Gems of Finland, Chapter 1

Crossing Senaatintori today in the evening, when the lighting was just perfect, I decided to write a series of entries about what I think is so cool about living in Finland. This is also to mark the 20th anniversary of my arriving to this country. On 17.8.1985 Carlos, Hamsa and I (just a 1-year old baby at the time) landed in Helsinki from Moscow. Was it fate or coincidence which led them to settle down here? What was it that made them go against the warnings of their families that Finland was a harsh and cold place to live, and why did they dismiss ideas of going to Germany, or perhaps as far as Japan? We will never know. But it is not for me to now write a family saga of the past 20 years and all the fascinating things which have happened (let's face it, it's almost all my lifetime ;) and so I will get to the point.

- Democracy and freedom of speech. In 1906, Finland was the third country in the world (after New Zealand and Australia, and keep in mind Finland was not yet independent) and first in Europe to grant women the right to vote. Also the fact that our president is a woman shows how far Finland has gone with equality issues, although there are probably still some farmers up in Pohjanmaa who can't believe the commander-in-chief of the Finnish army is a woman. Finland is also the least corrupt country in the world (Source: Transparency International, 2003).

-Education After Finland scored the highest marks at the PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) study, for the second time in a row, teachers and education ministers flocked to seminars in Helsinki to find out why Finnish 15-year olds are the best in the world when it comes to mathematics, mother tongue, science and problem solving. The Finnish education has long been regarded among the top of the top in the world, perhaps not the least because it's all free. How proud we all were to see a normal high school in Helsinki being shown all over the BBC, with interviews with teachers and students. Tourists are often astounded at how fluently Finnish teenagers can speak English, often also Swedish, which, after all, is the second language here. Becoming a teacher is also the most popular wish for a profession among young Finnish people.
Many university students from abroad are also coming to study in Finland. Not only is all higher level education free (although you first have to pass a hellish entrance exam for which Finns usually study as much as during their whole time at university) , students also get enormous help from the government. Foreigners can't believe their ears when I tell them I get 406 euro delivered to my account every fourth day of the month - and if I wanted to, I could get at least 200 more every month with a student loan.

-Books and media. When it comes to the number of daily newspapers published per capita, Finland is among the top ten. The biggest newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, based (surprise) in Helsinki, is read every day by a fifth of the whole population. The Finnish library system is the best in the world, with almost 500 public libraries in the whole country (don't forget the population is just over 5 million) and Finns read more books per capita than any other population in the world (this might sound far-fetched and, as a matter of fact, I can not fully confirm this because I can't remember by source :), and many people read as much in foreign languages as they do in Finnish.

To be continued!