Cons of studying in Finland

When I talk about my experience in Finland I tend to talk only about the Pros of studying there as for me it was a pleasant experience. But as everything in life not all is positive; I am going to talk about what from my point of view are some cons of studying there.

Source

Distance and price of the tickets

Finland is far away, we all know that. It takes at least 5 hours to get there when flying out from Madrid, which is not a big deal. The problem starts when you buy the tickets as not all airports in Finland have direct flights to Madrid so most probably you will have to fly to Helsinki and from there to wherever you’re going. You have to bare in mind as well the prices of these tickets as the price tends to increase with the distance and the time of the year you buy them.

If you manage to buy the flight out to Helsinki with enough anticipation you can find it for around 150 euros. Round trips are normally the best bet but they are only helpful if you know the exact date you will be flying back to Madrid which wasn’t my case and I ended up paying 200 euros just for a flight back.

Source

Cost of life

The main problem of living in Finland seem to be related with the cost of life, to the price of the plane tickets you have to add life expenses as the money you get from the scholarship will most likely not cover them all.

In the post I wrote about living in Turku I explained a bit how much you needed to have to in order to survive. This is around 500 euros (rent, food and basic necessities). On top of this (depending on the person) we add the cost of partying. Alcohol is not cheap. A simple can of beer in a supermarket is above one euro other spirits are a lot more expensive and come with different taxes.

Source

The language

We have to bare in mind that Finland is one of the best English speaking non Anglo-Saxon countries as well as the fact that they have their own tongue: Finnish

This means that you won’t have a complete immersion of the English language as people on the streets use in first place their native tongue as well as in supermarkets, street signs etc.

Did I find this an inconvenient?

Not really as my English is 100 times better than it used to but I consider it is something worth mentioning for newcomers.

Uni courses

Finland's education system is amazing, no one can deny that. My biggest issue was finding courses that I was interested in that were related with my studies (contemporary history) and imparted in English.

Unfortunately, most of the courses are in Finnish and I found that not enough of them where in English leaving me with barely any choices.

I’m not saying that it is like this in all study fields nor that I am unhappy with what I learned, on the contrary I was very pleased with the whole learning system (content of the course, teachers, methods) just a bit bummed with the range of courses imparted in English.

Geographic location

It’s true that anyone going to Finland knows what they are in for: cold weather.

I must say the the cold is not as bad as in the northern part of Finland as you can easily manage it with layers.

The hard part for me was daylight. When the daylight saving kicks in it can be pitch black at 18, meaning that if you have an early class right up until noon you will not see the light of day. This is what they call "Winter depression" and quite frankly I don't think I would be able to deal with that for a long period of time.

Source

Bonus:Finnish beer

As I said before life does not come cheap in Finland nor does the alcohol but sometimes I think it’s not that bad to pay a higher price if the quality is good.

This unfortunately is not the case of Finnish beer. The 0. 33 cl can is rounding the euro even a bit more; which is not good if you are a beer lover. The cheapest one around is the Karhu which I usually bought and it is not good at all nor are the pints you can get in any pub. I don't know why but I just couldn’t get a hang of Finnish beer; if you can afford it I would recommend getting the international well known brands.

---

Photo gallery