Realistic cost of living in Tampere for exchange student

[Hank W.]

They can use card with other name in america?

They also sign in the back "look picture ID" and then get upset when I said "the signature doesn't match."

[Hank W.]

Does she need to provide her own passport size photo for that?

Yup, so if shes got a set of those you got for the Finnish passport, she might need them for... student card, international student card, bus pass (don't know if Tampere requires them)... so they're always useful to have.

[onkko]

You don't deposit money in an ATM, thats for taking out money.

OK. That's different than in US where, among things, we can make cash and the odd check deposit via an ATM owned by one's own bank.

And you don't need that much cash, as bills and such you pay with internet banking and they give you a electron card you can these days pay almost everywhere. But if sh gets money wired over or something like westernunionized, then she needs to go queue in the bank with the old ladies to make the drop.

So I understand about the electron card (sounds similar to what we call a check/debit card with a Visa or Mastercard logo. It looks and acts like a credit card but is debiting funds from a linked account.

And she better get an ID card (or exchange her US drivers licence, she can tell something to the DMV back home) when shes here as they ask that these days all the time and carrying your passport is a cumbersome thing to do.

Added ID card to the list of things to do in Finland. Does she need to provide her own passport size photo for that?

Thank you explaining all these little details.

1. In Finland salary/benefits etc are paid directly to account, using cash is rare. So thats why no need to deposit in ATM.
2. Correct
3. ID card info.

[mrshourula]

Does she need to provide her own passport size photo for that?

Yup, so if shes got a set of those you got for the Finnish passport, she might need them for... student card, international student card, bus pass (don't know if Tampere requires them)... so they're always useful to have.

OK, more passport-sized photos added to the list (I think we only have two left).

I think she have most things under control. Still waiting to hear about housing from TOAS (she submitted application and deposit in early May but seems like they won't actually tell her she has housing until July). I feel better when I know she has a place to live!

[onkko]

Does she need to provide her own passport size photo for that?

Yup, so if shes got a set of those you got for the Finnish passport, she might need them for... student card, international student card, bus pass (don't know if Tampere requires them)... so they're always useful to have.

Atleast on normal buss pass there is no photo, she has to be able prove that she is student if she travels with student pass tho.
Checked this and pages says under 20y old student will get young travel pass. She has to be able to prove shes under 20 then.
And to prove age there is only few "official" ways, passport or official identify card. Drivers license etc arent official but widely accepted. To prove shes student she needs "Opiskelijalippua haettaessa mukana tulee olla myös voimassa olevalla lukukausileimalla varustettu opiskelijakortti tai koulun joukkoliikenneyksikön lomakkeella antama todistus opiskelusta ja sen kestosta. Voit myös tulostaa opiskelijatodistuksen" some proof that she is student.

[mrshourula]

1. In Finland salary/benefits etc are paid directly to account, using cash is rare. So thats why no need to deposit in ATM.

This is becoming more common in the US but there are still significant numbers of people living in the US who don't have bank accounts or work for employers who still use payroll checks. Usually these people have to have a friend/family member cash the check for them or, worse, go to a private check cashing place which will take a hefty percentage for their efforts.


But back to moving funds from US to Finnish bank accounts. Is the best way to simply withdraw cash from US account via ATM and then go into the Finnish bank and make a deposit with a teller? Do the banks (I think she will use Nordea as they will be at the international student orientation to help students set up accounts) have ATM on site?

[Hank W.]

Yup, these days mostly on the outside though, as the vestibules got filled with winos. But then you need to remember the withdrawal limits.

[mrshourula]

Atl east on normal buss pass there is no photo, she has to be able prove that she is student if she travels with student pass tho.
Checked this and pages says under 20y old student will get young travel pass. She has to be able to prove shes under 20 then.
And to prove age there is only few "official" ways, passport or official identify card. Drivers license etc arent official but widely accepted. To prove shes student she needs "Opiskelijalippua haettaessa mukana tulee olla myös voimassa olevalla lukukausileimalla varustettu opiskelijakortti tai koulun joukkoliikenneyksikön lomakkeella antama todistus opiskelusta ja sen kestosta. Voit myös tulostaa opiskelijatodistuksen" some proof that she is student.

She will have for ID:

Finnish passport
US ID (not driver's license but government ID issued by state of California)
Tampere student Union ID
and then eventually the official Finnish ID Hank referenced earlier

Thanks for your reply. I really appreciate all the bits and pieces of information.

[onkko]

Do the banks (I think she will use Nordea as they will be at the international student orientation to help students set up accounts) have ATM on site?

Almost all banks are united and use "Otto" ATM machines, 99% of ATMs are Otto. So no problem of finding ATM, its rare to find anything else than Otto
I cant answer other questions sorry

Edit, 73 ATMs in tampere. www.otto.fi

[mrshourula]

Yup, these days mostly on the outside though, as the vestibules got filled with winos. But then you need to remember the withdrawal limits.

Oh, right. I forgot about those limits. My US bank limits cash withdrawals to $300/day and purchases to $1000/day. The cash withdrawal limit is supposedly to protect us when we are carjacked and forced to go to an ATM to withdraw money for the criminal holding a gun to our back

[onkko]

Life would be so much easier if US would belong in bank system like we have in EU, i can transfer money from my account to account in Germany (or any EU country) in 2 to 3 days with no fee

[Cogitator]

Cant you book a direct SFO to HEL using Finnair?
Given it is expensive, you avoid all hassles of anyone getting lost in the airport or the city

I could do that -- right now a rt on Finnair = $2113 USD (most other flights are about $1500 USD)-- but, as DD isn't returning until the following summer, I am essentially buying a one-way ticket at the round-trip price and then will have to buy another ticket later to get her home. So even a difference of $500 USD will help keep travel costs affordable.

I would avoid copenhagen like the plague..

Thank you. I will heed your advice on this.

SAS is good..but Also keep your options for the direct flight, then SFO-Frankfurt-HEL. Sometimes the deals with Lufthansa are pretty good.

Thanks for the tip on Lufthansa.

This may come too late, as you've perhaps already booked the flights... but a few points to consider:

1) Most Trans-Atlantic tickets can be changed against a fee (typically about $100), even the cheap ones. (This is a big difference to intra-European flights that almost always are not changeable at all, a point to be considered for her eventual travelling here.) So, it might still be worth looking at return tickets, book the return on some bogus date next summer, to be adjusted later against a fee.

2) Finnair does not fly SFO-HEL. Their only flights from US are from New York (JFK), and I would very strongly advice against Dom-Int-Dom transfers in the US. European airports are really a LOT less hassle (save, perhaps, the new T5 at Heathrow...). In fact, ARN should be doable in 45 minutes, though perhaps for an inexperienced traveller, it's better to give a bit more time to avoid additional stress factors. And Copenhagen is not THAT bad, actually.

3) She should consider getting an ISIC student card and look at the student priced flights, e.g. at http://www.statravel.com . Student priced flights are not necessarily the very cheapest, but they usually have very favourable purchase conditions compared to normal tickets. For example, they can usually be changed any time against a small fee, and, if you don't find something suitable according to my point (1), student tickets can often be bought as one-way for just a bit more than half round-trip price. Whilst in Finland, the address to book these flights (e.g. for an European weekend trip or her return to the US) is http://www.kilroytravels.fi.

[onkko]

Offtopic but did you know your surname is bit funny, houria is "not working rationally and/or speaking nonsense" like someone with high fewer can "houria". Hourula is place where people hourii Bit old language tho.
Im not best to say because my surname is Varjo (shadow) and thats unusual surname too but i found your surname amusing when i think about it
Sounds like asylum in good way, houriminen is not mentall illness but more like just talking nonsense due fewer or like that

[mrshourula]

Offtopic but did you know your surname is bit funny, houria is "not working rationally and/or speaking nonsense" like someone with high fewer can "houria". Hourula is place where people hourii Bit old language tho.
Im not best to say because my surname is Varjo (shadow) and thats unusual surname too but i found your surname amusing when i think about it
Sounds like asylum in good way, houriminen is not mentall illness but more like just talking nonsense due fewer or like that

Yes, Hank has on occasion addressed me as Madame Looney Bin.

It is a very old Finnish name going back to the 1600s. Here's the little story I posted a couple of years ago:

500 years of the Hoffrén Family

The first members of the the Hoffrén family settled down in Bothnia, the Western coast of Finland, close to the present city of Pietarsaari (Jakobstad) about 1490. A German Hansa-merchant, Jöns Fordell, living in Stockholm, Sweden, came over to Finland and stayed. Brita Fordell, the daughter of Jöns Fordell, married a local farmer called Olav. Their descendants moved north to the Pyhäjoki parish where one of their sons settled down by the Houru-falls in the river Pyhäjoki. That's how the family got its name: Houru/Hourula -> Hourenius (the Latin form) -> Hoffrenius -> Hoffren. There are still people living in Pyhäjoki called Hourula. My husband's branch of the family moved over to Nivala in the early 1700s

[onkko]

Offtopic but did you know your surname is bit funny, houria is "not working rationally and/or speaking nonsense" like someone with high fewer can "houria". Hourula is place where people hourii Bit old language tho.
Im not best to say because my surname is Varjo (shadow) and thats unusual surname too but i found your surname amusing when i think about it
Sounds like asylum in good way, houriminen is not mentall illness but more like just talking nonsense due fewer or like that

Yes, Hank has on occasion addressed me as Madame Looney Bin.

It is a very old Finnish name going back to the 1600s. Here's the little story I posted a couple of years ago:

500 years of the Hoffrén Family

The first members of the the Hoffrén family settled down in Bothnia, the Western coast of Finland, close to the present city of Pietarsaari (Jakobstad) about 1490. A German Hansa-merchant, Jöns Fordell, living in Stockholm, Sweden, came over to Finland and stayed. Brita Fordell, the daughter of Jöns Fordell, married a local farmer called Olav. Their descendants moved north to the Pyhäjoki parish where one of their sons settled down by the Houru-falls in the river Pyhäjoki. That's how the family got its name: Houru/Hourula -> Hourenius (the Latin form) -> Hoffrenius -> Hoffren. There are still people living in Pyhäjoki called Hourula. My husband's branch of the family moved over to Nivala in the early 1700s

Goddammit you know more on your ancestors than me, thats good.
Only thing i know my great grandfather lived in Turku, that was bad enough to stop investigating
Good to hear that youre "sinut" with your surname like im with mine, and as you probably noticed there was no intention to insult