Finnish Winters

I was walking outside today and it felt surprisingly warm. It was -2 degrees Celsius (around 28 degrees Fahrenheit)! Last weekend it was -10. Those 8 degrees make a big difference.

The key to survival in cold climates: long underwear. I've been wearing long underwear for a long time... at least the last 4 years. Almost every day, I wear 2 layers of pants, plus 4 layers on top (including my jacket). But, when it gets to -8 or lower, that doesn't cut it. 3 layers of pants and 5-6 layers on top is needed. And a good 15 min in the sauna before I go out. If only my dorm's sauna were heated 24/7.

Honestly, it's not that much colder here than it is in Ann Arbor, Michigan (where I was for the past 2 years). BUT, I had to walk much less when I lived in Michigan; not only because I had a car, but also because it's a small city and the music school was only a 15 min walk from my apartment. Therefore, although Ann Arbor and Helsinki are similarly cold, Helsinki seems colder since I'm constantly walking outside.

To geographically orient those of you who don't have a map of the Nordic countries on your wall, Helsinki is at the same latitude line as southern Alaska. It's 5 hours away from St. Petersburg and a third of Finland is north of the Arctic Circle. Fortunately, Helsinki is at the southernmost tip of Finland and is surrounded by water.
The worst part about the winters in Finland is the lack of sunlight. In the beginning of November, the sun started setting much sooner than I expected. At it's worst, the sun would come up around 9 AM and set by 3.30 pm. Before getting to Finland, I thought experiencing the darkness would be an interesting experiment. I thought it might be fun. In actuality, it was difficult and depressing. Finns have explained to me that they get much more introverted around Nov/Dec because of the sudden lack of sunlight. Plus, even when the sun was 'up', it was oftentimes cloudy.

But, there are things to do when it's dark and dreary in Finland. One of which is ice skating. There is a nice ice skating rink centrally located next to the train station and I've been there several times. On weekend nights, music is played on loud speakers. I noticed that a lot of people seemed to know how to skate really well while I was crawling around the rink at snail speed. A Finn told me the other day that in elementary school, kids have to go ice-skating about once a week as a part of gym class. That would explain it. She also said that she preferred skating on the iced-over sea rather than at ice-skating rinks.
Take a good look at this picture and you'll see that there are people walking across the lake. There must have been 20-30 people walking across it at the same time. I am not so accustomed to cold climates that I can tell when it is safe or not to walk across a lake. On the day I took this picture, I even saw water at the edge of the lake, indicating to me that walking on it would be a bad idea. I trust the Finns know better and can gauge when it is safe or not to walk on lakes. Nevertheless, I didn't have the courage to take the shortcut across the lake that day.

Even though it's cold in Helsinki, seeing everyone else endure the weather gives me the motivation to keep moving along, even when the temptation to stay in my warm bed all day is particularly strong. As well, a plethora of cafes in Helsinki keeps me going, allowing me to make a pit stop for a hot drink whenever I'm especially cold or low on energy.