Everyday life
Where in Finland?
I ended up in Rovaniemi, a city located in Lappland on the Arctic circle.
It's also known as the city of Santa Claus.
Here, snow usually falls and we can see Northern lights.
Pace of life and feeling
Temperature and Weather
You might think the temperature is impossible to withstand in the north of Finland. I would answer no, it is totally bearable. The third week, temperatures came close to -15 in Rovaniemi. My feeling has been that from -8 it starts to be freezing. We have good coats and pants underwear so it takes long to get cold. And this cold comes by your toes, hands or cheeks depending on how well you are covered.
The weather itself is really different form south of france: I saw clouds and fog almost everyday, which makes it complicated to see northern lights. Snow fell the night I arrived in finland luckily, but some day later it rained because it was too hot (1 to 4°C) so everything melted.
Day-night cycle
Finnish people often say that november is the worst period to come in Finland. It is actually because of the short daytime that makes everything become dark. The sun rises, between 9AM and 10AM and sets between 2PM and 3PM.
It was really disturbing in a first time: your brain thinks that it is 7PM but the clock shows 3PM. Then I got used to it and doing activities at night time became part of the routine.
Meals
Dedicated part down below.
School
Dedicated section.
Other
An interesting fact is that there is almost one sauna per house in Finland. They usually go in their sauna along wile taking their shower. If there are multiple flats together, they can have one common sauna that they share.
Meals and food
I discovered the finnish dining schedule and it was really surprising to me.
They usually take their lunch between 11AM and 12AM.
They are dining around 4PM or 7PM.
And then there are some evening snacks after 9PM if we are still hungry before going to bed. By "snacks" they mean most of the time some toasts (toasted bread, butter, cucumber or pepper, turkey slices, cheese) and a peciality from northern countries called Glögi (hot juice or hot wine).
They also take bread toasts in the morning for breakfast.
In short, we eat more often in Finland than in France but in smaller quantities. Unlike people say, we eat well in Finland even at school, meals are basic but still good.
Host family
My only fear was to end up in a family where I feel bad. Maybe I was lucky because my host family was wonderful ! They were here for me and made me discover a lot of finnish culture, while beeing in a good mood everytime.
My correspondant has one sister and a brother, both really nice and talkative. I had no problem communicating with anybody since they were all speaking english very well.
His dad even offered me to join him to do crossfit (because I do in France).
Monuments/Museums/Places visited/Events
Snowmobil exhibition event
Main library of Rovaniemi
Culture House Korundi
Third year sutdent's party
Arktikum
Hockey Game
Santa's village
English practicing
The only thing to know is that almost all finnish people speak a better english than frenchs. As a result, it has been very convenient for me since I speak english too. I had no problem talking with the family or at school (but I explain that in the other section). Even at shops I can talk and be understood.
The main use of that is of course to improve my english, which was clearly the case. I am more comfortable to speak the language and I learnt a lot of new words and expressions (I still recommend to download google traduction and reverso context to traduce what you need on time, it's really useful to enrich your vocabulary in an exchange)
Elio