Background: 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.
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]
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]
March 30th 2008Europe » Finland » Naantali Ama and I walked around A LOT this past week and visited Muumiworld! We also went all around the harbor and Hanna Aiti found a guided tour for us around the harbor and old town!!! It was a lot of fun ... 69 photos[full story]
March 29th 2008Europe » Finland » Naantali easter was crazy. so many easter eggs and so much family fun and love! ama was with me! (she was visiting me in finland from Feb 20 throught Mar 2) she experienced it all! So on Easter Satruday we wen ... 35 photos[full story]
February 26th 2008Europe » Finland » Naantali Today Ama and I spent from 10:30 am- 3pm cooking at the summer pizza kitchen at Kala-Trappi (my rotary restaurant). Ama had brought an ENTIRE suitcase full of tortillas, cans of whole green chilies, ... 30 photos[full story]
March 4th 2008Europe » Finland » Naantali What a place. The most Finns i have ever seen together! We went to the game tonight! It was a lot of fun, even though TPS wasnt playing very well at all!!! But I got my TRIP (yes i was TRIPPING duri ... 7 photos[full story]
March 3rd 2008Europe » Finland » Naantali It has been snowing the last couple of days so today we finally had enough to go out and play in it! Matsku and I sledded down the big hill next to our house a couple times, then I built an igloo in ... 12 photos[full story]
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