Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I want to be,
Pony trekking or camping,
Or just watching TV.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
It's the country for me.

You're so near to Russia,
So far from Japan,
Quite a long way from Cairo,
Lots of miles from Vietnam.

Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I want to be,
Eating breakfast or dinner,
Or snack lunch in the hall.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
Finland has it all.

You're so sadly neglected
And often ignored,
A poor second to Belgium,
When going abroad.

Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I quite want to be,
Your mountains so lofty,
Your treetops so tall.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
Finland has it all.

Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I quite want to be,
Your mountains so lofty,
Your treetops so tall.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
Finland has it all.

Finland has it all.

Facts and Figures

1.	Finland is located in northern Europe bordering Sweden, Norway and Russia.
2.	Finland is around 1160km north to south, and 540 km west to east. Geographically Finland is the 6th largest country in Europe, covering 338,000 square kilometres, of which 69% is forest and 10% is water. It has 187,888 lakes!
3.	The Finnish name for Finland is Suomi.
4.	Finland is home to around 5.2 million people. Helsinki is the capital city and about 1 million people live there
5.	Finland is part of the European Union and it's currency is the Euro.
6.	Finland has two official languages, Finnish and Swedish. Many town names have both a Finnish name and a Swedish name (e.g. Helsinki and Helsingfors) and there are fairly sizeable Swedish-speaking communities on the west coast of Finland. However, Swedish is compulsary in school and is hence promptly forgotten by most Finns.
7.	Lapland, home to the nomadic Sami people, stretches across the north of Norway, Sweden and Finland.
8.	The four seasons of the year are clearly distinct from one another in Finland. The climate is marked by cold winters, but it has fairly warm summers. In the far north of the country the sun does not set for about 73 days of the year, producing light nights in summer. In winter the sun remains below the horizon for 51 days in the far north. In summer the temperature quite often rises over 20 Celsius and occasionally goes over 30. In winter, temperatures of -20 Celsius are common.
9.	Finland's chief exports are forestry and paper products, metal, engineering, telecommunications and electronics.
10.	Nokia is a Finnish company. They actually started out making car tyres.
11.	Linux, the computer operating system was invented by Finn Linus Torvalds. Internet Relay Chat (IRC) was invented by Finn Jarkko Oikarinen in 1988.
12.	Sauna is a Finnish word. It is more correctly pronounced saa-ooh-na than sor-na. Although the origin of the sauna is unclear, Finns are the undisputed kings of sauna. Most households have access to one.
13.	Finland has the highest proportion of Blondes in the world

The Kalevala - The National Finnish Epic

Myth Busting

Mountains	It is a common misconception that Finland is mountainous. It is not. Whilst the north of Sweden and Norway have some big peaks, Finland is remarkably flat. That being said, there are still a number of good ski resorts on the small mountains and hills in the north of Finland.
Polar bears	Finland is home to reindeer, elk, wolves, brown bears, snakes and Santa Claus but not polar bears.
Scandanavia	Finns don't mind being called Scandanavian but strictly speaking Finland is not a part of Scandanavia. Geographically, Scandinavia is the peninsula where you'll find Norway and Sweden, the Scandinavian peninsula. As a region, Scandinavia is Norway, Sweden and Denmark. It is more correct to call Finland a Nordic country
Darkness	It is true that there are very short hours of daylight during the winter in Finland. Indeed in the north the sun will not come up at all. You may think that Finland is dark most of the time. What is generally unknown is that the transition from dark winter days to bright summer ones is fairly swift. Even in early spring, the sun will set after 8pm in the south. So whilst the winter is dark, almost any other time it is very light in Finland.

The little differences

Candies and Coffee	Per capita Finnish people eat the most sweets and drink the most coffee in the world. Finns do drink a lot of cups of coffee but their number 1 rating may well be due the stength of their brews. Finns tend to drink strong black coffee. The sweet aisles of supermarkets are packed with goodies and there are several variations on salty licorice (salmiakki in Finnish)
Mickey and Donald	Although their popularity may be waning elsewhere, Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse (Mikki Hiiri) and Donald Duck (Aku Ankka ... careful saying that one) are very much alive in Finland. Small pocket-sized versions of the comics can be found almost everywhere, and it is not always kids who read them.
Alcohol	Beer and cider are now sold at supermarkets but any other alcohol must still be purchased at the state-run Alko shops. Alcohol is popular and because of its restricted availability may perhaps be seen as a little more rebellious than elsewhere by youngsters. The Finnish have their own version of the 6 pack. They are called mäyris which means sausage dog. Count them bottles.
Sport	The most popular sport in Finland is Ice Hockey. Finns also compete in a number of skiing events and are one of the top ski-jumping nations. Football (soccer) is on the rise but it is played in summer in Finland due to the climate. Also, Finland's annual wife-carrying championship is still held every July in a tiny village called Sonkajärvi!
Walking	Finns do a lot of walking. Sometimes they even do it with ski-poles, something now called Nordic-walking. Maybe it is the cold, it is hard to say, but wherever they are going most Finns walk very fast.
Frozen lakes	The lakes in Finland freeze over during the winter. It is common to see people drilling holes in the lakes and going ice-fishing (there is water underneath). In some places, temporary roads over the ice are set up during the winter. The strength of the ice is continually monitored to make sure it can handle the weight.
Gambling	At almost every supermarket or large shop in Finland you will find several one arm bandit or pokie machines. These are often attended by large hoards of old aged pensioners. They even have seats so that they can wait to get a turn on a machine. You could well criticise the companies saying it robs poor old people of their money, but for many it seems almost a social event, something to fill an empty day.
Rules	Finns are largely very law-abiding citizens. It seems they have a lot of rules and regulations and they are proud of keeping them. One odd exception concerns pedestrians and zebra crossings. Even when the light is green and the little man is lit up to walk, Finns will still zoom through in the path of pedestrians. Perhaps they have dreams of becoming the next Tommi Mäkinen (rally), Mika Hakkinen or Kimi Räikkönen (Formula 1).
Education	Finnish people have a high standard of education. They have a large number of modern libraries and their students borrow the most books from libraries. Newspaper circulation per capita is the highest in the EU and third highest in the world.
Shops	Many supermarkets or department stores in Finland are named using letters. The more letters a shop has the bigger it is. So the kkk supermarket (git yer white sheets here boys!) is slightly smaller than the kkkk supermarket.

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