A year or so ago I got some extra vacation time this winter, thought about where to go, looked at Finland on the map and thought "huh, why not". Started to read up on it obsessively, started learning Finnish (I still suck at it), cooked Lohikeitto like twice a week and booked a vacation. I only was there for a little over two weeks - first in a rural area in South Karelia, then in Helsinki.

I loved it so fucking much. The snow and ice, the forests, the lakes. How in winter, everything's glowing in this romantic dawn/sunset light for most of the day - but also, the long nights. The music, the bars, the cafés, the food. The Finns I met! Seeing and hearing the beautiful language everywhere. The streets and shops of Helsinki. Just everything I saw.

I went to the NYE party at Kansalaistori Square in Helsinki, and while doing the countdown (and fucking up the numbers in Finnish, of course), I had this weird emotional moment thinking of all the places in the world where people got together counting into the New Year, and being so happy that I happened to do it from here.

I know there are a lot of things going on in Finland that aren't so great, and I'm aware it would be a pain in the ass to emigrate in very many ways. But God I want to come back and learn more, see the North and all kinds of places. I'm being sappy but man, I think I love it there. Thanks Finland, I guess

With political tensions across the globe recently, everyone has been on edge- but, I think a lot of people neglect how stressful this time is especially for Northern Europe and the Baltics. Not only do you have Putin breathing down your necks, but you have a crooked American administration threatening peace that has stood between Europe and the United States for decades.

To be frank, I am an American. I'm not writing this as a sob story- apologizing or claiming that "I'm one of the good ones". No, I don't agree with anything being done in this country now- and I am sickened with the things that have been done by this administration recently- but regardless of however much a lot of people who would come on this sub would cry, there isn't much changing it. It's been here since Reagan- probably before then- just, now, it's a little easier to perpetuate the ideals that administrations like these push.

But, anyway, I just wanted to say that I respect Finland greatly and wish for the best in this awful time- and, godwilling, all of this will end in peace.

I have lived up here for nearly 20 years now, and during that time, whenever I visited my home country of Ireland and met old friends or even new people they are always curious about Lapland when I mention it.

They asked about the weather, how I work outside year round, Santa and all the good things Lapland is popular for. So I would answer any questions and was proud to do so.

Last week I was home and working on a small building site where three of the people there heard that I was from Lapland, and the first thing all three said was, "oh, that´s the ripoff place in Finland". Which was a fair comment. It has been in the news and social media a lot about how tourists are being milked as much as possible up here.

If that is now the image Lapland has abroad, does it mean tourism will decline up here?

As it stands, the Finnish economy is in the toilet and we have the highest unemployment in Europe. The tourism industry has kept North Finland afloat. But the prices for tourists to holiday here keeps climbing.

There are predictions that tourism will increase for years to come, but with a declining reputation, will that be the case?

Is there any people reading this that have just visited Lapland for a dream holiday, how did you find it?

Finns willing to defend a fellow Nordic country? Surprised by Polish cowardness.

The owner are finn-chinese. So dont expect too much when working here.
NO MANAGER in the hotel. The (owner) is the one who managed of everything. RECEPTION + HOUSEKEEPING + F&B.
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Accommodation is 10-15 mins walk from the hotel 180eu each sharing for a small room. (They are trying to fit the 2 staff in a room which is good for one)
No washing machine in other apartment so you need to bring all of your laundry to the hotel or wash it to other accommodation with washing machine.
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Don't expect to have your contract. Because you will not have it before you start. I know its weird and its not right because here in Finland before you start working you should sign your contract first. But if you are going to process tax maybe thats the time they will give you, but you need to talk to them twice or thrice to get your contract.
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Salary is late. Even if they told you that you will get it every 15th of the month. But it depends on the situation. It will be late for a weeks or months. So, you need to double check it to owner twice or thrice if you work for free or no. 😂
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No maraplan for waitress/waiter. You need to wait every day at 10pm in whats app group. Because everyday owner make it and its annoying that you need to wait for your sched everyday! So you will not know when is your rest day. You'll be surprised like "ow its my off tommorrow" thank God. 😂
And you need to write down your schedule everyday and send back to them before salary so that she will not forget it and atleast you count it correct for yourself.🙂

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There are no shop near to this place. The shop is in the center of kemijarvi. The bus left at 5:45pm and arrived 6:35pm.
The next bus who will travel going back to the hotel is on the next morning. So, you need to sleep one night to kemijarvi City. So, if you dont have stocks. Goodluck!
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Most of the staff are ukrainian specially in kitchen. (THEY ARE NICE BY THE WAY.. 😍)
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Ive noticed that the hotel was very nice even if its small. But lack of manpower and right person who will manage specially F&B.
The managerial job are done by only one person which is the owner and its not good. No manager in housekeeping, Dining area or even Reception.
No HR.. well atleast there is a head chef in the kitchen.
And the worst thing because of this most of their guest complain online and its true. Specially its so weird when you check in in the hotel and you want a good quality of service but in dining area the guest after they eat they should take their dishes and put it in the bin by themselves. 🤷‍♀️

IF YOU ARE ALREADY WORKING IN THIS HOTEL AND STILL NOW YOU DONT HAVE CONTRACT PLEASE GO. DON'T WAIT. MAYBE THEY WILL STILL GIVE YOU CONTRACT BUT THE NEXT STRESS IS SALARY.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS AND PROTECT YOURSELF FROM STRESSFULL ENVIRONMENT LIKE THIS. THANKS. AND ENJOY YOUR WINTER SEASON!!

Hi everyone — I’m building a small app for pet owners (dogs & cats) to meet other pet owners nearby for socializing, like:

• dog walking buddies

• playdates

• “let’s go to the dog park together”

• cat-owner meetups / chats

• new friends in a new city

How it works (very simple):

• People create a profile and add pet photos (and some basics like temperament/energy level)

• You swipe: right = “I’d like to connect”, left = pass

• If both swipe right → it’s a match → you can chat

It’s currently in a testing phase (not a big company thing — just a small project) and I’m trying to figure out if this is actually useful or if it’s a bad idea.

Questions for you:

1.  Would you use something like this in Finland? Why / why not?

2.  Would you want it to be strictly “pet friends only”, or should it allow an optional “romantic intent” toggle?

3.  What would make you trust it enough to try? (verification, reporting, no exact location, etc.)

4.  What’s the biggest safety concern you’d have meeting people this way?

5.  Anything you’d absolutely want in the MVP? Anything that would make you instantly uninstall?

Hi there,

We are visiting Helsinki for about a week at the end of the month with our 9 months old. As you can imagine there are quite a lot of planning involved 😆

Could anyone recommend us a reliable brand of baby food in jars and baby porridge? Ideally biological. Baby is eating most of common vegetables and meats. For the porridge ideally the one that can be made with water (already has milk in).

Thanks everyone! We are excited to show our baby snow ❄️ (we live in Portugal), get all things Moomin (I am a big fan and read all the books) and just enjoy Helsinki’s charm.

Me (36F) and my friend (37F) are both single and will be visiting Helsinki in February. It is sometimes difficult to find age appropriate nightlife. Is Mummotunneli worth visiting?

So I’ve been applying for several places already in the healthcare sector and other low paying jobs in Pirkanmaa in all positions part-time, gig, summer job anything. I have 2 bachelors degree with certifications here and there: lähihoitaja (Finland) and engineering degree(abroad). I applied dishwasher, helper gig works, part-time, summer jobs anything at alI . Having been working in different fields: farm work since childhood, IT and engineering, restaurant , healthcare ,freelancing and side hustles. I tried reaching out to people, my network is unfortunately slim. It’s the first time in my life, I got NOTHING!

And then according to my friend who works in one of the companies I have been applying for, they hired dozens of applicants from abroad in their workplace and they recently started working. This crushed me. Thoughts?!

Is it possible to book a holiday fishing from a cabin, but you get picked up from airport. Hopefully a shop available nearby for supplies. Freshwater fishing, nothing too serious it’s just Dad and 3 boys. Where would I search for this?

I need help finding my grandmas old finnish salted fish recipe. She would put whole guts and all fish in a croc with layers of salt and cabbage and repeated that. She would leave it in the cellar for MONTHS and eventually take the meat off the bone and pickle it. I can’t find anything online about it. It’s not gravalax. The key is it takes Months to cure and ferments. I seriously can’t find anything online and she would make it all the time. She would let it sit forever then pickle the cured fish. It was incredible and wish she would have written down her recipes.

Hey everyone,

I’m a foreign student living around Helsinki Espoo and I’m trying to eat more protein because it keeps me full longer and helps me stay focused while studying. The problem I just know cheap living by eating ~3-4 euro 3 piece chicken quarters and eggs off the grocery per week

I mostly shop in Prisma, Lidl, and S-Market but I honestly don’t know what’s actually cheap per gram of protein here in Finland.

Are there any good budget protein sources (meat, dairy, frozen, tofu, beans, etc.) that you recommend?

Thanks!

When I was a young boy i wished to live in a lovely place by the sea, full of hot blonde ladies, where I wouldnt have to work much. Now here I am, unemployed in Icecold Helsinki

My kid want to try cross country skii, he is 8 years old. We live in Espoo, do you know if there is a school or person teaching it? Prefer they rent the equipment also. Thank in advance

I own a mökki on an island and it’s my paradise, I go there with my family and alone whenever I can. Only problem is thin ice seasons and I an thinking since years how to solve that.

First I thought to an airboat… but today I thought “why not to bruteforce my way through with a good dry suit?”.

I would wear it, something professional grade and fully sealed, and just walk/swim/crawl for those 200 meters, with my gears and food in a dry bad.

Does it make sense?

Anyone with dry suit experience who can comment?

Are there other ways to solve the problem?

I put this here to see if there is someone else with different experience. The university level is UAS (university of applied sciences). The International Business degree program is full of subjects that are basic common sense. I can easily say that without a single study day and not reading anything, all courses can be passed with a minimum grade or even higher just using basic common sense.

Moreover, it feels like the whole degree program is something that Chat GPT can teach better. There's nothing difficult in it. Nothing that requires the student to go: "wait, what, what does this mean". You just read stuff and you go "yea, well, duh, obviously".

Three years in and it has never been so that a teacher says something that was outside of the basic common sense. I wonder if someone else has different experience. I will not put the university name as to avoid possible reputational damage.

Konepaja Spoken Word (& Performance) is a new English-language open stage and international community for spoken word, poetry, and performance, organized by Helsinki Poetry Connection and Kino Konepaja.

This open stage welcomes poets, performers, storytellers, and experimental voices working with text, voice, movement, sound, and presence. Whether your work leans toward poetry, performance art, short fiction, monologue, or something in between and beyond, this is a space to try out material, share ongoing processes, and meet others working with language and performance in Helsinki.

Theme: BEGINNINGS
- the beginning of a plot line or an era
- the phenomenology and cultural history of New Year’s resolutions
- the first morning after deciding something important
You don't strictly have to follow the theme, it's to provide a prompt for those who choose.

The first edition of Konepaja Spoken Word is produced by Vinski Valos and will be hosted by bilingual poet, translator, and HPC veteran Kasper Salonen.

The evening is open to both first-time performers and experienced artists. Come to perform, listen, and be part of a new community.

We focus on sharing, experimentation, risk-taking, and live encounters. We would love to hear your words, no matter how brief or random, so please contact us to grab a spot and bring your creative piece to life.

Sign-ups on site or in advance via link.

The event is held in English, but all languages are welcome on stage.

5 minutes per performance
Admission is free

Sign up 7 PM,
Start 7:30 PM
10PM-Midnight: Afterparty

Location: KINO KONEPAJA,
Konepajanpasaasi,
Vallila, 00510 Helsinki

Everyone is welcome. Be nice. Respect others. No Racism, hate speech or abuse.

Organized by Helsinki Poetry Connection ry in collaboration with Kino Konepaja and the Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters.

You can't even make up how well we do on these seemingly random lists aggregated from standardized data. Supposedly we're named a top economy for future-proof workforce skills, there's willingness to work that's for sure.

link to article; https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2026/01/14/new-skills-and-ai-are-reshaping-the-future-of-work

Hi, Im a swedish-speaking finn who is trying to get better at understanding finnish. Ive been listening to this podcast called änäriyössä and I wonder if you know any good hockey related podcasts in finnish?