Helsinki : living there

The finnish mind

It's possible to write many pages on the Finnish people. These europeans with strange custums. Silence is surely the most traumatising thing for the frenchies. You will see, you will get used to it!

There are around 5.1 millions Finnish inhabitants and two official languages: finnish ans suedish (= 6 % of the populationde ). To know more on the state of the economy, etc. – http://www.stat.fi

The cultural service of the ambassy prepares an analysis every day and a condensate ofthe Finnish press. A good site to get used to Finland is . http://www.france.fi/presse/ipresse.htm

Meeting people...

It's true, it's difficult to meet finnish people. There are often shy are not talkative. It's better to get in touch with some Finnish people before settling here, your contact network will be in better shape! You can post a notice at the Finnish cultural service in France to establish a first contact there when you don't know nobody.

	http://www.algonet.se/~boll/annonsl/ or

Finding a job

Let be realistic: appart from teaching (with a good university degree) chances to find a job wihtout speaking finnish are scarce. Here are a few advices to find a job.

First of all, visit the CIMO, the international center of exchanges and movements. The office is located in Helsinki and it's possible to find an internship to start with and then find a job. http://www.cimo.fi

read the Finnish press. The main newspapers are: Helsingin Sanomat, Turun Sanomat, Etelä Suomen Sanomat et Hufvudstadsbladet (en suédois).

The following internet websites are relatively good (but there again,you will need finnish...)

	http://tyopaikkatori.net
	http://wwwmol.tietotyo.fi/cgi-bin/psearch
	http://www.minedu.fi

You can contact the large companies like Nokia (Telecommunications) http://www.nokia.com/careers/index.html