After an extreme day of downhill skiing and cross-country skiing, I was glad to get a reprieve from physical exertion - in the form of reindeer sledding! Admittedly, this was less exciting than husky sledding. We made one tiny round at the pace of a rather lazy reindeer, ambling along. But I guess that's another one crossed off my bucket list! Now, don't hate me but.. right after going on the sled, we headed indoors to warm our freezing toes and had reindeer sausages...
As exotic as that sounds, it's completely normal in Finland. The only reason it isn't common elsewhere in the world is because Finland only produces enough reindeer meat to feed its own country! Grilling the sausages on the open fire was pretty cool though. The taste of reindeer meat? Not bad, actually. It tastes just like any other game meat.
On a day trip, we headed to Bugoynes in Norway to swim in the Arctic Ocean. It was a pretty little town. The Europeans seem to have a penchant for painting their houses in atypical shades! It was icy, as expected, which made me really antsy about running into the water in nothing but a swimsuit.
With 3 layers, a scarf, a jacket, jeans and boots on, I was already cold. Did they think I was nuts?!
But I figured, to hell with the fear of cold and body image insecurities. Fear is all in the mind. Sure enough, running down to the shore, stepping over sharp rocks and splashing neck-deep into numbing ice-cold water was an extremely liberating experience.
Halfway through the short sprint to the water, I remember thinking to myself, "What the frog am I doing here?" But then I hit the water. My body went numb and my mind went blank, heart racing with a huge shot of adrenaline. Plenty of screaming. Did I mention that swearing as a response to pain/cold really does help manage it better?
On our last day in Saariselka, we went snowboarding which has got to be one of the most difficult sports ever. I can handle downhill skiing - but when both my feet are attached to the same piece of wood, as they are in snowboarding, I just lose any shred of hand-eye co-ordination I had to begin with. Imagine being a fully-grown adult, grabbing on to an instructor for my dear life, with a wet patch on my pants from falling over, while 4 year-olds whizz by on their tiny boards with smug little looks. Do they learn to snowboard before they walk?
Nonetheless, it was an amazing experience getting to do winter sports. I really loved Saariselka and the peacefulness of the little city in the mountains. It was a crazy trip of snow-shoe trekking, sledging, snow-mobile riding etc. and I'm really happy I decided to go on it.
When it was time to leave, couldn't help but feel a little sad to return to life. Or rather, half-life. First trip out of Copenhagen since coming on exchange, done and done.
