1. 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

2. 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

3. 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.

4. 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