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Ease of Living
How did a professor of dentistry end up moving from the middle of Europe to the middle of (k)nowhere? And does he think living here is easy? Let Szabolcs Felszeghy tell you all about it.
A moment of silence at Hietasalo Island while the blue moment of the day rolls in. Photo Szabolcs Felszeghy
Szabolcs Felszeghy moved with his family from Hungary to Kuopio a few years ago. He works at the University of Eastern Finland and writes a blog about his thoughts of Finland and Finnishness through the eyes of an immigrant.
HOW DID YOU END UP IN KUOPIO?
I first met Savonians in 1998 and discovered that they are awesome. I loved everything I learned about the country during my first three-month stay as a PhD student at Prof. Heikki Helminen’s Department of Anatomy. In 2015 I heard about a vacant senior researcher position at the University of Eastern Finland. I applied for the position and got the job. I moved here with my family and, in 2018, after two years, we decided to stay for a while, since we were falling ever more in love with Kuopio, its nature and Finland in general. And now, our third baby girl is born a real Savonian.
DO YOU THINK LIVING IN KUOPIO IS EASY?
Generally, YES, it is, but you need to be punctual. Being on time is not only typically Savonian, but is expected of everyone. Being on time is their way of telling you they value you.
Besides that, I think we also have a great choice of entertainment, good food, music, sports and culture. Kuopio has a lot of surrounding nature and we all know Mother Nature does not charge an entrance fee… This is what makes life so easy here, and the local government has made it even easier to enjoy nature in Kuopio by developing cycling and cross-country routes, opening new public beaches for free and many other measures.
Although we are in the middle of (k)nowhere with less than 200 000 inhabitants, Kuopio is an extremely beautiful city embedded in nature and is starting to become more and more multicultural too.
