I am a native of Finland. It is a small country in northern Europe neighbored by Sweden and Russia. There is a coastline to Nordic sea. The country is known for Nokia cellphones, formula 1 drivers, Angry Birds -game, MaxPayne -game, alcohol, Santa, reindeer, snow and ice.
Language:
My native language is Finnish (ranked as the second hardest language in the world by somebody) which is very appropriate for heavy metal and depressing poetry. Swedish is the official second language of Finland and I can read it pretty well. But speaking is not all that fluid due to lack of practice.
Cities and towns:
Helsinki is the capital of Finland with highest population and all major embassies located there. This where you have to travel a lot when applying for graduate schools in US. For TOEFL, GRE and VISA interview as well as traveling to US. Has nice botanical garden and museums.
Oulu is where I resided to study for the Bachelors and Masters degrees (apart from exchange semester, one internship and Masters thesis lab work). It is up north on the coast of Gulf of Bothnia. Lovely during summer. Lively student culture and interesting festivals including Qstock (music festival) and Music video festival (with the famous air guitar world championships).
Seinajoki is a town in Western Finland where I went to Waldorf high school. While not big on pretty architecture, events make up for it. Provinssi -rock is one of the largest music festivals in Finland.
Alaharma is the small town/village I spent my early years in Western Finland. Rural and just a bit isolated.
Culture
Sauna is important. Most houses have one built in. No clothes or swimsuits are worn in there. Mixed saunas are common for men and women.
May 1st celebration. Originally political day has turned into party infested week for students.
Climate
We have all four seasons. It is not always cold like during winter. Summers can be quite hot. Snow occurs each winter. Since the country is close to the arctic circle, the sun does not show up for a period during winter up north. For balance there is a time in the summer when sun does not go down at all.
