Is Vaasa foreigner-friendly?
City of tolerance. Ausrine Silenskyte says that it is easier for the foreign students to live in Vaasa than in other Finnish cities except Helsinki. Photo: Ausrine Silenskyte
Many foreign students live in Vaasa and have contact with Finns in their everyday life. According to our interviewees they usually face an atmosphere of generally good attitude, apart from some lesser complications.
Oskar Kenttälä has been working as an International tutor coordinator for year and a half. During this period nobody has come to him to complain of racism or negative attitude. The problems the exchange students face, or at least those they report to the international tutors, seem to be of a completely different nature.
"Foreign students commonly have some everyday, basic difficulties. They ask us to help them, for instance, to open an account in a Finnish bank."
The story of Ausrine Silenskyte, a Lithuanian second-year Master student in International Business and Secretary of International office, supports Kenttälä's statement. She tells that she has not faced any serious problems in terms of negative attitude towards foreigners or racism. There have, however, been some singular cases where things have not progressed as smoothly as one might like.
"When I was searching for a flat and calling the real estate agency, the way I was treated made me feel that I was not trusted because I am a foreigner. I always spoke some Finnish at first and later asked to continue in English, but the agency workers would just tell me to call next week to find out whether they would rent me a flat or not."
This continued for almost two months. When she asked her Finnish speaking friend to call the agency, he immediately found out that the flat had been rented to Finnish students a week ago.
"But this was the only such case. Finns and Swedes are usually kind, polite and really eager to help me. I have some very close Finnish and Swedish friends, and my Swedish neighbors treat me very well, like a daughter of their own."
Ausrine is sure that Vaasa is a very international place and that it is easier for the foreign students to live here than in other Finnish cities except Helsinki.
"The language problem for the foreign students is less significant in Vaasa because a majority of citizens can speak English well. In other cities life could be more difficult as there are not that many people there who know English."
According to Ausrine the locals in Vaasa are used to seeing foreign students and treat them with a positive attitude. She does not think that any big problems or conflicts caused by racism are possible here.
Chika Matsunaga-Huuhka, a Japanese second-year Master student in Public Administration, has had experiences similar to Silenskyte's. She also says that she has not faced any serious difficulties resulting from negative attitude towards foreigners, apart from some minor problems sometimes.
"For instance last year some Finnish shop assistant in this one shop did not want to help me even though I spoke Finnish. But such a situation has only happened once."
Chika tells that she and her fellow students from Japan are treated well, and that Finns are usually quite friendly towards them.
"I feel very comfortable here in Vaasa."
She notes that the ability to speak Finnish can be really useful for foreign students.
"Everything was much easier when I spoke Finnish with Finns. However, when I used English, we also understood each other. There were some misunderstandings sometimes but nothing serious. Nevertheless, learning some Finnish can make your life easier in Finland."
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