Kuopio in general

From the end of August to December 20th, I spent four months in Erasmus in Kuopio, a small town in the middle of the region lakes in Finland. It would be wrong to define it as "small" for the people of the area because it is the largest town in that area and has 97,552 inhabitants, which does not alter the fact that if you compare it to large European or Italian cities like Turin, Rome or Milan, this is completely different. It is a town surrounded by nature, quiet and with lots of lakes to admire.

                                         Language

the official language is obviously Finnish, but most people speak English (or at least the one you will have to deal with, except maybe the train officers that usually don’t understand English very well). The courses in English are not a lot, most of them are in finnish, but if you want to learn something (eg greetings and numbers) you can attend the course of "survival finnish" at the university.

                                          Climate

Honestly I was frightened about it, I was afraid it was going to be too freezing, but fortunately, or unfortunately if you want, this was a particularly warm year and the minimum temperature that I experienced was -10, so perfectly liveable even with a normal winter jacket. the hat, though, is essential in my opinion.

One thing that you notice a lot and that affects you is the darkness. From November the days start to get drastically shorter and the days will have just a sad sun (really low on the horizon, never high in the sky) that rises at 9 and sets at 14.30. Not to mention the countless cloudy days with a constantly white sky and you will not see a blue sky for weeks. Most of the people, in fact, take vitamin D (easy to find in supermarkets, but you have to start taking it at least a month before)

                                      Environment

For sure if you love nature this is the right place, you will be constantly surrounded by woods in which you can go hiking and by lakes to swim in (if you are brave enough). There are also some places in the woods equipped with wood and benches to light bonfires and do barbeques (main activity in August / September). Naturally a well-loved activity is also the Sauna, as everyone knows, there is one almost everywhere, in every gym, apartment etc. A cool thing to do is the sauna boat (you can go to the harbour and book one, if you are a lot it costs about € 30 I think, or you can go with intoexperience that will organize everything, but is more expensive). It consists in a full day in the middle of a lake on a boat with whirlpool, sauna and barbecue.

A strange sport that they practice is a golf-Frisbee thing, if you see a strange baskets in the woods, they are for that. In winter when the lakes freeze it is amazing because you can cross from one land to the other and skate on it.

Regarding the people, there are all kinds of them, but most of them have always been very polite and helpful with me, and they are always ready to help you if they see you’re in trouble. The crime-rate is also very low (although I have seen two guys steal a pair of shoes from a shop, and also the bikes are stolen often, so be careful) so you can walk quietly on the street, even in the night. Sometimes you can meet some drunky but usually they do not bother you.