It took about a year to materialize. Having previously visited Helsinki after meeting numerous Finnish students in various social settings, I was intrigued by the modesty and warmness of the local populace, contrary to the weather they have to put up with for most of the year. They were no softies and seemed to exhibit less naivety than other Western nations on general topics, but their quiet and honest communication style was endearing to me from the very first contact. Coming from a very talkative and high context culture, it was very entertaining for me to make those encounters happen. Their rhythmical accent was also fun and distinctive and I learned to recognize it for afar.
I got the news that one of my friends there had moved to a university in the very North region of the country. A city that I had known for its peculiar sounding name, the articles about luxury vacations in icy hotels and my general perception of what the people there would be like. The image of a frosty desert with a limited tourist flow always sounded like an adventure, so I did my utmost to grab the chance as soon as it presented itself, fighting the global Covid measures and my current purchasing power in the process.
Throughout my time photosynthesizing in Austria I learned to relish the role of being the loud alien in the quiet room and I found out that some people will always give you a pass for being authentic. Being used to an extremely short attention span from the young German speaking strangers, I was well equipped to make my trips much more fun and unpredictable. On top of that this was going to be my only trip abroad for a while so I felt ready months in advance.
After the first attempt in the late autumn was cancelled by a schedule change, I gave it another go in the spring. Booked the flight a month earlier with a transit in Germany. Anyone familiar with the network of the cheap European airlines would tell you that Finland is not the most accessible country on the map. I believe that might be down to the airport taxes, but don't quote me on it. As I had hoped, by May the cases both in my country and in Finland started dropping at a steady rate. Unfortunately, the governments were not ready to open the floodgates for normal tourism just yet. Even our freedom loving Bulgaria still paid lip service to tests on arrival and quarantines.
The day came about very quickly, everything was ready but the news coming from Germany indicated that even people that only pass through the country have to present a negative PCR result. It was something I was hoping to evade as it added enormous cost on my already optimistic travel budget. Additionally, I was terrified of not getting the test result on time, with my flight back home supposed to take place on the early morning on a Monday. The idea of being stranded in one of my least favorite cities made sure I could not get proper sleep the night before departure.
There was even more pressure boarding planes and passing through the border gates, but it all ended well. Having survived the scare I was sitting in a very nice train on a very hot afternoon in Helsinki, surrounded by beautiful people and landscapes alike. Getting a coffee at this stage was not the smartest idea, with my usually low heart rate topping the charts for the last decade. After about 3 hours I relaxed. I had made it. The scenery outside was fantastic. Finnish nature is not the most varied, but on a sunny day the landscapes were extreme idyllic. I must have passed about hundreds of nice tiny lakes with a wooden boat and a small cottage to the side. The whole country is a never ending forest of very tall trees, similar to those I saw in Sweden. With population above 5 million and territory three times that of Bulgaria, it is easy to see where Finnish people got their caution and deep awareness of personal space.
I started chatting to some guys in the train and we ended up talking for the remainder of the trip. We covered all sorts of topics and once again it showed me that the right people can be recognized in a matter of minutes, even if they were complete strangers initially. The train journey cut through the heart of the country and covered most of the big cities. Finally, I reached Rovaniemi with the sun playing a less prominent role but still keeping the sky bright as there would be no night at that time of the year. This final train station looked a bit more aged than the nicely maintained Oulu one. Probably down to the fact that it was a small city and extreme temperatures haunted it for most of the year. Coming from the Balkans, I was once again taken aback by the impeccable infrastructure, the train flying quietly at 190 km/h and the fact that young people resided joyfully and willingly even in the smaller cities and towns.
Many of my friends and acquaintances are terrified of the idea of the extreme cold in Northern Europe. This, however, does not take into account the impressively efficient buildings and the adaptability of the resilient Nordic folks. Life just moves indoors for a few months, terraces and windows are impeccably insulated. Large public buildings are planned so that they end up soaking all the limited sunlight available. And my word is it cozy! Grab a strong coffee and a cake on a dark afternoon and you will know. But I digress. Rovaniemi also felt comfortably warm every day of my stay, even if 13C does not sound like a hot day on the beach in the late spring.
The city itself is surrounded by the Kemijoki river, the longest in Finland as I later found out. Rovaniemi is also the arctic circle and the Northern lights are the first things that springs to mind and what the region is known for. You can get a husky sleigh tour among other things. One of the landmarks that I actually visited was the large Lutheran church on the way to the center. There was very little traffic, but expectedly the bicycle season was open. It is easy to act ecologically when being outdoor in good weather is a special treat. From what I read the taxes, the general cost of car ownership and the prohibitive driving laws easily put many people off driving.
My great friend and insider hosted me at the local student area. The student dorms were decent, clean and built for purpose. Serious front doors and those typical Finnish/Swedish locks that I remember from Helsinki. One of the evenings under a certain level of alcoholic intoxication, I almost ended up breaking into a random girl's dorm, such is the similarity of the rooms and the main door opened with the same key. Heard similar stories from people in Sweden but never thought it would happen to me. Imagine what the headlines could be the next day!
On another note, the personnel everywhere were quite friendly. People love foreigners and tourists when there are not too many of them. Another thing that made an impression on me was the refill filter coffee on tap. That business strategy could only work in a high trust society. We also had a cup at the local hostel. Clean, quiet and generally excellent. I never encountered a bad place to stay on my Nordic trips, the basic level is still very high, with the small exception being an infamous hostel in Stockholm. Last but not least, I got my very expensive PCR result on time via digital and spent the last night at a rather empty Vaanta aiport.
So that was it. The most interesting details are not blog worthy but for private listeners only. A lot of hilarious anecdotes and small moments will remain in my memory. The bar, the sauna, the local music I heard, the walks in the twilight in the middle of the night.. I even managed to crash some innocent peoples' after party. Most of these things could only happen when two very different cultures clash. Easily the least mainstream English-as-a-second language country. Finland is the hidden gem of Europe in many ways, but don't expect the locals to brag about it. I recommend it to tourists that don't like tourists. Let it be our little secret.