As far as UK schools, tbh, the weather is very dreary in the winter. I would rather have snow and darkness than rain and darkness. I lived in the UK for twenty years, and some of the northern cities can be a bit depressing.
First time I ever went abroad, I stayed for eight months. I never got tired of it, or homesick. I was in wet, grey England, and I didn’t give a hoot about the weather. Do young adults care about the weather, really? Of course, I am not talking about people who suffer from SAD. Most young people who study abroad will find that a semester flies by, and they usually love every minute of it. Holland is a lot of fun, and there are a ton of Europeans and others who visit, and it is very central. But even in Finland, there are a lot of flights to everywhere in Europe, and nowhere is much more than a couple of hours away. I think Finland is the better bet, only because Holland is too European and multi-cultural. For that matter, so are many other major European cities. Any of the choices will be appealing to a student going abroad. Perhaps she should choose based on which program is best for her major.
My student exchange program when I was in college was in Finland during the summer of 1976. I lived in the little town of Oitti, a half hour from Helsinki. English wasn’t spoken by many in the area so I learned to speak a little Finnish. It is a fascinating culture and different from mainland Europe. I climbed a mountain at 3 AM in the Land of the Midnight Sun, worked on a grain farm, took saunas in an old barn, and ate the best smoked sausage I’ve ever had.
She may get to cross country ski, buy you a rya rug or two, travel to other countries and Lapland, meet a reindeer or two, and have a few adventures. Good luck!
If she is going to be on a tight budget I would go with Netherlands because it will be cheaper to get to famous cities such as Paris and London.
I suppose the argument could be made for - if she is going to be on a tight budget, go to Finland because it will be less tempting to get away for a weekend to another city which will help her develop her social life in Finland.
I felt that restaurant food was expensive in Finland. We did a lot of grocery stores and picnicking. We did a little back to school shopping for my daughter at a mall in downtown Helsinki. Iconic items such as Marimeko are actually a little cheaper in the US. I would pick up a winter coat in the US unless there are no budget issues.
An off beat goofy place we went to near Turku was Moominworld. It is to me what a children’s theme park should be. Lots of gentle storytelling and make believe - no rides and loud music. Costumed characters would do coloring book pages with the children. It ended up being a highlight of our time in Finland and says a lot about how the Finns view childhood.
One of our picnic spots ended up near one of the open prisons. No razor wire or floodlights, it looked like cottages.
We took the ferry that goes to Tallinn Estonia. I really liked Estonia and Latvia and they were very inexpensive for getting around. We used the Lux Express coach bus company and would use them again. They have an extensive network.