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Journey to the Arctic Circle

August 14th, 2022

Journey to the Arctic Circle

Hello my followers, contributors and travel and nature enthusiasts,

I would like to tell you here in the blogs my travels abroad and the stories behind my photos. My first choice was my trip to the Arctic Circle. Last fall, thanks to my university, I went on my six-month trip to Finland, the land of a thousand lakes. I got to spend a semester in the small town of Kajaani, which is located in the middle of Suomi (the Finnish name for Finland). This quaint but small town of 35,000 people is a 6 hour drive from the capital city of Helsinki and basically as you drive you emerge from the forest, a lake and the town buildings await you. If you walked up the small hill that was behind our campus, you could see the forest far and wide and just a small circle of buildings. That's how you can imagine Finland. Forest, lake, forest, lake and so on:)

My little dream when I found myself here was to go a few more kilometers north and get beyond the magical Arctic Circle and the Northern Lights. The Arctic Circle was for a long time a point I thought I could never get to in my life and then suddenly the opportunity presented itself thanks to, my Erasmus + trip within the European Union.

In November, when we had school holidays, my friends and I took our car and drove up to the Arctic Circle. Our first destination on the trip was the city of Rovaniemi, also known as the place of Santa Claus. Here I crossed the imaginary Arctic Circle line for the first time and I can tell you that it was a huge experience for me, especially for a kid growing up in the countryside who suddenly stood 2400km away and finally felt the freedom of travel.

This fulfilled a childhood dream and I could tick one item off my list, but I tell you standing in -30 on that Arctic Circle was not very pleasant for me, a hot shower and sauna afterwards was a must! Luckily the Finns have a sauna in every accommodation so anyone who enjoys this pastime should definitely visit this country!

However, our goal, was to venture further beyond the Arctic Circle and experience the rawness and wildness of this nature. We went to an area called Lapland, where there are more reindeer than people and the scenery changes completely. There are no trees anymore, just raw wild nature that completely engulfs you. Our starting point was Kilpisjarvi, which is located on the northwestern border with Norway. Here I saw my first Aurora Borelialis, which left a smile on my lips for 2 weeks afterwards. We wanted to climb the big mountain Saana (1028 m), but unfortunately the wind and zero visibility were against us, so we settled for the waterfalls at the beginning of this village.

Here the first part of my story ends and in the next part will come the continuation of my trek, which continues further into Norway. All the photos from my story can be found in the collection "Scandinavia"