Life in Finland: Pros and cons (Expat's Opinion) 

As a foreigner you don't really "learn Finnish" as much as you sort of just fail miserably at it but do well enough that Finns understand you and you can go about your daily life, of course sounding like you are 2nd grader in school.

A big pro for me is the Heavy Metal scene😏

I’ve never considered ever living anywhere other then the one and only “Merica” But now I’m starting to realize there are better countries out there and I’m thinking about moving to one. Finland would actually be perfect! I’m very used to cold weather. I live in Maine and the weather seems to be pretty similar in Finland. I LOVE cold weather. It’s my favorite. I honestly cannot stand heated weather. I hate summer. Oh and I’ve never been on a plane so I would love traveling to other countries or going to America to visit my family. And I’m sure if I had a great steady job here I would have no problem buying anything. Also I have learned that when your learning a new language it is actually very good for your mind! It makes it stronger. So learning it would be a challenge but it would ultimately expand my mind.

best video so far about pros and cons of Finland! thank you for making this

Thanks for such informative points!

An Irish friend of mine learned what I’d say almost perfect Finnish in a year and a half. Well, he’s a smart guy, but still. He even got service jobs just with English before that. Some people are doers, I guess

Thank you so much for posting this!!

very useful information about Finland.

I'll be visiting Finland again in October. Very excited

Very good, almost the most honest videos about Finland ive seen

Hello from Helsinki. good job Ekaterina!

Thanks - very clear and helps to get a start in understanding what it is like to live in Finland. Great presentation.

I'm watching a series called Bordertown...love it and as hard as I try I can't figure out any way to pick up words and learn any...at all!!! Still love the sound of it..Thanks for the info!!

Thank you Ekaterina for pointing out the pros and cons of living in Finland as an expat. Well, one thing I liked about you that despite the negative of anything, you like to focus on the positive/ bright side of it. Keep on the positive vibes. Regards from India. 💐 🌸 💐

showing an accurate and deep understanding; great perceptive. 💡 Muito obrigado for all the insightful information. 🤝

Great Explain...... Thank You

Definitely informative, 👍

It is hard for the employer to fire you. On the other hand it means he hires less people because of that. Finland is a good country but there are hundreds of thousands of unemployed people.

Excellent work . .

I bet it's a good place for camping

Props for nice video.. :) One little thing.. I'm a Finn, workplaces here are mandated to provide workhealthcare, so a great deal of them have contracts with the private healthcare sector and as such as an employee you can go and get most sorted without any wait. As a whole, antibiotics are not prescribed here if not effective as perhaps as often as some countries, to lessen drug-resistance in bacterias, also common cold is most often from a virus which antibiotics does nothing on.

"It takes blood, tears and pain to learn Finnish" LOL

I don't know what you mean by "hill" but the highest fell in Finland is 1 323,6 meters and it's named Halti. There are 15 fells over 1km in Finland, to be exact.

Nice video, thank you

Well-done, Ekaterina. I really like the useful and insightful advice you provide, and how you try to keep things on the bright side. Keep up the good work.

I have spent 3 months in Helsinki, life was just amazing, a city very close to nature and people trust each other

this is just a dream for me from a tropical island paradise...anyway, just love what you do..cheers

Love your video by the way and you have lovely hair 😂☺💕

Beautiful. 💖

I love finnish muskito's because they love me, they come to me greating me with great enthousiasm.

Respect girl for you!

I thank you for your opinion and your knowledge given. I must find me a Finnish Woman!!! I love the cold, snow, reindeer, snowboarding and healthy lifestyle!

Ektarina Popova, gr8 video. nice view from the window. is the climate there dry-cold or wet-cold?

So interesting, Finland. So expensive in dollars, pffft!. Nevertheless, I would like to move from Los Angeles, California, to Helsinki, Finland, so definitely!. Too much crime and corruption here and absolutely no police protection at all whatsoever!. I would never finish.

Looks like you need to plan carefully exactly when in the year to visit for holiday

Very interesting video e useful ! I'm from Italy and I'd like to move there for the nature, safety, quality of air/water and the cold that I love it so much. But have you had difficult to find a job and a house there ? I advice you to make a video about the nature, parks, lakes and forests. Another to find a job or a house in Finland.

Finnish is surely difficult, but I doubt that it is more difficult than Chinese...

I think mostly the health care is really good, especially in Helsinki and especially if it is something more serious. You may have to wait for hours if you don't have appointment which is annoying, so better take phone charger, book and snacks

I really liked your video, it is well done and interesting. Could you please talk about some of the unique laws they have in Finland? Also perhaps something about their ecology and different things they do. Thank you. 😊

Hello Ekaterina Popova ,my name is farid l'm enginner l just finnished my high studies , l'm new to follow your channel , believe me l love it , l appreciate you so much :)

You are lovely and beautiful lady. its nice to hear from your advice. Cheers!

Ihana venäläistyttö..

Very good informations! Thank you. Do you've Facebook?

wow amazing country i wish i was there in finland

I speak Swedish as a 3rd language so I’m confident about my upcoming trip to Helsinki in October!

And you have the good job security and you have good work- life balance.

Great video Ekaterina.. :) I don't really have a problem with anything you said. I guess you should note there are more finnish speakers than that, also a lot in sweden and norway, and even though 4% of finns are swedish-speaking finns, they also speak finnish.

Hello Ekaterina : Would you tell me please what is that you ment in minute 13:03 that doctors give to you if you are ill ..? It sounds like " Burana " . Thank you. Regards .

I think you are on fire! stocking georgeuos

The other pro is that you are so beautiful!! Thank you for the informations

Could you make a video more about moving to Finland and get a job if is hard or not..?

I’m learning Finnish as a 2nd language and it’s pretty easy (for me at least) I really love the country

It's the safety of Finland that makes want to move there.

Hello, I enjoyed your video. I am a wheelchair user. Can you tell me about how accessible the country is for people with mobility problems? Thank you.

I'm a professinal Warehouse Keeper (Varastonhoitaja) in Finland. My wage would be 10€/hour but i'm unemployed. I once calculated that unemployment and rent benefits combined equals wage of 30€/workday (3.5€/hour on 40 hour workweek). So my wage would be fine if i had a job...

Ekaterina, you leave me in two minds. Would you reccomend going to Finland for a working year trip? South Africa would make a great vid!!!

Exquisite video. Kitos

I don't know but I'm a hungarian speaker and I think that could help me a lot. I mean we almost have all the same gramatical cases and we are both in the Uralic language family, so It's not exactly true, that nothing helps to learn it. You just have to be a Uralic language speaker :D. Sorry I know I have too many advantages :P :D . BTW nice video, it helps me a lot to get to know Finland better. I'm currently 18, and I want to plan out my future, and I have been watching videos about various countries to decide where to live after I *Finnish* my studies.

Im only 13 but i deffintly want to live in finland

well... maybe at 8:35 if u have said turkey was one of the tourism destinations, it would be appreciated. As i know, Kaş is one of the tourism destinations.for the nordic countries.İ don't know they are the low salary ones by the way....But Turkey is a very good option for the vip places for the fin people.

I'm studying European and I start to learn at Finland. 🙂

Stunningly beautiful woman. Your hair is fantastic.

Hi, what is the date of video? because I can't see it , did you mention the prices after covid or before ?

Returned to this video, and hah, hah, the language part: "like seriously, what was the purpose?" Yeah. It sure seems like that today! But back in the Stone Age there were several Finnic dialects/languages spoken in the Northern Europe, North-Western Russia was Finnic speaking from the Baltic Sea to the Ural Mountains. It wasn't isolated language-islands back then, and was widely spoken. The fewer number Finnic speakers were assimilated by the north spreading Slavic speakers, so now Finland and Estonia appear these weird languages countries. And languages tend to evolve more simple and utilitarian: Indoeuropean old languages are more complex too compared to modern languages. Sure, it culturally isolates Finland, especially it isolates foreigners from the Finnish culture. But it's an attractive thing to be different from the main stream, right? Yeah it has some "hard to learn" reputation, but any language can be learnt if you move to where it is daily needed and you connect with the people of that language. Finns just like to scare foreigners with the difficulty 😏.

How much is that hotel room you're staying in?

Excellent video. One of the many things I like about Russians is that you don't complain about the cold :)

nice

Espoo and Tampere which one is best

Which one is best espoo of Tampare

The highest point in Finland is 1 324 meters.

I think it’s not that expensive though,well if you live on California Bay Area then that’s nothing 😑😒life here is so expensive and is getting more and more expensive by the day,I wanna move to Finland😊but when u mentioned the language pain blood and tears troubles I kinda wanted to cry 🥺😭

can you do a comparison video on finland vs sweden?

Even Russia's GDP versus GDP-PPP figures are suggesting than Russian earning 800 euros per month can buy food and things costing likely 2300-2500 euros in Finland. Only exceptions are electronic things because they come from China. Then there's other side of the coin: taxes paid in Finland can give you certain things you have to pay a lot in USA. Germany is surely cheaper place than Finland, except electricity which is expensive there but rather cheap in Finland.

Quality of education the worlds best just sayinggg... Also the happiest country in the world :)

5th not true on bad side finish health care is great know from own side was in hospital few week even just went to see doctor

Salaries are not so high for professional jobs. You will earn much more in the UK or USA for expert jobs. The point is salaries are ok for majority of jobs.

Tourist want to stay there legal that is possible or not please tell me

Prices seem to be reasonable.

Please tell me how to get a job in finland ??

what about the job market for international business students ......

Hi i need more infos i Live in Germany how can i get Work premit of FinLand can u inform me please thx

Their goddamn language is the hardest part

Hey lovely video...I want to know how to get jobs in Finland for someone from India . I know ur based in Russia but anything would be really helpful. Roshan Dsouza

What about the disabled elderly? Are we welcome there?

Hey Ekaterina. I am from India and planning to move to Finland. How much would it cost a person to stay for a month there? Rent, food, minimal transportation included. Eagerly waiting for your reply. 😊😊✌️✌️

Tax ammounts vary very much depending on your situation. For example when I was student and worked at the same time my tax prosent was only 2% only 2%!!! and I got around 15k/year from work. Although I payd 10% because I wanted nice tax refund. I think that normal working adult pays around 30-40%.

You're really lovely.

You are so sweet

I can eat how much i want for 10-13 euros. There are buffets everywhere.

I am an OLD fart, though I still love Your style. Ralf Finland.

What kind of materials to learn finnish?

do i need to learn finnish to get a per time job ?

My experience in Finland goes back to the late 1980's, so I hope things have changed since then. I'm a white American, and was teaching English in the town of Pori. However, my wife, who is Japanese, was harassed on the streets on a daily basis, to the point that she didn't want to go out anymore. After that, I transferred to Helsinki, and the harassment stopped, but my wife still had had a lot of negative experiences--probably because the Finns thought she was a "refugee" from South-East Asia and living on their tax-money. Of course, as a white person you could have no way of knowing about this, unless you have friends who are not white. Sorry for the negativity, but that was just our experience.

Can you please tell me isn't it hard to find odd jobs without finnish language ?

Ok, the weather in Finland may be somewhat cold but then again.................warm houses, great saunas and swimming houses and ok let's say that Finland has it all, and that means that everything is good.........................................believe me I know ! I been out there in the world so I know what I'm talking about. I could be talking about a lot of thing's but then again...........................when you are an old timer from Finland and know how the life has been there for many years it's hard to talk about it to the young people today about it because again................................................they don't know, just like I did not know how it was when Finland was in the war and my dear so beloved dad who is been dead now for many years but he always talked about the war and offcourse I did listen but did not understand really what he was talking about. Ok, learn a little about how it felt when I had to join the army back then in -74..............................Ok, good luck now to everybody out there who lives in our so beautiful Finland and hey, enjoy the life there...............it's not bad, it's good if you understand about what this life is all about. TCB from Finland.

i was watching verstehen sie spass how i came there?

Great video & Well Done ! In Finland everything is not based on working more & more to be the Best ! As You pay more taxes - to work a lot more ! You should take a look at Our past time - what makes us live and stay active ! As We play sports like - almost nobody has ever heard of ? Have You heard of Curling - Floorball or Bandy ? Yes there are sports - called with these names... Past 100 years National Game has been PESAPALLO - called FINNISH BASEBALL ! The game has Boston Red Soxs roots - but Tahko Pihkala - wanted to make the game more active - on his way home to Helsinki from America ! - so He founded - Our beloved PESÄPALLO ! Thanks to RU-vid - all these games has RU-vid Videos - as one American has 3 minute Pesapallo video - that has over 2 million likes - even He has never seen the Game LIVE ! He is like Tahko Pihkala - trying to figure 😂- the rules out loud ! He is Funny... reached 2 million - for what ?

Is it good place for software engineer ?

Majority of those pros and cons you mention are “commonly” discussed among people. There are so many pros and MANY cons that you didn’t touch upon. Muted racism, the hardships that foreigners often face when searching for jobs, the painstaking bureaucracy systems, high rate of mental health issues and alcoholism, difficulties finding friends, the limited number of imported goods. Let’s paint a realistic picture. Finland is in fact one amazing country but there are many issues that nobody really talks about.

is education free for everybody even new citizen?