Day 17 Into the wild.

This weekend, we headed to a KY-organized event, the cottage weekend. And there, I witnessed the beauty of mother nature.

I have really no idea where the cottages are, but I assume we went north from the city centre, Kamppi, to get there. (photo: on the bus to the cottage!)

(photo: this is the view on the bus, it is pretty eh? Just as I thought mother nature couldn't get any prettier than this, upon destination, I was in for a pleasant surprise! The view was like 5 times more magnificent than this!)

(photo: the dining hall/ main area)

(photo: settling down in the bunk beds.)

We went there at about 1 pm, settled down, and after a quick lunch of meat-balls, salad and mashed potatoes, we headed out to the woods for group games. We were divided into 10 groups, and each group has to compete with each other. These games/ competitions were pretty lame actually, e.g. "throwing Nokia mobile phones into a rubber boot", "throwing a rubber boot" etc. But I think I get to experience what it is like, to be in a snowy woods for more than 2 hours. It was freezing! Your fingers feel numb, you cannot feel your face anymore.

(photo: the woods.)

The trees were seriously pretty. I am not kidding. Back at home, I would only imagine that this scenery would only be seen in movies or national geographic channels, but I really get to see it for myself what it is like, to be surrounded by pine trees, all covered with snow, much like Christmas trees. It was so incredibly, unbelievably beautiful. I wish all of you were there with me to witness this scenery. I always complain about the cold here, but I think the cold is part of the reason why I am here in Finland.

This place keeps surprising me. Just as I thought the scene couldn't get any better than the woods, we found an iced lake. It was so incredibly beautiful, everything was so peaceful and calm.

(photo: this is the view of the lake at day-time. This is only like one angle of it, now imagine 360 degrees of this scene. Everything was so quiet and calm. As I was looking at the incredible view, I forgot about the city, Hong Kong, where I am, who I am, mother nature just took over my chains of thoughts, and all I can think of is, is this place for real? how could it be so pretty and undisturbed?)

The iced lake in night-time is simply incredible. Barbora and I laid down on the ice and looked up to the starry sky and shinning moon. We made snow angels. I did not take any photos of the lake at night-time because I think no matter how good my camera is, it does not capture the climate/ atmosphere of it. Mother nature just doesn't allow your cameras to spoil her scenes, you have to be there to witness the wild.