Before I went to work in Finland, I thought of Finland as a cheerful reindeer, a crisp whip, a loving Santa Claus, and a snowy paradise of freshness; After going to Finland, I found that life in Finland is not only monotonous, but also boring, and even depressed.
The Republic of Finland, referred to as Finland, is located in Northern Europe, is the closest country to the mainland among the five Nordic countries, the time difference is 6 hours from Beijing, and the direct flight can be reached in about 8 hours. It is very close to Iceland, so the natural landscape is quite similar to it, with polar days and polar nights. However, it is this characteristic that makes me feel unconvinced when I first arrived in Finland, and today I will tell you about Finland in my eyes.
As a developed capitalist country, Finland's per capita GDP is much higher than the EU average. According to recent years, the average monthly salary of Finns is 2,930 euros (about 24,000 yuan), and men earn slightly more than women because they take on more intensive work.
Finland has a total population of 5.52 million, but there are 20 universities in the country, and the share of university resources is the largest in the world. Finns of all ages love to read, so libraries are everywhere in the country.
In such a country that values education, the level of education determines the salary of Finns, and this is more evident when entering the company. The interviewer will talk directly to you about this issue when recruiting, and there is no domestic saying that "ability is higher than education".
Under normal circumstances, the salary of the same position is, from low to high: bachelor's degree (about 3,052 euros, equivalent to 25,000 yuan), master's degree (about 4,030 euros, equivalent to 33,000 yuan), doctoral degree (about 4,880 euros, equivalent to 40,000 yuan).
2. Flexible working system
In addition to the high salary, I also like the flexible working system in Finland. You can choose 7 to 3 in the morning or 8 to 4 in the morning, and people leave work to get off work, and there is no overtime.
Usually, the office is empty after 5 p.m.; And after work, you don't have to worry about bosses, leaders, colleagues looking for you about work, people "off work" means "off work", the phone can not be answered, the email can not be returned, and no one will accuse you. In fact, I have been adapting to this working mode for a long time~
The most user-friendly point, and one that I think Finland has done very well, is that you can bring your baby and cat and dog into the office when you work. Once, as soon as I entered the office, I saw a large white ball swaying on the opposite side, and upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a colleague's pet cat. She couldn't go home that day, and after asking for the consent of her boss and colleagues, she brought the cat to the office. While taking care of your pet, you can get the job done, so that you can be calm and efficient.
3. Daily life
In Finns' eyes, life is more important than work. So there are a lot of holidays here, and the most terrible thing is that up to 30 days of annual leave is paid, and even many companies will issue 1.5 times the paid annual leave. Perhaps one reason why Finns are happy?
On holidays, compared with the bustle of domestic weekend supermarkets, Finland's weekends are usually closed, especially major holidays. When I first arrived in Finland, I didn't bring a lot of daily necessities, so I thought about resting first and then going shopping, but I didn't want to eat a closed-door soup the next Sunday. Fortunately, the colleagues who came with me brought more and gave me some.
4. Housing situation in Finland
House prices can be compared to domestic second-tier and quasi-second-tier cities, usually around 6,000 euros per square meter in urban areas, and about 3,000 euros in non-urban areas. For example, in Helsinki, the house price is about 60,000 per square meter; Suburban houses are cheaper, about 22,000 yuan per square meter.
After getting acquainted with local colleagues, I also know more or less: Finland is very open to renting a house, and more than 30% of people live in rented houses. They generally react that housing prices are expensive, and it is not as dashing as renting a house. Of those renting houses, nearly 40 percent are eligible for government welfare subsidies.
Finland's streets are a beautiful sight where men in suits ride bicycles to work. There is no doubt that Finland is a highly developed capitalist country. But in such a country, the most commonly used means of transportation are not world-class luxury cars, but bicycles, shared bicycles, and even bicycles.
5. Local diet
In addition to eating lamb and beef, Finns also love venison. When family meals or outside meals, venison is a common ingredient for them. In Finn eyes, deer are more hardy than other animals.
For me, eating is a very sad thing, nothing else, because it is so expensive! The eggs are better, similar to those sold domestically; But 1 burger costs me a hundred and ten dollars, which I can't bear; All kinds of meat are also more expensive than domestic, such as pork for about 60 yuan. Vegetables are also not cheap, tomatoes usually cost more than 10 yuan a pound, rice is fine.
When living abroad, the first thing you can't stand is your Chinese stomach. I often cook and eat in the rental house, and the simplest meal also costs a meal, and there are still more than 20 euros, which is converted into more than 200 yuan.
5. Finnish socialization
Finns don't like to communicate with people and, in our words, "a little introverted", you could call them "social phobies" at the global level. Unlike some countries and regions, Finns are not really cold, but a little woody, even shy and shy. Usually, they go home to live a family life immediately after work and don't look for fun outside.
Shy Finns also have their fun, which is sauna. Saunas can be found everywhere in Finland, in addition to the physical need to protect themselves from the cold, for Finns, sauna is more like a social activity for them: love in the sauna, study in the sauna, talk about things in the sauna, in short, they love sauna.
Unexpectedly, the shy Finns have unimaginable entertainment and competition, such as mobile phone wrestling competitions and wife carrying competitions. I once caught up with one of their mobile phone throwing contests, and I was excited to see it. Although Nokia is their domestic mobile phone, they prefer to use our Huawei, and the local Nokia was taken and dropped. It's really inhumane in the trenches~~
6. The best time to come to Finland
In fact, in June ~ August, that is, during the domestic summer vacation, you can still come to Finland. It was summer in Finland.
In summer, the average temperature in Finland is around 23 degrees, and the sun is shining and warm, like our April days on earth. Compared to April in Beijing, Finns already regard this weather as summer, with short skirts and short sleeves worn and outdoor sports one after another.
Unlike in Beijing, the sun shines long here, and the sun doesn't completely set even at 12 o'clock. When I was in China, I was already feeling and surprised to know that Xinjiang would set at about 10 p.m. in summer; Now in Finland, I know that the sun can also "cross the sky". Sometimes, I may not fall asleep, and when I open my eyes in ignorance, the sun hangs in the sky again.
Later, I checked the relevant information and knew that this was the polar day.
Corresponding to the polar day, there must be a polar night, which is also the extremely dark night that makes people feel depressed mentioned at the beginning of my article: the endless dark night seems to never come to an end, even if you turn on the light and look out, it is gray and decadent, and the mood is instantly bad.
In addition to the extremely low outdoor temperature, the darkness here is also chilling to the bone. Of course, the sun will come out during the day, which is about 1 hour. Whenever I looked up at her, I especially missed the golden and bright sun father-in-law in Sanya.
Having said all that, in short, Finland is really a place with "good mountains, good water and good boredom". If you are quiet, lonely and enjoy being alone, Finland can surprise you with a polar day or night.
After experiencing polar day and night, after returning from Finland, I realized a truth:
As long as you endure the loneliness, survive the cold, survive the darkness, when spring comes, you can only open the window and you can harvest a touch of green.