Another American moving to Finland next month

[switchblade327]

Hi everyone,

I'm a 30 years old American guy moving to Helsinki next month for my job, not working for Nokia. I just found this site accidentally after searching around for voltage transformers and I've found answers to a whole bunch of my questions, some of which I hadn't even thought to ask! Thanks to the handy search function, I've found out not only about voltage transformers (sorry but against advisement, I'm keeping my big, cheap American TV. I'll get a set top PAL box when I want to watch Eurovision ) but also about importing a classic car and finding a place to live, which were my biggest apprehensions.

Most of my big questions have been answered by other posts here and I have lived in Europe before so aware of some of the culture shock issues in moving out of my element. But I am curious if there is anything I should make sure to bring with me from the US because it's unavailable or prohibitively expensive? Are there any things I can do my last few weeks in the US to make my transition into Finland smoother?

And if anyone wants to grab a beer in Helsinki next month, I'd love to meet other non-work expats from the US, Canada or anywhere else, and hear about your experiences there.

[herz]

But I am curious if there is anything I should make sure to bring with me from the US because it's unavailable or prohibitively expensive?

Well, how many gallons of your cheap-as-dirt gas can you carry?

[Perttunen]

You will find everything you need to survive, but keep in mind that Coke (the drink) has a different taste than in states.
You can ask advice to the average Spanish who spins the Spanish border. Even being a month out, he´s mother will send him olive oil (which you can find anywhere) and Jamon (Spanish ham).
Welcome to Europe, but remember that it this not a nation (not even a country) , so you may find that a German guy is more similar to you than a Finn to a German.
Regards

[Jukka Aho]

sorry but against advisement, I'm keeping my big, cheap American TV. I'll get a set top PAL box when I want to watch Eurovision

You need a set-top box (DVB receiver) that can convert to NTSC on-the-fly, such as one of the Dreambox models. Or you could use a separate PAL-to-NTSC converter.

• • •

When talking about standards conversion, you are generally going to get what you pay for. Standards conversion is not a trivial task and cheap domestic devices will invariably compromise the image quality in one way or the other.

Typically, as a result of conversion, the motion will appear a bit jerky or blurry, as it is hard to convert from one arbitrary frame rate to the other without either dropping or doubling frames/fields or blending them together. Additionally, if you’re going from a standard definition PAL source to a standard definition NTSC signal, you’re also going to lose 20% of the image resolution, because the NTSC video frames just have that much less resolution. (The devices the real pros use for standards conversion may employ tricks such as decomposing the image into separate moving objects and calculating new positions and motion vectors for these objects via motion estimation, but these kind of sophisticated devices can easily cost $1,000 and up.)

• • •

If it is a big American HDTV, better quality could be achieved via a standards-converting upscaler that lets you use a 60 Hz output refresh rate for a 50 Hz input signal. This way – as it will convert the PAL signal directly to HD resolution – you wouldn’t get the resolution loss involved in an ordinary PAL-to-NTSC conversion. Motion will still be as jerky as with the other methods, though.

(Of course, ideally a) the local set-top box, b) the upscaling standards converter and c) the tv set should all have HDMI connectors on them so that the conversion would happen fully in digital domain, end-to-end.)

Note: I’m not really endorsing any of the products mentioned in this post – I just googled them up as examples.

[Rosamunda]

When I or my SO go to the USA we stock up on vitamins and over the counter medicines which are MUCH MUCH cheaper than here. Eg: all the hay fever stuff, paracetemol (Tylenol ?), multi-vitamins for the winter, stuff for colds and flu, ear, nose and throat etc. But we have three kids so seem to get through it at a faster rate than maybe you would.

Then shoes, trainers etc are cheaper than here too.

That's about it. I don't eat Pop Tarts or peanut butter but apparently they are cheaper/better over there too.

[Tiwaz]

When I or my SO go to the USA we stock up on vitamins and over the counter medicines which are MUCH MUCH cheaper than here. Eg: all the hay fever stuff, paracetemol (Tylenol ?), multi-vitamins for the winter, stuff for colds and flu, ear, nose and throat etc. But we have three kids so seem to get through it at a faster rate than maybe you would.

Then shoes, trainers etc are cheaper than here too.

That's about it. I don't eat Pop Tarts or peanut butter but apparently they are cheaper/better over there too.

Bad thing to do. All it takes is one time you end up taken into customs check and meet customs official who takes regulations seriously (hopefully most common type) and you are in world of hurt.

IMPORTING MEDICINE FROM OUTSIDE EUROPEAN TRADE AREA IS FIRMLY ILLEGAL EXCEPT FOR ONE SET FOR PERSONAL USE FOR 3 MONTHS! EVERYTHING OVER THAT IS ILLEGAL.

Penny, this has been gone through before. Do NOT advice people to commit something that can easily be considered a crime. It can ruin their day.

Risk of trying to bring in too much and wrong stuff is too high for anyone to bother.

Here is link for those who can read finnish:
http://www.turunsanomat.fi/kotimaa/?ts= ... :0:0:0:0:0:

Bottom line? It's not minor issue. You are going to court if caught bringing medicine illegally.

Below 20 pills you can be lucky and just lose the stuff and get fine. Over it, you get prosecuted. Over 100 and your ass is going to be sued as smuggler.

In english.
http://www.tulli.fi/en/02_Publications/ ... 5_en.jsp#3

Specially notice this part...

If required the traveller must be able to prove that the medicinal product is intended for his personal medication. The intended use of prescription medicines must be proved by a prescription or medical certificate which must accompany the traveller at arrival in Finland.

[SteveS]

When I or my SO go to the USA we stock up on vitamins and over the counter medicines which are MUCH MUCH cheaper than here.

Over the counter means just that. It does not refer to prescription drugs which would fall under the rules you stated above.

No-one is going to be a smuggler or thrown in jail for bringing back a years supply of multi-vitamins....

I also stock up when in the US, I find the prices here too steep and the rules too restrictive. When I make a trip to the pharmacy for headache tablets I want a big bottle, not a small packet of eight that they allow you here. I have 6 in my family so I don't want to drive there every second day


Why is it they don't trust Finns with painkillers or reasonable quantities of medicines????

[Rosamunda]

All those things have a best before date so it does not make sense to bulk buy.

I do the same when I go to France where I can get some homeopathic treatments over the counter too: like Arnica and various creams for eczema etc.

I agree you need to keep the quantities reasonable. But I don't think I have ever broken the law.

[interleukin]

Why is it they don't trust Finns with painkillers or reasonable quantities of medicines????

Because they want to avoid eg. paracetamol overdoses (which you can get by taking surprisingly few pills) where you die a slow and horrible death due to liver failure? (this is the most common reason for liver failure in at least the US)

I don't see anything wrong with stocking up on these things while you are abroad, but I think the small number of pills you can buy at a time in a Finnish pharmacy is a desperate attempt to get people to realise that these chemicals can easily be dangerous. The alternative would of course be to only sell painkillers by prescription, something that I am sure no one wants.

/interleukin

[Hank W.]

Over the counter means just that.

So if you can buy heroin pills "over the counter" are they legal to bring into the country?

When I make a trip to the pharmacy for headache tablets I want a big bottle, not a small packet of eight that they allow you here.

For some odd reason the definition of "over the counter" in Finland is what the customs officer will be interested in.

[switchblade327]

You will find everything you need to survive, but keep in mind that Coke (the drink) has a different taste than in states.
You can ask advice to the average Spanish who spins the Spanish border. Even being a month out, he´s mother will send him olive oil (which you can find anywhere) and Jamon (Spanish ham).
Welcome to Europe, but remember that it this not a nation (not even a country) , so you may find that a German guy is more similar to you than a Finn to a German.
Regards

Thanks for the info everyone. I wasn't suggesting 'Europe' was one big culture and that I'm familiar with all of it; I only meant that I'm used to being out of my element and that I don't expect everything to function like the US except with charming accents. And I prefer European sugar coke to American corn syrup coke anyway

And thanks for the info on the television converters Jukka. I don't even watch TV here in the US much so it's nothing urgent but it will be helpful when I start learning the language. For the most part, my TV is for US games and movies (and I will be stocking up on these before I come over and I have good sources for imports).

As far as the pharmaceuticals, I don't use any medicines on a regular basis and I have no plans on bringing anything worse then a bottle of multivitamins in. If I have to throw it away at customs, it's not the end of the world.

[Hank W.]

Oh, just on the size of the telly and if you're bringing other furnitures, you are aware what the average sizes of flats are?

[sinikala]

I suppose that the company is paying relocation expenses? In which cast shipping costs = 0...

However, large screen TVs are dirt cheap nowadays, a 42" plasma can be had for well under €800.... perhaps there'd be less messing around in selling your US TV and buying a new one in Finland, at least that is what I would do.

[switchblade327]

Oh, just on the size of the telly and if you're bringing other furnitures, you are aware what the average sizes of flats are?

Yes, I am. I'm not moving from a huge place in the US and I don't have *too* much stuff so i think I'll be fine if I can find something bigger then 35sq meters or so.

I suppose that the company is paying relocation expenses? In which cast shipping costs = 0...

As far as selling and re-buying a TV, I've dealt with the economics of that before and always lost money without gaining much convenience. Yes, my relocation is paid for and a flatscreen TV doesn't make a significant difference in space, weight or cost in a shipping container. I've gone years with watching television so I'm really not bothered by the need for a PAL tv.

Thanks again for the input everyone. I'll try to sneak some gas cans in my suitcase for you

[Jukka Aho]

You will find everything you need to survive, but keep in mind that Coke (the drink) has a different taste than in states.

Might that be because in the US, the regular Coke is not sweetened with real sugar-cane or sugar-beet sugar any more (except as a hard-to-obtain curiosity), while here it still is (...I think)?