Finland!

[chep]

hey ff
I have left Finland and now in the balmy -26 degree climate in Estonia... Anyhow, I spent my last days in a little town called Lappi, with a real cool dude. His name is Jarkko and he owns about 105 hectares of field and forest. He let me stay in one of his cabins for a few nights for some felling work. Ended up being a blast, be cut a bunch of scotch pine and then worked TSI on a birch pole stand. All in all it was an excellent way to get some info from the horses mouth.
Among other insight gained, the biggest point he made to me was that there is no property tax in Finland. I think that is excellent. It seems that much mismanagement comes from trying to squeee dollars off of your property to pay taxes. You are seemingly punished for waiting to cut timber in the states. In finland it was not so. People take a lot of pride in their forests and a ot of pride in working their forests by themselves and withtheir children.
Finland is a very cool country and I can recomend anyone to visit. I cant wait to go back.  Finns come off a little cold, but once they warm up to you they are a lot of fun.
Brendon you are lucky to be in such a situation, make the most of it
regards
chep

[BrandonTN]

Hey chep, so no property tax, eh? They do however pay a lot in income tax. Finland is a more "socialist" kind of economy/government than US. I've heard they pay around 30% income tax. I haven't gotten around to it yet, but I'd like to see how much forest land costs by the hectare around here.

PA Faller, judging by the high prices of everything here in Finland, I'd say they're doing pretty darn good. ...talk about some jacked up prices, jeez!!!!  For what it's worth, I think Nokia cell phones and exporting timber and forestry machinery are some big components of Finland's economy. Not sure how the Nordic countries are doing in general though compared to the rest of the world.

And Ron, speaking of sauna....    Today I went sauna/ice swimming for the first time. More like ice dipping...in the right back out!!!! Crazy. 

I'll try to get some pics up when (if) I can get time away from these European college girls. 

Btw, I'm not going back home for Christmas....too expensive flight. Fortunately, I know a wonderful finnish family I'm gonna spend Christmas eve and day with. And on the 27th my brother is flying over here...we are gonna go to Stockholm, Paris and London...all within 8 days. So, we'll see how it goes.

I'm actually so far kind of disappointed in my forestry studies here, on my part and the school's. I know it's a bit much to ask, and I know it's impractical, but I miss having a native English speaking teacher...the language barrier has been a struggle. The professors don't improvise b/c they are nervous speaking English...so they just read their powerpoints during the lectures. Also, the majority of my classmates are not specifically forestry majors; most are agriculture, env sci, biology, or whatever else. So, I miss having that singleness of purpose kind of enthusiasm that I had back home at the forestry dept. That's the school's part. As for my part...    Well, I've focused more on socializing with other international students and traveling around than I have been involved with forestry.

We'll see what next semester brings.

Merry Christmas, y'all!

[ibseeker]

Focus on your priorities, Brandon!
You will only be young for a little while, at least your body will be, but those trees will still be there when you and all those beautiful young European college students are old and gray.

I am jealous. 

[Mooseherder]

Girls.......Trees
Girls........Trees

Sorry Trees.  Girls rule.
At you age trees can't see through the forest and that's okay.  Girls come first.

[SwampDonkey]

You never found the ones hiding in the woods? 

[BrandonTN]