Finland is a long country (for demonstration, see the picture above). I was originally born in a western coastal town of Kokkola (green triangle) but moved to the Finnish capital of Lapland, Rovaniemi (yellow circle) already at the age of 8. Ever since it's been my home, apart from occasional ventures abroad (in 2008 I lived in Northern Italy for a while, and 2010-2011 I spent a year in Berlin). Now, as I have graduated and in search for a job, I've moved to Espoo (blue square), a city in the capital region, right next to Helsinki. One could say that Helsinki is the only actual city of Finland, all the rest are so small. The amount of people living in the capital region of Finland is bigger than the amount of people living in the vast area of Lapland, which is basically half of the whole country. Having grown up in the North, I've always rejected Helsinki for some reason: perhaps because everyone else seems to want to go there. The people born in the capital seem to view Lapland as an isolated periphery, where locals ride reindeer or husky sleighs to work and speak with a funny dialect. Just yesterday a young man selling something stopped me on the street in Helsinki and asked where am I from. As I answered "Rovaniemi", his reaction was both surprised and amused, and he asked me "How on earth did you end up here?" It is this behaviour that infuriates me in these ingnorant and silly city-people of Southern Finland. The fact is, however, that smaller towns have no work to offer, and people are forced to move to find work. I am in that situation now - struggling.
For a person who adores Lapland (and I must say, that Rovaniemi is located so south that it hardly even counts as real Lapland to me), its quietness and nature, it's painful to even think about moving away. On the other hand, I feel like I could use a change of scenery, having lived most of my life in Rovaniemi. I feel like any new place would do, and thus have searched for work, well, everywhere: home and abroad. During the next month or so I should find a new place to call home, but I guess only time will show where will I end up.
For a person who adores Lapland (and I must say, that Rovaniemi is located so south that it hardly even counts as real Lapland to me), its quietness and nature, it's painful to even think about moving away. On the other hand, I feel like I could use a change of scenery, having lived most of my life in Rovaniemi. I feel like any new place would do, and thus have searched for work, well, everywhere: home and abroad. During the next month or so I should find a new place to call home, but I guess only time will show where will I end up.
