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Lapland Wonderland: Exploring Levi & Ylläs

by Audrey
written by Audrey

Even though 2020 felt like we all hit the pause button on life, it allowed me to slow down, reflect, and find beauty in my new-ish home, Finland. Although, I’m not so sure I can call it new anymore since it will be almost 2 years since I’ve moved here.

While it was really difficult not being able to travel back to LA this year (or anywhere else for that matter), it did allow me to explore Finland much more. And so far my favorite part of Finland to explore is Lapland. With over 100,000 km2 (38,000 sq mi) of area to cover, I’ve still barely scratched the surface, even after visiting there three times now.

I think when most people think about traveling to Finland, they picture glass igloos, fluffy snow, and reindeer. Well, what they’re picturing is Lapland! That or people confuse Finland with Norway or Sweden, like in the latest GM Superbowl commercial with Will Ferrell 😆

I first went to Lapland 2 years ago, before I actually moved to Helsinki. For my first trip, I adventured to the iconic region of Rovaniemi. Since I already wrote about visiting Santa in Rovaniemi, I won’t write about that area in this post, but in case you are interested in visiting Rovaniemi, check out my previous post for some tips. For this post, I’m sharing my experiences and tips visiting the Levi and Ylläs areas.

A little geography lesson on Lapland

In case you’re not familiar with Lapland, it is the largest and northernmost region of Finland and its’ borders touch Norway, Sweden, and Russia. From Helsinki, it’s about a 9-hour train ride. The Arctic Circle crosses Lapland, which means if you go during the right times, you can catch polar phenomena such as the Midnight Sun and Polar Night. Whenever my friends send me a breathtaking Instagram photo or video of Finland, it’s usually from Lapland.

Because of its location, Lapland is sometimes considered as the interface between Russian and Nordic cultures. The indigenous people of Lapland are called the Sami, and they have inhabited the region for several thousand years.

Lapland Map | Lapland Holidays | Iglu Ski
Source: Iglu Ski

Levi, Lapland

I think everyone has missed traveling, but I’ve especially missed my girls’ trips with my besties back in LA. In fact, some of them had tickets to visit me in Helsinki this year, but COVID put a halt to that. So, for my 2nd trip to Lapland, I decided to rally a couple of the wonderful girlfriends I’ve made in Finland, and plan a girls’ trip to Levi.

We chose the Levi area for several reasons, but mainly:

  • Nearby airport that we could fly into
  • Well-known ski resort area
  • Close proximity to Ylläs National Park for hiking

We went to Levi in late September, which is not a really popular time to go because it was right after the leaves were turning, and too late for summer activities, but too early for skiing and other winter activities that Levi is known for. But, it was a good time to go during Covid times since it was practically empty everywhere, and also the rental prices were way cheaper than normal. We rented a 3 bedroom chalet, and only paid about €40 each for all 3 nights!

So what do you do in Levi during this time of year?

  • Downtown Levi – The downtown area is pretty small. There’s about a block of businesses, but you can get your karaoke, reindeer tacos, and bowling on.
  • Hike – The nearest trail to the downtown area is the Jääkausipolku “Ice Age Trail.” There are several other trails further out, but we didn’t have a car so we stuck to what was walkable.
  • Levi Ski Resort – Unfortunately because we were there during that in between time, the ski resort was closed so there was no skiing to be had, or my favorite part, the après-ski (“after ski” you know the after-party, drinks at the lodge)
  • Levi Spa – You can’t go anywhere in Finland without doing a proper sauna. The Levi Spa has that, plus an indoor water wonderland, water slide included.
  • Try traditional Lappish Food – We wanted to try traditional Lappish food and I can highly recommend the restaurant Saamen Kammi. The Sámi restaurant is in a Finnish kammi (hut covered with peat) and inside is an open fire where they cook up Finnish delicacies such as fish soup, salmon, and reindeer cooked in several ways. We definitely felt the Sámi hospitality and the best part of the experience was when the owner performed yoik (a Sámi form of singing).
  • Northern Lights hunting – There are tons of northern light tour options such as exploring via snowmobile, snowshoes, sled, cruise, canoe, or snowcat, but we decided to forego the tour and just try to chase them on foot (well with the help of a cab) — more about that below.
  • On top of the Levi Ski Resort hill
  • Making breakfast in our chalet
  • Saamen Kammi open-fire grill
  • Levi Spa

Northern lights in Lapland

The first time I went to Rovaniemi, Lapland, I just assumed I’d be able to see the Northern Lights on one of the three nights I was there. I downloaded the Aurora app to try and track them and the first 2 nights it said we had a “0% chance” of seeing them. The last night there was a 1% chance (so you’re saying there’s a chance 🤣), but alas no dice.

So when I went to Levi with the girls, I didn’t want to get my hopes up about catching the magical lights. We didn’t see anything on our first night because it was too cloudy, but the 2nd night, there was about a 20% chance. We went to a karaoke bar that night, and still no signs in the sky. But around 1 am, one of my friends was outside smoking and chatting with some Finns and they pointed out some hazy green lights in the sky. They told her it was the Northern Lights but that if we wanted to see it, we probably needed to drive out of the Levi center a bit where there was no light pollution.

So, she yanked us from the bar and we hopped in a cab and drove out into the middle of the forest, and BAM! There it was. We didn’t see a rainbow of hues, but we saw beautiful streaks of bright green lights dancing in the sky. It was more breathtaking and magical than I imagined it would be. These pictures don’t quite do them justice, but they still give you a glimpse into what we witnessed. This was definitely the highlight of our trip!

☀️ Levi summer & autumn activities

The best part about summer and early fall in Lapland is the “midnight sun.” If you’ve never experienced this, add it to your bucket list! Summer solstice (or Midsummer as it’s called in Finland) falls around the end of June. This is the longest day of the year when the sun never sets. Anyway, if you’re visiting Lapland around this time, here are a few ideas that we didn’t get to try:

  • Canoeing safari
  • Mountain and fat biking
  • Horseback riding
  • Camping
  • Smoke sauna
  • Visit reindeer and husky farms
  • White river rafting

❄️ Levi winter activities

While the days are endless in summer, the winters are the opposite. The sun pretty much disappears for a few months but in its place is an abundance of fluffy snow. And that snow brings light and makes the landscape much brighter. For me, this is the best reason to come to Lapland and try things like:

Ylläs, Lapland

Ylläs National Park in the fall

Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park (Ylläs for short) is Finland’s third-largest National Park. It’s about a 45-minute drive from Levi, so the girls and I took a day trip there to do some hiking. A fun fact about the park is that recent studies have shown that the air at Pallas is the cleanest in Europe!

There are tons of trails ranging from very easy to very difficult, so you can pick your poison. I loved the park so much that I went during my girls’ trip, and then again when I came back in the winter. We came about a week after the leaves started turning, but we were able to catch a glimpse of those beautiful fall colors or “ruska” in Finnish.

Ylläs National Park in the winter

And if the beautifully painted fall landscapes of Ylläs National Park were not beautiful enough, the dream-like snow made it look like an entirely new wonderland. For my 3rd trip to Lapland, Kimmo and I did a home exchange and worked remotely from a cottage in Ylläs for a week. I just had to take him back here.

Things to do in Ylläs

We recently discovered a home exchange service, so we were able to swap homes with someone in Ylläs, Lapland, which made the trip extra affordable. It was a beautiful cottage, and the perfect opportunity to take advantage of working remotely. Since I had to work during the day, we didn’t get to do too many activities, but honestly, I was perfectly happy just hanging out in the cozy cottage and a change of scenery from working fully remote.

Here are some things to do in Ylläs. Admittedly we didn’t get to do some of these since the ski resorts were not open for the season yet, but we did manage to try a few.

  • Lake Äkäaslompolo – Great spot for spotting the Northern Lights
  • Snowboarding or skiing at one of the Ylläs ski resorts
  • Cross country skiing at Ihmisen Rinki
  • Ride the Gondola lifts
  • Taiga for some after-ski drinks
  • Enjoy a spa day at the Lapland Hotel Saaga
  • Pakasaivo and the Kirkkopahta Seida Rock – the holy place of worship for the Sámi people
  • Konijänkkä animal farm – If you want to see reindeer up close and personal, this was a fantastic place. But you will see them roaming all around, so beware, reindeer crossing is a real thing here!
  • Our cottage for the week
  • My remote workstation
  • Hiking
  • Rambo loved the snow, too!
  • At the Hotel Saaga spa resort
  • Warming up in a tipi
  • Konijänkkä animal farm

Being from LA, there’s an entire world of winter sports that I’ve never experienced or even heard of. Things like snowshoeing, long-distance ice skating, skinning, ice karting, and the craziest one of all, biathlon (look it up!). I mean I’ve heard of cross-country skiing, but I didn’t know it differed from downhill skiing and that there are loads of different types of skis.

In any case I had a bunch of winter firsts this trip:

  • Sledding
  • Making snow angels
  • Snowball fights
  • Clearing snow off of a car 🤪

I still haven’t stayed in one of those dreamy glass igloos or snow castle hotels, but I guess that means I’ll just have to take another trip to Lapland. This time even further north! Stay tuned!

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Helsinki

My First Six Months Living in Helsinki

by Audrey
written by Audrey

It has been about half a year now since I’ve moved to Helsinki. It’s my first time living somewhere with actual seasons, and the leaves turning is truly a beautiful thing to see during the autumn. Although I get super homesick and I miss the LA weather, it hasn’t been as hard to adjust as I had imagined. But then again, winter hasn’t come yet, so ask me again in a couple of months.

I think a few reasons why it hasn’t been terribly hard to adjust is because the architecture of Helsinki is really modern, it’s a small city that’s easy to get to know, everything works well, the quality of life here is really high, and most people speak English, so it doesn’t feel like such a foreign country. But don’t get me wrong, it hasn’t been a walk in the park either. I miss my friends and family immensely and it took some time to make my own friends here. Also, just because people speak English, doesn’t mean anything is written or spoken in English. So let’s just say I have to rely on copying movements in gym classes and my grocery runs take extremely long, since I’m constantly using the Google translate app camera function. By the way, Google translate for Finnish – 60% of the time, it works every time.

  • Modern apartment buildings in our neighborhood
  • Leaves turning on Rambo

But in all seriousness, I feel so lucky to have the chance to live in another country and continent, actually. I’m learning so much and just trying to soak it all in and appreciate every new experience and learning. All I’ve ever known is my LA and Orange County bubble. The rest of the world is doing things differently but here’s what I’ve learned about Helsinki so far…

Top 10 Reasons I Enjoy Living in Helsinki

  1. Free Healthcare – Basic healthcare is free, and even covers dental work. Most companies also provide additional private healthcare insurance at no cost to the employee. If health is wealth, then I’m set for life here.
  2. Free Education – Meanwhile, I’m still paying for my grad school loan while Finns can get their PhD for FREE 99!
  3. So Damn Safe – People even leave their €1000+ Bugaboo strollers outside WITH the baby inside, because apparently the cold air is good for babies and can often help them sleep. But more importantly, people don’t fear their children getting kidnapped. I couldn’t even walk home alone from school, which was only a few blocks away. Here you see elementary school kids on public transportation alone, it’s wild! Oh wait, I guess that’s the opposite of wild.
  4. Public Transportation – Speaking of public transportation, there is no need to have a car in Helsinki. The public transportation here consists of trams, subways (called the Metro here), and busses. It costs €60/month for an unlimited pass, which my work paid for. So basically my transportation costs are €0, except the occasional Uber, taxi, or electric scooter. In LA with a car payment, gas, auto insurance, and tons of Ubers whenever I was having drinks, I’m sure I easily spent $1000/month just on transportation alone!
  5. 5 Weeks of Holiday (vacation) – It’s the law to get five weeks of vacation in Finland, no matter what company you work for. In California, an employer is not required to provide paid-time-off under California vacation law, although most companies provide at least 2 weeks as a job benefit. 2 weeks sounds like a joke to me now. No wonder Americans are so stressed and get burnt out easily.
  6. Work Life Balance & Benefits – The generous vacation speaks to this, but in addition, I don’t often see Finns work overtime. At the company I worked for, they paid for my cell phone which can be used for personal use as well, but it wasn’t mandatory to answer any work related emails or calls outside of work hours. Most companies also provide a lunch card, where they cover 25% of your lunch (up to €10.50) which encourages employees to go out for lunch, especially with colleagues. Lastly, most companies also provide a sports and culture benefit of up to €400/year, which can be used for gym memberships, movie tickets, concerts, etc. So far I’ve used mine for an annual museum pass (€60), rock climbing, and pilates classes.
  7. People are Smart – Everyone knows at least two languages. And the water cooler talk here is rarely about TV, the latest fashion trends, or celebrity gossip. Instead they’re about things like the “Third Industrial Revolution”. Sometimes I feel like Finns are more in tune with what’s going on politically in the US than the average American.
  8. The Library is Cool – Finland is the most literate country in the world and publishes more books per capita than any other country, except Iceland. On average, every Finn buys 4 books and borrows a dozen from the library each year. So, yup it’s definitely cool to read and hang out at the library. I’ve started reading way more and have read about 1-2 books per month since I moved here. Also, how could you not want to hang out at Oodi, our central library? Besides the beautiful architecture of the building, this library holds concerts, has music studios and instruments that you can book, an urban workshop for the DIYers like me (soldering station, laser cutter, and sewing machines included) and even digital gaming rooms. It was also voted as 2019 World’s Best New Library.
  9. Nature & Foraging – Finland has a concept called ‘Everyman’s right’. It allows everyone to roam freely in nature, eat, and pick berries and mushrooms anywhere in forests. Our fridge always has a supply of homemade berry juice, berry jelly, frozen berries & chanterelle mushrooms from Kimmo’s family forest. Also, you can camp out overnight in a tent, vehicle, or boat, as long as this causes no damage or disturbance to the landowner.
  10. Island Hopping – I love that Finland is like one big forest surrounded by the Baltic Sea. Our apartment is along a canal, and I walk Rambo by the ocean every day. There’s something so calming about just staring into the waters and feeling that ocean breeze. Finland has over 180,000 lakes and almost as many islands! I can take a 10 minute ferry or cross a bridge and be on a new island. There’s even a Dog Island for Rambo and a Zoo on an island. It’s such a nice way to get out of the city, hike in a forest, have a picnic, and even go foraging!
  • Strollers with babies inside left outside in freezing temps
  • Foraging for lingonberries and bilberries
  • Island hopping
  • Bridge to an island with a Zoo
  • Daily walk along the canal and Baltic Sea
Oodi Library

Top 5 Favorite Finnish Home Things

  1. Magic Cupboard – In every kitchen, there’s a specific drying cupboard above the sink where you put clean dishes to dry. The water drops down to the sink. Ok so it’s not magical but it’s freaking genius!
  2. Sauna – If you didn’t know, Finns invented the sauna, so it’s a big part of the culture here. We have one in our bathroom. Until I came to Finland, I always thought a sauna was basically an electrically heated wooden room. I was wrong! A real sauna should have stones (heated by a wood fire or electrically) that you throw water on to create steam. The more water you throw on the stones, the more steamy and intense it gets. I was on the fence about it at first, but now we have “Sauna Sundays” at home. There are so many benefits to the sauna. It helps you recover from an intense workout, flush out toxins, relieve stress, and get a good night’s sleep.
  3. Butt Washers – Ok, they’re not called that, I made that up. I’m actually not sure what they’re really called, but I love them, and Americans need them! No more using baby wipes or wetting toilet paper, only so they can rip into shreds in your butt as you wipe.
  4. Heating – Every time I step into our apartment, it always seems to be the perfect temperature, except on the rare occasion it gets really hot, because we don’t have AC, like most homes in Finland. Over 90% of Finnish apartments are connected to a district heating network, which is part of the rental agreement as a fixed cost. District heating supplies heat from a combined heat and power (CHP) plant directly to buildings through a network of pipes carrying hot water. This means the buildings do not need to generate their own heat on site. With CHP, Helsinki saves so much energy compared with separate property-specific heating produced by condensing electricity that it would heat up to 500,000 detached homes each year.
  5. Own Blankets – I’m a little on the fence about this one because I love snuggling and playing footsies. But… not fighting over the blanket, not waking up to the blanket being pulled off of you, and Kimmo’s favorite, being able to wrap yourself like a burrito, are reasons why this one made the list.
  • Magic Cupboard
  • Sauna in our Bathroom
  • Spot the Butt Washer
  • District Heating
  • It may look like a normal bed but…
  • Underneath are 2 separate blankets

Finnish Things I’m still Getting Used to

  • Light (too much & too little) – During the longest summer nights, the sun doesn’t go down until almost midnight. But during the winter, there might only be a couple hours of daylight. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is definitely a thing here, so I’m loading up on Vitamin D pills and having coffee in front of my happy (aka SAD) light. If you’ve never heard of one, these therapy lamps mimic sunlight to enhance mood, energy, sleep, and focus – but without the UV rays
  • No tipping – Since I’ve worked in the food service business, it has always been ingrained in me to tip. In Finland, and most of Europe, it’s not customary to tip, unless you get exceptional service, and even then it’s not required.
  • How small it is – Although Helsinki is the capital and biggest city in Finland, it’s still pretty small. The population is about 630k (LA is 4 million) so even though I only know a handful of people here, I still run into people all the time. To give you some context, the day I moved here, I ran into 2 people I knew during the train and tram ride from the airport to the apartment. And at that time I knew like 10 people! Back home in LA, I could meet someone, and never see them again for the rest of my life.
  • The language – Like I mentioned earlier, everything is written in Finnish. The second official language of the country is actually Swedish. So most signs are in Finnish and Swedish, which doesn’t help me either way. I started taking a Finnish course twice a week, and boy is it hard. Besides the words being ridiculously long, and there being a hundred different ways to say something, I find it confusing that there is no intonation. The language sounds pretty monotone, since your tone should always go down at the end of a sentence, even if it’s a question or has an exclamation point at the end. You can imagine how hard this is for an animated speaker like myself.
  • No small talk – Finns don’t like small talk and I actually appreciate this. Meetings tend to start and end on time since you don’t spend the first 10 minutes small talking. And if you ask a Finn how they are, be careful because they might actually tell you.
My current fall & winter morning routine with a happy light, vitamin D pills, and my Finnish language course textbook.

So that’s what I’ve learned during my first six months living here. I’m not sure I agree that Finland is the happiest country in the world (more about Finns in a future post) but it probably has the highest quality of life. Stay tuned for the next six months…

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Helsinki

Midsummer in Finland

by Audrey
written by Audrey

Midsummer, or summer solstice as Americans might know it, is celebrated by the Northern European countries to mark the longest day of the year. In Finland, the sun never fully sets that day and that Friday is considered a holiday so double awesomeness to have a 3 day weekend to fully enjoy it.

Summer Party

The week leading into Midsummer, I had my company summer party. I’ve worked for several companies in California, and we only ever had a Christmas party, so I was pretty stoked that in Helsinki, it’s pretty typical to have both a summer and winter holiday party. I asked Kimmo what the summer parties were like, and he said lots of drinking and most likely offsite activities that eventually lead to after parties. Well, he wasn’t kidding. We started the party at 10:00am and took a bus out to the middle of nowhere to do paintballing, bubble football, and inflatable sumo wrestling. Oh and did I mention beer was available immediately?

If you know me, I’m not much of a competitive sports person, but I did partake in one activity…

After the sweaty activities, the party bus took us to another venue, where a sauna, dinner, DJ, and surf simulation (think mechanical bull riding) awaited. Then as if that wasn’t enough, for those who wanted to keep partying until the morning, we had some tables reserved at Butcher’s Bar for more drinks and dancing. I’m totally down with this summer party tradition as it allowed me to talk to all the co-workers I normally don’t get to interact with and see them in a really relaxed, and informal setting. I definitely think the company party culture is much looser in Helsinki, at least at the company I work at. I dig it. Oh and if you want to see some footage from the party, my co-worker made this rad drone video.

Sauna Boat

Another pre-midsummer activity we did was renting out a sauna boat with friends. The sauna culture is already something pretty new to me, so throw that on a boat, now I’m really a fish out of water. The boat came with a captain, so no driving was required. It was pretty darn fun, but I was too much of a wussy to jump into the cold lake for a swim. The sauna was a bit smaller than we all expected, but we managed to squeeze 5 girls inside, and then the guys went after us.

Summer Cottage

For the actual Midsummer holiday, most Finns head out to their summer cottage, so if you happen to be a tourist in Helsinki during this time, you’ll probably notice the city is dead, and tons of things are closed. Luckily for us, Kimmo’s family cottage is only about an hour away from Helsinki. A lot of the Finns I’ve met in Helsinki, have to drive way further out.

Our midsummer activities included grilling (with veggies picked straight from the garden), reading, laying out in the sun, a sauna, a hot tub, and a whole lot of doing nothing, which in my opinion was the best part. There’s definitely something wonderful to being out in nature, disconnected from the city. One thing that tripped me out was how the hot tub worked. Kimmo’s Dad brought out a water pump that used water from the lake behind the cottage to fill the tub, and then we had to burn wood logs to heat it up.

When the summer first started arriving, it was weird to me how late the sun would set (I’m talking like 11pm), but I really grew to love it. Although, you do need some heavy duty blackout curtains for sleeping. The long days makes me feel like my weeknights don’t end after getting off work, and I love that. With my imminent first winter coming, the days will be opposite (almost no sun), so I’m just embracing all that summer has to offer. Here’s what I mean about the sun not setting… this is what it looked like outside the cottage around 2am. So dreamy!

Also, apparently there’s a horror movie called Midsommar that just came out. Let’s see if there’s any correlation…

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Rambo in snow
HelsinkiLifeLos Angeles

Woke Up In Helsinki

by Rambo
written by Rambo

Introducing Rambo

Hey dudes and dudettes, my name is Rambo. For the last 10 years, I’ve been the main man in my Mom’s life, but a couple years ago, another dude finally swept her off her feet. And I really dig him but it bummed me out that he could never stay for very long. But that’s finally changing!

My first plane ride

Took my first plane ride ever. Not sure why we weren’t in first class, but I’ll let that one slide, Mom. Finnair was cool enough to give us our own row so I got to sprawl out on the floor and Mom gave me some sleeping pills (aka Benadryl) so I pretty much knocked out the entire time and when I woke up, we were in another continent! I’ve never even left the state of California. When we arrived, boy was I happy to see my dude, Kimmo, I think I even peed a little. He hasn’t been home in a couple months, but now we’ll never have to be apart again. Ok, that sounded sappy, but he gives me the best walks and doesn’t know how to say “NO”.

Expat needs homies and recommendations

So, I guess I live in Helsinki now. My paws really don’t dig snow, so I’m going to need to find some good snow boots, maybe even a dope puffer jacket. If any of you fellow dawgs got any recommendations, that would be totally sweet! I’m going to need the 411 on all the good dog parks and where to get my grub and wardrobe at. Are there any Facebook groups out there for expat dogs or dating apps? It might finally be time for me to settle down and stop sleeping in my Mom’s room (ok fine, I still sleep in her bed).

My LA life

Anyway, I’ll be scouring Helsinki for all the best dog spots so watch out for my reviews and takes on the city. For my homies back in LA, I miss you and I’ll keep you posted about the bitches here in case you want to come visit. You know I make the best wingman. For my new Finnish dawgs, I’ll give you a peek into my life in LA as well in case you’re curious. Later for now bros!

Me in my new bed.
Me and Mom taking a stroll in our new neighborhood, Jätkäsaari. I was still a bit jetlagged.
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Helsinki

How to Get a Residence Permit in Finland

by Audrey
written by Audrey

Job Market in Finland

Before I go into how to get a residence permit (work visa/permit) in Finland, I thought I’d give a little glimpse into the job market in Finland. I can’t speak to all job types, but for marketing, communications, and business jobs, I found that most of them require you to speak Finnish. This makes sense since most of the marketing and collateral will be done in the local language. That really narrowed down my options, as I couldn’t really work for any local companies, and had to move my search to international companies that had market focus outside of Finland and did business in English.

I was lucky enough to find one of the few international tech companies that was from Helsinki. Because they were focused on selling on a global level, English was the official language of the company and all of their marketing. At international companies, having English as your native language, was definitely an advantage. I also got lucky that this company does several trade shows in the U.S., which allows me to travel back home every now and then.

Once I got the job offer, I just needed a written contract from the company to apply for my first Finland residence permit. I’m not sure what the process is for other companies, but for this job, I was in charge of taking care of my application, which meant I had to pay for the application fee out of my own pocket and submit the application on my own. My company was very helpful though and gave me all the information I needed to fill out the application. It’s a pretty straight-forward process, and the Finnish Immigration website is very informative and helpful. They even have a chat feature if you have any questions.

Types of Residence Permit Applications for Working in Finland

1 Month Processing Time (350 EUR)

These are the residence permits that you can get in about 1 month.

  • Specialist – This permit is if you’re a specialist, consultant, teacher or belong to the top or middle management of a company. Your gross income must be about EUR 3,000 per month.
  • EU Blue Card – This is what I got. I didn’t even know this was an option until HR told me. The best thing about this type of residence permit, is that it allows you to move to a 2nd European Member State. Kimmo and I have thought about living in other cities in Europe, so this made the most sense. One thing to note about this permit, is that you need to have a gross income of at least 4,732 EUR per month.
  • Other Types: Internship, Researcher, Season Work, Religious Community or a Non-Profit Association

Over 1 Month Processing Time (350-400 EUR)

  • Employed Person (TTOL) – Must have a signed contract and (1-4 months processing time)
  • Entrepreneur – You must have a profitable business and you’ll need to enter your business in the Trade Register maintained by the Finnish Patent and Registration Office (6-10 months processing time)
  • Start Up Entrepreneur – You’ll need a  positive statement from Business Finland and secure means of support of 1,000 EUR/month for living costs (2-5 months processing time)
  • Volunteer – Your volunteer work must be arranged through an organization that runs volunteer programs (Maailmanvaihto ry – ICYE Finland). Max volunteer time is 18 months (2 month processing time)

There are several other types of residence permits available, but those are the main ones. For the full list go to: https://migri.fi/en/working-in-finland/applications

What You’ll Need for the Application

I can’t speak for the other applications, but for the EU Blue Card, here’s what I needed for the Online Application:

  • Employment Contract – Must state your job description, salary, and start date
  • Proof of Higher Education Degree – I submitted my college transcripts and diploma
  • Copy of Passport

After you fill out the application online, you’ll need to prove your identity. Luckily there is a local Finnish General Consulate in Los Angeles that I was able to go to. Here, I had to bring:

  • Passport
  • Employment Contract
  • Passport Photo adhering to these guidelines. By the way, this is different than the standard US passport photo, so places like CVS, Walgreens, and UPS can’t take these photos. Every country has different requirements, so make sure you check if the photo place can do passport photos for Finland. I went to Santa Monica Camera where the owner happened to have a Finnish wife and 2 children who have dual citizenship, so he was very familiar with the requirements, and even gave me tips on the Finnish Consulate in LA. What are the odds? Oh and one more thing, you must have a “neutral face” which means you can’t smile in the photo. That was so hard for me! And now my photo looks like a mugshot.
  • Official Copy of Higher Education Degree – I brought official college transcripts
  • Prepaid Self-Addressed Envelope – This is so they can mail you the decision documents and your residence permit card.

The process was so quick for me. I went to the Consulate on a Tuesday to prove my identity, and got a decision via email by Thursday! I must have been one of the few applications in the queue. Guess there aren’t tons of people stampeding to move to Finland… yet! My residence permit card came about 2 weeks after that. I’m ready for you Helsinki!

Residence Permit and Work Visa
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Audrey at rooftop
HelsinkiLifeLos Angeles

LA Moves to Helsinki

by Audrey
written by Audrey

Okay maybe not all of Los Angeles is moving to Helsinki, but at least this girl who was born in LA and lived there her entire life is, along with her pup, Rambo. My name is Audrey by the way. To my Americans reading this, without looking at a map, do you know where Finland is? Did you know that Finland is part of Europe? No? Well neither did I!

The land of Helsinki, Finland

Let me start by giving you some context into the size of Finland. Land wise, the country of Finland is 338,145 sq km which is about the size of California (403,882 sq km). California though, has a massive population of 39.5 million within that land. Finland’s entire population is 5.5 million, not much bigger than Los Angeles, which has about 4 million people. Helsinki, which is the capital and where I’m moving to, has about 600,000. Last year there were 250,000 people just at Coachella. So what I’m saying is, there’s tons of available land in Finland, come on over!

I’ve always dreamed of living in Europe, but this wasn’t exactly what I imagined. So, why would I move to a country I’ve barely heard of?

The story begins at Burning Man

Well back in 2016, I met a Finn at Burning Man. At first it started off as rendezvous in different countries. One great thing about cross-continental long distance relationships is that you get to have dates all around the world. Somewhere along the way though it became serious, so we both started looking for jobs in each other’s countries. During one of Kimmo’s visits to LA back in February 2019, I got a job offer from a tech company in Helsinki. The stars aligned for us that week and that’s why I’m packing up and heading to the North Pole… I mean Finland.

Introducing LAxHEL

This blog is going to be about my journey moving to Finland and the fascinating differences between living in LA and Helsinki. You’ll probably also occasionally hear from Kimmo, and my French Bulldog, Rambo, who is making the move with me. We hear a lot about what it’s like living in major cities like London, Paris, and Rome, but you rarely hear much about Helsinki… maybe except for the occasional article that Finland is the happiest country in the world and Trump saying they don’t have forest fires like California because they rake their leaves. Yup that’s our President, which also makes it a good time to leave the U.S.

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to record my experiences and give the world a glimpse into Helsinki from an outsider perspective, as well as give Finns an insider look into LA. I’d also love for this blog to be interactive and collaborative. That means I’ll welcome any tips from Finns and for my LA people to keep me updated on all things Los Angeles. So let’s find out if Finland really is the happiest country in the world. I sure hope it is!

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