Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Finland..the land of saunas

So I am writing this blogpost from the great country of Finland! I have been here for almost 2 weeks on holiday visiting some friends. It is the second notch on my Scandanavian belt ;) It is incredibly different from Iceland, but yet still has many typical Scandanavian qualities. The first difference from Iceland is the TREES! Millions of trees everywhere... flat lands.. lakes and more trees. As my Finnish friend Kati put it, "Finland is not a flashy place." No, it certainly is not, but what it lacks in landscape it makes up for in culture. I find that any country you visit is always better with a local. So I am actually staying in north Finland in a town called Oulu. I have certainly has my fair share of culture through food! Potatoes, moose, reindeer, bread and cheese! yumm! Oh and lets not forget the required 78 cups of coffee and pastries. I've never been so wired in my life. Some truths about Finland I have come to realize...Fins are not friendly... not to outsiders, but to everyone. Perfect example: today as I was helping my friend move out of her summer appartment and our hands were incredibly full a fellow Finn (who didn't reply when we said hello) rode the elevator down with us, walked out before we did, opened the door and let it slam in our faces... this is typical. As my other Finnish friend Emilia stated, Fins just want to stay to themselves, they do not like to talk to people because they do not want anyone to know anything about them. Well, gee golly! I sum it up to cultural differences. Kati also took me north to the artic circle, and their summer house bwhere I got to enjoy a traditional smoke sauna. I stripped down to my birthday suit in the middle of the wilderness and stepped into a charcoal pit and beat myself with a birch tree branch! Sounds like fun ey? Seriously though, One of Finlands finest jewels are the saunas.given the chance to visit one should definetly take this up, as long as you are fine with being stark naked with a bunch of random people that is ;) Overall though, I have enjoyed my time here and my time with friends. I fly home on thursday and I am ready! I never realized how much I could miss the Rockies! I need wide open spaces!

On other news I got a 4.0 for the summer semester..go me! Three more classes and then I graduate! ::happy dance:: I start up Monday, along with a 40 hr work week..boo and then my husband is jetting off to Denmark for work..double boo! But I have the arrival of my inlaws the first week of September to look forward to =)  Well as they say in finalnd heihei!