Good bye!

Almost four months have passed and it is time to say good-bye Rovaniemi! If I look back I am just overwhelmed by the landscape, lifestyle and experiences I collected.

Many people expressed their doubts about this remote location; they would never choose to do their minor in Lapland. Exactly this motivated me even more! From mid-October on it went freezing cold. Even though I am everything but a winter person, the coldness here feels really refreshing and I can cope with it much better than back home. In Germany/the Netherlands I tend to get really grumpy as soon as the temperature drops below 10 degrees. Not only the coldness but also the silence is different over here. I lived very close to the forest (okay, actually everybody in Finland does), so you do not hear any traffic or city noises. It is just: s i l e n t. Furthermore the days shorten rapidly! At the beginning of December, the sun rose around 10.30 and set again 13:50. It is important to say that during these hours, it is everything but sunny! It is rather comparable with dawn. The downside is that you barely wake up and unconsciously decide to end the day around 16:00 in the afternoon. This is indeed very much counteracting to the workload I had (not many exams, but 89032 essays and reports). Therefore, it is important to find a balance between studying as well as exploring the destination – when will I be up here again at this young age?!

Now, while writing this post, I realize even more that my time here is coming to an end. If I would have to choose my exchange destination again, I would not hesitate for a second and choose Rovaniemi.