For our next activity, we chose to go for a walk in nature near Rauhaniemi, where several forest paths lead toward the KAUPPI campus.
We noticed that Finland offers many well-maintained national parks, often equipped with shelters, fire pits, cabins, and dry toilets. Outdoor activities like camping, berry picking, and grilling sausages over a fire seem very common here. Coming from Germany, hiking also plays an important role in our culture. We have plenty of mountains and forests, with marked trails. Picking berries and mushrooms is normal as well, although wild camping and open campfires are usually forbidden, so people need to go to official camping spots.
We also talked about German hiking traditions, like “Vatertag” on the 1th May, when groups of friends go on long walks pulling a Bollerwagen filled with (mostly alcoholic) drinks, a social tradition that often turns into a full-day trip. Last time I even saw a group of people that pulled a huge trailer with a tractor. Etty told us that things are stricter in the Netherlands. The parks are less developed, wild camping and open fires are completely banned, and even berry picking is regulated, depending on the area. It was interesting to compare this with Finland and Germany, where foraging is more accepted. Valeria told us that she grew up in a mountainous region, where hiking and mountain biking were part of her weekly routine, often together with her grandmother. It was really interesting for me, i didn’t know that Mexico has much mountains.
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