interesting topic...
i was in a long distance relationship for the past 3 years until i moved to Finland 8 months ago. it was hard being far away from each other, financially and mentally, but we were able to pull through. now i'm living here in Helsinki close to him which is good regarding our relationship but....
i was just at the pub with a friend of mine whom i met through Finnish language courses and we spent a good 2½ hours complaining about things. we're both in the same situation - we moved here for our other half. i must admit that i've been really depressed lately. partly cause i can't 1. get a job 2. find any "real" friends 3. feel at home here. i miss london which i believe is my true home...partly cause i technically "grew up" there. but, london isn't the place to be if you want to settle down and have kids later on...the environment is too hectic. that's one deciding factor to why it was best for me to move to Finland rather than him moving to London.
regarding the job front, i can't get one cause of the visa i'm under. it's supposidly under a special clause due to the fact that i'm getting married next year. it's only a temp visa for 1 year which started in April, so that means i have to renew my visa again soon. the only way i can get a job is if a company hires me and sponsores me over. i've found it difficult for anyone to hire me despite how many CVs i've sent out due to my skill set - there are already a lot of people who could do what i do

so, i was thinking of going back to studying again despite already achieving a BS degree in the UK - just so i can expand my skill set, hopefully get some headhunters to take a look at my work and to also occupy myself.
i've found it really hard to find friends here despite being introduced to some Finnish people through a friend of mine in London. maybe it's my luck but most of the people that i encounter seem cool at first then they start to use you for something and it doesn't seem like a friendship anymore it just feels like a parasite/host type of relationship. i do have a couple of friends which i've met through the language course (like the one i went to the pub with) but again, they're in the same exact situation as i am so it's sort of like misery enjoys company kind of thing.
though Finland is a beautiful and clean country and it does seem a lot better than how my living conditions were in the UK, it's still a really boring place in my honest opinion. i look around when i walk the streets and everyone looks miserable. also, i still think this country is VERY xenophobic. though i was born in America, my cultural background is Filipino. i've already had 3 racist confrontations since i've been here and it's really got me down. just last week someone called me a "@#$%^&" and i thought ok this person's really sad...they just called me a derrogatory term that doesn't even match my skin colour...if they were going to make fun of my skin colour at least get it RIGHT and call me a chink or something
i must admit i was really really happy to find this website to see more people who can relate to my situation. whoa! long post maybe i should stop typing
