles. The parade ends at the old cementery, many Finns leave candles at the cemetery in memory of those who lost their lives in war, then there is a chorus singing some sad finnish songs (that is what my finnish friends told me, unluckily I don´t understand much finnish yet), when the chorus finish an old soldier from the war do a speech about how he lived the war.  

This year I celebrate the independence day in Lahti, the

tradition here is quite different than in Jyväskylä, all the people go to the small lake close to the harbour, instead of the city center like in Jyväskylä, there is a light show in the fountain that change colors depending on the music that is playing, it last around ten minutes, even though is a bit too short it worth to see it, my favourite part was when ithey were playing the finnish anthem with the different lights  it  was very emotional. After it there is some nice fireworks.

But there is some common things for all the country, most of the finnish families light two candles half blue and half white ( finnish flag colors) during this day, and watch on TV the program Linnanjuhlat ( the finnish prime minister celebrate a huge party and all the finnish celebrities go there). I am not agree with this last "tradition". Independence celebration should be more related with the war not with a party, I don´t see the point of it.



FINNISH WEATHER

SEASONS

 

Today I will talk about the Finnish weather. What I have learnt during my time in Finland is that the weather can change easily from one year to another, one year can be very cold and the next year quite "warm", you never know how the weather will look like. So let´s start with the seasons!!!

Autumn : In my point of view Autumn is the most depressive time of the year, is true that the trees can look nicer than in other seasons with all those colors, but when the leaves fall down it looks very sad, the best place to enjoy the finnish nature in this season is lapland. About the weather is always cloudy and grey is a miracle if you can see the sun once per month.Not everything is bad during this season, there is also good things too Autumn and Spring are the best moment to see northen lights, for me the most beautiful thing I have never see in my entire life.

Winter: Is the coldest season of the year, temperatures can reach easily -20 and sometimes also -30, but as i told you before it depends on the weather some winters are quite soft and the minimum temperature can be -15. What I like the most about this season is the snow, winter is not as dark and depress as autumn because the snow give some brightness. But is true that it gets dark soon during January and Frebuary is normal that obscured at three p.m.

Spring: Is my favourite season, forests are full of flowers and is very colorful, is the best moment to pick up some delicious finnish berries, but be careful and check that there is not insects inside it. The days are getting longer and you can finally enjoy the sun, the surprised part for me was when I went to sleep around twelve pm and the sun was still shining, it can be a bit annoying if you are not used to it like it happened to me, Finnish people don´t use blinds like we do in Spain so is quite hard to sleep when the sun is shining and the light come inside your room through the windows, nut you get use to it, what I recomend for those who can´t sleep well is to buy mask. Spring seems the best time of the year for travelling to Finland, but there is also bad things about spring, INSECTS!!! is full of insects and some of them can be very annoying, my advice is buy protective creams against insects ( some of those are a bit expensive comparing with spanish prices but trust me it worth) and also insecticides for your house.

SUMMER: Summer has many characteristic as spring. summer, evenings can be eternal, feels like will never finish. Even the birds are singing baffled.If you're on the road in a  summer day in Finland, it is not rare that you wonder what time it is and see it's already midnight. Is the warmest season, temperatures can rise over 25 degrees, is the best time of the year to swim in the lake and have a lovey picnic at the forest. In summer you will have also problems with the insects so be ready. The mood of the people is different and you can feel it in the environment that the happines is all around the city, you can actually see people walking around not like in winter time where everyone is at home.

 



FINNISH FOREST EXPERIENCES

SUNDAY FOREST EXPERIENCE

 

Last Sunday my friends and I went to the forest for first time in my live. We met at twelve o´clock in front of the university and walked from there to the forest, our aim was reach the lean-to shelter Lepakkolaavu.

This was the view of our first stop, amazing isn´t it? The trees were cover of snow, (it had been snowing the whole weekend) and the lake was frozen, but it was not completely frozen because you couldn´t walk on it. In our first stop the guide gave as a map of the forest and we had to find where we were. It was impossible even though we had a clue, we were located close to a lake .
So the guide gave up and help us with the map. Once we knew which way we had to go, we picked our bags and start walking through the forest.

In our second stop the guide explain us the different types of flora and fauna that can be found in a Finnish forest. We couldn´t see much because of the snow, but anyway the forest was very pinteresque. There was some areas of the forest where it was difficult to walk if you were not wearing adequate boots, more than one of us fell down, the snow can be slippery too. After a long walk we finally reach our destination. Our guide explain us how to make a fire, the best way to make it is placing the woods in cross useful tip: if the wood is wet, you won´t be able to make any fire, so check first how the weather will look like before go to the forest. After make the fire we were ready to make pancakes!!! the first pancakes were a bit burn, there was a french girl in our group that show us the right technique, we learnt fast how to make good pancakes and we enjoyed a lot .

 

   

Finnish Parliament

DAY TOUR TO THE PARLIAMENT

 

 

Last Thursday I went to the Finnish Parliament located in the center of Helsinki, with some students of the school of Lahti.

We arrived to Helsinki around 2 pm, but we couldn´t get inside the parliamet until 3 pm, Thursdays is a popular day to visit the parliament so we had to wait a little bit outside. Once we were inside, we had to pass a security control, same system as in the airport,with the exception of the food, we were not allowed to eat anything.

After the security control, the guide took as to the main room at the parliament, where all the members of the parliament have the meetings to decide and approve laws.

The guide explain us that it was built in 1920,the building has five floors, each of which is unique. The floors are connected by a staircase of white marble and some famous paternoster elevators, the elevators was my favourite part, it was a pity that i was not allowed to use the lifts. The main attractions for visitors are the main hall, the majestic Hall of Sessions and the impressive Hall of State.Even though the guide explained everything in finnish, ( my finnish is vary basic ) I really enjoy it.

I was in shock when I saw the members of the parliament talking and discussing about finnish issues, in Spain is totally forbidden, you can´t hear what the politicians are talking about if you are not a member of it. I love the transparency of the finnish system, it makes you feel secure and is very credible in my point of view. I think Spain have to learn a lot about how to govern a country from finnish politicians.

 

 



PROTEST

PROTEST IN FINLAND VS IN SPAIN

 

 

 

Today i will talk about the protests, as everyone know a protest is  an expression of objection by words or by actions.

Nowadays many European countries are having huge financial troubles, so the governments are force to cut down their budgets, reducing public services such as education, health, scholarships and so on....  Last Monday I attended my first protest in Finland. The Major of the city wants to translate one of the most important multicultural centers to a smaller place, far away from the center and the building where will be locate is in worse conditions, this measure is  to safe money. In this article I will analyze the differences between the protest in Finland and in Spain.

In both cases banners have powerful messages and in different languages.

In the case of Spain the protest are more noise, people are yelling and playing drums and singing around the city, in Finland is more like an spectacle with dances and music but not so much people shouting. In Finland the protesters are concentrated at the main place, what I mean with this is that if you are protesting against the major decisions, all the protesters will meet at the City Hall, in Spain the protesters go around the main places in the city and the protest end when the police decide.

The biggest difference was the presence of the police, while in Spain there is hundred of polices following the protesters, in Finalnd there was not any police around.

Even though the intention of the spanish protesters are pacific, most of it end up with big fights between polices and protesters, this picture was taken in one of the last protest in Madrid, in Finland protest are very peaceful and respectful.

 

SHOCKING THINGS IN FINLAND PART 2!!

FINNISH DIFFERENCES 2

Here we are one week more, writting about more shocking things for me in Suomi!!!

1) Doorbell: Last Friday I came to my friend´s house,to celebrate Halloween, the party started at seven o´clock but i was not able to be at that time because of work so I arrived around half past ten, When I was at the door of her bulding I realised that the doorbell didn't work I was like WHAT THE HELL!!! Luckily there was one of her neightbours coming inside too so he opened the door and explained to me that after ten pm the doorbell doesn´t work. Why it can´t work after ten? what´s the point? what if you can´t be earlier?. I seriously can´t find any reasonable argument of why it doesn´t work after ten it seems stupid to me.

2) Windows: Most of the windows in my apartment can´t be fully open, or i can´t even open it at all, how am I supposed to get some fresh air? the amazing thing is that it doesn´t smell bad, what I mean with this is that in my house in Spain if I don´t open the window often the room have a awful smell, but not in Finland, It might have some kind of automatic ventilation somewhere.
Another thing that I miss in the window is the blinds why they don´t use.. is true that in winter time there is not too much sun light so you can perfectly sleep without it, but what about the summer? The sun is sunshine nearly all day long. I had to buy a mask because it was impossible for me to sleep with so much light.

3) Bathroom: When I went to the bathroom for first time I was a bit surprise to see this kind of extra  hose or faucet, I am not sure how to call it. My Finnish friend explained me that you can use it to wash your naugh bits . I am surprise how hygienic Finnish can be.




4) Pantti: I am totally agree with this idea, most of the countries should do the same as Finland, because respect the enivonment and forced you to recicle. When you buy a can or bottle you can get some money back called Pantti, you just have to go to the closest supermarket and insert the can or bottle in a kind of machine that collect all the cans and bottles that you are not using anymore, depends on how many cans do you have you will get more or less money. You get 15 cents for each can, 20 cents for medium size bottles and 40 cents for big bottles. SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? START TO COLLECT PANTTI!!!

SHOCKING THINGS IN FINLAND

                     FINNISH DIFFERENCES                 

 

Today I will talk about the shocking things for me in Finland, so let´s start:

 

1) Last Thursday i went to a mall at the city center, I saw that there was a conference in the first floor, i went there to have a look and try to find out what was going on. The man who made the speech was one of the ministers of Finland, I am not sure in which minister he works, but he is famous. The shoking part of it was that there was not so many cops around, just two, and everyone could participate and speak directly with the minister. In Spain that is something unbelievable, all ministers or politicians are very well protected by many cops and bodyguards, and you can´t talk to them.

 

2) One of my hobbies is swim, I have been swimming almost all my life, so I decided to buy a ten times bonus, being honest a bit expensive but I have to do some sport or I will become a hippo, anyway, I went there like two weeks ago for first time, at the entrance there was a paper with the rules of the swimming pool, I was very surprise when I read that i have to take a shower naked before go to swim. The astonished part for me was that finnish people are normally very shy, they don´t say hi to you even though they are your neightbours, but they are not shy to be naked in the shower or in the sauna, I don´t understand it. I was very embarrased being naked with people that I don´t know although they were from same sex. Another fact that surprised me too was that anyone was wearing flip flops,in my point of view that is unhygienic, you come from outside with your shoes and walk around the changing room with those while other people are not wearing any, I felt like an alien wearing my flip flops.

 

3) One key, they have only one key to open every door, from the outside door of your building to the storage room. I was sharing my apartment with another spanish when I was living in Jyväskylä and he could open the outside door, our apartment door and our storage room with just one key like me but he couldn´t open my room.What kind of witchcraft is this?
 

 

FIRST MONTH, FIRST EXPERIENCES

                    MY FIRST MONTH

 

Is incredible how fast time goes... I still remember my last day in Spain saying bye to my family and friends, I was very nervous and enthusiastic at the same time, it was really hard moment leave my dog at the airport, but sometimes you have to be brave and don´t look back.

While the plane took off I was thinking if my decision was the right one, what would had hapenned if i had stayed in Spain, and after a month i have found the answer.

I was very confused in Spain about my future, my family was forcing me to study a master and find a job as accountant but Is that what I want? I needed  time to think about myself, my future, my relationship, about EVERYTHING!! my life in Madrid was like a routine, I needed a change in my life, so what ´s better than a volunteer where I can help people and feel useful? I am happy with my decision, I think is the right one.

 

My first weeks here were the hardest ones, I was completely lost, everyone knew about me but i didn´t have any idea of who they were, but i felt very welcoming, all of my workmates were very nice and kind with me.I visited my work place, i really liked it from the beginning, it was totally different than I was expecting, i visited also my house were i am living now and also the city, where to buy food, where to go party and so on... 

My work is a bit chaotic, I am not sure what is my everyday task, some days I am very busy and some others not, sometimes our events are very successful and many people come to join us and sometimes there is nearly no one coming...  

I have been living in Finland before but i felt like everything is new for me.

The hardest part of live abroad is the loneliness,is very hard to find good friends that will support you in your ups and downs moments, luckily i am not completely alone my boyfriend is from Finland but he lives about two hours far from where i am, so we can´t see each other as much as i would like to see him, public transport in Finland are very expensive if you are not student so I can´t afford to go every weekend to his place. And I am the only volunteer here the closest ones are 30km away, and there is not any public transport to reach the place where they live. As you can read my chances to meet friends fast were not so high, but i managed to meet people in our events and now i am happy with my friends.

 

But remember don´t be afraid of changes!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EVS USEFUL INFORMATION

    HELLO HELLO!!! I AM BACK!!!

Today i will talk about what i am doing in Finland. First at all i am here living in Lahti doing the EVS programme. EVS means "European Volunteer Services", there is many kind of volunteer services from work with disable people to build a boat, you just need to find the one you like the most and apply for it,mine is about multicultural respect, we organize event for foreign people from all ages, in this events you can get to know people from all around the world and make new friends having fun.
How can you apply for it?- first  have a look in the list of the projects as i told you there is many so is not easy task to do, and also take in consideration the country that you would like to go. After that you need to find your sending organization and receiving organization. I recommend you find first your sending organization, they can help you to find your project. 
 You can find the list in this link:
http://europa.eu/youth/evs_database

As you can see in the website there is many organization and countries make sure that the organization that you chose is a receiveng organization, (not all the organization offer projects.)

How to apply it?-You need to send an email to the SENDING organization of your city, if not of your country in the email you MUST include your CV and a motivation letter telling a bit about yourself and the reason why you apply for that project and why you are the best candidate for it, (both have to be in english language). When you get the email confirming that you have your sending organization start sending the same email to the organization you want to work for, this is the hard part of it, some organization doesn´t answer you back, others have already volunteers...you have to be patient and never give up!!!

I totally recommend you to do it, you will feel better with yourself helping other people, you will learn a lot, is a unique experience that you should live.

Introduction

 

MYSELF

In my first post i will just introduce myself to know me better and i will also explain the reasons of 

 why i decided to start this blog, and  what will be the content of it.

 



 



 My name is Patricia  from Spain but I am  currently living in Finland, thanks to the crisis and the actions taken by the Spanish government I was forced to go abroad to have a better future like many others spanish citizens.

 

I always wanted to write a blog but because of many reasons like studies, work and so on... i couldn´t find enough time to do it, thanks to my new work i have a lot of spare time that allwos me to write it, and here i am writing my first post!!!

I would like to share with you what comes to my mind, my feelings and ideas and i will be really glad if you guys participate on it, write down as much coments as you want but always in a constructively way.

 

The content will be full of variety in my opinion is quite boring if i speak about the same topics all the time, you can also propose some topics that you consider interesting for the rest of the people. I will make a post weekly, sometimes two depends on my inspiration and my time.

 

I hope you enjoy reading my blog!!!