Multicultural Festival in Helsinki

FESTIVAL!!!

Last weekend was the multicultural festival in Helsinki. I took the bus on Saturday at 10 am to Helsinki, and around 11:30 we reached Helsinki city. I know is quite early to go to a festival but that was the time that fit me the most, I am a huge fan of Eurovision and I didn´t wanted to miss it.
The festival was full of tents with information about Europe, languages courses, non governmental organizations asking for money for the underdeveloped countries, there were also tents selling handmade things and so on.

I had two favourites tents, one was the vegan tent where you could get lot of  information about how to become a vegan, the sad thing was that all the information was in finnish, but I can use google translate. And my second favourite the nutrition tent, the girl was explaining us how to eat properly, I find it out very interesting and useful, but again same problem as before it was only in finnish, luckily the girl spoke well English, now I will follow her tips to have a healthier lifestyle. 

There was also many restaurants from Africa, Thailand, India and Brasil, and surprise surprise!! couple of vegan restaurants too.
In the middle of the festival there was a huge circus tent, with more things to see and many free things, spaniards are crazy for free things, I got many candies, bags, almond milk, stickers....I have no idea what I will do with all the items I took.

And the best of all the concerts!!! This time was different, there was finnish singers but also foreigners so I could understand what the songs were about.
The weather was lovely, not too cold not too hot and the people were enjoying a lot as I did. 

gender violence event

EVENT AGAINST GENDER VIOLENCE

 

 

It has been a month since last time I wrote a post in my blog, I have being very busy lately. Luckily I got some free time and I am back!!!

 

Today I will talk about something that concerns all of us, gender violence.The number of victims who suffer gender violence has increased in the last  years, in Spain the number of victims that have died during this year is  45 women, the Baltic countries are on top of the list, in Finland the 20% of Finns women had suffered gender violence. Is quite interesting that the countries with higher education are the ones that have more cases of gender violence, how is this possible?

We must start teaching the respect for each other since childhood, and also teach them what gender violence is. Thousands of teenagers don´t even noticed that they have been manipulated for each couples, gender violence is not only phisically is also mentally. We must do something soon or the number of victims will keep increasing.

Last week I participated in an event against gender violence, the name of the event was "Vahvat ei kiusaa" and  there were many exhibition about arts martial, the instructors were teaching the youngster how to defend themselves against the aggressor and showing some basic moves for beginners. 

There was also videos about gender violence cases and what the victims could do to stop them, there was also many information about who to contact in case you are suffering any kind of aggression. I think those kind of events are very usefull for concerning the youngster about this topic and also for giving them the courage to speak out loud about gender violence in case they know a friend or relative that is suffering any kind of abuse.

My task was walking around giving balloons to the participants and talking with the youngster, it was a bit exhausting job but I really had fun.

 

Trip to Tallinn

CRUISE DAY TO TALLINN

 

 

Last weekend I went to Tallinn with my family, we did a day cruise to Tallinn from Helsinki. The Ferry left Helsinki at 10:30 am, it took us around two hours to reach Tallinn,Tallinn and Helsinki are close to each other, only 82 km away from each other.

It was the first time for my parents in a ferry, they were very exicted, I must said that ferries are not like an ordinary ship, ferries are huge, very huge. It is impressive to see it from the outside, but even more impressive from the inside. When you are in the ferry, you don´t have the impression of being in the sea, it  looks more like if you were in a mall, there is lot of shops and restaurants, there is also a pub and a karaoke. You can easily get lots, at least I got lost couple of times. Our ferry was very crowded but luckily we got a place to sit on our both ways.

Once we arrived to Tallinn we got a map from the tourist information point and start our adventure in a new city for most of us. Our first stop was St. Olav church, is at the entrance of the city, is one of the tallest buildings of the old city of Tallinn, so is very easy to reach. The inside of the church is very simple, not much to see, we paid two euros to go on top of the tower and see the city from there, I have to say that it was really hard to reach the top of it because there is not other way than going through very skinny stairs, it is very cramped but it totally worth to go, the views were amazing.

After that extra sport we went to have lunch, it was not easy to find a good restaurant with suitable prices, at least not in the old twon, you need to go far away from the old town to find some cheap restaurants. After had lunch we went back to the old town and enjoy the touristci attraction that the city offers to you, like the town hall, door Viru, Alexander Nevski Cathedral and so on. We took the ferry back to Helsinki at 20:30 pm but before that we went to an alcohol store and buy some bottles. That is very common reason to travel to Tallinn, many Finnish come back with lot of bottles and cans, Finland have very high taxes for alcohol drinks, so by buying it in Estonia you can save lot of money.

        This is typical middle age finnish couple on their way back

 

 

 

 



FAKE SPRING

FINNISH SPRING

 

Today I will talk about the Finnish spring. As all of you know the official day of the beginning of the spring is 20th of March. But it seems that Finland have a bit different  weather than the rest of Europe.

Yesterday my family came to Finland to spend Easter with me, and also visit Finland. What they didn´t expect were that Finland would recieve them with snow. They arrived to Helsinki at 20:00, our original plan was do some sightseeing around the city until the time we have to take the bus to my city, but the weather was awful, it was windy and snowing, very cold for them, imagine they came from Spain where right now the temperature is around 25 degrees and sunny. So what we did in exchange was have dinner in a Burger Knig and wait inside the train station until our bus leaves.

 

                        

                           Is this how spring should look like?
              Don´t you think this images fits more in Autumn?

Two weeks ago We had a full week of sun, YES!! SUN IN FINLAND. We thought the spring was finally coming, people were hoping that there won´t be more snow and the temperatures will start rising, but it was all a delusion, after that sunny week we went back to cold temperatures and rainy days. In my previous experience in Finland, spring didn´t come until May, I hope I am wrong this time and soon we can enjoy lovely sunny days with good weather, I CAN´T WAIT!!









  



Northern Lights in Finland

           NORTHEN LIGHTS

 

 

Yesterday, 17/03/2015 was possible to see Northern Lights in all Finland, including Helsinki. This is very rare, normally you can see northern lights only in the north of Finland.

I was coming back home from work when suddenly I saw something green in the sky, at the beginning I thought it was a cloud, the light was very weak so it was not so clear what was it. I got into my house and check my facebook, a friend of mine posted that she saw a northern light just few seconds ago, so I decided to wear some more warm clothes and go out to see them too. The best place to see northern lights is at the top of a hill, where there is not much artificial lights. I went to the lake and waited there until I could see them. It was quite cold outside but it worth it, I can´t described what I saw. At the beginning it was just a weak light on the sky, but later on it got bigger and brighter. There was a moment where all the sky was completely green. Just amazing, sadly my phone´s camera couldn´t take any picture.

Next morning my facebook was full of comments and pictures about the northern lights night, the best way of see northern lights is through a good camera, your eyes can´t see properly all the colours.

 

Is such a big coincidence that same day was St Patrick´s Day in Ireland, it seems that Ireland and Finland agreed with the colour of the day!!



World Cup Lahti Ski Games

WORLD CUP LAHTI

 

Last weekend was the World Cup Ski Games of Lahti, a total of 23 countries have participated : Austria, Australia, Canada, Great-Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan, Kazakstan, Lichtenstein, Norway, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Slovakia, Swedem, The USA, Korea, Bulgaria and Estonia.

I went to see the games on Saturday and Sunday, I could go also on Friday but the weather was awful, so I decided to stay at home.

On Saturday I went to see the Ski Jumping Group Race, it was the first time in my life to see this kind of competitions, as all of you know in Spain there is not much snow, actually I don´t even think there is any Ski jumping tower at all in my country.There was so many people at the competition area, quite surprinsing because there is normally not many people at the city, at least on winter time, we will see how is on summer. I was very amazed how high athletes have to jump, to give you an idea how tall it is, you can see  the Ski Jumping Tower practically from any place in Lahti, also during the nights thanks to its illumination.

 

 

I woke up early on Sunday and I went to see the Cross Country Female Race, the males one was at ten o´clock in the morning that´s way to early for me. After the Cross Country race there was the Ski Jumping Individual Race. Sunday was a foggy day so I couldn´t see the top of the ski jumping tower, but anyway

I really enjoy the competitions even though my country was not participating and Finalnd was not as good as the rest of the countries.

After the races there was a party place with lots of concerts, what I didn´t understand was that all the artists playing there were Finnish singing most of their songs in finnish, Is a world cup!!!, were many people from different parts of the world came to lahti, to enjoy the event, so why the organizer didn´t think about the tourists? It would be much more fun if the concerts would be more international.

 

VALENTINE´S DAY IN FINLAND VS SPAIN

VALENTINE´S DAY

 

Today I will compare the different ways of celebrating Valentine´s day between Spain and Finland.

As all you know Valentine´s Day is a celebration observed on 14th of Febrary. It is celebrated in many countries around the world, but can be celebrated in lots of different ways.

In Spain is the day of the lovers and  is a huge celebration in the whole country. All the shops around are decorated with hearts, love messages and romantic mood, you can feel that love is in the air.

Is a day where couples celebrate the feeling that they have for each other. It consisted basically of  buying some flowers to the couple and have an intimacy dinner in a expensive restaurant. Restaurants are full this day,so you need to book it in advance or you will ending up in a fast food restaurant. It is a celebration of great importance for women. So if you have a spanish girlfriend DON´T FORGET THIS DAY!!

 

 

In Finland is the day of the friendship ( ystävänpäivä), The notion of the 14th of February as a “special day” arrived quite late to Finland, compared to the rest of the world. In Finland is a day when close friends send cards and gifts to each other. For Finnish is not such an important day, is like an ordinary day,so is not so common to see shops decorated. But there is also some Finns couples that celebrated it by buying roses and having dinner together in a restaurant. what is quite surprising  for me,is that is also a common day to get engaged or get married.

Sadly nowadays Valentine´s Day is getting more commercial and is all about BUY, things for your couple instead of LOVE your couple and spend time with them.

 

 

Finnish Traditions

PENKKARIT AND VANHOJEN TANSSIT

 

 

Last Thursday was the Penkkarit celebration in all the cities of Finland. Penkkarit is a yearly tradition for Finnish upper secondary school students. The event is celebrated in their last year of school before the start of the matriculation exams. This celebration consists in a small parade around the city center, the students are dressing up with funny costumes and they are throwing candies to the people.

It was really nice event, I had lot of fun and I got many free candies. What I don´t understand is why is before the exams and not after, when everything is done and you are not  stress about exams.

The next day of Penkkarit celebration, Finnish students do their traditional dance ( Vanhojen tanssit),is a formal prom

for upper secondary schools students during their second year. It is a celebration of when the second-year students become the seniors of the school.

The prom celebration  last approximately one hour, during that time the students are dancing some traditional Finnish dances, that they have learned during the first semester. As you can see from the picture the students look very elegant, the male students wear black suits and the girls long and colorful dresses, the families of the girls can easily spend over one thousand euros in the dresses, hairdressing  and make up. I was very jealous to see those beauiful dresses, we don´t have this kind of event in Spain, but anyway I don´t think that my family could affort to buy me such a expensive type of dress. The most surprisingly part was when the students were dancing "Tango". Tango is a very sensual dance but the Finnish students didn´t know how to dance it properly, they were dancing it very mechanically.

 

 

 

VISITING HELSINKI

HELSINKI

 

 

Last weekend I went to Helsinki with my spanish friend, he came to visit me and also to get to know Finland and Finnish culture.

We took the bus on saturday morning at 7:40 am, and we arrived to Helsinki at 9:00 am. We visited first the Hietaniemi Cemetery and the beach. We were very surprised how close each other are, in Spain the beaches are far away from cemeteries, in my opinion a beach should be a place where you can chill and relax, not a place where you can hear the bells of the church because of someone die. I seriously didn´t like the location of the cemetery, this fact could explain why there is so many Finnish tourist in Spain, besides of the weather.

We went next to The Rock Church ( Temppeliaukion kirkko). I think is a bit overvalued, is just a church made of stones nothing else special. After it we went through the Ullanlinna street to St. John´s Church (Johanneksenkirkko), it´s not the most popular place to visit in Helsinki but is very big and pinteresque, I liked it more than The Rock Church. Later on we visited  The Old Market Hall ( Eteläranta), I was happy to see a spanish shop inside selling Chorizo, spanish cheese and of coruse Jamón Serrano.

After all that walk we went to have lunch at a restaurant, it was a bit expensive but the food was delicious. After it we visited the port and the market.We also went to the Orthodox Cathedral ( Suomen ortodoksinen kirkko) and to the St Nicholas´Church ( Helsingin tuomiokirkko).    

This one looks amazing from the outside, is very big and impressive, but the inside is very normal, all the walls are white and there is not much old decoration. 

 

 

   

 

This one is my favourite one, it looks really nice from the outside, very different looking than catholic ones and the inside is even nicer, it reminds me the cathedral in Russia, is very colorful but a bit small, it looks bigger from the outside than from the inside.

  

Despite Helsinki is the only "big" city in Finland, the size of the city are quite small. When I was in Helsinki I felt like I was not in Finland anymore, the rest of Finland is full of nature and lakes, not so many people around, totally opposite of Helsinki, but it was really nice trip anyway.

 



How to conquer a Finnish man

FINNISH MEN

 

Do you like Finland? Would you like to stay in Finland but your finnish skills are not the best? Can you survive a finnish winter? If your answers are affirmative then don´t be worry here it comes your solution!! Have a finnish boyfriend!!!

Today I will give you some tips about how to conquer a Finnish man.

The first step is find a finnish man, Finland is the paradise of blonds, finnish men are very handsome, at least for me, finnish men are very exotic in many countries like for example Spain. So it is not a big deal if you don´t have any on mind right now , you will find him soon.

Do you have someone in mind now? Perfect the next step is become his friend, try to be patien, at the beginning finnish people are not so open and is a bit hard to get to know them well. You can gain his friendship by showing him that you really want to be his friend, show him that you are a good and trustable person.

When you know him enough to know his likes,his hobbies then propuse him a date, spend time alone with him is the best way to get close to him. As an advice I recomend you that you should look naturally, don´t put much makeup!!

During the date with him, you should show him that you are interested to be more than friends by smiles, glances, a bit of human contact, but not too much or he will be scared. If you feel that he is not answering back your signals it can be because he is shy or because he is not interested on you at all. In this type of situation you have two options or be enough brave and kiss him, you will probably regret if you don´t even try it, don´t be embarrased if he doesn´t like you, it is always better to try and fail than fail to try. And the second option is keep him as a friend and try luck with another one.
In case you succeed keep the relationship alive by truly loving him, make him laugh, talk a lot with him about any topic and cook for him something delicious of your country, trust me the best way to conquer a men is trhough their stomachs, he will be the happiest man in the world if you cook him something tasty.
I hope my tips helps you in your future conquests. Love is in the air!!



HOW A SPANISH CAN SURVIVE FINNISH WINTER

COLD IS HERE

 

Here I am back to work after a wonderful Christmas holidays in Spain. Today I will talk about how hard is finnish winter for a spanish.

We got finally a proper winter after one year with quite warm temperatures ( That is what finnish said, for me it was enough cold).  I just returned from Spain where the temperatures were about 10-15 degrees, is like 25-30 degrees more than in Finland, I can tell you that I am totally freezing cold, I guess I will get use to this temperatures after a while.

During this time of the year the lakes of all Finland are frozen, you can walk, do ice fishing or skate on it. I was very surprised how fast the weather changed, just couple of months ago it was water and now it is ice. It was nice experience walk on the lake, I haven´t done it before and I can tell you that is very impressive, the fact that under you there are fishes swimming is a bit scary but nice experienced anyway. I am not brave enough to go walking on the lake if I don´t see someone else around, just in case I am too heavy and the ice breaks, I don´t want to die yet, I am still young. I found funny the fact that when you  go out for a while your hair turns white, but don´t worry, you are not getting older is just the cold.

What I normally wear for this cold weather is a lot of warm clothes, I wear two pair of warm socks, two pair of tights, a trouser and good boots, for the upper part I wear one thermal shirt, another shirt, a hoodie and a jacket plus my coat, don´t forget to wear good gloves, wool hat and a scarf, after all this clothes, I am finally ready to go out. I am not generally cold when I wear all this clothes except when is windy, the wind in Finland is very cold and it can be very annoying if  is snowing at same time, sometimes I can´t even open my eyes. 

In conclusion to survive a finnish winter you have to wear thousand of clothes, try to leave your house as less as possible, and get a finnish boyfriend/girlfriend that warms you during the cold nights.



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!!!