Any Danes? How do you cope?

How to? Read other's experiences. Find useful advice on shipping, immigration, residence permits, visas and more.
Post Reply
User avatar
Huy
Posts: 280
Joined: Mon Jul 28, 2008 11:15 am
Location: Next to the old ☭

Re: Any Danes? How do you cope?

Post by Huy » Sun May 03, 2009 4:00 am

Hejsa!

Finnish culture is great! Not hard to adapt at all - most things are similar to what you know back home - but Finns do however have some different habits and etc, but that is not of major concern. In my view, those small differences is what makes Finland charming :)

I came to Finland with my finnish girlfriend on a thursday night last summer - just to say hello to her friends - and saturday I was offered a danish speaking job ( insane luck, I know ) and suddenly I just got stuck here hahaha.

As a nordic citizen, many - many things are alot easier for you. As soon as they - the paperpeople - knows you are a nordic citizen - almost zero paperwork is required IF you talk to the right people. More on this later.
You can go straight to a bank to get an account, KELA to get your tax papers and health insurance, file your place of recidence at the immigration office and that's about it.
No need to go to the police and pay 40 € ( though the people at KELA and Immigration office demanded me to go there first even when I told them about the Nordic Agreement, gave them their own homepage telling about it etc ) but don't do it, it's a waste of good money. I had to call the freaking police on my cellphone and hand those incompetent people my phone- so the police officer could straighten their arrogance out.
Just PM me if you need the number for that police officer ( he is sick and tired of those people - I was not the first and only nordic citizen sent by KELA etc ). And the reason that it has to be him, is because the first 3 police officers did not know about it and kept sending me to someone else who might know. Stressing.
Some of the public service personnel I've met - were extremely helpful and caring - others, just plain ignorants ( the "I'm right you are wrong because I work for the government" type ) even when called out that they are making crucial mistakes. But heck, this is like anywhere in the world haha.
One thing I've learned when dealing with people like this on the phone - and in person - is to ask for their name and title and repeat it to them when they tell you. This has always made them more cautious when telling you rules and making you promises etc. Makes life easier and you don't have to call them again later because they told you A instead of B.
Oh, beware - 90% of KELA and immigration office people either don't want to - or can't - speak english with you. And dont bother trying in swedish. They just stare at you. I had to get my girlfriend to translate and do everything for me afterwards. Maybe I was just unlucky or my english sucks. Banks, shops etc are another story; they represent the true finns, everyone speaks perfect english. No problems there.

The language....ufff....finnish is....difficult.....there is no connection to danish - except for some words that looks somewhat like ours... Just bite and learn. Thank heavens the streetsigns is in finnish AND swedish, but damn the crazy road layout!

Jobwise...it's all about qualifications....they love it. But unless you are insanely lucky like me - you need finnish skills in your CV to land a job in these days methinks.
Lots of jobs around IF you know the language or have some überskills in the IT sector.

The finnish culture is indeed somewhat alike Denmark but yet so different. They like to talk alot when drunk hahaha. And fight. And they are seriously straightforward too. No hints. They say it like it is. But mostly only when they are drunk. Høhø. Some are polite - others are rude. Just like back home.
And yes, the first many months you will walk around totally oblivious to everyone around you because you dont understand crap of what is said.
Just like going for a holiday somewhere exotic with a strange language, but here it's bubbletime 24/7. Every. Single. Day.

When you get here you will notice the little different things. Like all the trees. They are everywhere. The granitewalls. The stands at the Parking lot for your cars engine heater. The electrical switch flips opposite. The little shower head next to the toilet. The need to open 2 windows. The superweird right of way EVERWHERE ( you will hate this ALOT ). The need to wave to the bus to stop it. The green lights that indicates a free parking spot ( genius ). The lack of signalling when cars turn. The lack of letting you in front of them when you need to merge on the roads. The supercheap cars ( around 1/3rd of danish prices if not less). The bonuscards. The LOW tax rate!!!! ( you get more in your pocket even with the lower finnish salaries compared to Denmark ). Traffic mentality is somewhat similar to Nørrebro hahaha. There is many more to list.

And the finnish winter is...BEAUTIFUL. Much, much better than the danish. When it's winter here, it snows. Not that grey sloppy cold rain/slushice-thing like home. Snow. Pure white snow covering the landscape like delicious cream on a cake. Maybe it's just me, but I like my winter with snow and not rain, thank you.

It's almost 4 morning and my brain has already left my skull and went to bed one hour ago, so I better follow it.

But do ask if you need info or advice.

Hygge! ( og godnat )


▬­­­­­­­­­­­­­­~ஜ۩۞۩ஜ~▬­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­
Älä tyri nyt, älä lyö yli nyt, älä antaudu angstin valtaan.

Re: Any Danes? How do you cope?

Sponsor:

Finland Forum Ad-O-Matic
 

User avatar
Pursuivant
Posts: 15089
Joined: Thu Mar 11, 2004 11:51 am
Location: Bath & Wells

Re: Any Danes? How do you cope?

Post by Pursuivant » Sun May 03, 2009 10:31 am

Huy wrote:The supercheap cars ... The LOW tax rate!!!! .
Ah, see now whining foreigners, theres always shadows in the paradise. :lol:
"By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes."

dampa
Posts: 345
Joined: Fri Apr 07, 2006 11:23 pm
Location: Suomi
Contact:

Re: Any Danes? How do you cope?

Post by dampa » Sun May 03, 2009 3:51 pm

Huy seem to explain this so well like a teenage guy meeting is first ever love or a girl finally in the arms of the love of her life :wink:

User avatar
Huy
Posts: 280
Joined: Mon Jul 28, 2008 11:15 am
Location: Next to the old ☭

Re: Any Danes? How do you cope?

Post by Huy » Sun May 03, 2009 4:44 pm

The sky is blue and it's like summer when looking out the windows, birds are singing and the cute little pupu's are running around in the garden...
I have a babyboy on his way and a lovely woman by my side ( she even wakes me up in the weekends with homemade burgers!! ) -how can anyone not be happy and smile to the world? :)
Finland or not - it all brews down to whom we surround ourselves with....good things happens when one's around good people :)
Not one second have I felt regret for coming to the land with a thousand lakes, and it's all because of one person.

And Monthy P. has it spot on: "Finland, the place I want to be" & "look on the bright side of life" Genius. :)
▬­­­­­­­­­­­­­­~ஜ۩۞۩ஜ~▬­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­
Älä tyri nyt, älä lyö yli nyt, älä antaudu angstin valtaan.

User avatar
easily-lost
Posts: 586
Joined: Fri Jun 08, 2007 12:00 pm
Location: Finland

Re: Any Danes? How do you cope?

Post by easily-lost » Sun May 03, 2009 5:29 pm

Where do you think H.C. Andersen was from? :wink:
Se ei pelaa, joka pelkää.

poban_utd
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Jun 06, 2016 1:12 pm

Re: Any Danes? How do you cope?

Post by poban_utd » Mon Jun 06, 2016 1:29 pm

Helloisa, kender du nogen sidder som dba.dk for Finland??

Y77
Posts: 234
Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2012 10:52 am

Re: Any Danes? How do you cope?

Post by Y77 » Thu Jun 30, 2016 11:36 am

Huy wrote:Hejsa!

Finnish culture is great! Not hard to adapt at all - most things are similar to what you know back home - but Finns do however have some different habits and etc, but that is not of major concern. In my view, those small differences is what makes Finland charming :)

I came to Finland with my finnish girlfriend on a thursday night last summer - just to say hello to her friends - and saturday I was offered a danish speaking job ( insane luck, I know ) and suddenly I just got stuck here hahaha.

As a nordic citizen, many - many things are alot easier for you. As soon as they - the paperpeople - knows you are a nordic citizen - almost zero paperwork is required IF you talk to the right people. More on this later.
You can go straight to a bank to get an account, KELA to get your tax papers and health insurance, file your place of recidence at the immigration office and that's about it.
No need to go to the police and pay 40 € ( though the people at KELA and Immigration office demanded me to go there first even when I told them about the Nordic Agreement, gave them their own homepage telling about it etc ) but don't do it, it's a waste of good money. I had to call the freaking police on my cellphone and hand those incompetent people my phone- so the police officer could straighten their arrogance out.
Just PM me if you need the number for that police officer ( he is sick and tired of those people - I was not the first and only nordic citizen sent by KELA etc ). And the reason that it has to be him, is because the first 3 police officers did not know about it and kept sending me to someone else who might know. Stressing.
Some of the public service personnel I've met - were extremely helpful and caring - others, just plain ignorants ( the "I'm right you are wrong because I work for the government" type ) even when called out that they are making crucial mistakes. But heck, this is like anywhere in the world haha.
One thing I've learned when dealing with people like this on the phone - and in person - is to ask for their name and title and repeat it to them when they tell you. This has always made them more cautious when telling you rules and making you promises etc. Makes life easier and you don't have to call them again later because they told you A instead of B.
Oh, beware - 90% of KELA and immigration office people either don't want to - or can't - speak english with you. And dont bother trying in swedish. They just stare at you. I had to get my girlfriend to translate and do everything for me afterwards. Maybe I was just unlucky or my english sucks. Banks, shops etc are another story; they represent the true finns, everyone speaks perfect english. No problems there.

The language....ufff....finnish is....difficult.....there is no connection to danish - except for some words that looks somewhat like ours... Just bite and learn. Thank heavens the streetsigns is in finnish AND swedish, but damn the crazy road layout!

Jobwise...it's all about qualifications....they love it. But unless you are insanely lucky like me - you need finnish skills in your CV to land a job in these days methinks.
Lots of jobs around IF you know the language or have some überskills in the IT sector.

The finnish culture is indeed somewhat alike Denmark but yet so different. They like to talk alot when drunk hahaha. And fight. And they are seriously straightforward too. No hints. They say it like it is. But mostly only when they are drunk. Høhø. Some are polite - others are rude. Just like back home.
And yes, the first many months you will walk around totally oblivious to everyone around you because you dont understand crap of what is said.
Just like going for a holiday somewhere exotic with a strange language, but here it's bubbletime 24/7. Every. Single. Day.

When you get here you will notice the little different things. Like all the trees. They are everywhere. The granitewalls. The stands at the Parking lot for your cars engine heater. The electrical switch flips opposite. The little shower head next to the toilet. The need to open 2 windows. The superweird right of way EVERWHERE ( you will hate this ALOT ). The need to wave to the bus to stop it. The green lights that indicates a free parking spot ( genius ). The lack of signalling when cars turn. The lack of letting you in front of them when you need to merge on the roads. The supercheap cars ( around 1/3rd of danish prices if not less). The bonuscards. The LOW tax rate!!!! ( you get more in your pocket even with the lower finnish salaries compared to Denmark ). Traffic mentality is somewhat similar to Nørrebro hahaha. There is many more to list.

And the finnish winter is...BEAUTIFUL. Much, much better than the danish. When it's winter here, it snows. Not that grey sloppy cold rain/slushice-thing like home. Snow. Pure white snow covering the landscape like delicious cream on a cake. Maybe it's just me, but I like my winter with snow and not rain, thank you.

It's almost 4 morning and my brain has already left my skull and went to bed one hour ago, so I better follow it.

But do ask if you need info or advice.

Hygge! ( og godnat )
I think you have a far too romantic view of that BEAUTIFUL snow covered landscape, in reality most of it is stuffed with frozen dog turds that the owners are too lazy to pick up and that in Spring when the snow melts,resurface and it becomes part of the Finnish landscape like the mosquitos. And what about black ice? When you can brake your neck anytime by walking on it? I'd rather have a gray but clean and safe environment, thanks.

StellaS
Posts: 49
Joined: Wed Apr 04, 2012 1:53 am

Re: Any Danes? How do you cope?

Post by StellaS » Sun Jul 03, 2016 3:03 pm

poban_utd wrote:Helloisa, kender du nogen sidder som dba.dk for Finland??
Tori.fi and huuto.net


Post Reply