A Novel About My Lapland Trip!

I survived the arctic! I recently returned home from a trip to Lapland in Northern Finland. Our trip began with a long overnight drive from Jyväskylä to Rovaniemi.

In Rovaniemi we visited the Arktikum museum. Arktikum is a museum about the North, with much emphasis placed on nature in the North. There was a display featuring artificial northern lights. This sadly was the only chance I got to see them. It was cloudy throughout or trip which did leave the chance to see this natural phenomenon. Next it was off to a Santa Claus Village! Did you know that the real Santa lives in Lapland? The Finns certainly think so and will not appreciate if you say that Santa is actually from the North Pole! The village is situated on the border of the Arctic Circle. I of course had to pose for a few classic tourist shots with display made to show this otherwise invisible line. I was fortunate enough to meet Santa. Sadly no photographic evidence of this exists. Since it is a tourist attraction you have to pay ridiculous amounts to purchase pictures.

Me standing over the Arctic Circle line

Next we were off to Inari where our cabins were located. Inari is situated next to Lake Inari, one of the largest lakes in Finland. The town was quite small with only a few stores, one ATM but the people were friendly and the scenery was quite beautiful.

Now, before I write this next section, I must tell you about my love/hate relationship with the cold. I love the cold because when it is cold, it is hockey season. I hate the cold because well, it makes me cold! When I began looking into Finland almost a year ago, I of course read many things about the sauna. Often paired with the sauna is the switch to an extremely cold temperature...something I am certainly not a fan of. This trip provided plenty of opportunities for combining the sauna and cold temperatures. I can now say that have run from the sauna to jump into the snow and that I have entered a lake via a hole cut in the ice. Not exactly activities I ever thought I would do.

Next up, skiing. My entire life I have avoided skiing. I often claim I have avoided it because of my lack of coordination. Well, on this trip I gave in a skied. I can now tell you with confidence that citing my lack of coordination for all of these years would be no stretch of the truth. I fell down the hill countless times and by the end had even acquired a technique to soften the blows of each fall. I suppose my skiing did improve too, but don’t be looking for me at the Olympics.

At the top of the slope... they recommended helmets for the beginners.

Not only did I survive the arctic, I also survived a survival course in the arctic! All of our activities were pretty basic but still entertaining. For me this day was like my taste of Outer Limits (an outdoor education class in high school that I did not take). We started the day with some orienteering, and then it was lunch at an open fire. After lunch there was the chance for ice fishing and quinzee building (see I told you it was like OL!). Despite our quinzee building only lasting until 2:30pm, by the time we finished it was completely dark.

Why build a quinzee on the THS field when you could build one in the Arctic?!

Yay! Now it’s time to talk about my Arctic Ocean adventure! From the moment I saw that there was a chance to visit the Arctic Ocean, I knew I had to go. Of course as a Canadian child, I had grown up seeing the Arctic Ocean at the top of the map but had never really expected to ever travel far enough north to see it. This trip gave me my chance. It was a long ride to the ocean, but we made a few stops along the way that kept things interesting. The first stop was at an old Sami village (The Sami are the indigenous people of Scandinavia). Then we stopped in the northern most community within the European Union. While there we visited the northern most café in the EU... yes, almost everything in this community used the northern most claim to its advantage.

Me in the Sami village.

After crossing into Norway we finally arrived in the small fishing community of Bugoynes. This is where we were given the chance to swim in the Arctic Ocean. I will admit that when leaving Jyväskylä, I had no intentions of swimming but as the trip progressed I knew it was something I just had to do. In the end I am very glad that I did it and it actually wasn’t too bad. If anything the run to and from the bus on the cold ground was the worst part. I didn’t stay in the water very long, but it was long enough to smell the salt and appreciate where I was and what I was doing.

Me (right) in the Arctic Ocean!

The trip was very quickly coming to an end but there was still time for one more fun filled day. I once again attempted to ski (this time cross country rather than downhill). I cannot say I was any better at this variety of skiing. I suppose like anything it takes practice to get better... we will just have to see how willing I am to practice in the future.

Me covered in snow after skiing.

Following skiing, we went to a reindeer farm! Finally my chance to get a picture with a reindeer! The farm was run by a Sami family. We were able to spend some time with the reindeer and then we were treated to coffee, tea and cookies! The mother also sang some traditional Sami songs for us.

Me and a reindeer!

The trip ended with a 12 hour drive home. It was a long journey, but certainly worth it. I was able to experience so much on this trip and can say with confidence that I will be talking about it for years to come.

Sea Battle! (Stockholm and Tallinn)

Last night I returned home from an excellent trip. The trip, called Sea Battle, was arranged by the Erasmus Student Network (ESN). In short, over 2 000 exchange students from Finland, Estonia and Sweden go on a three day cruise between the three countries. Stops are made in the capital cities allowing time for sightseeing.

Stockholm: As a child, I somehow developed a love for Sweden (I'm guessing partially because of hockey). Visiting Stockholm on Tuesday was really like a childhood dream coming true. We didn't get very much time there, but the city certainly exceeded all of my expectations. For me it was just one of the cities where you get that feeling. The feeling is hard to explain, but it's almost like knowing that somehow you are just supposed to be there.

Our first stop of the day was the Changing of the Guards at the Royal Palace (as shown in the picture below). The rest of the day was spent wandering around the city trying to take in as much as we could in the short time we were there. We found a lovely little cafe called Muren where we had lunch. The city was very beautiful even with a grey sky and rain. Some day, I will return to Stockholm for a longer visit.

Me and Stockholm!

Changing of the Guards at the Royal Palace

Tallinn: Tallinn was also a beautiful city. We spent the majority of our time there in the old city. We were also able to take a tour which gave us a little bit of extra info. Unfortunately the tour guide wasn't the greatest. Nevertheless, it is always fascinating to visit a city that you know very little about.

St. Olaf's Church, once the tallest building in the world

Within the old city of Tallinn

On the Boats: I cannot write about this trip without at least mentioning my time spent at sea. The time we spent on the boat was a lot of fun. ESN had arranged a ton of activities for us to do. I was able to make new friends from all around the world. Sea Battle was definitely an experience I will always remember.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

There's freshly fallen snow and the stores are overflowing with Christmas decorations...too bad it's only November 7th!

Last night it snowed. Now this isn't the first time it has snowed here, but it is the first time the ground has been completely covered. I went on a walk with my roommate last night to try and get some pictures and to take a chance to enjoy the scenery before it gets too cold.

Snow!

A house we saw on the walk. It looked so pretty with the lights, I had to take a picture. I was then told by my roommate that it looked like a very American house... I will have to try and get some pictures of Finnish style houses. I certainly didn't come here to only see beauty in American styles!

A picture from my window this morning.

Well as I'm sure you can see, there's nothing too exciting to report this week. But stayed tuned. In the upcoming weeks there will be trips with stops in Estonia, Sweden and Lapland (in Northern Finland)!