Winter is coming so before the snow arrived I decided to make the most of walking around outside and using the forest pathways. On Wednesday there were gray skies, but it wasn't too chilly, so I ended up walking all over the city in search of some winter shoes. Clothing is quite expensive here and most everything is at least 50 euros, so I decided to spend the day looking for something affordable and of the best quality. Thus I walked a lot in my quest to find the best deal.
I passed bye the 100km to Helsinki sign on my way to some of the stores. Lahti is situated pretty close to the capital and it only takes about an hour and a half or less to get there by car, and sometimes less than an hour by train. On Saturday I will take the train to Helsinki with some other exchange students and we will spend the day there.
After looking in several big stores, I walked towards the city center to look for shoes. In the background is Lahti's city hall, situated on top of one of the hills so that it can be seen very easy from almost anywhere in the center.
I'm not sure what the occasion was, but there were Finnish flags on all of the buildings, including the city hall. This could be in honor of a famous Finnish author, artist, or some other sort of leader. City elections have also begun this week, so maybe it's for some sort of political reason too.
More flags decorated the buildings around the town square where I waited to take the bus home after several hours of walking around. I didn't find any shoes to buy that day, despite going to literally ever shoe store in the city, but I think now I have decided what I am going to do in terms of what to buy.
On Thursday morning I awoke to beautiful blue skies and frost on the ground outside. I made up my mind to walk back to one of the stores I had been to on the previous day and then I purchased some snow boots. The weatherman predicts that tomorrow it will snow here, so I will be prepared now.
When you walk a lot, it doesn't feel too cold even if it is freezing or just below freezing as it was then. I was thinking how nice it feels to be outside so early in the morning taking a stroll, and then I remembered it was already noon. Since we are so far north, the sun rises later and sets earlier during wintertime, and so by the time I woke up it looked like it was just rising. I'm not sure how I will feel when the darkness moves in completely.
I always seem to forget how close I am to the ski jumps which are near the city center. Sure they aren't in my backyard, but only about a ten minute bus ride away, and close enough to see when I am walking in certain areas. The thing I really love about living here is that even if you aren't close to the center, there are so many walking and bike paths so it's very easy to get around by foot. Most families only have one car or no cars, so the bus system is also very good, coming every 20 minutes where I live. You can be out aways from civilization in nature, yet just a short ride away at the same time.
Walking has really become a hobby of mine, and now everytime I walk through these pathways I think of how this may be my last time ever getting to walk there. Come wintertime when the snow arrives, the pathways are closed off to walkers and converted into cross country skiing tracks.
That afternoon, I met my one of my exchange student friends, Ailey, in the city center and we wandered around for a few hours before going to watch a Pelicans game.
We had standing tickets to see the Pelicans take on the Oulu Kärpä in Lahti's ISKU Areena.
From the get go it seemed to be a pretty rough game in comparison to usual. The team from Oulu seemed to be playing hard, and both teams were attacking on goal pretty heavily. At one point, a player from Oulu was rammed into by one of the Pelicans and hit the wall pretty hard. He ended up on the ice unable to move and after awhile had to be carried off on a stretcher. No one was really sure what happened, but he most likely got a concussion. It sucks when people get hurt, so hopefully the injury isn't anything too serious.
In the second of three 20 minute periods, Oulu scored. Each game has three periods as I just mentioned, for 20 minutes each. In between the periods there are 20 minute breaks. So if all goes as planned, then a game is 100 minutes long. If there is a tie, there is one 5 minute round of overtime, and then a shootout with at least three players to go on each team.
It's really fun to watch the hockey games, and you learn some Finnish from hearing the fans and speakers too. Usually the Pelicans have a game on Thursdays and Saturdays, but it really just depends.
It was a rough night, and we ended up losing 0 - 3. Both my friend and I missed are busses which come less frequently in the evenings, so we had to wait outside for a half and hour. It was warmer than when I had been out walking earlier in the day, but it felt so cold. I was quite chilled even walking. Time to break out the big snow jacket and long underwear.
Maybe there will be some snow soon!
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