finland

The thing about Finland that took me the longest to wrap my head around was how sparsely populated the place was. As I was flying in I could see these large spaces of green land, with a solo house here and there, but not in clusters, instead very spread out. And it didn't make any sense to me. Did people really live this far apart from each other?




It took awhile, but it all sorta made sense eventually. The place really does have a low population, the capital only having 600,000 peps. In addition, privacy is highly valued. It seems that the Fins really appreciate nature, being out there with their friends and family. So most everyone has access to a cabin in the woods, either their own or someones they know. They seem to come complete with a sauna, conveniently located next to crystal clear lakes. You might see someone else using this lake at the same time. But probably not.










Oh, and the sunsets are amazing. They last for hours and is followed by a sunrise about 3 hours later. It is seriously difficult to tell when the day ends and the morning begins, it never seems to become completely dark this time of year.






Finland is the only country that I know that actually encourages population increase, though I'd imagine places such as Russia might too. They do this with payments of 100 dollars a month for each child for every family regardless of income! This is also very difficult for me to understand. Why every family would get the same amount, never mind that they are getting anything at all.