Hei! I’m Amrita, your friendly neighborhood guide to Lappeenranta! I started this website to help people to get to know my home away from home.
I’m from India, and I first moved here in 2012 with my husband, who was studying for his master’s degree in LUT since 2011. After he finished, we moved to Belgium for a year, and then returned to Lappeenranta for his PhD. It was almost sunset when we arrived in August 2015. Coming from the railway station, the taxi turned left on Helsingintie and I saw Lake Saimaa again, blazing red and gold under the dying sun, and my heart told me, I’d come home.
I love Lappeenranta, I adore its peace and quiet. I love the fact that I can pick mushrooms in the woods behind my house to make lunch when I’ve forgotten to buy vegetables. I love picnicking by the lake when it’s warm, and I love the community barbecue grills that dot the lakeside.
Although it is small, Lappeenranta has everything you need, including a great movie theater, good shopping, bars, sports facilities, and really really clean air and water. It is very different from Mumbai, where I grew up, but I’ve come to see it as home. I do miss Indian food though, so I cook a lot!
I hope I can share this city with you and help you live here as comfortably as I do. In the years we’ve been here, I’ve learnt a lot about what to find where, what are the best spots for selfies and northern lights, which shop is best (and cheapest!) for what, and so on.
There are so many things I wish I’d known when I first moved here, I wish someone had made a guide to Lappeenranta! So that’s what I write about, trying to answer the questions that every newcomer probably has about Lappeenranta!
If there is something I haven’t answered, please get in touch, and I’ll try my best!