A couple of years away yet.

jaimee · Post by **jaimee** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 11:53 am

Hello everyone, I am Jaimee and I am from a smallish town in regional New South Wales, Australia.
I intend on travelling to Finland for roughly two months in 2014 to attend the World Dog Show held in Helsinki, I will be 21 years old by that time.

I know a few words and phrases in Finnish (seriously only a few) and I would like to know if not speaking the language fluently when I arrive will be bad? I plan to do some lessons in the language hopefully when I arrive.
I would also like to consider doing some light work whilst over there, perhaps like bar tending or working in a veterinary clinic doing cleaning. I will be 20 months into my Veterinary Nursing course here in Australia - What type of qualifications do you need to work within an animal clinic, or boarding kennel (anything similar)?

This may seem like a very silly question but does Finland have many fast food restaurants? Like McDonalds or KFC? They are very common here with many in my city.

Do you find Finland to be a relatively honest country, are there many muggings or robberies? They are becoming quite common in my town recently with little punks running loose.

If you're not a paedophile feel free to message me and we can chat over facebook if it is easier. You may even be able to teach me some of the language!

**Sponsor:**

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 12:12 pm

If you're 21 in two years time you should be of no interest to paedophiles. For visiting not knowing the language is not that much of problem, for working more so. For most non-Europeans idea "I'll come and maybe find some work to do" would really not be possible, but Australians the "Working holiday" permit will at least legally allow you to do that if you find a job.

You should be able to find quite sufficient number of hamburger restaurants. Most of the other fast food market belongs to the "kebab-pizzerias" simpler chines restaurants. KFC (type) not really.

I'd say Finland is reasonably safe, with darkness and drunken people risks to you increase. Regarding pickpockets (which significant extent target tourists) it is best not to carry all your valuables with you.

(somebody else may continue from here)

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 12:47 pm

jaimee wrote:I know a few words and phrases in Finnish (seriously only a few) and I would like to know if not speaking the language fluently when I arrive will be bad? I plan to do some lessons in the language hopefully when I arrive.

I'd wager that you won't speak Finnish fluently, period.

Few phrases will help to give good impression, but I wouldn't bother to go any further for few month's sake.

jaimee wrote:This may seem like a very silly question but does Finland have many fast food restaurants? Like McDonalds or KFC? They are very common here with many in my city.

http://www.mcdonalds.fi/
http://www.subway.fi/
http://pizzahut.fi/
and couple of Finnish chains
http://www.kotipizza.fi and http://www.hesburger.fi
But as Rip said, the Kebab joints will be the most numerous.

jaimee wrote:Do you find Finland to be a relatively honest country, are there many muggings or robberies? They are becoming quite common in my town recently with little punks running loose.

http://vimeo.com/38085717

jaimee wrote:If you're not a paedophile feel free to message me and we can chat over facebook if it is easier. You may even be able to teach me some of the language!

If you are interested in Finnish, then check the kielikoulu section in this board: viewforum.php?f=9

Rip wrote:I'd say Finland is reasonably safe, with darkness and drunken people risks to you increase. Regarding pickpockets (which significant extent target tourists) it is best not to carry all your valuables with you.

World dog show is 8-10.8.2014, so darkness won't be problem. If op comes early the length of day might be the problem, although NSW seems to have at least 14+ hour days summertime.

Flossy1978 · Post by **Flossy1978** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 2:48 pm

Hello fellow Aussie. From where do you come?

Well, as for KFC, no luck there. But there is a place in Helsinki which has Kentucky Fried Chicken. Just not the chain. And if you are coming here to experience life here, why would you want to eat at those places? Learn to eat the traditional Finnish food

It's not full of flavour, but there's nothing disgusting or gross about it. It's safe and quite nice

This isn't a backwards country LOL. There is everything here you will need.

If you are in bigger cities, speaking English won't be too much of a problem. Only the very old and very young usually don't speak a word of it. Maybe in some little towns it'll be much harder. But not in the city areas.

Compared to Australia, it's pretty safe here. The population is tiny. Only about 5 million people. People can leave their babies in prams outside to nap here (which is comon in both summer and winter), of course in decent areas. There are no horrifically bad areas where taxis and pizza drivers won't go LOL. Don't worry too much about crime. Random crime isn't a huge problem. Most 'person affected' crime is done by those who know the one responsible. I am not 'naive', so no Fin needs to tell me I am. I am just comparing what it's like here to Australia. Of course don't go flashing your money and valuables around. Keep them locked away and you'll be fine.

Welcome to Finland!

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 3:27 pm

Flossy1978 wrote:Random crime isn't a huge problem. Most 'person affected' crime is done by those who know the one responsible. I am not 'naive', so no Fin needs to tell me I am. I am just comparing what it's like here to Australia. Of course don't go flashing your money and valuables around. Keep them locked away and you'll be fine.

Pickpockets tend to be foreign professionals and acts of violence are mostly avoided by steering clear of drunkard Finns.

jaimee · Post by **jaimee** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 12:40 am

Thank you so much to everyone, and I will definitely be eating the traditional foods! but just incase I happen to get lost I would like to be able to find a menu I can read off, haha, then again though, learning the finnish menu wont be so hard.

As I said it's still two years away, I'm just getting very excited haha. Oh I am from Wagga Wagga by the way, where are you from? How long have you lived in Finland?

jaimee · Post by **jaimee** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 10:09 am

Also, regarding money; because clearly that is something to be considered, as a tourist how will I have access to my money, I have a mastercard, I am not sure if that would work the same way as a VISA card? Or do I have to have all of my money in cash? I am concerned I would lose it some how.

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 10:34 am

Does your mastercard come with carrier pigeons or whats the problem? Usually asking your bank helps, as sometimes cards are restricted so they go apebananas if you start using it all of a sudden in weird places.

As for that working holiday scheme, good luck, but if you intend to be here for 2 months I kind of doubt you'd get all the paperwork let alone finding a job done - and who would hire you for a week or two? Though August might be good for berry-picking on farms. The summer vacation season would also be over, so the vet clinics and shelters would be looking for summer help in June-July. The vacation season is more August in southern Europe.

browndude · Post by **browndude** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 10:37 am

Unfortunately Finland has lots Mc Donalds´s "restaurants".

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 10:41 am

jaimee wrote:Also, regarding money; because clearly that is something to be considered, as a tourist how will I have access to my money, I have a mastercard, I am not sure if that would work the same way as a VISA card? Or do I have to have all of my money in cash? I am concerned I would lose it some how.

http://www.otto.fi/in-english/ for cash, but plastic is widely accepted, credit might be limited for slightly larger purchases. At least when I got just some yoghurt the machine at the shop didn't give choice between debit and credit and defaulted to debit.

jaimee · Post by **jaimee** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 1:11 pm

Thank you everyone, I'll check with my bank about what I can use in Finland, and yes you're right it would be silly to get a job and no one would hire me for such a short amount of time, I would have just loved to experience something like that but just being there will be enough!

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 1:46 pm

jaimee wrote:I'll check with my bank about what I can use in Finland

As said, Mastercard or Visa are everywhere, the problems might arise when a young girl from Oz supposedly starts to draw cash in Helsinki. Is that normal? No! So lets close this card to stop the fraud! And then you are stuck in Northern hemisphere with useless piece of plastic.

Flossy1978 · Post by **Flossy1978** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 7:37 pm

This is not a backwards country.

Mastercard, Visa and even Visa electron work here. My parents used them all years ago when they came here.

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