My first weekend, in Helsinki, I decided to take a walk around my neighborhood. I technically live in Helsinki proper, but it is more like a suburb. It's called Koskela and is a 25 min bus ride from downtown Helsinki.
I had seen some paths near my dorm and thought I'd wander along them to see where they would take me. I soon discovered that I practically live in a forest and didn't even know it. Alongside every road is a walking and biking path. But then, if you follow one of the paths that leads away from the road, you'll discover that this additional path also follows the road but just gives you a more scenic route. So, you can either decide to walk near traffic (in case you're walking to catch your bus) or escape into the forest at any given moment. It is amazing. The fact that there is a pedestrian and biking path along each side of every road is unheard of where I'm from.
Making this discovery was great. If I want to go on a hike in the US, I usually have to make plans, get directions, and then drive to wherever I want to hike. Here, I can simply walk out my front door. Or hop on a bus and get off wherever I see a path that looks cool.
Birch trees are plentiful in Finland, which is very comforting to me, because it reminds me of summers spent in the Boundary Waters, Minnesota. They are my favorite trees.
I soon happened upon a blueberry patch, which also was very reminiscent of my summers in Minnesota. During these summers, there were several occasions when I would go blueberry picking with my aunts, who are better known as 'professional blueberry pickers'. It's hilarious and embarrassing how much more they could pick in 1 hour than I could. 
I then saw a patch of red berries right next to the blueberry patch. Lingonberries? I have no idea.
And finally, there are tons of these trees with red berries on them. Very beautiful.
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