And if you are in Finland...

After the arrival in Suomi/Finland!

1. As chocolate and sweets are in excess, am I pregnant? No, the cold produces a demand for calories, our body needs to work more to maintain its temperature and it shouts at us: 'wood for the fire, please! '

2. Registering yourself with the police? If you go to Finland to spend more than 5 months there, the authorities, and the university as well probably, invite you to register yourself with the police for security reasons and control of the foreign citizens in the country. You have to pay 50 euros for said procedure. If you are going to the embassy of your country you will be able to register yourself too - for purposes of telling them your address in the country, residency information and contact information in case of an emergency- you do not have to pay for the last thing here. The Spanish officials in the foreign embassy don't eat more All Bran for breakfast than those in our country (just in case you wanna know).

3. How to use your mobile phone? : DNA card. You can buy it in any R-kioski and it is a lot cheaper than any mobile phone network in Spain. For around €20 you can call and send quite a lot of messages. All students use this prepaid card that tops up when you run out of data (again in R-kioski). They have special tariffs for DNA users who call or write messages to other DNA users, this means it is very economical. If you are an addict to your data tariff, you can connect to the WiFi networks they have in a load of places (cafes, libraries, university, Rautantientori train station and you can connect to all of the new trams too). Recommendation: remember to use an unlocked phone for your prepaid Finnish sim card.

4. How to get around the city? : although the city is very small (approximately as big as our city: A Coruña) they have lots of modes of public transport. Don't be annoyed if you use the train or bus, it's not Madrid, it won't take long. You will use this page daily: http://www.reittiopas.fi/ . It offers you options of transport between different modes of transport, it indicates which stops you have to get off or on at, as well as the estimated time of your journey. The public transport in Finland is very good and nearly always on time (when it gets nearer to the good weather, they often take advantage of the chance to do works on the train tracks but there is always alternatives, like the metro and tram as well as the bus for medium distances).

5. Uni cafe: You can eat here (to relieve hunger) for 3 euros if you have your university ID with you. A small plate of salad and a second plate of hot food (rice with something, pasta with something and if you pay one euro more you can have something more nutritious like chicken, fish... )

6. Reflectors: The majority of the Finns use there reflectors on their jackets, bags and or backpacks, and nearly always on their pets (when they don't disguise them as Christmas trees with flashing lights for dogs, it is real). Due to the limited light during the day and for improved visibility it means that this is useful for the cars to see you as they circulate on a carpet of snow that does not distinguish between sidewalk and roadway. I recommend that you use them, the rumor has it that if you don't wear them... they fine you? This has not happened to us but I will leave the information there for you. Recommendation: Get one like the green of the photo free when you go to HSL transportation offices.

When you make your transport payment you can ask for them if they don't have them on the counter in a small basket for you to take. If you want to pay for them, they have them in lots of shapes and colors in lots of shops and R-kisokis (where you can also top up your mobile). According to Wikipedia, the safety reflectors are a invention of a Finnish farmer called Mr. Arvi Lehti, resulting from an eagerness to protect his horse cart from other users of the road.

7. Elevated prices in: any drink with alcohol. Although the Spanish don't consider table wine, cooking wine (tetra brik) or a beer, actually 'alcoholic drinks' per se, In Finland even the low grade flavored ciders are. About this you have to know that:

• Alcohol (wines, rum, whisky... ) they sell them in some special shops that the Finnish government owns called ALKO. If you want to buy wine for a romantic dinner or you want to cook with brik wine, you are not going to find it in the supermarkets, you have to buy it in ALKO. You can take the drink that you need in any grocery store and once at the checkout and in a very civilized fashion, they will ask you for your ID to confirm that you are older than 23 years and they place your purchase in a bag. Afterwards they say: kiitos (thank you) and you respond: Ole hyvä (pronounced for English olehueva). And if languages is not your thing, don't worry, as when you get to the checkouts of supermarkets they speak good English (as do bus drivers, taxi drivers and nearly every person in the street).
• The beer: you can buy it in the supermarket during the week before 9 pm and on weekends before 6 pm. It is bad and it is expensive. If you are a lover of beer, body and texture varieties, you are not going to find anything for your taste in Finland. If you want to buy something cheaper, lots of Finnish people like foreigners 'do' tourism in Tallinn, where all these questions of buy are cheaper. You do not miss seeing indigenous people leaving boats with crates and crates of drinks, they prepare them there for the winter. If you don't go to Tallinn, you can buy the beer 'Olvi' in the supermarkets with a good quality to price ratio. If you are very poor and you have a bullet proof stomach you can go with the Koff... Also you can visit the district of artists in Kalio (acceptable beer size is a pint for 2. 50, which is very very cheap in Finland).
• Ciders (siiderit): They are quite typical in Finland. They have them in all flavors like raspberry, watermelon, melon, apple,... you can buy them in the supermarkets in the same way as the beers.
• Sweets (pastries, ice creams,... ): They are something more expensive due to the taxes added by the government. Interesting: you can buy the 'Fazer' chocolate in nearly every corner of the country and interestingly, it doesn't have this added tax. Make use of this affordable chocolate when the cold weakens your strength.

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