Turku, Finland
06.03.2018
In this post, we’d like to tell you more about the environment where we live and work – the town of Turku in South-West Finland.
Finland is a rather long, sparsely populated country, squeezed right in between of Sweden and Russia, with lots of forests, lakes and islands, and a rather cool atmosphere. Finnish is a language most other Europeans think of as a difficult one, since it isn’t part of the more common Indo-European language family. For historical reasons, we also have a Swedish-speaking minority and not to forget the indigenous Sami people of the North, who speak several different Sami languages. Most of the population in Finland live in the South of the country and that’s where we are located, too.
Turku is a rather big town compared to other Finnish cities and towns, but on a more global scale it’s a small town, with approximately 190 000 inhabitants. It’s an old medieval town, the oldest in Finland, and in fact it used to be the capital until the 1800’s, when the capital was moved to Helsinki. Turku is located on the shore of the Baltic sea, where commerce, seafaring, and shipbuilding have been important sources of livelihood for long time. Today Turku is quite a lively town with several universities. Turku has also a lively theater scene, with both a big Finnish language theater and the Swedish language theater, plus several smaller theatres.
The landscapes in Southern Finland are rather flat, but Turku is known for its seven hills and the river Aura, which flows through the town center and serves for pleasant views and atmospheres along its riverside. In Turku, we refer to the location with “this side and the other side of the river”. You can tell someone’s lived in Turku a while, when he or she knows which side is the correct “this side”.
Pictures by Janika Brügmann.
Our office is located in the Technology center area of the city. The Technology center is located close to the city center, on "this side of the river". Here there are many smaller and bigger businesses and startups, especially in the fields of biotechnology and IT. Here, in our cozy office we make the magic happen.
Picture by Elena Kazakova.