Just a little dip in the lake...

Tonight all the nursing exchange students were invited to the Director of Education's house for a little get together...Finnish style. What does that mean??? SAUNA (And winter swimming)

Now, I've been going to the sauna with Leena many times these last two weeks. In fact, she has one in her house, so for example, we have gone four or five times in the last week alone. So I have already had a good experience and have realized how much I love it.

Sauna is a very old tradition in the Scandinavian countries. It is very common also in Russia and Sweden. I have asked around but no one seems to know how, when, or why it started. I think it must have started because of how cold it gets up here. (You know, we are only hours from the Arctic Circle) Sauna is so important that many people treat it as a sacred place for meditation and a place to talk or sort out your feelings and emotions. It is wear business deals are talked over or where you bear your soul. For some reason conversations that are difficult to talk about any other time are easy to talk about in the sauna. I think it breaks down social barriers and strengthens and builds friendships. I have already noticed that with my friends here.

In the old days, people used wood burning saunas and built them a distance from the house. Now many are electric and can be built in the house. This Savonlinna area is the lake district, so here many people build them by the lake so after the hot sauna warms them up, they can cool off in the lake right away.

Saunas are built in nearly every apartment complex and families have a designated hour once a week to go. They are built in homes, summer cottages, rec centers. They really are everywhere.

Typically, women go together or all men go together. If a family has young children, they will all go to the sauna together until the children get a little older, and then they will separate.

So tonight were were invited to sauna with our professors. The Director of Education has a wood burning sauna at her house by the lake. The wood ones are better because the heat has more humidity and makes it easier to breathe. So we enjoyed a while in the hot sauna and then ran out to the tiny hole in the lake that had been recently cracked open, and we took turns taking a dip (or two!) in the frozen lake. It was soooo cold! After, I couldn't feel my body at all, but the best feeling was running back into the sauna to warm up. The change between being so hot you can't stand it to being so cold you can't stand it is actually exhilarating :)

(I tried and tried to get the quality of this better, but for some reason, even though my camera has a good video, when I uploaded it it looks terrible....but you'll get the idea.)

Can you tell how cold it it???

Sauna is something I'm only beginning to appreciate, and I don't think this small post can do justice for how the Finns feel about Sauna. We asked the director if we were crazy for wanting to do this twice in the freezing weather. She said, "you're just like us." I hope so.