Mastering Finland

Matt Bowen gets to meet Hasan Sohail, the man behind the travelwithasan YouTube channel. In his YouTube videos, Hasan shares his experiences of integrating into Finnish life and making the most out of living in Finland. What is Hasan’s strategy for integrating in Finland? Here are some tips: Get out of your room to find your way around Join groups and associations to manifest your presence Practice hobbies and things that make you happy Hasan gives advice on other ways of making Finland your home. He invites all Mastering Finland listeners to join him and follow his journeys on his YouTube channel travelwithhasan, Facebook page, and Instagram.

Matty Davenport lives in the UK, but he is a ‘superfan’ of the Mastering Finland Podcast and pretty much of all things Finland. From an outsider’s perspective Matty explains how he first became aware of Finland as a child and became increasingly fascinated through adolescence into adulthood. Listen and learn more about Matty's passion for winter swimming, what works and doesn't in learning Finnish, and in general how he got so connected with this land.

Matt talks with the project planner of the Spouse Program offered by the municipality of the City of Helsinki, Jochen Faugel. The Spouse Program is part of the Talent Boost initiative and is coordinated by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and the Ministry of Education and Culture. Its purpose is to build an engaging and supportive community for international spouses moving to the capital area and, by extension, help them develop their professional and social lives. Listen to learn more about this great initiative.

This week we are coming back with an episode with one of our team’s members – actually the most recent one – Rafaella. Rafaella joined our team six months ago when she moved to Finland to be with her partner and move ahead with her career. Finland is for her a country to admire, like all the Nordics, considering their progressive mentality. Petra asks Rafaella what kind of preparation she followed before arriving in Finland, what are the paperwork processes she had to go through after her arrival, the experience with TE-office (unemployment office) services, and how has she adjusted to the different social life in Finland. Join us to meet Rafaella and learn what could you do better if decided to move to Finland or reflect on your move.

In this episode, Petra meets Raysa, an old guest from episode 20. Raysa was invited back for another episode due to a LinkedIn post reflecting unfulfilled expectations and frustrations in Finland's international community. We believe that this episode discussion may resonate with many of you who are trying to find a job in Finland or, in general, are trying to find your bearings in this country. We hope you have managed to keep a positive spirit throughout your journey in Finland. However, if you struggle with whatever has come your way, know that you are not alone! We are sending you all a virtual hug and wish you a happy friendship day!

In this episode, Matt welcomes Lucia Hellerhoff, a German flautist living in Finland, Pori, and a member of the Pori Sinfonietta.  Lucia has been already working 5 years for Pori Sinfonietta and shares with Matt that she really likes her job. According to her, the program is rich and varied, for example, the songs they practice and the conductors change every week, something that doesn’t make her feel bored. Although the orchestra’s repertoire consists mainly of classical songs, they do play also jazz and pop pieces. During these 5 years, Lucia has also noticed differences between the work culture in Finland and Germany and points out that the way feedback is given among colleagues in Finland is very different from the one in Germany. Come and join our chat with Lucia about how and why she moved to Finland and landed this job, and the difference between living in Munich/Paris and Finland. Pori Sinfonietta concerts

Whether you are planning to move to Finland or you already live in Finland, one way to achieve mastering life in it, in any case, is to experience the Finnish sauna culture. Finland is famous for its sauna culture and Finns do love it for sure! Some might even say that sauna might be the secret to Finnish happiness. For this reason, we talk about this in our first episode for this year with Joona Virtanen. In one of his videos on YouTube, Joona tries sauna for 30-days in a row. It sounds amazing, right? Tune in to listen about Joona's experience, its impacts, as well as sauna's history. YT: Joona Virtanen (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGN1va5jEaxvZdLE08mY_qg/featured) IG: j0nu

When Jean & Petra meet again to summarise the 2021 and share some info about Finnish Christmas traditions. PS. Full of laughter as usually. Happy holiday to you all!

December 6th is a very important day in Finland and for Finnish people in general. On this day Finland’s Independence Day is celebrated, one of the most awaited holidays in Finland. For this reason, our guest for this episode is Soila Sariola, a Finnish musician, singing teacher, singer, a member of acapella group Rajaton, and mother. And it is our honour to have her as a guest for this episode, as she is the first Finnish celebrity guest on Mastering Finland Podcast! Petra discusses with Soila Finland’s Independence Day celebrations, the so-called "linnan juhlat" (=castle celebrations) in Finnish, how it became an annual tradition and how the hand-shaking with the President of Finland was established. Besides the official celebration, Soila shares with us the way Finns, in general, celebrate this day.  Additionally, Soila as a former guest at the linnan juhlat in 2012 shares the insights from this celebration and talks about the most special moment including the presidential couple.  Finally, Soila starts this episode with one of the most prominent songs of Finnish history, "Finlandia" by Jean Sibelius. Closing the podcast, she sings the song "Kulkuset" aka "Jingle bells", as we are approaching the Christmas festive days! 

The new Mastering Finland Podcast episode is this time all about metal music in Finland and for this reason, the guest of this episode is Dafne Jalomo, a psychologist, music lover, beer enthusiast and adventurer from Mexico, who is now living in Helsinki. It was over 15 years ago, when Dafne had her first contact with Finnish bands, starting with the first one, which is also her favourite, Sonata Arctica. Dafne says that this band was one of the reasons she ended up in this country. The music and the lyrics were uniquely talking to her heart, something that made her wonder what is going on in this country, how come people in Finland are so talented, and so she decided to travel to Finland to discover what this is that makes her feel so excited about this music and country. For her, music is a hobby, “a daily activity” that she cannot live without because it describes herself and her mood. Listen to the whole story of Dafne and enjoy the experts' talk about Finnish metal music right now!