Abingdonian 2017

16 The Abingdonian Finland Trip ‘All in, Mister Bond’, said Rev. Gooding in a Russian accent, as he pushed a handful of Jenga-chips into the middle of the table. The strangeness of this poker game was compounded by the fact that we were sitting in an old loggers’ cabin, in the middle of the Finnish Oulanka wilderness, where the closest settlement was a 45-minutes’ drive away, only a short distance from the Russian border - and all whilst the winds were billowing outside so loudly that we could hear them amidst the din of the dinner mess. This is just one of the many unexpected, but life-changing experiences we had on the Finland trip. In the intervals between our numerous poker games, we went on a two-day overnight expedition along the basin of the River Oulanka to the Russian border, fortunately not suffering any casualties to the border patrols (perhaps with the exception of Joshua’s Go-Pro…). The moment that I knew without a doubt that I really was in Finland was when I discovered that the hut we were staying in for the night didn’t have Wifi, electricity, running water or even a proper toilet, but had instead a separate cabin dedicated for sauna. I think this would have seemed very strange to all of us as well, had we not discovered earlier the power-combo that was the Sauna Snow Angel. Indeed, I was led to believe that a video of Billy Hickman’s momentous dive can still be found somewhere on Snapchat. One of the highlights of the whole trip must be the husky sledding. We were driven by a team of ten huskies and the view on top of the arctic plateau was simply out- of-a-Christmas-postcard; picture perfect in every way. It was around 11 in the morning, so we could just about see the sun rising out of the frosted pine-tops of the boreal forest, its rays splattered across the powdered snow in a thousand shades. Before we could stop to take in the view, the huskies were already racketing through the undisturbed woods, cutting through the powder with sled marks and dog paws. At that moment, I could really see why people said the Finnish language had a thousand words for snow – the powder, frost and ice flakes were simply stunning; mind blowing in fact. Special mention to Max Crum for driving his husky sledge through a tree and nearly hospitalising Rev. Gooding in the process! After the husky ride, we moved on to visit a reindeer farm where we were all given our reindeer drivers licences (although they are only valid in the Kuusamo area!). It was a family business and the owners had lived there for generations – they were some of the nicest people I have ever met. Sheltering us from the cold, the owner invited us to his house and treated us with the classic Finnish reindeer sausages and blueberry juice (‘juoice’). He was an elderly man and the conversation we had must be one of the most memorable experiences I had. Without boring you with the details, he spoke at great length about Trump, Brexit and global warming. Having never left the country, he has learned about most of these from people who have visited his farm and kept in touch. The farm owner told us about his own experience of global warming, how the winter grazing ground for the reindeer becomes larger and larger every year, how the snow on the ground becomes thinner and thinner. How it regularly used to be -40C in winter. Perhaps this is where the trip has left its deepest impression on me – the fact that we all live in the same world, despite how strange their Finnish ways initially seemed to us, or ours to them. Calvin Liu, VIJMD The boys had a truly fantastic Arctic adventure. Elsewhere in the week the highlights included taking part in a cross-