Hello new Steemian friends!

My name is Juho-Pekka. I come from Finland; the land of reindeer, sauna, Santa Claus, thousands of lakes, gorgeous northern lights and freezing weather. I live in the north of Finland, where we experience the midnight sun in summer and several months of complete darkness in winter. Temperatures vary from -30 degrees in winter to +30 degrees in summer. Finland is a land of extremes. That reflects in the Finnish personality as well. In winter, we like to dip into an ice hole on a lake to refresh our spirit during the darkest times.

This is what we wear in Finland in winter...

It's time to dip into the icy water...prr....

We have some silly contests arranged in Finland every year such as wife carrying world championships (http://www.eukonkanto.fi/) , air guitar world championships (http://www.airguitarworldchampionships.com/ ), swamp soccer world championships (http://www.suopotkupallo.fi/) and mobile phone throwing world championships (http://www.mobilephonethrowing.fi/).

Finns like their private space. They usually have distant relationships with their neighbors. When they see them, they greet as shortly as possible and avoid eye contact like a plague. The biggest fear of a Finn is to get into a small closed space, like an elevator, with a stranger. Small talk doesn’t exist in Finnish language. Finns only talk when they have something to say.

Getting friends in Finland is hard but when you manage to break the ice, you notice that Finns are very loyal, sympathetic and reliable people. They are also very emotional and sentimental creatures even though the first impression could be just the opposite.

In Finland, everyone has a sauna in their house. Finns like to be naked and they are always naked when they can. It’s rather controversial since Finns don’t like to have eye contact or to have a conversation with a stranger, but they can go naked to a sauna with a stranger. As I mentioned earlier, Finland is a land of extremes, in many ways.

Then, a little bit about myself, I am a twenty-seven-year old marketing student. I am about to finish my studies this year. I am interested in blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies, gold investing, investments in general, foreign languages (currently I speak Finnish, English, Spanish, French, German, Swedish and a little bit of Portuguese and Russian), travelling, singing, playing guitar, sports, reading and meeting new people. I already feel that I have too many interests and hobbies and one life isn’t enough to do all that I would like to do…

I have a Mexican girlfriend whom I have been dating for three years already, so I think I am not a stereotypical Finn anymore. I have begun to become more latino in some aspects; I can have small talk, I have become more dramatic and I eat tacos all the time…I also have two gorgeous cats, Misifu whom my girlfriend adopted from the violent streets of Mexico, and Osito, Misifu’s son, who was suddenly born on my girlfriend's lap upon the adoption. They are beautiful Siamese cats who even have their own Instagram account: @ultrasiamesecats

Osito is a fat, noisy and mischievous cat. He is very smart for a cat. He can open doors and drawers and do illegal things such as scratch the walls to get our attention. He loves to go to sauna and play laser tag, drinks only running water from the faucet and hates coldness, vets and travelling. His favorite food is salmon.

Misifa is a little diva princess who loves ass clapping. Despite her small size, she eats like a horse, but never gets fat. She likes to sleep in very strange positions. Her favorite toys are ear plugs and small coins.

Currently, I have been focusing on learning as much as I can about blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies, ICOs and this new ecosystem in general. I even decided to write my Master’s thesis related to the topic. I ran into Bitcoin the first time in 2013 but started studying it and the technology behind Bitcoin seriously about one year ago. Since then I have watched hundreds of videos on Youtube, read several books, articles, news, joined several groups on Telegram, Whatsapp and Facebook, followed all the crypto influencers I have found on Twitter and Youtube and tried to update my knowledge constantly. I hope I can learn from more experienced users in this field and be able to help and educate beginners who want to get engaged in this new revolution.

I think it’s a very interesting moment to be alive from a historical perspective. People are rethinking what money is, whether it’s fiat, gold or crypto. Banks’ monopoly position is threatened for the first time in history. For the first time in history, it’s possible to send currency across the world instantaneously, extremely cheaply and without the need for a central authority. We can’t even imagine what kind of tsunami of innovations is yet to come out this. Incumbents aren’t going to give up without a fight. Blockchain technology can either save us or enslaves us, depending on the things that are to happen in the following few years…

What do I expect from Steem?

I hope to connect with people who share the same interests with me, learn from them, share ideas, thoughts and opinions with them... I want to express myself by writing regularly on the topics I find interesting and be part of the growing Steemit community. If I could make a couple of bucks by writing here that would be great too :)