4 reasons why you should move to Rovaniemi
Hello! It’s Oona again! As I have told before, I have always lived here in Rovaniemi and that’s the reason why I wanted to post about living in my home city. So I made a little list about the reasons why you should come to study and live in Rovaniemi. Without further explanations, let’s get started!
1. Located in Lapland
Rovaniemi is located in Lapland which is the northernmost and largest region in Finland. Lapland is known for its stunning nature. In winter we have a lot of snow, polar night and of course aurora borealis. Snow gives us a lot of possibilities to do intriguing stuff like to go snowmobiling, skiing or husky sled riding.
On the other hand summer in Rovaniemi is also pretty cool. There is nightless night, which means that the sun doesn’t go down at all so it is bright all the time. (By the way it’s so funny how people are so worried about the polar night when the sun doesn’t rise at all and I’m just like ”Hey have you tried to sleep when the sun is shining 24/7?”)
But all in all Rovaniemi is pretty amazing place to live. The city is quite small but big enough so you don’t know all the people living in your block of flats and you have all the basic services (restaurants, shopping malls etc.) you’ll need. The coolest thing is that it takes only 15 minutes to the woods from the city centre. Think, just 15 minutes and you can enjoy the peaceful and quiet nature.
2. The Lappish lifestyle
Before I started studying in university of Lapland and got to know the people there, I hadn’t realized that I as a person who has always lived here was so different compared to the people who had came to Rovaniemi from Southern Finland. We who have grown in Lapland have a special attitude and lifestyle. First of all, the life here is not so hectic and busy. Things happen when they’re supposed to be happened, no need to rush. That ”take it easy” attitude is the reason behind the fact that people in Lapland are friendly to each other. When there’s no rush, you have time to be nice to the people around you. But I need to remind you that we are still Finns. We enjoy our personal space very much and if you disrupt that… I’ll just give one little tip: don’t.
3. International ambiance
As you may know already, many tourists visit Rovaniemi. They come here to see the exotic Lapland: The snow, aurora borealis, reindeer, polar night and last but not the least, the Santa Claus. By the way wouldn’t it be great to tell your friends you live in the hometown of Santa Claus. Anyway, the tourists come here all around the year so when you’re for example doing grocery shopping, you can bump into people from all around the world.
Internationality is also a significant part of the university of Lapland. Every year over 200 exchange students come to study here and university is making a huge amount of cooperation with other universities globally. To my mind Finnish students in our university welcome exchange students very warmly so there is no need to be afraid of being lonely here.
4. Educational opportunities
I never thought I would be writing educational opportunities as a reason why to move to Rovaniemi. I always wanted to get away from Rovaniemi since I’ve lived here all of my life but after high school I found out that you can study Administrative Sciences and Management here in Rovaniemi. University of Lapland has so many interesting areas of teaching: Art and Design, Education, Law, Social Sciences, Tourism Research, Northern and Arctic Issues. I’ve heard from other students and from people who have graduated from university of Lapland that the education what you get here is slightly different compared to similar studies elsewhere. There is a touch of Lappish and Arctic view in studies in university of Lapland. And that adds a great value to your degree.
I hope I managed to persuaded you to move to Rovaniemi and if moving here sounds a bit radical, come to visit! It’s been really amusing for me to try to explain the reasons because almost all of these are obvious things for me. All in all I'm truly happy to call this place my home.
- Oona / @elviiraoona
1. Located in Lapland
Rovaniemi is located in Lapland which is the northernmost and largest region in Finland. Lapland is known for its stunning nature. In winter we have a lot of snow, polar night and of course aurora borealis. Snow gives us a lot of possibilities to do intriguing stuff like to go snowmobiling, skiing or husky sled riding.
On the other hand summer in Rovaniemi is also pretty cool. There is nightless night, which means that the sun doesn’t go down at all so it is bright all the time. (By the way it’s so funny how people are so worried about the polar night when the sun doesn’t rise at all and I’m just like ”Hey have you tried to sleep when the sun is shining 24/7?”)
But all in all Rovaniemi is pretty amazing place to live. The city is quite small but big enough so you don’t know all the people living in your block of flats and you have all the basic services (restaurants, shopping malls etc.) you’ll need. The coolest thing is that it takes only 15 minutes to the woods from the city centre. Think, just 15 minutes and you can enjoy the peaceful and quiet nature.
2. The Lappish lifestyle
Before I started studying in university of Lapland and got to know the people there, I hadn’t realized that I as a person who has always lived here was so different compared to the people who had came to Rovaniemi from Southern Finland. We who have grown in Lapland have a special attitude and lifestyle. First of all, the life here is not so hectic and busy. Things happen when they’re supposed to be happened, no need to rush. That ”take it easy” attitude is the reason behind the fact that people in Lapland are friendly to each other. When there’s no rush, you have time to be nice to the people around you. But I need to remind you that we are still Finns. We enjoy our personal space very much and if you disrupt that… I’ll just give one little tip: don’t.
3. International ambiance
As you may know already, many tourists visit Rovaniemi. They come here to see the exotic Lapland: The snow, aurora borealis, reindeer, polar night and last but not the least, the Santa Claus. By the way wouldn’t it be great to tell your friends you live in the hometown of Santa Claus. Anyway, the tourists come here all around the year so when you’re for example doing grocery shopping, you can bump into people from all around the world.
Internationality is also a significant part of the university of Lapland. Every year over 200 exchange students come to study here and university is making a huge amount of cooperation with other universities globally. To my mind Finnish students in our university welcome exchange students very warmly so there is no need to be afraid of being lonely here.
4. Educational opportunities
I never thought I would be writing educational opportunities as a reason why to move to Rovaniemi. I always wanted to get away from Rovaniemi since I’ve lived here all of my life but after high school I found out that you can study Administrative Sciences and Management here in Rovaniemi. University of Lapland has so many interesting areas of teaching: Art and Design, Education, Law, Social Sciences, Tourism Research, Northern and Arctic Issues. I’ve heard from other students and from people who have graduated from university of Lapland that the education what you get here is slightly different compared to similar studies elsewhere. There is a touch of Lappish and Arctic view in studies in university of Lapland. And that adds a great value to your degree.
I hope I managed to persuaded you to move to Rovaniemi and if moving here sounds a bit radical, come to visit! It’s been really amusing for me to try to explain the reasons because almost all of these are obvious things for me. All in all I'm truly happy to call this place my home.
- Oona / @elviiraoona
Hello, thank you for your lovely post. I want to move to Rovaniemi for a few months in fall. Do you have any recommondations where I can find an apparmtent. Any other websites than Airbnb. Thank you in advance, Tina.
VastaaPoistaHello, awesome that you are coming here! There are variety of options where to look. "Vuokra-asunnot Rovaniemi" is a Facebook group (it's private but ask for access) where people are announcing about apartment for rent or one can leave a post about what you are looking for. A good option for short stays!
PoistaOther good way to find good apartments are those apartment dealers like https://lumo.fi/en/rental-apartments/Rovaniemi
or
https://www.vuokraovi.com/vuokra-asunnot/Rovaniemi?locale=en
or some similar option!
Always remember to check the distance from city center if you are interested in living in the city of Rovaniemi, since Rovaniemi as a region is very vast!
Hope you find something that fits your needs! :)
- Johanna, student
I intend to move to Rovaniempi to study next year. How can I find part time jobs there. Can you give some advices and tips.
VastaaPoista