In Rio

It’s hard to believe that I currently live in Rio de Janeiro. When I was in High School I dreamed that I would some day live in New York, Rio de Janeiro, and the Philippines. The first one is still to come… So living in Rio has been my dream for long time. It just became possible few months ago after I had no second thoughts. Especially Copacabana has always had some kind of magic and now I’m leaving there just few blocks from the famous beach. I only really noticed that I’m moving here when I was at the massage table three days before my departure and this song came from the radio. What a coincidence!

"">

The first impression of Rio as a living place is expensive. Of course I live in one of the most expensive areas and samba carnival is coming, which naturally has inflationary consequences. Still paying 500 euros for a room is a lot. I live in very Latin atmosphere as my flatmates are all from different Southern European countries. Luisa from Spain, Ines from Italy and Robin from France are really cool and it never gets boring in our flat. Currently there are four friends visiting from Spain, France and Scotland so we have a full house indeed.

My expectations from living costs might be biased by the Philippines experience and I still think the last few months there I had the best deal ever. I paid 450 euros a month for a place in a 37th floor luxury apartment shared with two great Americans, Greg and Mike. The deal included a room in around 150 square meter flat rounded by full size windows with a view to Manila, full time maid, meals four times a day, access to swimming pool, sauna, squash court, and of course all the other benefits that come with G&M.

This was my sixth time when I move to another country. I have to admit that the first week is always hard. All the goodbyes at home, new apartment and environment, and a lot of running errands to do. It always takes few weeks to know where to buy morning bread, what is the right price to pay for a cab, how to get a good deal for sim-card, where’s the gym etc.

The first week in Rio was especially challenging and I needed to work a lot with my self-discipline. I made a deadline to return the first version of my graduation thesis by this Friday when the Rio Samba Carnaval itself starts. Well, it seems that it has started already, as there are a lot of events taking place from sunrise to sunrise. It’s extremely difficult to stay home writing a thesis when it’s +35 degrees, my flatmates are packing their bags for beach, and there are crazy parties each night. Finally on Wednesday I returned the thesis for my professor’s comments and now things will change. For truly to learn the Brazilian culture and Portuguese language I need to be out as much as possible.


Even I haven’t had time to check out my new neighborhood yet I’ve taken sports pretty seriously. So far I’ve tried five different gyms to find the right atmosphere. Well, it’s been worth it as I haven’t paid a real yet.

I know that some of you have been thinking of coming to Rio and I warmly welcome to do so. There’s space in my room and sometimes also in our living room, and to be honest being on holiday in Rio doesn’t mean too much sleep as I noticed last time when I was here. Just let me know before so I know to organize my schedule to show you around. However, my main concentration is to learn Brazilian culture, language, and do a lot of sports so I hope that KLM keeps its commas in a right place this time (when I was in the Philippines KLM sold return tickets from Helsinki to Manila for 329 euros by mistake which meant that I had visitors all the time from the end of January to beginning of April).

During my stays abroad I’ve noticed that I always have more time in a day. Regardless whether I’ve worked or studied I seem to be able to do more things that I usually never do in Finland. For instance in the Philippines I played street hockey weekly with Canadians which was superb. I don’t know if it’s the sun or something but leaving Finland creates more time for me. For some people it is stressful and I’ve seen people totally crack themselves with booze and depression while abroad. The road downwards usually starts by criticizing everything and comparing new home country to one’s home country. But for me extra-time is never a waste. I can always find things to do for it.

One of the best things is that my phone almost never rings. First, it’s expensive to call here, and secondly not many people know my number. The obligations that were kind of useless but took a lot of time in Finland have decreased to almost zero. In Finland my mobile rings all the time, and usually each answer means a new thing to do or plan. New situation means a fresh start and time for things that are really important to me like sports, health, self-improving and people.

- Mikael