Moving To A New City In Finland; Why Finland? Life Between Two Finnish Cities Rovaniemi And Pori. The Good And The Challenging.

Why Did I Choose Finland?

Growing up in Nigeria as a little girl, I was in love with some of the things that I see on the Television about the western world. My favorite was Winter. I loved the snow even though I have never seen snow with my very own eyes or even experienced winter. I only see snow in Movies and in Books. I would dream of the snow and how I would feel when I see it with my own eyes.

As a young woman working and living in Lagos, I had dreams of studying abroad for a Masters degree because of the way most employers value and prefer job applicants with a good foreign degree. Honestly I still don’t get why they do that. But it is what it is. I knew I wanted to study overseas and I knew I wanted to go to a country with heavy winter atmosphere and lots of snow.

So long story short, I looked at several countries that fall into this category. For example, Iceland, Netherlands, Canada and Finland were top on the list. Finland stood out to me when I read that Santa is originally from Rovaniemi, the cold and snow filled wonderland in Lapland. And they have a perfect Masters degree program for me. So I packed, rented out my apartment, got 2 months leave from work, and flew off to Rovaniemi. Yes I didn’t resign because my plan was that if I didn’t like the place, I would come back to Nigeria and try to look into another Masters program in another country.

 Arriving in Finland. First impression of Rovaniemi

My first day in Finland was a bit unexpected and disappointing, not because the place was bad, but because of my experiences with the airline I used that day. I talked about all that in this post that was Published in Lapin Kansa where I shared about my first day in Finland. Here is the post: My Genuine thoughts on Immigrants Integration in Finland: English version of my Published Article in Lapin Kansa. But after a couple of days I was calm enough to take a look around the city and I fell in love with the place.  Since then I have come to regard Rovaniemi as my home in Finland. And I never ever wanted to move out of that city.

Moving To Pori.

But then we had to move due to circumstances beyond our control. My husband had a study place in Pori, about 10 hours away by train going, and another 10 hours  coming back. For a while he was making round trips to and from every 2 weeks and it was just too much after a while. So we moved to Pori. It took a while to adjust to the new city. Now living in Pori for about 2 years, I noticed how remarkably distinct both cities are from each other especially in terms of nature, feel, weather, language, and the people.

Life between two Finnish cities Rovaniemi and Pori

I decided to look more into this and it was quite interesting to find out that every city in Finland has its own unique characteristics. Some of them are so subtle that you may not even notice if you aren’t looking, while others are so glaring. As a Foreigner who is planning to move to Finland or who is new in Finland, it is advisable to take note of the different cities and their peculiarities before you finally decide on which city you would like to settle in.

For example, here are a few examples of some differences between Rovaniemi and Pori. All opinions are mine, based on personal experiences. This is not a post to compare which City is better, but merely to share my experiences of living in these cities.

First the basic thing to know is that Pori is more populated. Rovaniemi has about 63,000 people while Pori has about 83,000 people. This info you can easily find on Wikipedia, so no need to dwell on it here. Okay, moving on to the less obvious differences.

Rovaniemi is a lot colder and if you love snow then maybe you should consider Rovaniemi. Pori is warmer, more populated but very windy, so if you don’t like chilly wind then maybe you should consider a less windy city, or better still just get a good wind proof Jacket. For this reason, the snow doesn’t last as long in Pori as it does in Rovaniemi. So it is very common for the weather in Pori to be rainy and snow free, while Rovaniemi is almost buried in snow.

There is also the differences in dialects spoken. Took me a while to get used to some of the Finnish words that have a different meaning when used in Rovaniemi. For example, I am used to ‘koska’ been used as ‘because’ in Rovaniemi, but in Pori I noticed people say ‘koska’ to mean ‘when’, especially in a question. 

Personally, I feel like people are warmer and more friendly in Pori compared to Rovaniemi. I think maybe it is because Pori is not so cold so people aren’t in a hurry to get to where they are going unlike Rovaniemi where people are hurrying to get to their destination and trying not to freeze in the cold. So don’t be surprised if you smile at someone and they don’t smile back or even notice that you smiled. It is usually nothing personal.

When it comes to customer services or public services I think I have received a better service in Pori than in Rovaniemi. Ofcourse every City have their peculiarities and how they operate, but looking at it from the same perspective I would say that Customer service workers or public officers in Pori are more receptive and patient as I struggle with my Finnish language.

I guess this is because Pori is more Internationalised than Rovaniemi, even though Rovaniemi is a Tourist center. You will also find more English speaking receptionists and Cashiers in Pori than in Rovaniemi.

This brings to my mind the very sad experience I had once at the Nordea Bank in Rovaniemi. Don’t get me wrong, I love Nordea Bank, it is still my bank till date and I have 3 accounts with them. Okay back to my unpleasant encounter.

It was my first month in Finland. I had to pay some money into a Swedish bank account for my passport and I was working on a deadline. I went to the bank to pay and no one there could speak English. The cashiers acted like they couldn’t care less and just moved on to the next customer.

I was left there standing in the middle of the hallway, feeling lost and frustrated. I went into the nearest shopping mall and started asking everyone walking by if they could speak English. Most of them ignored me, only a few responded by shaking their heads. I was close to tears. Then I went back into the banking hall and nearly screamed; ‘Can somebody please help me?!’

Then a lady appeared from one of the inner rooms in the banking hall and called me to a room where she attended to me. She was so nice. She spoke perfect English. All through my stay in Rovaniemi whenever I had business at the bank, she was there to attend to me. Honestly I think she made me feel comfortable with Nordea bank so that is why I have been with the bank ever since. Okay this is not an advert, just sharing my experiences.

I have never had that kind of problem in Pori. All my visits to the bank or public offices has been satisfactory. Most receptionists speak English. However I prefer to speak Finnish since my Finnish is better now than it used to be. Besides, speaking is a good way to practice and learn more Finnish. Honestly I wish I can say the same for the Health care sector.

Most of the customer service personnel who you speak with on the phone do not understand or speak English. Most, not all, in my opinion and based on my experiences so far.

And some of them may even cut you short and tell you outrightly to call their English customer service. Well that is not bad, since they have specific department for English calls. However, you would rather struggle to understand the fast Finnish the current customer service agent is speaking as they explain something about your health to you, than risk calling again and staying on the queue again for long time. 

Yes, it cannot be disputed that listening to and speaking Finnish will help perfect your Finnish language skills, it does not give a sense of security when you are worried about your health and there is a language barrier between you and the health professional explaining about your health to you. That is scary. However it is very common to find or be directed to doctors and nurses who speak fluent English. 

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