suomessa: rovaniemi

after a week of orientation, i made a trip to lapland with a few newfound friends. lapland is kind of a necessary trip when in finland--it is where santa lives, the sun never shines in the winter and never sets in the summer, and is even more sparsely populated than the south. during our ventures, we stayed in korvala, a village about an hour outside of rovaniemi (home of death metal band lordi and santa claus). the city was planned by alvar aalto after WWII left it in ruins. while we did not make it to see aalto's building(s?) in the city (we walked everywhere...and it's a bit chilly up there) i did get to take in the jätkänkynttilä bridge with its eternal flame and the arktikum museum of the arctic.

i went on a husky safari (even driving an 8-dog sled alone when the driver had to run and help someone else behind us), went cross-country skiing on a frozen lake (70 cm thick ice) and had an overall awesome time with new friends.