A place to love for its exotic nature and culture - My trip to Lapland last year

So last year I went to the beautiful region of Lapland(Lappi in Finnish) in Northern Finland. It was a fantastic place full of forests with wildlife I've never seen until coming, ski resorts, exotic cuisine, kind people and of course Santa Claus!!(I couldn't visit Santa but I hope I'll do it sometime lol) I went to a cabin near the city of Kemijärvi which was a cool experience to me as I don't usually go to these winter resorts. 

There were many places to visit as well as a completely new culture to discover, the Sami culture, which has its own language, costumes and their interesting environment. Although the country isn't really big, it's cool how so many things can change from one region or city to another. It wasn't snowing so much but it was good to me as it doesn't snows in my country and when I want to go skiing I need to go to another country. I love snow but not too much as it can get messy. 

By the time I went to Lapland my Finnish skills where improving so I wasn't really lost as you might know Finnish is a very difficult language but as I like it, I enjoy learning new words and sentences all the time. I would like to learn Sami language in the near future too. 

Something that I really liked of course was skiing, it wasn't my first time but it felt like it was as I fell down so many times that I stop counting them haha. I didn't made any new friend as we where most of the time in the cabin or visiting some places around but it was a great experience anyway as you will see on the photos I took. 

As I was just in the border of the Arctic I wanted to see the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis which is a natural phenomenon that can paint the night sky with surreal colors and it can be seen in Norhtern Finland and other countries' Northern regions. Unfortunately I couldn't see them but if you come here try not to miss it! There are even some apps where people send information about where they last saw the Northern lights so if you are near the place you can go and see them! So cool!

So remember that if you come to Finland this is a place that you can't miss! :)

Hanging out in the Arctic!

The forest with what seems like a small house for animals

The cabin where I stayed

A place in Lapland, I don't really remember where it was!

Loved that place

Melting snow

Suomutunturi ski resort

My visit to Turku Castle in the city of Turku-Åbo in summertime

Turku is the oldest city in Finland and it is located in the southwest coast. It used to be the capital of Finland and that's why there are still so many cultural based places. If you are a lover of culture don't doubt and visit this beautiful city full of old buildings, museums and restaurants where I should accept I got an excellent service. Turku is divided by a river called Aura River which is beautiful to see on summertime with the various bridges that go through it. Turku region is ranking as the third largest urban area reaching a population of approximately 300.000 inhabitants. Let's highlight that Turku is an officially bilingual city because the fact that a part of population are considered Swedish-speakers and Åbo is the name of the city in Swedish.. Having a long history, many important events and a great influence to Finnish history have been imposed by the city of Turku. The location of the city is favorable for the commerce through the sea and the passenger seaport is highly important as it connects directly yo places like the capital of the neighbor country, Sweden, and Mariehamn(Maarianhamina) in the autonomous region of Åland. 

I had the chance of visiting the castle of Turku (Turun linna) with my host brother and his girlfriend. It was just an amazing place as you could see all the remains of it, the old-fashioned furniture, the numerous rooms and also the prisons it has. Just for you to know if you're coming, during the summer season it is opened everyday from 1 of June to 31 of August, except Midsummer from 10:00am to 6:00pm. 

A good thing about the castle is that the exhibitions are offered in many languages! Finnish, Swedish, English and Russian are the ones offered over there. There's also a tour offered for children which seems so fun! I want you to know that it is offered only during summer so if you come with children just let them have a good experience in a real castle!

To sum up, if you are coming to the beautiful city of Turku just don't forget to visit the Turku Castle! I had a great tour and there were so many things to see that I didn't even have the time to visit all of it in one day! If you are history or art lovers come and enjoy the castle!

Photo taken from inside the Turku castle

Me in the Turku Castle

One church inside Turku Castle

Some pieces of the castle's furniture

Rauma - Unique seaside city...

Rauma is a seaside town located in the Finnish region of Satakunta. It has around 37.000 inhabitants and it was founded in 1442. Although it was highly damaged by a fire in the late 17th century, the original ancient architecture has been preserved and hopefully the modern city has grown up outside it. The town is surrounded by forests and it has one of the most beautiful and oldest harbour in Finland. There are many places to get in the water and enjoy sauna in a wooden cabin near a lake or the sea. 

It offers varied services and has a high cultural richness which attracts many tourists. I've been in a part of the town called Old Rauma(Vanha Rauma in Finnish), which is the largest preserved medieval wooden town area in the Nordic countries. The houses and buildings there are very colorful and most of the streets are made of old stones which makes it a beautiful place to have a walk and feel as you were in the past. Many good cafés or restaurants as well as a big selection of shops and a museum can be found in Old Rauma. I have to highlight that in the year of 1991, Old Rauma was selected as an UNESCO's World Heritage Site making it a must-see if you decide to visit Finland!

Lake in Rauma.

Water Tower (Vesitorni) and view from the town.

A typical street in Old Rauma.

Normal building in Old Rauma

Me in "Kitukrän", the narrowest street of Finland.

Museum's door in Old Rauma

Finland's first impression - Vaikutelmia Suomesta

I've already posted two videos on YouTube talking about this blog but also just some of my impressions about Finland! Hope you will like them! :)

Ice Hockey in Finland - A sport that makes Finns become lions...

The national ice hockey team in Finland is "Leijonat"(Lions) and as you can see in the photo below, it obviously has a lion as their logo. Ice hockey is a really big thing in Finland! People get excited when watching a game, Finns are very competitive when talking about ice hockey. If their favorite team wins, be sure that they will celebrate it and be happy all the day long but if they loose and they are big fans of it, they will become sad and disappointed... It's a similar thing to what happens in my country when we watch football as it's the most popular sport and the country stops when the national team plays. I can accept that I felt really excited while watching ice hockey! It's entertaining and makes you feel impacient and full of energy as you never know what can happen, but of course you always feel like you are going to win as in any sport where you enjoy watching and supporting a team in special.

Most of the big towns but also some small ones have their own ice hockey teams. The top professional ice hockey league in Finland is called "Liiga"and here is where the best teams take part. The Liiga is considered one of the most powerful ice hockey leagues in the world. Ice hockey is a team sport where Finland can compete for medals at both World and Olympic championship levels for the quality of their players and teams in general. It is the most popular sport by excellence measure obviosuly by television coverage, sponsorhip and attendance. Ice hockey ocuppy such a prominent place in the sport scene like any other country in Europe, only Canada can compete with Finland in terms of this sport popularity.

Leijonat logo, "Suomi" means Finland in Finnish

My first ice hockey game - Kupari Kiekko from Harjavalta

Liiga Ice Hockey game - Porin Ässät

Me supporting Finland Leijonat

My life in Finland! :D

I used to live in Harjavalta, but I moved to another host family in a coastal town called Luvia which I should accept that has very friendly people.

I go to a school in a near town, Ulvila, it is a really good place to meet new people and the education is just motivational as the teachers are amazing professionals. 

I love going to ice hockey games, it's really excited and it's also something new for me because in Uruguay it doesn't exists. Ice hockey is the most popular sport as well as watching Formula One but the real national sport in Finland is Pesäpallo (nest ball) which is a fast-moving bat-and-ball sport, it's really interesting.

My routine consists on going to school on weekdays, then going to gym or swimming, listening to music and being at home with my new family. On weekends I meet friends, sometimes we have small parties or we just go to a café. I really like watching movies so it would be great to go to the cinema here. I have been in a Thirty Seconds to Mars concert that was so entertaining, I like going to concerts sometimes, it’s fun and a good experience when you see your favorite bands or artists live. 

I’m thinking on starting to make funny videos and posting them on Youtube, it’s just an idea that I’m seriously thinking on making it real. I also go to sauna, it’s a really important thing for Finns, where they can stay for hours and the normal temperature varies between 60-100 degrees celsius or 140-212 degrees fahrenheit, huh! that's a lot! When I came at first, I was impressed by the high temperatures but you just get used to it! I love being here and sharing my experiences with you readers! It makes me feel good and grateful for you being interested in reading it. :)

Center of the city of Pori

Sunset (Auringonlasku) from Kokemäenjoki River

Industrial area

Ice Hockey game 

Center of Helsinki (Finland's capital)

Why Finland?

This is a question that people tend to ask me all the time… Well, I chose Finland mainly because I started learning the language and I got into their culture and I was impressed by many of their traditions as my Finnish teacher , Leena, showed me so many things about the country and the Finnish lifestyle. I’ve always been interested on visiting the Nothern European countries because they were “exotic” to me because of the large differences between my country and the Nordic region. The wildlife and the fact that in most of the places here you are around nature with large virgin forests and animals that can walk in front of you, was an excuse to go out of Uruguay.

This is a photo I took right from my house, the reflection made into the water is amazing.

Satalinnan Sairaala (big old hospital in my town).

The city of Pori, Satakunta

Photo taken while walking in the forest.

A european squirrel (orava) eating a nut in Finland - Photo from Matti Parkkonen