7 things Milo loves about Helsinki
Milo (8) was born in the Canary Islands, grew up in southern France and now attends a Spanish-speaking class in Helsinki. What is it like to live in Helsinki when you speak three languages and always miss somewhere a little?
See how Milo redefines his new home through seven of his favourite things about the city. From the ease of commuting and independence to school and new hobbies.
Milo’s grandmother Riitta left Finland in the 1970s. Riitta still hasn’t returned, but in 2022 her daughter Daniela moved from France to Helsinki with her family.
Born in Las Palmas and having started school in Montpellier, eight-year-old Milo Fernandez Osmont has, in just a couple of years, made Helsinki his own. In this article Milo shares his favourite things as tips for anyone considering making Finland’s capital their new home.
Favourite thing #1: In Helsinki I can move around freely
“When I want to meet my friends or go outside to rollerblade, I’m allowed to go without an adult. I often cycle by myself to the nearby Intianpuisto park, where I play and splash around in the little pool. I also go to the shop all on my own already.
That’s not something you can do in every country. In Spain, parents we know accompany their children until they’re 12.
I think I could go to school by myself too. But I still prefer to ask Mum or Dad to come with me, and that’s fine with them. We cycle to school while also dropping off my little brother at daycare.”
Favourite thing #2: My life has elements from three countries
“I speak French with Dad, Finnish with Mum, and all together we speak Spanish.
When guests come over, we serve macarons that my grandmother in Montpellier sends us.
But my absolute favourite treat is turrón, a sweet made from almonds and honey that you get in Spain.
With potatoes I like to eat mojo. It’s a sauce made from peppers, garlic and chilli. Of Finnish foods I like Karelian pasties the most.
I like reading and I have my own library card.
I like to take out comics, such as Tintin, Marsupilami and Asterix. At the library you can find them in Finnish, Spanish and French. If they don’t have a certain book, Mum makes a reservation and then I get new things to read again. It doesn’t matter to me which language I read in, because I know all of them.
Helsinki is a good city, but sometimes I miss my grandparents. Grandma Riitta and abu Iñaki are in Gran Canaria; in France I have mamie Christine and papy Yves. Luckily Grandma is coming to stay with us for four months in the summer.”
Favourite thing #3: Helsinki school days are short
“I started school in France when I was three. I moved to Helsinki when I was about to turn six. It was a bit funny to go back to daycare again at that age, but it was nice there.
In Finland, school starts in the autumn of the year when a child turns seven. I’m now in second grade. When I told my French friends that school days in Helsinki are four hours long and after that I go to after-school club to play, they were a bit jealous. A few already said they’re moving to Helsinki.”
Favourite thing #4: You can speak Spanish with classmates
“I go to Käpylä Comprehensive School in Helsinki and the Spanish-speaking class there, so all my classmates speak Spanish. Our families come from different parts of the world: Nicaragua, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Spain. I was born in the Canary Islands but moved from there to France when I was eight days old. For our classmates’ parents it’s important that we learn Spanish well.
This year our lessons in Spanish are maths, environmental studies and crafts; the rest are in Finnish.”
Favourite thing #5: Snow and nature are amazing
“I touched snow for the first time when I was one year old in the Alps. I’ve been told that I didn’t like it then. In Helsinki I’ve learned to love snow. I make snowmen, snow lanterns and snow forts. I have snowball fights with my friends and go sledging downhill. I really like ice skating and now I play ice hockey at the Malmi ice rink. I go to the Oulunkylä hockey school.
Winter is really nice, but so is summer. It’s actually good that Finland has four different seasons.”
Favourite thing #6: The sauna makes you feel good
“I like going to the sauna. I throw water on the stove and wait until it gets hot on the benches. There’s a shared sauna downstairs in our building. We go there on weekends.
The sauna in our building runs on electricity. A sauna can also be heated with wood. If the smoke comes inside the sauna during heating, it’s called a smoke sauna.
Sometimes we visit the saunas at Kuusijärvi with my family. We don’t have a car. You can get there by bus 736 from Tikkurila Station. At Kuusijärvi it’s nice to go for a swim after the sauna, even if the water is quite cold.”
Favourite thing #7: I can have any hobbies I want
“After school I spend time in the afternoon club. We play tag with upside-down glasses and play floorball.
In winter I play hockey and in summer football. On Mondays I go alone with Mum to a place in Kontula called Luuppi (Kontula Youth Activity Centre). There’s a fun craft workshop called Askis, where you can do handicrafts, woodwork and clay modelling. I’ve made Dad a wooden aeroplane there. I wrote Air France on it in red and blue. For my aunt I made earrings from an old skateboard. Mum asked me to tell you that the club is free. There are also free clubs at schools.
We have the Kumpula outdoor swimming pool nearby. I recommend it, it’s a really nice place in summer.
We don’t have a TV at home. That’s not a favourite thing. But it is nice that on Fridays we bake pizza at home and watch a film together on the computer.”