Lapland Tour 2012

Winter Wonderland

Lapland, Finland

November  30th - December 5th

Lapland Tour 2012

In the beginning of December I had a great start of the holiday season visiting one of the coldest, and also one of the most beautiful places here in Finland: Lapland. If you're not so sure where this is, or really what it is I suggest you look it up on google.. specifically google maps. It's just about as far north as you can get before entering Sweden here in Finland. It's filled with nature all around, with forest and natural land of all kinds surrounding every direction you turn. The average temperature being the beginning of winter was around -25 degrees in Celsius.. that's roughly -9 degrees Fahrenheit. Probably the coldest I've ever been in.

Two exchange students, Andrew (left) from Mexico & Erik (right) from USA.  

Everyone of us exchange students who are currently studying abroad in Finland went on this trip to Finland, including our oldies who do their exchange from January-January. 

The total amount of students being 140 of us.

One adorable oldie - Miri Badger, Australia. 

We left on Friday, November 30th around 7:30 p.m. for a long overnight bus ride to Lapland, arriving at our hotel around 11:30 a.m. the next morning on December 1st. There was a total of 4 buses all taking different routes picking up all of us students along the way. When everyone had arrived at the hotel (which other guests also happened to be staying at.... poor guests) we all ate lunch and then headed straight to the skii hill to have a day of winter sports. Each one of us got to choose if we wanted to do downhill skiing, cross country, or snowboarding. Being that I had never done either of the above ever I decided to try out downhill skiing. I definitely have to say it was quite a different experience but overall it was actually fun and I hope to try it a few more times during my time here in Finland :) 

journal entry: This morning we arrived in Lapland around 11:30 a.m. or so which meant that we had been on the bus overnight for a total of 16 hours. Absolutely crazy, I know. And guess what surprise we got to find out? Well, turns out we were all eating lunch and then the entire group, all 140 of us, were doing our winter sports! So not only had I never been skiing before but also now I was going to do it on about 2 hours of sleep. Haha, well… this should be interesting.

The skii lift 

Skii hill - apparently, this one's tiny.
It didn't seem so tiny to me when I was skiing down. 

journal entry: When we returned we had some time to warm up for a while and then in the evening we all put on warm clothes again and went to this outdoor area to have dinner…. Outside! It was rather cold but also was a neat experience. We had fish soup and warm juice for dinner along with bread, and then for dessert there were two different kinds of cakes; blueberry & apple. There were a few different fires set up to keep us warm, or at least warmer. But really…. It’s quite the challenge to stay warm when you’re eating dinner in -26 degree weather. After dinner we went back to the hotel and all hung out for the rest of the evening with everyone. I went to some of my friend’s hotel room and a big group of us just chilled on a bed and hung out. We took photos and made videos and were all just being crazy and it was a ton of fun. By the end of the night, everyone was so tired after the previous night’s travels and the day’s activities. Overall though, I’d say that it was a rather successful day & a great way to start off the beginning of the trip.

Calvin, USA. 

View from right outside our hotel.

The next day on December 2nd we had the option to either go skiing again or to stay back in the hotels area and have a more relaxed afternoon of ice carving and hanging around a campfire in an outdoor cabin. Knowing I'd have more opportunities this winter to do sport I decided to enjoy my time with good company and stayed back at the hotel. We still had an early morning and day filled with activities but overall things were relaxed during the morning/afternoon which was a nice break after the chaos we had the previous day.

My friends are crazy - and I completely ADORE them. 

Country pride Me (left) and Miri (right)

In the afternoon after everyone had gotten back from skiing we all had the chance to go to sauna. 

We had the opportunity to do the crazy sport of rolling in the snow after sauna. I went with my darling oldies from Australia... let's just say it's a memory I'll always remember. 

journal entry: When first stepping outside it was seriously so bloody cold.. Standing outside was freezing, let alone going in the snow sounded like a horrible idea. But of course, it was on my bucket list so it was something that was needed to be done. Walking was absolutely freezing and we all kind of just threw our bodies into the snow. It was so sharp and icy that we weren't even able to really roll around but just lay for a quick few seconds and then get back right up and go into sauna again. Oh man! It is seriously such a crazy, cold & freezing feeling but it’s also a lot of fun. Going into sauna at first literally stings your body because of the two different extreme temperatures. It took quite a while to be able to warm up once again but after a few minutes our bodies started to come back to normal temperatures. That was until we decided to be crazy and go once again, only this time we were going to actually roll in the snow. And so we warmed ourselves up one more bit and then ran our naked little bodies outside, laid down and did a full body roll! This is crazy!!

The main singer to the band that we saw in concert. 

In the evening we went to the local school in a town close by our hotel where a band was putting on a performance for all of us students. When we first got there none of us really had any idea what to expect only to find this really fun - upbeat band playing music. We all started to dance along and the flow of our energy really came across the entire setting. We were all having so much fun!

journal entry: All of us exchange students together are seriously so crazy and so everyone was just singing and dancing and screaming along, having the best time of our lives. I seriously danced and screamed so much but I was having a complete BLAST! This is the kind of atmosphere that I truly really love and being with some of the most amazing people on top of that, honestly makes it all the much better.

I swear it's impossible to take a bad picture in Lapland.

SNOW

December 3^rd, 2012.

journal entry: It’s currently nearly 1 a.m. now on December 4^th. Yesterday was one of the most incredible days ever and I seriously don’t even know where to begin to start writing in order to explain everything that happened. And even if I do try to do this, it’s definitely not even going to do justice to explain the exact feeling I had throughout the entire day. Today was a dream. 

As described above, it's nearly impossible to explain how my day was and have it be anything close to what I actually experienced. I won't give every little detail because it would take far too long to explain but I'll definitely list some of the highlights. 

We started off the morning by leaving the hotel rather early and making our way to a nature preserve area where we watched a video about the traditions of the Lappi culture and also learned about the different kinds of nature that is here in Lapland. After the video finished all of us went outside where everyone was running around like crazy people trying to take in all of the beauty that we saw before us. It was absolutely freezing outside and none of us could feel our bodies but yet we still ran on some kind of high... snapping photos, jumping, and screaming. Amazed and not knowing how to take it all in within such a short period of time. 

Being the photographer that I am I was just clicking my shutter quicker than ever... Not being able to wear gloves while handling my camera I wasn't able to really think much of settings or composition between each shot but in reality, I wasn't too worried considering it's nearly impossible to get a bad photograph outdoors in Lapland. It's just so beautiful!

Overly happy faces - Miri and myself. 

Awesome shot taken by: Lu-Wei Spinks

We then quickly left to our next location where we went to a reindeer farm and learned more about the Lappi lifestyle, got to see reindeer, and take more photo's of the beautiful nature.

After this we got back on our bus but on our way back to the hotel we had some extra time where we were able to make a quick trip to Sweden. No, really... we drove to a place where we were able to get off the bus and walk across a bridge that placed us in Sweden ;) Not sure if it counts, but hey...
I can at least say I've been in Finland & Sweden at the same time!

taken by: Jeremy

Sweden!

We headed back to the hotel to have lunch and warm ourselves up,
only to put all of our layers of clothes back on and face the rest of our day outdoors.

journal entry: After lunch though we hung out for a while and then got dressed again to face the second half of our day outside. We walked to a place close by the hotel where they had a husky farm. There we were able to see all of the husky dogs, where there were nearly 400 of them! We were told a bit about the farm and the huskies and how they live and then we were able to go on a sled ride pulled by the husky dogs. It was such a cool experience!

We were also able to go on a reindeer sled ride along with the husky one. Both were really neat and definitely an experience but I think I liked the husky sled ride better - maybe it's because I just cannot get over how adorable and incredible these animals are! Definitely something I'll remember.

On the sled of the husky ride.

walking on our way to where the reindeer sleigh rides were happening.

Once our day filled of outdoor adventures was over all of us returned our freezing bodies to the hotel and warmed up with a very traditional Finnish meal of reindeer and many other traditional sides. This was my 2nd time having reindeer and I have to say it's still not my favorite. A lot of people really like the unique taste but it's not something I would prefer. But it was still really nice to have a great big warm meal after such a busy and long day of outdoor activities! Since it was our last night in Lapland before leaving to head back home the next morning we were able to have a really nice closing program where our oldies had their farewell and passed down gifts from generations as well as sang some songs for us. Although it was really emotional, it was a really nice closing to both the Lapland tour and also a goodbye for us oldie-newbies. After the program had ended we had a bit over an hour to have our own little dance party. As always, it was absolutely crazy filled with lots of dancing but also so much fun and such a great way to end the night.

journal entry: It first started with some dubstep, then some club hits, and next thing you know it’s like this crazy latin/dance party and everyone’s going wild. I swear exchange students know how to give the best party ever! I was dancing like crazy, probably the hardest that I’ve dance in quite some time. It was incredibly fun! Everyone was jumping and dancing and screaming lyrics aloud. I was with some of the best of friends just having the time of my life. The party lasted only an hour or so but it seemed like a lifetime.

We met Santa!!

On our way back home we were able to stop by the Arctic Circle where Santa lives. We only had a few hours to see the area but considering it was way too cold to actually be outside, and there were only shops to go to it ended up being the perfect amount of time. I picked up some souvenirs including a really nice hoodie for myself that says the arctic circle on it :) We also had the opportunity to meet Santa himself which was really cool! It ended up being a really nice extra on our travels back home and it was fun to see/do everything that we had. 

After our visit to Santa everyone met in the town close by for our final meal before the buses hit their routes of towns to drop everyone off at their hometowns. We went to some school of sorts where they served as a really good and filling meal which was nice considering we wouldn't be eating our next meal until the following morning. All of us had extra time after eating to take many photo's and say our goodbye's to everyone. For many of us it would be a very long time before we were all together again, and for some of the oldies it would be the last time we'd see them before they depart back to their home-countries. Although I was sad to say goodbye to some I was happy that we were able to have the last bit of extra time together. 

Crazy friends that I adore <3

Overall I have to say my trip to Lapland was probably one of the best experiences that I've had thus far since being in Finland. Although it was a short trip so much had happened and it seemed like a lifetime. Thank you so much to everyone who made it happen, and to all of my dearest of friends who made the trip everything that it was. I love each and everyone of you so much! After all, it isn't so much the place that makes the memories... it's the people.