end of winter (eng)

for all the english speaking readers out there

The cold was like a curse that lay over the land, a constant reminder of the harshness and relentlessness of life in these latitudes

- Aleksis Kivi, The Seven Brothers -

Helsinki 🇫🇮

For those who don't know, I spent the last five months from January to the end of May living in Helsinki. Helsinki was supposed to be the city of my big international experience. I knew that Helsinki was smaller and much less populated than Berlin. Due to the winter, which showed itself to be particularly intense and persistent this year, there were even fewer people on the streets than usual. I often had to think of Berlin during the Covid pandemic because that was the first time you really experienced the city being empty. In Helsinki, however, this emptiness seems to be normal during the winter. Even in the city center, there were hardly any people around. This was somehow pleasant but also eerie because it did not change until the end of March. In the south of the city are the harbors from which you can travel to Stockholm and Tallinn as well as to the surrounding small islands. The most famous island nearby is probably Suomenlinna. The World Heritage Site Suomenlinna is about 10 minutes by ferry from the market square. When I was there for the first time, the small ferry was traveling through the sheer ice. During the crossing in January, it felt like Titanic and Shutter Island because you were stuck in the ice and also heading to an island with a small pier and strange-looking village structures. If you've been there, you might be able to imagine it a bit. For those who haven't been there, here are a few pictures.

Trips and Excursions

When I think about it, I actually never took a trip alone. There was always someone with me. In most cases, I was out and about with my roommate. He is one of the reasons why I am writing this blog. With Lukas, I visited pretty much every café in Helsinki that you can find on the Coffee Map by European Coffee Trip. Visiting cafés was often the reason to travel to other cities. This way, we could combine visiting the “best” cafés with small city trips.

We traveled a lot. Most of the time, the Frenchmen—Tanguy, Victor, and Tristan—joined us on our excursions. Together, we visited Tampere, Lahti, Turku, and Stockholm. We went to cafés, museums, churches, and city parks. Until the end of April, all our trips were marked by cold winter weather. As a result, there were unfortunately not too many nature tours, and our excursions generally focused on the interiors of museums and libraries as well as the shop floors of local stores.

Overall, I can say that the cities in southern Finland all look very similar and thus offered similarly limited attractions in terms of quantity.

However, I must say that this did not make the cities any less attractive. In Berlin, one is almost overstimulated in this regard.

This allowed us to enjoy each café, church, and museum we visited even more. In retrospect, I would say that aside from Helsinki, I liked Tampere the most. But that might also be because we had the first truly beautiful weather in Tampere.

Aside from city trips, I tried to visit as many events, museums, and activities as possible. Of course, this didn’t always work out, but in hindsight, I am very satisfied with my experiences. I went to the Kiasma Art Museum (three times), the Natural History Museum, and on the same day, I even went to a hockey game. Everyone joined us for the hockey game. Although I personally find hockey brutally boring and the game felt way too long, the evening was really nice, and I have fond memories of it.

Rovaniemi

Rovaniemi lies on the Arctic Circle and is a vibrant place with rich culture, surrounded by pristine nature and breathtaking natural phenomena year-round. Explore the Arctic wilderness with an autumn hike in a national park. Chase the magical arcs of the Northern Lights aboard a fast husky sled. — Visit Finland

With great anticipation and high expectations of the northern Arctic Circle, my girlfriend Stephi and I flew to Rovaniemi in March. However, upon arrival at Rovaniemi Airport, we encountered neither reindeer nor moose, let alone Northern Lights or Santa Claus. It was 2 degrees Celsius with damp rainy weather and slippery roads. From there, we navigated through the adjacent forest to Santa Claus Village, hoping to finally meet Santa Claus. Spoiler alert: We didn't meet him. Instead, we stumbled upon a group of wild locals zooming around Rovaniemi's streets on their snowmobiles at high speed. Feeling scared and somewhat annoyed, we tried to catch a bus back to Rovaniemi.

At the bus stop, we met a Finnish geologist who told us about her projects in Finland and Sweden, and also about her boyfriend who worked as an elf in Santa Claus Village. She kindly took us into town and shared that she herself was embarking on an eight-hour journey to Tampere later that day, hence her presence in Rovaniemi to catch a train there.

In the following days, we visited the Arctic Museum and took a short hike to the ski jumping hills east of the city. Overall, there wasn't much else to see there unless you were planning a husky or snowmobile tour. Some of my fellow Erasmus program friends continued further north for skiing and to see the Norwegian Arctic Sea.

In retrospect, despite the expectations, the trip to Rovaniemi was still very enjoyable, especially because I could finally spend quality time with Stephi and leave Helsinki behind for a while. Even though Rovaniemi was noticeably quieter than Helsinki, it was ultimately worth it in the end. That's what I would claim now, about a month and a half later.

Road-Trip

It took nearly four months for spring to arrive in Helsinki. In mid-May, Stephi and I embarked on our second trip to Eastern Finland, timed around her birthday. This time, I was determined to finally see moose. We booked a vacation house near Joensuu to use as a base for exploring the surrounding national parks.

Our first stop was Koli National Park. Koli National Park is known as a major tourist attraction in Finland and therefore attracts many hikers. The downside is that it's quite difficult to reach by public transportation. Fortunately, we had a car and were able to drive the 50 kilometers of gravel road from our vacation house to the park ourselves.

In Koli itself, we didn't see any moose or other animals. Aside from a large pile of bear scat (googled it), there were no signs of any other wildlife in the park. After not spotting any animals here, despite the beautiful scenery, we decided the next day to take another trip towards the Russian border to Partvinsuo National Park.

If you explore the open swamps of Patvinsuo, you may be lucky enough to see a bear in the distance, although bears typically do their best to avoid humans. From observation towers, you can overlook the changing swamp landscape on foggy autumn mornings, bright summer nights, or in spring when birds flock to the swamps for feeding and nesting. — Partvinsuo, Nationalparks.fi

After a brief search, I came across an above-average number of photos of brown bears associated with this national park. That convinced me that there was really only one option left for us. We had to brave another 60 kilometers of gravel road to reach the swamps of Eastern Finland, in hopes of seeing bears and moose there.

But once again, as you might have guessed, we didn't come across either a moose or a bear. Perhaps it's for the best. The hiking trails there are, unlike those in Germany, a bit wilder and less visible. If a moose, let alone a bear, had emerged from the bushes, we would have been in a bit of trouble.

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Lukás — being lazy and creative the same time

Also known as lazy bastard. He was my roommate and companion throughout the five months. With him, I navigated university courses, creative crises, homesickness, and other annoyances. Alongside our ongoing shit talk and countdown until we could finally go home, I also learned a thing or two about Czechia, Sparta(k) Prague, craft beer, and especially specialty coffee. I can't even begin to describe how funny the smallest things were that happened in our apartment. From the tea in the kettle to "Aurora Hunting," there were always amusing incidents.

Overall, I'm so glad I lived with Lukás and Noah. It was never complicated, and it was always fun with both of them. I hope we meet again somewhere else.

Edit: Today, I know who poured the tea into the kettle 🇺🇸

The Frenchmans — NBA Allstars, Snowballs and the Navy

The neighboring flat, occupied by Tanguy, Tristan, and Victor across the street, was our go-to spot, especially if you wanted to watch basketball, Formula 1, or League of Legends tournaments in the middle of the night. Additionally, the three were always up for trips or watching movies at our place. We were basically always together in some way. Tanguy stood out from day one, partly due to his height and near-perfect English, which remained unmatched in fluency by anyone else until the end. I first went to Suomenlinna and also to indoor hockey (which, by the way, was extremely boring) with Tanguy. To this day, we share an intense love for Lord of the Rings, evident from the fact that every conversation with him included at least one LotR reference, and our Instagram chat is still primarily filled with LotR memes.

I never saw Victor and Tristan apart until the end, so some (maybe just me) had a hard time telling their names apart. Tristan and Victor were the only ones I consistently saw at university until the end, as they, like me, were always busy with coursework. Like Tanguy, they were always around. I hope the four of us can have a reunion in France in the coming years.

end of winter

The end of my time in Finland was marked by the gradual departure of everyone from my immediate surroundings. As a result, the house and apartments became emptier, and there were a few sad farewells to process.

In the final two weeks, I had a visit from my friend Luke, and together we ended up unexpectedly in the garden of a well-known Finnish family. During our tour, I photographed a small street festival, which caught the attention of an elderly man. He invited us into his garden and led us to a pavilion where his wife was sitting with chilled champagne, as it happened to be his birthday. They introduced themselves, and we immediately realized they were no ordinary elderly couple. His wife shared stories of her life, her previous husband who worked as a particle physicist at CERN and taught at Stanford, and their travels to Italy and her family. Our host introduced himself as an architect and told us stories about building his house, designing his garden, and his time as an architect. After about half an hour, our host's daughter joined us, discussing her work as a director and her projects with Netflix. As more family members arrived, we excused ourselves, bidding farewell with a slightly foggy head from the champagne.

Just before my return journey, I decided on a spontaneous trip to Tallinn. Together with Victor, we departed from Helsinki on the ferry at 7:00 in the morning. And let me tell you, the ferry ride was truly a unique experience. Apart from the people sleeping in hollow spaces under the stairs, what stood out were those guests who were already sitting on the sun deck at 7:00 in the morning with a Jack and Coke.

Tallinn itself is probably one of the most beautiful cities I've seen during my semester abroad. I especially liked the blend of a medieval city center and alternative outskirts. We visited a pizzeria there that was recommended to me more than any other during my time in Helsinki. Let me drop the name of it here for you.

The time since Finland has flown by like nothing else. Even though it's "only" been a month and a half since I returned to Germany, it feels like a past life. I'm still trying to stay in touch with everyone, not wanting to completely close the chapter on Finland. Ideally, I'd love to go back right away. Maybe not for five months, but a few days would be really nice. However, none of my friends from the exchange semester are waiting for me there, which makes the whole experience quite different, and maybe not as enjoyable. It's true that something is missing when the Erasmus people aren't around.

Hei hei, Finnland