Last Meeting: A trip to “Hell”

We saved the most exciting meeting for last! Thanks to Elisa driving, three of us could have a short trip to the national park Helvetinjärvi, which, according to my Google Map, is 74 kilometers far from TAMK. It took us about one hour and a half of driving to get there. And the weather was great, warm enough, not to cold not too hot, and sunny! Perfect for a trip!

From the gate, we walked 2-3 kilometers to Helvetinkolu Gorge, which is considered as the most famous gorge in the area. On the way there, Elisa and Tuulia told me about several different types of mosses, which was interesting because I couldn’t even recognize the difference between different mosses, if any, in Vietnam. They also taught me the Finnish names of three main trees in Finland: kuusi (spruce), mänty (pine), and koivu (birch). The forest was beautiful and relaxing, though I bet it would be much prettier in the summer.

The Gorge was pretty impressive, you could see the whole sight from there while enjoying the fresh. I loved the lake, which was beautiful and peaceful. Elisa was very kind and prepared some sweet treat for us too, which was so nice after a walk. Then all three of us had a little climb up through the cliff as well, it was very nice though a little bit tiring.

While hiking, we talked a lot about the Finnish nature, all kind of plants and animals, and even how to do when running into a bear, which I hope I wouldn’t face in the future.

I would really love to come back here in the summer and have a much longer walk-around, since we had just three hours and didn’t explore everything there. But it was still a very nice trip and a beautiful landscape.

The ten meetings for Each One Teach One were not the only chance for me to talk with my two colleagues, but they helped a lot to bring us together and me to learn more about Finland and its culture and nature, to introduce my country to international friends, as well as to get along and practice my English and a little bit Finnish. I enjoyed every meeting and feel lucky to have the best colleagues ever!