Wintertime + Megazone

In January, winter was still in full swing, in the beautiful snow covered land of Finland.

One afternoon after school I got together with some other exchange student friends and a couple friends and we went to megazone. Or in other words, we played laser tag. It was so much fun!

A picture of a pile of snow with the vesijärvi in the background. My favorite place in Lahti, would definately have to be the harbor. It is peaceful and beautiful no matter the season.

Some water that has frozen. There are many of these around Lahti, and some look really blue and are quite enchanting.

A map showing the pathway around pikkuvesijärvi. While there is still the main path to walk on, there are also many tracks for cross country skiing too.

A bridge connecting pikkuvesijärvi to the vesijärvi. "Pikku" means "small" in finnish, so pikkuvesijärvi, is just a sort of large pond that separates off from lake vesijärvi.

I walked with one of my friends up to the train station, and on the way there I passed by this statue. I believe it is in rememberance of a war hero, but I may be mistaken because I can't remember for sure.

Lahti's town hall, which sits atop a hill and can be seen from the rest of the center. It's supposed to be very beautiful inside even though I have never been there. One day I will go.

My host brother plays a lot of ice hockey, so to help him practice more, we created an ice rink in the backyard thanks to freezing water. It was fairly smooth and nice. I got a few hockey pointers on how to hold the stick and shoot, but I don't think ice hockey is really my sport. The skates hurt my feet too much and you need to have really good balance and concentration.

At Lahti's sport complex. A few days after this picture was taken, there would be a huge snow boarding competition inside the stadium.

Just across from the tori (the square) and my bus stop. A statue, and up on the hill, the town hall. I love looking at the town hall when the sun is behind it, because it's windows make it look translucent when the light shines through.

The ski jumps look so beautiful all covered in snow. Even in the summer time, ski jumpers can still go down the jumps, but at the bottom is a huge swimming pool open to the public. This is at urheilkeskus which is by the sports stadium and has many, many tracks for walking, running, and cross country skiing.

Here is the jump set up in the middle of the stadium ready for a stop on the World Snowboard Tour: Stars in the Stadium. It was to be an exciting an fun snowboarding competition with music and friends.

Suomi is a land with four seasons, and even when the lands are cold and covered with snow. The sun still shines and there are blue skies. Finland truly is a beautiful country.