The Magic of Winter in Finland by Maria Efimova, class 9 C

Many Finns, especially small children, love winter. It’s not only beautiful but it also gives the opportunity to do things you would be unable to do in the summer. Some people may say they hate the winter because of the cold but most of the Finns have loved it at some point. I myself am one of those people who like it. To me there are only few things that are more beautiful than land covered with snow.
In Finland the snow falls usually in the end of November but lately we have had to wait for it until second half of December. First snow can fall as early as middle October but it usually melts away in few days. Snow falls, of course, earlier in Northern Finland than in south. As a matter of fact the winter is actually longer and colder in north.
In the past few years the winter has become a lot warmer. Ten years ago the temperature could drop down to -20 degrees in Helsinki, nowadays it usually stays between 0 and -10 degrees. There have been a few times when it was as cold as -17 degrees in Helsinki and most of those times were Saturdays… In the Northern Finland it has been as cold as -30 degrees or less.
During winter it’s possible to do many things that are impossible in summer. You can often see little kids building a snowman or playing in the snow. Ice skating on natures own ice on top of rivers and lakes, ice swimming, skiing in the forests, and playing ice hockey outside are a good example of the kind of activities that are only possible during winter. At least I can’t imagine myself doing any of them during summer…