Originally written as a freelancer
Finland is known as the land of the thousand lakes. I would rather call it the land of dreams, as each landscape of the country looks like it comes from a fairy-tale. There is no need to go far in the country to be surrounded by nature, as nature is the whole country. The human took places and built the necessary for a reasonable human life. However, Finland is still the perseverance of all the Mother Natures’ miracles.
Squirrels jump from tree to tree, offering people an amazing view over their little secret lives. They are mixed with the common human-being alongside parks, forests and little civilizations, like villages. During winter, hares dance in the woods and run away from the simplest noise coming out of their comfort space. If people say Finns like their personal space, which they absolutely do, also animals praise that.
Pheasants are away during wintertime. After a not so long spring and summer being the clock alarm of Finns and the guides of their little kids on the roads, which religiously follow the parents in queue order, they find a warm nest to survive the coldest days. As soon as the snow starts to melt they return to remind people why the Sunlight is not the only reason they can’t sleep at night. Who never woke up, or felt bothered, with the scream of a pheasant throws the first rock.
The darkness of wintertime is majestic. In Finland, even though with the massive snow they are used to have, darkness hits places hard. On a cold night, where the thermometers reach the 30 degrees below zero, a walk through the long night of winter might seem deadly for your body cells and body temperature. However, when the adventure spirit hits you, you grab a blanket and you go for a walk to the nearest lake in a fascinating haunt for the northern lights. If you are lucky enough, you will at least have a star fall show under the clean, bright and cold sky.
At some point, you might stop feeling the bones of your human body and your circulation might be hard to reactive. One thing is for certain, all the hot water you will after spend warming up your skin, after two hours in a below 30 degrees night, will be the most worth it of your life.
Finland is a dream in white. A dream that makes you not feel cold, not feel scared of the sauna and its post lake swimming. In Finland, people faithfully believe that swimming in the ice-cold frozen lakes is the best for your health. If they have been surviving for decades with this quite religious practice, why wouldn’t you?
Suomi, as the country is called in the Finnish language, is the promise of the next season. From a cold, dark and long winter, to the endless summer days, with no night. From Lapland, with the midnight sun, to the swims at the lakes at four in the morning, to the South with the endless summer festivities and sports.
This country is the promise of a new start. A new magical beginning. From the cold and the ice, nature rises up again to reveal to this world that not every season lasts forever. Nature is the most powerful teacher and the most reliable force of knowledge. Trusting it and paying attention to its small details makes us humans realize that all the paths have a reason and not all seasons are the same.
Finland, the land of thousands of lakes, is not only the white carpet of all the dreams but also the lost promise that nature will always bring a new day from the darkness.
A girl and a backpack 