A Spanish Girl in Finland

The 14th of February is a special date in so many countries in the world. Most common name is “St. Valentine’s Day”, and it is a celebration that was born in Rome in the 3 rd Century. Nowadays, it is considered as a day for lovers in countries like Spain, where so many couples meet and give presents each other in that day, like roses or chocolate. In Spain it is not a tradition, but so many people do it because it is a beautiful day. However, here I discovered that this day is not celebrated in the same way in all the countries. For example, in countries where the main religion is Islam, there is not allowed to celebrate this day. One girl of Somalia explained me that for them, love has to be showed every day, and they can’t celebrate this day, birthdays, Father’s Day or Mother’s Day, their religion doesn’t let them and she says that is normal. On the other hand, they celebrate the day when the prophet was born. It is so curious! Then, I spoke with a girl from Morocco and sh...

When you arrive in Finland you think that everything is perfect and beautiful. We idealize so much the new places we go. And it is truth, it is an amazing place to stay, but there are some things that are so different if you compare it with Spain. Some of them are better, but others I think that I prefer the way we do it in my country. Read these curiosities if you will stay here! Maybe can help you. -Free water : one of the things that was more surprising for me was that in bar, cafés and restaurants, there is free water! You can spend your time in this place and drink water for free when you want, I think it is amazing! - Bus stop : about buses I want to say two things, but be careful with both! If you are waiting for a bus, be concentrate because you must do a signal to the bus driver! If you don’t do it, he won’t stop. And another annoying thing for me is that Finnish people don’t respect bus queue! In Spain, when you wait for a bus in a bus stop and it arrives, everybody...

Winter in Finland is usually so cold and with so much snow, but this year it isn’t in that way! Since I’m here it only snowed twice, but it makes it more especial. When the weather is cold, everything is more beautiful. The landscape turns white, and a magic atmosphere surrounds it. One of the most exciting things I lived in Finland is see these magic landscapes, with snowed trees and frozen lakes. For me, one of the best places in winter is Hirvensalo, an island near Turku. There is a lake in the middle of the forest, and when it is frozen…. you feel free, quite, without stress or any worry. And if you are brave, you can try to walk on the ice! Nature is an awsome paradise that we don’t use to enjoy, but here you have the oportuniity to do it everyday.  

Is the language a barrier to learn or to work in a foreign country? Yes, it is, but it doesn’t mean that it would be a problem. Communication between people with a different language is only difficult if you don’t try to learn and to understand. Since I came here, I hear everyday so many languages that I don’t understand, but it isn’t a matter! It is truth that at the beginning, everything is a mess, because it is weird to listen a language and not understand it, and with Finnish, it happens everyday! Finnish is a very difficult but very logical language, it is so different if you compare it with languages like English or French. But foreign people in Finland have an advantage so big: everybody knows English, included elderly and children! So, it is so easy speak with Finnish people. But English is not always a solution to resolve the language barrier. In Daisy Ladies I work with women from different countries, like Iran, Irak and Somalia, and a few of them don’t speak Englis...

Before came Erasmus, my home University gave me the oportunity to do practice here, and now I’m so lucky to share my days with Daisy Ladies.  When I was younger, I always dreamt with help people of another countrys, and specially to discover cultures, situations, and help anothers with my enthusiasm, my happiness and my life experiences. Now, I can say that I’m getting my dream: I’m doing practice placement in a refugees centre called "Daisy Ladies". Everyday, I get up and I spend my day with women from different parts of the world, women with different situations and stories, that learn together as a family. Daisy Laides was born with the goal of being a meeting place for immigrant women, a place for speak in your own language and about your sotries in a foreign country. Now, it is a place where people teach these women how to live in Finland, administrative and law information, how to find a job, and help them to improve their skills doing differnt activitie...

As I said some entries before, my main objective was to meet people from different countries to learn from them, and to get it, I came alone. Before start Erasmus you always think at least once what could happen if you don’t meet people. It is imposible! Here everybody meet people! This kind of programs are for this, so everybody has a very opened mind and like making new friends everyday.  So, if someone is reading this blog and want to come to Finland for Erasmus, don’t wonder! I think it is one of the best destinations you can choose. Finnish people is so kind, I met a few of them and they are very friendly. The first night I didn’t have where to sleep, and I slept in a finnish girl’s house, she was so kind! They always want to help people and if you speak with them respecting their personal space, they will be comfortable. But here I haven’t met people only from Finland, I met people from so many contries! I’m living in Student Village, and here there are so many ...

The last theory I want to share with you is the Theory about Cultural Behavior of Edward Hall.  Hall distinguished the different cultures following four features:       Context : it is characterized by the way in wich information is transmited. There are cultures of low context, where the majority of information is explicitly communicated in the verbal message; whereas, cultures of high context give so much importance to another features around the message, such as voice tone, body language, facial expressions and eye contact. So, in this case the message is more implicit and informal than in the first one, and   it assumes a prior relationship between the members.        Time : we can divide cultures in Monochronous Cultures, where people only do one thing after other, they make plans before actue, and work time is clearly separable from personal time. However, Polychronous Cultures are so different: people do things simultaneos...

Hofstede had to manage a global team with people from different countries and cultures. So, he knew that the language and the culture could be a problem to have a good communication between the members of the team, and he wanted to discover the differences between countries to understand the different behavior of people from each country and to do his work effective. He observed the way of working of employers from a specific company in more that 50 countries, and he distinguished 6 dimensions that englobe different culture traits:         Power Distance Index : this refers to the degree of inequiality that exists between people with and without power. .        Individualism vs Collectivism : it considers the degree to which societies consider the goals like personal goals or team goals. .        Uncertainty Avoidance Index : it describes how people react when is in anxiety situations. People with high score...

Fit in with a new culture is not easy, and we usually don't know why we do something in a wrong way or why people don't understand our way of thinking or working. For that reason, to understand it and to improve our skills in a new country, I'm gonna analyze Spanish and Finnish cultures using three theories about cultural awaraness. Now maybe everything is easier! THE LEWIS MODEL The model of Lewis is nowadays one of the most useful, especially to clasificate people in different tasks, jobs and localitations depend of their traits profile. This model says that there are three dimensions that englobe different attitude profiles, and each one shows the mean culture behaviour in different countries and world areas. So, this model divides culture behaviour in three areas: - Linear-Active : people with this behavior are task-oriented, highly-organized planners, complete action chains by doing on thing at time and plan everything step by step. They are needed to or...

When you arrive to a new country you are full of energy, you think that everything is beautiful and you believe that all that is different of your country is so interesting and so cool. It happened to me when I arrived to Finland! Everything was so amazing and so different if you compare it with Spain. Houses are like in the films, bigs and with decorated gardens. And they don’t have fences around them! Everything about security is different here: children can go alone to school and poeple don’t have fences or courtines at home. It is so amazing! About money, you can pay everywhere with card, and here there aren't coins of 5 cents! It is interesting. Another curious thing is that in restaurants, water is free! Here, there are a lot of common things you can use and share with another people in public places. For example, in student restaurants you can use the salt or another spices, there are for share with the rest of students! About darkness… is so weird! But it is s...

What is “Culture Shock”? “Culture shock” is the name of some and different feelings that a person may have when moves to a cultural enviroment which is different from one’s own. When someone moves to another country to work, study or visit it, his way or life change for a period   of time, and it can produce him desorentation and feelings that never have felt. This phenomenon has four stages:         Honeymoon: is the most intense period at the beggining of a stay abroad. When we arrive to a new country, we see the new enviroment as an adveture, and we try to take advantage of everything because it is an unic experience.     Negotation: suddenly, the differences between cultures start to make us sad and angry. We start to feel impatience and anger because there are some culture situatioins that are uncimfortable. It is more common when the language is so different.     Adjustment: few time later, you start to feel more familiar an...

I think Erasmus is one of the best opportunities to grow up and to leave our “comfort zone”. When we are young, our life is always the same routine, you don’t have to think about anything because things only happen, you only have to live your day and it is always the same. But there is a point in your life when you have to change your mind, to plan your future and leave your young routine. And Erasmus helped me to do it. The first day of the year (01/01/2020) I took a plane in Madrid to live my new life during 5 months, promising myself to open my mind and grow up. My main goal in that moment was to live my own life and especially, to learn as much I can from another people. I think it is the best way to grow up, and the most beautiful thing we can do: to learn from people are around you, from the nature, from new cultures, from everything you see and you listen. This is Erasmus, and for me this is the best attitude to live and enjoy this opportunity. This is once-in-a-lifetime...

Hi everyone! I'm Silvia Ros, a Spanish Girl in Finland since 01/01/2020. To welcome you to my finnish life during the next 4 months, I'm gonna introduce myself briefly: I live in Gijón, a very beatutiful city in the north of Spain, since I'm 6 years old. Now, I'm 20 years old and I study Psychology in University of Oviedo and Social Services in TUAS during the next 4 months. Since I was a child, I'm scout in "San Miguel Scouts Group", and I always loved travelling, meeting new people, discovering new things and learning from the people is around me, so come here with Erasmus program was the best opportunity to do it! I came to Finland with the goal of improve my English and my sociable skills, but especially, to grow up by learning from new people. From my point of view, it is the most beautiful thing we can do in this life! So, now you already know me a bit more 😊 Do you want to live this adventure with me? 😉