One of the top reasons why I made up my mind about moving to Finland is the fact that they are well prepared for the winter time. I mean, here in Berlin, the winter time is like living in the miserable pit of God’s hangover, for five whole months. Finland in the winter, they have long winters, so they came up with ways of staying active even when the sun does not shine.
Here are four good reasons why going to Finland in the winter is the best idea ever!
Are you brave enough to Swim in the Ice?
Maybe this is the part where people fear the most, huh? The idea of jumping into the frozen lake. “Can you imagine how crazy this is? I can’t even get inside my girlfriend’s pool if I don’t jump because the water is cold at 17. or 20.! I would ne-ver do that!” – Yes, I know! This is you all over, huh? And I can say that this was me before I tried last winter. And now I’m addicted!
Ice swimming is fun, it is impressive, it does not hurt, you should not be afraid, and it is scientifically proven to make your immune system to its max capacity!
Just to sum it up for you again: NO PAIN, YES GAIN! That should be the slogan for ice swimming!
You need to try Ice Fishing
A real winter tradition that is taken seriously when you’re talking about Finland. I had the opportunity of trying to fish on top of a frozen lake at Green Window, a great place full of winter activities near Espoo and Helsinki. Green window’s owner Pekka Vaananen is so sure that you’ll have a great time doing this, that I’ve heard from his mouth, that if a client does not catch a fish, they will not pay for anything.
It is so relaxing! You can get all the stress of your body out in no time! Think that this is the Finnish version of meditation, ok? It is you and pure nature out there. No talk, no fights, no nothing. Just silence and eventually a great and good meal.
Besides Ice fishing, Green Window offers tons of other activities for all kinds of taste, that goes from ice fishing to sauna and ice swimming, but this I’ll tell you later.
What about Cross-country skiing in Finland?
Cross-country skiing was the final thing I had to learn about Finland to make my final decision about moving there. It is amazing how a fun activity can be so healthy and good! You use all your muscles, you burn a lot of calories, you get in shape and all that without even noticing that you’re doing exercise. That’s how fantastic Cross-country skiing is.
We tried that next to Lake Bodom, at Oittaa, a fantastic place where you can have cross-country ski all the way to ice swimming, hiking in the snow and on the summertime, a lot of summer activities like camping and getting married. Yes, they do fabulous weddings!
Hiking with snowshoes
Remember those excellent medieval movies that show a bunch of people walking around the dunes of snow with those tennis racquet attached to their feet? So, snowshoes evolved quite a lot since those times, but the fun never ends! You gotta try this weird and fun winter activity. After a few meters, you don’t need this number of jackets as before LOL.
Bonus: Be retarded in the snow!
In Finland, nobody cares that you’re a little bit retarded when it comes to playing with the snow! They find it funny to see how Brazilians have so much fun with an everyday-life-thing for them. Finnish people do not judge, Finnish people only love!
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