A picture of Sirkka, my dad’s Finnish host mother, and me! Olli took the picture, so  unfortunately he is on the other side of the camera. Also it was very windy, but this was a beautiful place.

Lahti town hall in the art nouveau style Lahti buildings as seen from the town square. Famous church of the cross designed by Alvar Aalto.

Walking through a path in the woods towards the sea, with Olavi Lanu sculptures lining the way… you have to look twice to notice though, or you might miss them as large boulders brought here from the ice age!

Sirkka and Olli also took me to the local library, where I found the same Finnish book I used to look at as a child (making up my own stories because I obviously couldn’t read it). These scenes have always stayed with me…

*Most of you who regularly follow this know that I don’t post photos of myself. I post photos of what my eyes see. I promise to do a bit better in the future, but shoutout to all the people who I have met and spent time with so far this past month.  I don’t really ever feel like I am traveling “alone” because of you!  (even if my pictures reflect it…)