Planning to study abroad and travel to Finland soon? You are in the right page! Here are the top 8 reasons why you are doing the right thing to pick up this country of the northern Europe as your international home.
1. It’s a natural wanderlust
There’s more forests, water and untouched nature than anywhere else in Europe. There are 40 natural parks in Finland freely accessible and many hiking areas where to escape for a memorable cottage trip. More than that, Finnish land is one of the best place to spot the northern lights. They can appear more than 200 nights a year. That’s pretty much every winter night!
2. It’s a paradise for sport lovers
Finland offers different sport activities both in summer and in winter like skiing, jogging, fishing and of course the famous Nordic skating on natural ice. Imagine yourself walking or skating on a completely frozen lake… Definitely a highlight of my Erasmus experience!
3. There’s no a better place than Finland to have a real sauna experience.
This is a category where Finns are truly unquestioned champions. After all, it’s the country where the sauna was invented. You might find sauna where Finns go in the nude as well as many others where everybody wears a swimsuit or a towel. The nice thing about sauna is that there are no specific rules to follow, the priority is simply relaxing at least until the moment of bathing into the frozen lake that is obviously fundamental to conclude the process! Here, below my friend and I super thrilled of running into the artic ocean after a session of wonderful sauna in Sweden:)
4. Safest country in the world with the highest social support and the lowest corruption.
Just to make you an example, I lost my mobile phone inside pubs at least a couple of times and two out of two I’ve got it back. And apparently mine was not a lucky case. According to a Reader’s Digest global test on honesty 11 out of 12 wallets deliberately left abandoned around Helsinki were returned. (source:https://www.visitfinland.com/article/greatest-things-about-finland)
6. High quality educational system
An Erasmus experience in Finland will give you the opportunity to come in contact with one of the most ranked educational system in Europe or even worldwide (according to the Independent magazine there are 7 reasons why Finland’s education puts the US model to shame).
7. Best student facilities at the Uni
Finnish Universities are very well organized and offer several great facilities accessible to students such as the gym provided of sauna too, the canteen which is super cheap (2,70 euros for a full meal), skaters rental for free and great learning environments like the wide and modern library open until midnight.
8. Finland is not that expensive as you think
As a student you can get several discounts on everything that will permit you to survive during your stay on a rather low budget. Alcohol and cigarettes are the only two items that are definitely overpriced compared to the rest of Europe, excluded London and Norway. Moreover in some cities like in Tampere there’s a bunch of second hand stores where you can buy different accessories and clothes for close to nothing.
5. You will enjoy a great nightlife.
Although there are some usual misconception about Spain as the only country where you will have fun during your Erasmus, I can assure you that in Finland you can easily party every day. Depending on the city there are specific days for student parties in clubs. In Tampere they were mainly on Tuesday and on Thursday, but to be fair, I don’t remember to have spent one Friday or Saturday at home. Moreover if clubs are closed, you can still rely on residence parties that, among other things, are definitely the best ones.
I also had the luck to celebrate my birthday during my Erasmus stay, and here below I wanna share with you a small piece of the video recorded that crazy night which will certainly show you that partying hard will be not missing in Tampere!!
WARNING: THE SECOND PART OF THE VIDEO HAD TO BE CUT IN ORDER TO RETAIN THE DIGNITY OF THE GUESTS……
A special thank to Lorenzo, author of the video and to whom I own my aplogy for having ruined his magnificient work by cutting it.
In return I suggest to those who are curious to see more about how student life in the Finnish land is and how accomodations look like to check out his You tube channel. He made awesome video of the city and its natural landscapes 🙂
