Iced In Flames said:
Anything else that someone can tell us about Finland. I dont want my decision to be based off of that its cold and there are summer festivals there

I've looked at general info, but its always best to hear stuff from people who actually live there. what kinda of jobs are in demand there as well?
Like Jääkäri already mentioned, people do speak English here, - at least in the souhtern parts, I have no experience on other parts - and are generally very interested (even to the point of being irritatingly nosy) of anyone speaking English, especially in bars, and some are more than excited of a chance to speak English.
I don't know about jobs. I'm unemployed myself at the moment because I never bothered to educate myself properly, and these days nothing seems interesting enough worth wasting 3+ years on getting a profession.
You can see northern lights in Helsinki. Sadly stargazing, my favourite pastime while having a smoke, is quite tricky at times because of the light pollution.
In general, Finland - Helsinki at least - is a nice place to live. Lots of nature (and I mean
a lot), the social security services are good, public healthcare is okay. Socialist democrats have high support rates. At first you might be a little put off by the people because usually everyone is rather hell-bent on minding their own businesses (e.g. everyone in buses sit in grim silence and stare out of the windows, and if someone laughs or speaks out loud everyone thinks he/she is either drunk or a foreigner, or both), but once you break the ice, or get them drunk, they start opening up.
That's my two cents. Oh, USD pretty much equals Euro, so the prices should match nicely.
edit:
Car costs and fuel prices will shock you Americans as well.
