Finland was a province and then a grand duchy under Sweden from the 12th to the 19th centuries and an autonomous grand duchy of Russia after 1809. It won its complete independence in 1917. During World War II, it was able to successfully defend its freedom and resist invasions by the Soviet Union - albeit with some loss of territory. In the subsequent half century, the Finns made a remarkable transformation from a farm/forest economy to a diversified modern industrial economy; per capita income is now on par with Western Europe. As a member of the European Union, Finland was the only Nordic state to join the euro system at its initiation in January 1999. To be updated
May 19th 2008Europe » Finland » Naantali Today I went into school at 11 then at 11:30 met up with ten American 14-17 year old basketball players, two volenteer coaches, and Scott, the man in charge. I introduced myself then guided them to l ... 62 photos[full story]
April 20th 2008Europe » Finland » Naantali Today I woke up early and made french toast for breakfast for everyone! here are some pics...of me..looking like a total disaster, cooking. in finland! :) ... 3 photos[full story]
April 10th 2008Europe » Finland » Naantali Last weekend I changed host families! Now I live with the Fagerlund family! Tom, Hanna (yes, tom and hanna are my host parents names AGAIN!) Nea, my 14 year old sister, and Anette my 18 year old siste ... 12 photos[full story]
April 9th 2008Europe » Finland » Naantali Tomorrow I switch families so tonight we went out for dinner, then had a jolly good time playing with my "moving away" gifts..which inclueded a classic...black rubber rat...some awesome lady bug hair ... 50 photos[full story]
March 28th 2008Europe » Finland » Ahvenanmaa » Maarianhamina Today Ama, Hanna aiti and I went on a Viking Line picnic cruise to Aland island (aka, half way to stockholm!). We boarded the nine story ship (same one from my trip to Stockhold for the vanhojen rist ... 77 photos[full story]
May 4th 2008Europe » Finland » Etelä-Suomen lääni » Helsinki From Tallinn I took the ferry across the straight to get to Helsinki. The two cities lie only 80km apart, and the crossing takes just under two hours. After boarding the ferry I took a nap, and when I ... 4 photos[full story]
April 4th 2008Europe » Finland » Naantali This past weekend was our rotary district conference in Turku! We have 23 exchange students in our district, but Ellen was in Germany so we had 22 of us! Rick came over from Aland Friday night and s ... 24 photos[full story]
April 13th 2008Europe » Finland These pictures are from three different trips to Finland (about 8 weeks total) in 2008. If you like the outdoors then I can't think of a place on Earth that is better. The whole country is one big f ... 87 photos[full story]
April 6th 2008Europe » Finland » Vaasa Hey everyone. Wow, it's really been awhile. Sorry, I guess I've just been busy. It's really hard to find time to write in here these days. Between school, basketball, and hanging out with my friends I ... [full story]
April 26th 2008Europe » Finland » Tampere (Kirjoitin tämän Osakassa ja olen nyt sittemmin muuttanut a-kirjaimia ä-kirjaimiksi jälkikäteen)
Näiden 12 viikon aikana
1) käytin hiirtä oikealla kädellä
2) pesin kaikki pyykit sekaisin 40 a ... [full story]
Map of Finland
Finland's Flag
