When I travel I love to find a mountain to climb, mainly to grab some nice photos from the top! In Finland mountains are a bit sparse, but there are plenty of hills. I found the largest hill nearby and as the temperature hovered at -23 off I trekked. As I neared the top the wind blew wildly and as the photo shows, the sun began to burst thru. But it was bitterly cold and I had to trot back down again following the thin pathway, if I strayed slightly left or right then I sunk waist deep into the snow.
The hill was a few miles from the Russian border. Finland’s history is intertwined with Russia and many Finns are not so pleased about the Russian influence both past and present. However 5 days into my trip I was unsure if I had met any Finns as it seemed like everyone I spoke to turned out to be Russian.
The stories I heard time and again were very positive. Migrants setting themselves up in a new country, finding work, buying houses and generally doing well. This was a refreshing encounter as usually my experience of meeting migrants is thru my work with Hope Housing. I meet them when they have become homeless and hear there stories of trafficking and exploitation. I even ended up making a short film with my work to highlight the issues. Hearing stories of migration that have worked well and resulted in finding a better life is good to hear.
When I headed to Helsinki I couldn’t escape the Russian influence and decided to fully embraced it by watching the St Petersburg ballet and visiting a Russian restaurant (pictured below). Im glad I did as I got to enjoy a Russian cocktail and eat bear steak!
