Etelä-Suomen lääni, the Province of Southern Finland, (formerly called the Province of Uusimaa) was founded on October 1, 1997. It was formed from the earlier provinces of Uusimaa, Kymi and the southern part of the Häme province. Some parts of the late province of Mikkeli were also joined to the new province. The administrative centre of the province is Hämeenlinna.

Province of Southern Finland is the most populated district in Finland with 2 081 507 inhabitants in December 31, 2000. The overall area is 34 378 km², 10.6% of that of the whole country.

---

I live in Helsinki which is located in the southern part of the Province of Southern Finland, on the coast of the Baltic Sea. My place is in the nice (?) suburb called Maunula, if you happen to be around, give me a call so we can arrange a E2-minimeeting in the local pub. =)

Hmm, I wonder why I haven't submitted this before..

I live in the capital of Etelä-Suomen Lääni, the vast metropolis known as Hämeenlinna.
My home is located on one of the best sections of the city, which is very peaceful but has all the necessary shops and businesses nearby.

Despite its small size, the town isn't a bad place to live. There isn't much nightlife apart from some horrid bars filled with drunken teens, but since I'm not much of a partygoer that doesn't matter. The lack of special-interest stores does bother me sometimes, but thankfully Helsinki is only a short train ride away.

Though I have no Real Life, my body resides in Kotka, the smallish harbor town at the south coast. The place is known best for random shoot-outs, blood chilling murders and the famous Red House, the home to ladies of negotiable affection, and where you can get some booty for a price (or so the big boys tell me, I wouldn't know). Overall, a nice place to live in.

On the positive side, we do have this festival-thing going on in the summer, called Meripäivät (the Maritime Festival). Though nowadays it's nothing more than an excuse for kids to get hopelessly drunk and for their parents to pay large sums of money to do so as well, it used to fun. Now you just have to pay for everything, which quite frankly spoils the whole thing, at least for me.

If you happen to be passing by, I might be found in Sam's Pub, at the center of Karhula (an even smaller town, 'bout 10 km from the isle of Kotka itself). A nice place to spend the evening with some buddies and good music.

My flat lies in Roihuvuori which is an older suburb of East Helsinki with appr. 7500 inhabitants.
There are at least three shops, barber, computer store (!) and few pub's...

An average dweller of Roihuvuori:
-lives in 60m^2 flat which is rented at a chance of 55 %
-has 1,9 people household
-university level education at a chance of 20 %
-unemployed at a chance of 13 %
-is 38 year old
-speaks finnish as a mother tongue at a chance of 90 %

From Roihuvuori to Helsinki railwaystation (center) takes appr. 30 min by bus-subway combination...

I live on "Laru", Lauttasaari -- Oh, heck, let's call it Drumsö, like Ghod intended! -- in Helsingfors. I have what is probably the world's smallest "apartment"... No, come to think of it, only the second-smallest: The smallest one was the one I lived in, three places before this. But, hey, the rent is cheap, so I ain't complainin'.

I don't check in on Everything all that often (stuff on SAAB to be corrected, I see; apparently written by Merkins), so I totally missed the Great Gathering this summer. :-(

Well, fuck knows if I'd have been welcome anyway, since I dislike the idea (and ruling practice) of Pakkosuomi...