Finland in a nutshell

• Situated in northern Europe between Russia, Norway and Sweden

• Capital city: Helsinki

• Parliamentary democracy with a female president: Tarja Halonen (first elected in 2000)

• Population about 5,4 million

• 2 official languages: Finnish and Swedish

• The land of a thousand lakes (about 188 000 lakes)

• Forest covers about 75 % of Finland

Finland

Fun ”facts”• Finns are shy, quiet, punctual and hard-working• Reindeer and polar bears roam free everywhere • Father Xmas comes from Finland and lives in

North Pole• ”Everybody” has a sauna (about 2 million

saunas in Finlad)• Finns are the world´s heaviest coffee drinkers

• World ice hockey champion 2011

• Finnish traditional vegetable is: SAUSAGE

• In Finland we have this thing called ”reilu meininki”

• Finns don´t do small talk

Finns love peace and quiet

Finnish landscape in Lapland from a hiking route called Karhunkierros (=bears trail)

Finns enjoy hiking and being outdoors, nature is very important.

During the warm months finns spend a lot of time in their cottages swimming, fishing and of course going to sauna. If you don´t have a cottage, you can rent one.

• Many tourists come to Finland especially to see the phenomenon called the Aurora Borealis (aka the northern lights)

• Winter is long, dark and cold but during the short summer we enjoy the midnight sun that never sets

Finlands unique nature

• The land of a thousand lakes