For some years now I have dreamt of going to Canada. Where this idea came from I have no clue, but now it's about to come true. Ever since I made up my mind with the topic of my Bachelor's thesis I've been an arctic enthusiast. Now when I'm supposed to be writing my Master's thesis the academic flow is somehow missing, but I could still go on and on about what interests me in my topic: the cultural definition of arctic. It is this enthusiasm that gave me the opportunity to travel again. This makes the record of the year: year 2012 I've traveled to 5 new countries and a couple of new continents too.
The University of the Arctic arranges an event called Rectors' Forum each year, this time in Manitoba, Canada. In this forum the heads of the member institutes gather together to discuss about the current issues and the future of the Arctic region. This is the third year when each institute can also name a student representative to participate in a Student Forum organized alongside the main event. I was crazy nervous about this, couldn't sleep at night trying to figure out the best way to present myself in order to get the place. It was an open application round and the Student Union of the University of Lapland made the final choice. When I got the call I played cool, asked how many applications they had received altogether (5) and politely chitchatted with the lady for a while. After this, I jumped, screamed and laughed of joy, called C and my family and started googling info about Winnipeg. The following night I thought I could finally sleep well, but now stayed awake getting increasingly anxious about the trip.
Now the trip is few weeks away. I'll depart for Winnipeg with some UArctic staff from Rovaniemi on the 9th of November, happily skipping timezones and stopping in multiple cities. We leave early on Friday morning and fly first to Helsinki, then Copenhagen, Toronto and finally reach Winnipeg early in the evening, local time. My helpless body will still be in Finnish time, 2AM. We arrive early as the program starts with a dinner on Saturday evening, so I have a day to myself to explore the city of Winnipeg. The Student Forum program includes hiking and riding horses, going to museums and even bedtime stories. We'll start heading back to Finland after the week is done, on the 16th. I can't wait.
