The second stop on my long study tour was Helsinki, Finland. Of course the only appropriate way to get from Estonia to Finland is by ferry (obviously). What I imagined this ferry to be was nothing like it actually was. I thought it would be a medium sized boat that would ship my class of 22 and I over to Helsinki in 2 hours. Boy was I completely wrong! This was no boat, this was, in my opinion, a cruise ship! Big enough to stow cars in the bottom, multiple restaurants and bars, as well as a number of rooms for sleeping in the upper decks. And to top it all off, an all you can eat buffet (paid for courtesy of DIS). I was dumbfounded by it all. The food was amazing and 2 hours flies by when there is so much of the ferry to explore! When we docked in Finland, we did all sorts of cultural immersion events. My favorites were the food tasting tour, curling, and a Finnish sauna.
Out of all the foods we tasted, I think reindeer was the most delicious. It didn’t taste like reindeer at all! I even had reindeer served with mashed potatoes and cranberries later on that day for dinner. It was smart that they had us fuel up on food before we got into doing physical activity. If you haven’t guessed it already, the physical activity I’m talking about is curling! I had never heard of curling nor did I have an image in my mind what it would entail. If I knew I’d wake up with bruises from falling every 10 minutes on the ice, I may have reconsidered. For those of you who don’t know, curling is a sport where players slide stones on ice toward a target area using brooms. The closest thing I can compare it to is shuffleboarding. I never quite got the hang of, but it was fun slipping and sliding on the ice with my classmates and professors!
The best part of this entire trip was Green Window! Green Window was a site where we went hiking in the woods. It was a ways away from the city so it was nice to be in the open air where it was quiet. Being the woods calmed my mind and I able to appreciate all that nature had to offer. I really know I was becoming one with nature when my toes started to freeze and I still wanted to walk deeper into the woods. The best part was being able to walk across the frozen lake just as the sun was setting. I even jumped into the lake! As I did before in the beginning of the semester, I took part in a Finnish sauna. Dipping your body in water below freezing and immediately warming up in a sauna. I went in the lake 3 times and my body felt amazing afterwards! My muscles were relaxed and skin was so soft! I slept so soundly that night and woke up feeling the most refreshed I had ever felt!
Sweden you’re up next!
Adventures Abroad 