Finland!?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071107/ap_on_re_eu/finland_school_shooting

Finland is one of the places I think of when I consider getting -away- from this crap.

But I did spend a summer there and fall in love with the land. I am VERY sorry this sort of tragedy has visited them.

I studied Finnish in college. I'd love to visit there.

This is shocking.

Wow. I took a summer of Finnish at the University of Helsinki, and make three study trips to Hungary. Finno-Ugrian languages RULE!

I was a linguistics major and needed some non-Indo-European languages. Took a year of Finnish and a year of Arabic.

edit: Finnish was fascinating. What a weird language!

Pick up Hungarian some time. Grammatically and phonologically there are some strong resemblances. It's equally fascinating.

that seems like an interesting language, too.

Yes it is. Sufficiently close to Finnish that Estonians can understand the Finnish TV that reaches them.

that Hungary, of all places, has a language that's nothing at all like anything else in Europe.

Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I want to be,
Pony trekking or camping,
Or just watching TV.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
It's the country for me.

You're so near to Russia,
So far from Japan,
Quite a long way from Cairo,
Lots of miles from Vietnam.

Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I want to be,
Eating breakfast or dinner,
Or snack lunch in the hall.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
Finland has it all.

You're so sadly neglected
And often ignored,
A poor second to Belgium,
When going abroad.

Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I quite want to be,
Your mountains so lofty,
Your treetops so tall.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
Finland has it all.

Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I quite want to be,
Your mountains so lofty,
Your treetops so tall.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
Finland has it all.

Finland has it all.

but I'll be good and stay out

by Sibelius.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAZOXNbBRxM