Milica's chronicle
No matter how much you plan your trip, something unexpected will always come up. It is usually those unplanned moments that you remember the most.
Before coming to Finland, I was prepared for various situations. Going to a sauna for the first time, eating ice cream in the middle of November and sleeping on the school floor were the things I already had in mind beforehand. Jumping in a lake, however, was not something I had on my bucket list.
Did people ever tell you how cold Nordic countries can be during winter? Well, they were right. At least when it comes to Finland. As soon as I landed in Tampere airport, I realised that I was taking the weather in Belgrade for granted. I went from 20 to 0 degrees real quick… My friend Alex picked me up and we headed towards the city centre. We were driving around, catching up on all that has happened since we last saw each other and singing ABBA songs as loud as we could. I asked Alex what were the plans for the rest of the night to which she casually replied:
”Oh, I was thinking we go to the lake and, you know, jump in it.”
Lake? Finland? November? A potential heart attack? Not even a dinner before that? It took me a couple of seconds to gather my thoughts together. After a long pause, I decided to go along with her plans. If I’m here in Finland, I might as well get a full local experience - even if may not be the smartest idea.
Like most other Finnish people, Alex has a sauna in her house. She also lives right by a lake. This is not so surprising, since this country basically is one big lake. When we arrived at her place, we rushed to the sauna to warm ourselves up and prepare for what was coming. Her reaction, as this was the most normal thing to do, gave me a feeling of safety and calmness. Even so, the cold air I felt a couple of minutes before still gave me chills.
The sauna was getting hotter and hotter to a point when it became unbearable. At that exact moment, Alex looked at me seriously and mumbled something. A single word - run. We rushed out of the house, our heads still dizzy from the heat. As I was running towards the lake, my mind was empty. The heat and coldness started mixing together, swirling around in my mind and keeping me going towards the water. And there I was - surrounded by the lake itself. My legs were twitching and I felt like my ears would fall off any time. I could see Alex going through the same things and feeling the same way I did. We were both smiling. The thing I was so scared of earlier that evening was the same thing I’ve just survived. It was great.
We were feeling colder every second and our breaths were getting shorter and heavier. Alex and I rushed out of the water. As we were running back towards the sauna, we looked at each other. I could tell that Alex had the same thing on her mind as I did. Her face had “let’s do this again!” written all over it. And so we did. Twice.