In the first episode of 'All Points North on Video', we discuss the harsh realities faced by students who move to Finland from abroad to study in the "world's happiest country".

Many students are unprepared for the reality of student life in Finland, content creator and education professional Saaima Aziz notes, because they have been misled by unscrupulous agents.

"They make fake promises, that life in Finland is very easy, that you can quickly get a part-time job, earn enough to save, and even save money as well," she says. "But that's not real".

Japanese national Tomonao 'Tomo' Bushida meanwhile tells the podcast that, despite his love of Finland and in particular Tove Jansson's Moomins, the challenges he has faced as a student here has made him reconsider if he has a future in the country.

"I want to see my future here, definitely, and I have motivation and the passion to live here," he says. "But at the same time, I have come to the point that I really have to think about going back to Japan as a Plan B."

You can watch the full episode from the video below or on our YouTube channel.

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Ronan Browne produced and presented this episode of All Points North. The sound and video engineer was Juha Hjelm and the production assistant was Matthew Schilke.

If you have any questions or want to share your thoughts, contact us via WhatsApp at +358 44 421 0909 or at yle.news@yle.fi and allpointsnorth@yle.fi.