Focus on Finland by https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt My wall for this course with some pictures I've taken en-us 2017-12-08 20:26:53 UTC 2025-11-19 19:52:23 UTC hello@padlet.com THE FINNISH PAST jjemsie https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214646817 What else did you know about the Finnish past?
- Since I'm Finnish, I have studied Finnish history in school. I've always liked history but I've mainly been focused on world history rather than Finnish. I do find the origin story of Finnish language interesting with the things associated with that time - it seems weird to think that Finnish is quite a young language compared to many others.

Was there something surprising to you?
- There wasn't really any new information but it's always weird comparing Finnish language to others. I've studied English, German, Swedish, French and Spanish and those are all alike in a way. I can't even imagine how difficult learning Finnish grammar would be like. When we went through all the grammatical cases of the Finnish language at school, it was a nightmare. Thankfully we didn't have to learn them all by heart.

Do you know what the current demographics of the population looks like?
- I didn't know but I looked it up (which turned into a half hour wikipedia browsing). In Wikipedia page "Demographics of Finland" there was a map that showed the languages of Finnish municipalities as of 2016 and even though I knew that there are a lot of Swedish-speaking people on the coastal area, it still somehow surprised me. You don't really hear Swedish here in Mikkeli and it's always a culture shock in a way, going to the southern coastal area.
]]> 2017-12-08 20:28:01 UTC https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214646817 jjemsie https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214663949 2017-12-08 22:08:43 UTC https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214663949 jjemsie https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214664087 2017-12-08 22:09:48 UTC https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214664087 jjemsie https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214664260 2017-12-08 22:11:14 UTC https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214664260 jjemsie https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214664653 2017-12-08 22:14:48 UTC https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214664653 jjemsie https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214664699 2017-12-08 22:15:22 UTC https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214664699 jjemsie https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214664809 2017-12-08 22:16:32 UTC https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214664809 jjemsie https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214665182 2017-12-08 22:20:08 UTC https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214665182 FINNISH EDUCATION SYSTEM jjemsie https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214665605 My experiences about education have been mostly positive. I had an opportunity to study more than one foreign language from an early age. On third grade when English started I was so excited I went ahead on excercises and my teacher noticed. She suggested I take up another language starting next year (we could choose German or French) and I believe that was probably the best advice any teacher has given me to date.

During my time in school, things have changed quite a lot. First of all computers have become a huge part of education. Back in third grade we would find information from books and not we can google it in seconds. Overall, classes and courses are going online more and more. It brings up a wide range of possibilities but I'm not sure if it's all thought out. Personally, I miss books. Yeah, they were needlessly expensive and a pain to drag around but reading from a book was so much nicer and somehow lighter. Also, I've always learnt best if I write things down and I'm not sure how much it's done today in grades 1-9 or in upper secondary but I haven't really written anything down in class for a few years.

There have been many almost praising articles about how Finnish education is one of the best (if not the best) in the world. I'm not sure what to think about it. I understand why that is but it isn't all rainbows and smiles. There have been some major changes to the school system and the increase of class sizes is the most alarming to me. Also, it seems like the respect for the teachers is going downhill. That is not a great combination at all. A while ago there was a video going around online about a teacher who lost her temper and a student filmed it. I can only imagine how much it had taken for her to start screaming to the smug kids who seemed somehow glad that they made her break. That is just an extreme example, but the increase of class sizes can really lead to big problems and it's making the job of a teatcher unnecessarily hard.

I don't think Finland will have the best education in the world for long if goverment keeps on cutting from it and making decisions with only money in mind.]]> 2017-12-08 22:24:01 UTC https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214665605 VERLA jjemsie https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214670490 Verla was a groundwood mill that had a short-lived period at first under administration of Hugo Neuman. The mill was founded in 1872 and was destroyed in a fire in 1874.

After that, in 1882, a new groundwood and board mill was founded by Gottlieb Kreidl and Louis Haenel. Wilhelm Dippel was one of the shareholders and his brother Carl Dippell was the architect. Since the first mill was destroyed in a fire, he took it as a lesson and the new mill was made of bricks.

When the mill needed expansion in 1895, they couldn't afford to shut down for months. Resolution was to build the new outer walls around the old log building so then the walls could be pulled down with minimal impact on the production of the mill.

What made Verla unique was the usage of the same methods and equipment from the beginning to the end (1964). All of the equipment is still there, since the mill is nowadays a museum. Also, the quality of the products was highly appreciated and valued - if you bought from Verla, you knew the quality would be sound.]]> 2017-12-08 23:40:14 UTC https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214670490 EVERYMAN'S RIGHTS jjemsie https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214670533 1. What are the rights about?
- The rights basically about being able to walk, ski, cycle, camp out (temporarily) and in the nature, at a reasonable distance from housing. Picking berries, mushrooms and flowers is also allowed, as long as the species is not protected. There are some limitations for example in national parks but otherwise you can roam around in the nature freely. I think the most important part of everyman's rights are the responsibilities that come with the rights. It's all about respect for the nature.

2. Do you have the same in your home country?
- It's bizarre to me to think that everyman's rights aren't everywhere. I'm used to being able to go out in the woods and explore the nature wherever I am (in Finland) without thinking that I'd get in trouble for that. As a kid I often went to pick blueberries and mushrooms with my grandma and those were one of the best experiences of my childhood.
]]> 2017-12-08 23:41:08 UTC https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214670533 Future of Finland jjemsie https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214676029 I'm not really sure what to think of the future of Finnish economy. Every year it's been harder and harder to find a summer job and I think the economic situation reflects to that - if businesses aren't doing well, they won't hire summer workers.

I really hope that it gets better. I think that the gaming industry might really stand a chance in global competition as well as technology overall. Then again the paper industry will most likely become less and less relevant and I'm not sure if technology industry can cover the gap.]]> 2017-12-09 02:08:19 UTC https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214676029 jjemsie https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214706490 2017-12-09 13:05:53 UTC https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214706490 jjemsie https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214706646 2017-12-09 13:07:56 UTC https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214706646 jjemsie https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214706718 2017-12-09 13:08:57 UTC https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214706718 jjemsie https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214706769 2017-12-09 13:09:43 UTC https://padlet.com/jjemsie/t05jczjymrrt/wish/214706769