By Andy Furman
NKyTribune reporter
Finland is famous for being the Happiest Country in the World, as well as having the world’s best education system and cleanest air. Perhaps those are just some of the reasons Kara Potts made the 4,495-mile trip this past summer.
“I just wanted to explore a new culture, travel and experience new foods,” she told the Northern Kentucky Tribune.
A junior at Bellevue High School, she made the trek to Espoo – outside of Helsinki – last July and stayed with a host family, part of the Covington Rotary Club Youth Exchange Program.
Candidates are ages 15-19 and are leaders in their schools and communities. The Rotary Youth Exchange inspires young leaders to serve as catalysts for peace and social justice in their local communities and throughout the world, long after their exchanges end.
The program is possible because of the dedication, leadership, and passion of the tens of thousands of volunteers – Rotary members and nonmembers alike – who make this unique program so successful.
Kara Potts was part of the short-term exchange – which lasted about five weeks, she told the Covington Club at their weekly meeting. Room and board are provided, she explained, but participants are usually responsible for round-trip airfare, travel insurance, travel documents (such as passports and visas) and spending money and any additional travel or tours.
“The families in Finland are usually small with one or two children,” Potts explained. She said her host family had two siblings.
And Finns love outdoor activities, she added.
“Most of the homes have an indoor sauna,” she said. “Our host home had one attached to their bathroom.
“They also had an outdoor cabin, with a sauna as well. It’s very common, and part of the Finn culture.”
So, how was the food?
“It was very seafood based,” Potts, said.
Whether it is salmon soup, fillets of perch, pickled Baltic herring or smoked vendace, it is mostly from the sea.
“Fish dishes,” she said, “seem to be the heart of the Finnish diet.”
As for driving, it was somewhat different, according to Potts.
“Driving, like here,” she says, “is on the right side of the road.”
The good news, Finland is the most sparsely populated country in the European Union. Outside the major cities, driving is usually the most practical way to get around. Traffic is safe, speeds are modest and most roads have little traffic.
“There are,” she said, “many stops for sightseeing and tours.”
Kara Potts, said she wanted to be closer to nature – and she picked the perfect place – Finland. Around seventy-five perfect of its surface is covered with forest, and it has the world’s biggest archipelago, as well as Europe’s largest lake district and last untamed wilderness, Lapland.
And, Finland is also a safe travel destination – 11 out 12 lost wallets are returned to their owners, according to figures.
Oh, there is one hangup, according to Potts.
“There’s 23 hours of sunlight in the summer months; so, it was a bit harder to sleep.”