How to make friends in Helsinki

You can make new friends in Helsinki by joining Helsinki Expat Meetup which is on Facebook here :
http://sv-se.facebook.com/group.php?gid=45107353822&ref =mf

Next meetup at Kaisla on April the 8th starting 6pm.

Everybody is welcome, Finns included !

Info in English on Kaisla :
http://bestbars.fi/2007/19-kaisla

Do not forget to RSVP if you are coming!

Here is a map for you :
http://puchei.notlong.com

Kaisla has been recommended to me by some of our members. It is possible to talk at Kaisla also ( itŽs not too noisy ). I chose the meetup to end at 9pm but you can of course leave earlier ( or later ) if you like.

Guests are allowed/encouraged to bring friends to this event.
Comments, suggestions and questions are welcome !

Hello!
My name is david and im from the uk. Im currently considering moving to Finland with my finnish girlfriend. IŽm interested in hearing how other people find living in finland (helsinki), is it hard to make friends, do alot of people speak english etc. Do you ever have meetups between international people from this blog?Thank you in advance, any help is welcomed!
-david-

Hi David !

I would like to invite you to discussions on Finland Forum ( http://www.finlandforum.org ). The forum ( 18000 + registered members ! ) is a chat, support and information forum for foreigners living in Finland.

All foreigners are not happy in Finland.Some of them are very unhappy !

The easiest way to make friends in Helsinki is to join clubs and groups. There are several groups which a person who does not speak Finnish could join. Here is one example :

http://www.jollydragon.net

Most Finns under the age of 50 speak at least some English and most of those Finns have a strong and not so pleasant Finnish accent.

Check out also the IESAF ( International English Speakers Association of Finland ) forum here :
http://www.iesaf.fi

The IESAF people arrange a pub quiz in English the first week of every month :
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=120027160644

As I said earlier, making friends is not a problem but finding work is very difficult if you do not speak Finnish - unless you happen to be an IT expert of some kind.
You can not even get a job as a cleaner in Helsinki if you do not speak Finnish.

Hello again !

I suggest that you join the couchsurfing community ( easy to join, no membership fee and no obligations of any kind for members ).

Couchsurfers in Helsinki arrange all kinds of social events for members. Here is one example :
http://www.couchsurfing.org/meetings.html?mid=37186

David, you can play football, can't you? There's numerous football clubs for amateurs in the Helsinki area. That way, you will meet jolly Finnish lads as opposed to whining, lonely foreigners!

Helsinki Expats will meet again on Saturday December the 12th.

The meetup will be held at Belge ( Kluuvikatu 5 ) in the Library Bar upstairs as usual :
belge.fi/belge_librarybar.html

Belge home page :
belge.fi/frontpage_belge.html

Map here :
kohngee.notlong.com

The meetup is on Facebook here :
facebook.com/event.php?eid=193334112884&index=1

Do not forget to RSVP !

The event has so far 4 confirmed guests and 19 say they may be coming.

If you join The Helsinki Expat Meetup group you will automatically get invites to all our meetups.
If you have any questions you are welcome to contact me !

It's harder to meet finnish people than other expats, but it's not impossible. Try going to some Jolly Dragon events- I've been to movie trivia at Memphis which was fun. Didn't meet too many new people though because I went with other friends. Try joining a sports league, going to yoga, or a meditation or spiritual group, etc. Just get out there and introduce yourself. Be persistent!

[moderated: Expat.com is not a dating website]

Hi every one, im planning to go to helsinki next weeks and i really need to meet some friends here before im in there. any ideas how or where i can find nice helping people so we get to know each other before i step in helsinki ? thnx all

There are some great expat groups in Helsinki like Helsinki Expat Meetup and IESAF. They do not have a membership fee and they are very welcoming to new members. They arrange pub meetups and all kind of events.

I will send you their contact info in a private message. My experience is that links are not allowed on this expat discussion forum. It was a long time ago I posted anything here so the policy may of course have changed.

  thank you so much i saw the links, i will check it later today, it was really nice from u hope its helpfull    have a nice day
Danny