The first time Finnish sauna

Hello friends, have you missed me?

More than a week has passed since I arrived in Finland... how quickly it all went by. Yesterday the university really started and so far everything is very relaxed. But I'm still waiting for all the courses and a bit of experience to tell you more details.

I would like to highlight a day from the orientation week, which was really great. It's already been a week, so it was last Tuesday (28.08.).

On that day, after some organizational matters in the morning, we all Erasmus students got on the bus and drove initially to a nearby incredibly large lake. I don't even know its name, but it was beautiful. Of course, on that day we also had great weather, bright sunshine and blue sky accompanied us and we were walking around in t-shirts, you could even have worn shorts.

From there we continued to Vuokatti, about 32km away, where besides a ski resort with lifts you can even admire or use a ski jump and a ski tunnel. Until then, I had no idea what a ski tunnel is, but luckily we checked it out. It's simply a tunnel where you can do cross-country skiing and it's very very very cold.

Finally, we even took the bus up to the mountain, where the lifts end and from where we had a wonderful view of the surroundings. That's when you first saw how much forest and water shape this country.

In the evening we went back to Kajaani and the bus dropped us off at the river that flows through Kajaani (but looks more like a lake, you'll see what I mean). There was a little house right on the riverbank. In one half of the house there were two saunas with showers and changing rooms, and in the other half there was a kind of party room with kitchen and fireplace. You can imagine that this combination led to an unforgettable evening. Sauna, then in the river, which has absolutely no noticeable current, bathing while the sun sets over the water, back to the sauna, back to bathing. And it wasn't even that cold. And finally ending the evening with self-grilled sausages over the fireplace and Finnish specialties. By the way, the sausages here are absolutely not recommendable. They were nice and crispy on the outside, but mushy on the inside. Later in the evening, some of us went to the karaoke bar in town, but that wasn't so important compared to the rest of the day. I don't think I will forget the feeling of sitting in the sauna with a view of the water and the sunset anytime soon.

By the way, today was the second time I was in the sauna in Finland, namely in the swimming pool next to the Scandic Hotel, where Mom, Dad, Daniel and Lara will soon be staying. I'm looking forward to you

There are, of course, many more exciting things to tell about the orientation week, for example that I finally got to try a VR headset at the campus event!

Because of the Game Development program, the university is well equipped in the gaming field and other technical matters.

But since I can't document every single one of my experiences here, that's enough for today.

I'm really looking forward to everything that's to come. Until then, greetings my dears ♥

Lena