Foreigner is looking for a flat to rent

To foreigners Finns appear to be shy but friendly and helpful once you get to know them. How do we - foreigners - appear to Finns? I will give some background information (very simplified so it is no absolute truth) about the immigration to Finland and describe a short story about foreigner's search for a flat to rent.

For a long time Finland was relatively homogeneous country when it comes to immigration numbers. During the industrial boom some number of foreigners was recruited to work in the factories. With the transition of the economy from industry to service dominant the need for low skilled labour has decreased. So foreigners are no longer needed, cause the jobs are scarce anyway and one needs to ensure that Finns are employed in the first place. The last sentence is not my opinion, but I think many Finns would agree with it. That is why I think that if not majority then at least high percentage of Finns have somewhat racist attitudes.

With the background information in mind lets take a look at the following situation. Recently a friend of mine of a Slavic origin has been searching for a flat to rent. He knows some Finnish, so he copes in everyday life, but he is not yet fluent, and maybe there is a bit of accent as well. He has a secure work place and has paid his bills dutifully in the past. When searching for a flat to rent he was one of the candidates for one particular flat. There were three other girls - Finnish students interested in this flat and my friend. The owner has right to choose who will get the flat. My friend didn't get it, even if potentially he is having a secure financial situation and is older (one could assume more mature and responsible). Was is because of his Slavic origin (foreign sounding name) that he didn't get it?

There was another flat my friend wanted to go to take a look at, but he was informed that the show time is fully booked, even if he informed just 1,5 hour after the information has been sent out via e-mail. Possible? Theoretically yes but...

The search is still on. My friend says he wants to believe that those cases have been just a coincidence and that his nationality has nothing to do with it. Lets see what the time brings. I am just wondering is it really equally difficult for a foreigner to get a flat as for a Finn?

Human sense of belonging

I might have mentioned that it might be difficult to get wild social life in Finland. It might be even difficult at times to get any social life at all... Anyway the sense of belonging to the community is sometimes missing for me as a foreigner. I try to ignore it but it comes back every now and then. I will always be somehow maladjusted. Anyway to prove myself at least somehow wrong I thought of going to the theatre. This thought has been hunting me for a while, so when some friends gave the idea of going to the theatre I was keen to give it a go.

We went to see "Borrowed tenor". The play was classic in a way that it built drama and funny situations around a big event when the main character of the event is failing to show up. Surprise number one was that I did actually understand what the actors were saying (good diction). Surprise number two: I did catch quite some jokes. Surprise number three: the sense of belonging suddenly arrived. It turned out that theatre is a place where the human feelings are the same and they are shown in the same manner in many parts of the globe. Suddenly I wasn't a foreigner in Finland, I was a human among people. I have experienced the same feelings while being in the theatre in Poland, Scotland and Finland. And this experience reminded me that wherever I am, I am still a human being, belonging to human race, with all its nasty and a bit better features. The play was good, the sense of belonging came back for a while.

Well being also for students

I might have mentioned before that Finland is a country where a lot of attention is paid to well-being. People are encouraged to make sports, employing organisations have special programmes to make sure that people are feeling good at work etc.

Well-being policies are not only targeted to population that finished education. Also students are well taken care of. As soon as student leaves home he receives housing support. He can work but only up to certain level of earnings, otherwise he needs to return support money. This is maybe a bit discouraging for students to work. On the other hand though this rule was introduced to encourage students to focus on studying - some work is allowed but not too much. Students should be studying, not working crazy hours.

There is one more good example of how students are taken care of. As a student I live in a students accommodation. Recently there were some works done to install devices to monitor temperature and air composition in students' apartments. This work was made to improve living conditions for us - students. Now we have no excuses left not to get to books. Now we are all being well.