I remember when negative temperatures were approaching, during October. I was terrified! Once it reached zero (0) degrees Celsius, I prepared myself mentally and bought a good pair of boots and a warm jacket. I had brought underpants and thermal shirts from Portugal, and wasn't afraid to use them!!

   I had forgotten that Finland's climate, unlike Portugal's, includes sudden temperature changes from one day to another. So, one morning, I came outside, and there it was... the scary and inevitable minus eight (-8) degrees Celsius waiting for me...

   I laugh at those times now... how scared I was. The hardest test and also the proof that all my fears were ridiculous was when I was caught off-guard (meaning with no underpants on), while walking downtown with some friends, with - 18C! It turned out I walked for a long time, with my normal (for Finland) clothes without much trouble. Of course I was cold, mainly on the face (frozen and rocky..), but I even thought it was fun. That's just what I needed: an experience like this to let me know that "Hey, there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes".

   And the snow... my god, the snow is just beautiful. They say they get tired of it because the Winter lasts 6 months, so although it's very nice and entertaining when it arrives, after a couple of months it gets annoying. I undertand that, but for me, it will always be beautiful to watch snow falling or walking on it. It's peaceful and it calms people. Maybe that's why finns aren't very agressive...