That statement is at least true. I leave from Hyvinkä at 21:30, and then have a 14 hour straight north to Muonio, on the Swedish border. And inside the Arctic Circle.
I have not been told what we will be doing other than the forced rental of either cross country skis or downhill. Due to certain childhood experiences, I chose cross country skis.
In other news, this week was exam week. And what a week it was. I started by going to school an hour early in confusion (rough weekend). So of course, I waited that entire hour, and preceded to take my Finnish history course. At least I can write in English for that exam. I'm hoping for an 8/10, but my last two exams surprised me (9/10, 10/10) so perhaps there is hope for better.
The next morning was my German exam. And that was a doozy. Why? It was in Finnish. I skipped two sections because, while I ubderstood the words, I could not understand what the instructions were. The listening comprehension was a breeze, as my English speaking brain is hard wired for Germanic languages. But the written... Let's just say I'm glad I had my Finnish/English dictionary with me, though often it didn't help. Maybe 6/10? My present host family, the Kiiso family, used to live in Germany, so if I can't say something in Finnish, I can say it in German. And that helps.
Back home, I always thought I was "cool" because I took French (arguably harder than Spanish) and did well in the class. Well- in Finland, knowing three languages is about the basic, as opposed to in the US, where people speak English, and can uselessly conjugate Spanish verbs every now and then. All Finns at least know Finnish and enough (Finnish) Swedish to get by. Then, in the East, many know Russian, in the South, English is spoken fluently, and in the West, Swedish is the mother tongue. Not to mention that Finns of my generation can speak at least one other language, generally French, Spanish, or German, if not all three. And they can speak it well, inthe context of comprehension, my pronunciation is better only with French. With German, I still have whatever accent I was taught at age ten.
Maybe you'll hear from me on Wednesday? Maybe I'll be asleep- I get back at four in the morning (considered night time for Finns, as the earliest a Finn will get up is seven, even if work is at eight). 
Potentially what Lapland may look like. Well, minus the mountains- the old joke is that the retreating Germans blew them up in 1945.
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