MY FRIEND FROM FINLAND

This isnt a real story

but Id like that it had
been

Last summer, in the beach, I met a Finnish boy called Kimi.

He has blonde hair
and blue eyes, like most people in Finland.
Now he is my best friend.

He speaks Finnish and Swedish because they are the national languages
of Finland. He speaks English too.

told Kimi that I only knew that Finland is a Nordic country situated
in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by
Sweden in the West, Norway in the North and Russia in the East.
He told me that around 5,5 million people live in Finland. It is the
eighth largest country in Europe (Total area: 338,424 Km2) .

Myparentsandhisparentsarefriendstoo.Theyinvitedus
tovisitFinland.
AttheairportwesawabigflagofFinland.

FinlandisaParliamentaryRepublicvithacentralgovernment
inHelsinkiandlocalgovernmentsin336municipalities.
ThePresidentisTarjaHalonen.

We didnt need to change our money because they have the

Same currency of Spain, the Euro. Before 1999 they used its
own monetary unit of Markka.

Euro
Markka

It was very cold. Kimi told us that Finland has a

, characterized by warm
summers and freezing winters. The snow typically
covers the land. The coldest winter days of
southern Finland are usually under 20 C, and the
warmest days of July and August can be as high as 30 C.

We decided to visit the city of Helsinki.

We visited The Market Square, The Fortress of
Helsinki,
The Senate Square, but the monument which I liked
best
was the Lutheran Cathedral, a big white building.
Kimi told me that he is Lutheran.

There are many free ice skating rinks.

We had fun skating on the ice.

Sport is considered a national pastime in and many Finns

visit different sporting events regularly.
Kimi practise ice-hockey, Nordic walking, skiing and fishing.

We went to Kimis home.

We ate salmon, reindeers meat with cloudberries
jam and for dessert a cinnamon roll cake. All was delicious!

KimitoldusthattheprincipaltouristelementsinFinlandarethe
NaturalParksandLakes.
WevisittheNaturalParkofSalamajrvi.Therewerowedinacanoe.

Kimis mum told us that lakes

are the most important
hydrographical element
of Finland and so its known
as The country of thousands
lakes.
Its the country with the
highest percentage of lake
area, more than
9,4% of the total land area is
covered by water. There are
over 190.000
lakes of all sizes all over the
country.

Kimis mum told

us that the main
economic
resources of
Finland
are the wood
industry and
technology.

Kimi realized that my mobile phone was a Nokia, a Finnish

mark.
He showed me in his mobile (was a Nokia too) photos of his
school.
He explained me that Finland is the country with the best
education
system in Europe and one of the most peaceful countries in the
world.

Another day we went to Rovaniemi, near

Polar Artic Circle
and there we saw the toys factory of
Santa Claus.

We ride on sled leaded by

Huskies.
It was very funny!!

We saw a group of
people wearing very
estrange clothes and
Kimis dad explained us
that the Samis were an
Indian tribe in the Nordic
countries.

In the evening we saw a very extraordinary thing in the sky:

we saw the Northern Lights.

At night, to
relax, we bathed
in a sauna.
They told us
that most Finns
have one in
their home.

ThedaywecomebacktoSpain,Kimigavemeapresent:
abookoftheFinnishwriterMikaWaltari(SinhouetheEgyptian)
aCDbyJeanSibelius(aclassicmusiccomposer)

and another CD by the group Lordi (a

heavy-metal group
which won Eurovision Song Contest in
2006).

I really enjoyed this trip. I hope that Kimi comes to Spain

next summer, and I would like to visit Finland again .

by
Blanca Prez Garca
1ESO A