Funny how people are different; my experience is the exact opposite - summers are tolerable once you've got yourself a decent set of blinds. Just.

Winters? Love it.

The polar night is eerily beautiful; much of it isn't pitch black, but rather blue-ish, thanks to refraction in the atmosphere - we get lots and lots of twilight hours!

Also, there is something soothing (to this guy, anyway) about the relative quiet outside - snow mutes much noise, birds don't chirp as much, most people spend more time indoors...

Summer? Well, at times it is convenient to have, say, a barbecue at two AM while working on your tan - but mostly I've found the midnight sun to be an annoyance more than a bonus.

(Full disclosure - I am not born and raised in the Arctic, I just sort of stumbled into a couple of summers and winter seasons in various places up north (from 68 to 79 degrees latitude); the locals are overwhelmingly in favour of summer!)

I have heard from others who move here that they have problems with sleeping. For me, who have grown up here, it is normal and not a problem.

Winters are cold, but except for that it is nice to see the difference in light from day to day this time of year

As a student I would often walk home in the middle if the night, bright as day.

Pretty weird when taking summer holidays in southern Europe, and it gets dark like 8 or so in the evening.

That's interesting. Moving from Southern Europe to Northern Europe that was one of the worst things for me. I simply could not get any sleep. One would think that they would have nice blackout curtains but in fact the curtains let all the light in, making sleeping impossible.

>making sleeping impossible

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Good-Night-Eye-Shade-GNES/dp/B009V0...

These do the trick pretty well. Considering the cost could you not install them?

http://www.ikea.com/ie/en/products/textiles-rugs/curtains-bl...

I don't mind the change in light (dark or light) - but a friend recommended sticking alum foil over windows with normal house/floor cleaning soap for glue (doesn't hurt the glass, makes for easy removal). Worked for me when I worked night shift and went to bed around 10 am.

I used to have a bedroom with four windows and no blinds in Stockholm. It worked, but after five years I put in some blinds.

I just put a shirt over my eyes

You need proper blackout curtains where the fabric is in direct contact with the framing of the window. Typically curtains have a lot of space between the fabric and the frame/glass so you'll get a lot of light coming in.

I think the changing light overall is the best part - both the midnight sun and the blue light during polar night.

There are ofcourse a number of pictures - but one place to start for the curious is this group with (mostly) amateur photos from Troms in Norway:

https://m.facebook.com/groups/349495561863890/

I've recently moved back to Tromsø - and the light is still just as fascinating.

In Finland, it's party time :)