Ice hockey
The best thing! Unfortunately, this time Finnish ice hockey team U-20 team failed to keep up the great path going and last spring we lost the finals in the men’s world championships. But it’s always great to watch ice hockey games at home with friends and family, at a pub or enjoy the atmosphere at the ice hockey arenas.
Last time when Finland won gold in men’s world championships I was in Germany doing my on-the-job-training so i missed the big golden party. I’m still a bit upset by that! 😮 When you are getting to know a new Finnish person, ice hockey is usually a pretty easy topic. Everybody remembers how they were celebrating gold at ’95 and 2011.
But this year world championships are hosted by Germany (Cologne) and France (Paris). Finland plays the first games in Paris but the finals are played in Cologne so I would definitely go there if Finland plays for bronze or for gold ! 🙂
Sauna
Do I have to explain this? When it’s -15 outside, the only thing you want to do is to heat a sauna and break a sweat.
Summer
For my opinion, the best time in the year in Finland is the summer. Don’t get me wrong, I do love snow and winter, skiing and snowboarding, but the fall is just too long and depressing! I wish I could go to sleep for 2-3 months in the autumn and wake up when there is really snow and cold. Sometimes I think that the summer is way too short and it rains every single day anyway… but those summer nights at summer cottage; sauna, the silence and swimming in the lake, are just too good. And in the summertime there is just so much more things to do outside. This year I’m going to miss the summer in Finland because of the student exchange but hopefully it will back next year.
Nature
It’s just great that I can live in third biggest city in Finland and still have nature near me. Kauppi area, where I can ski in the winter time and jog in the summer time, is only in two or three kilometers away from the city center. There is enough peace and nature for me. I think I will not have that in Dortmund which has around 500 000 citizens.
Finland also has some amazing (free!) national parks, like Repovesi and Koli. I have visited them both on one-day-hike. Lapland is off course the heart of Finland for hikers, but it’s nice that there are smaller national parks even in Espoo (Nuuksio national park), which is part of Helsinki Metropolitan area.
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