The first thing that stood out to Adrian, was that he left our Summer with Mid 30 degree temperatures to arrive about 30 hours later in Finland and be greeted by their Winter temperatures of minus 20 to 25 degrees. Fortunately his hosts gave him a warm greeting.
Soon after Adrian managed to visit Lapland where he got to experience minus 30 to minus 35 degree temperatures. Adrian was informed that minus 35 is too cold for skiing and that he had arrived to experience one of the harshest winters for Finland in 70 years.
Naturally when it is too cold for skiing, the in sport is swimming in water found in a hole in the snow. Adrian took some pictures of this event and explained you need to leave your socks on or the skin on your feet will be adhered to the ice.
He also fished in a hole in the snow with a very tiny Rod and showed a picture of the tiny fish he caught without bait. The bait arrived some time later. I think they may have been trying to bait Adrian.
The coldest temperatures in winter are from -45°C to -50°C in Lapland and eastern Finland; from -35°C to -45°C elsewhere; and -25°C to -35°C over islands and coastal regions. The lowest temperature recorded in Helsinki is -34.3°C (1987). The lowest temperature recorded at any weather station in Finland as of 2010 is -51.5°C (1999).
Additionally sunrise to sunset may last for as little as 45 minutes in Dec, to 24 hours of sunlight on consecutive days in mid year.
Adrian assured us on good Authority that he got to visit the real Santa and that the correct address for Santa is really not known to well outside of Finland.
District 1420 covers Finland and Estonia.
Adrian did a lot of travelling including a 21 Day Euro Tour with the other District 1420 Youth Exchange Students during which time they visited 21 countries. One of the pictures he presented showed that he had at least 11 female companions and thus a serenade In Italian, while he was with the girls in a gondola in Venice by a guy who looked like the Rock, (from Scorpion King), probably felt very appropriate at the time.
A visit to Russia was more on the scary side, it wasn’t the men walking around carrying machine guns, but more the way they drive.
Some important news for persons considering travelling to Finland, Adrian has it on good Authority that the correct beer to ask for is Karhu, but don’t try and fill Adrian’s shoes as he takes a size 15 shoe, so he sent he sent his shoes home by mail to make more room in his luggage.
Adrian says he now has more of a desire that his future life will involve international travel and that he would definitely work his way to making a return visit to Finland.
He thanked all members for what he said has been the time of his life and hoped very much that our club will make such opportunities available to others. Adrian’s blog site can be found here: beadle.tumblr.com/
Adrian is now adjusting to a week of 40 degree Celsius plus temperatures, Welcome home.