Finland

Some know Finland as the happiest country on earth. Some know Finland as an untamed arctic wilderness. For the past year and a half, I have known Finland as home. Growing up in the U.S. with a Finnish mother and grandparents, I expected living in Finland to feel somewhat familiar. Instead, I experienced culture shock almost daily in the first few weeks after moving. While initially surprising, these moments have been critical keys to unlocking the secrets of nordic happiness....

Lost in time while solo backpacking the Midnight Sun in Tsarmitunturi Wilderness Area Reading atop my first fjäll peak at Tsarmitunturi Many Finns celebrate the Juhannus or Midsummer holiday by going to a mökki (a small cottage), but I discovered Tsarmitunturi in a guidebook I received for Christmas that year. Tsarmitunturi is a 150 square kilometer Wilderness Area in the east part of Finnish Lapland. The guidebook recommended getting lost in time hiking without a phone or watch during the Midnight Sun when the sun never goes down....

My name is Alex Beattie and over the past four years I have lived in three countries and have navigated the challenges of working and traveling during a global pandemic. Semester in Sweden The Linneaus University Campus Castle Seeing the Northern Lights for the first time On a cold winter day in early 2019, I traveled from St. Louis, Missouri to Växjö, Sweden to commence a semester study abroad program at Linneaus University....