In Lapland, the specialty of outdoor lessons in -15 degree weather

Physical education in Finnish schools is often regarded as a model in Europe. While several postulates on the subject have been submitted to the Vaud Grand Council in recent years, here we take a look at the reality of Finnish schools. Lapland.

At -7 degrees Celsius, the platform at Kemi station is covered in a thin sheet of black ice that seems to have been delicately powdered over the course of the night. Having just stepped off the mainline train from Helsinki to Rovaniemi in the early hours of the morning, the photographer accompanying me and I breathe in the icy air. But for the inhabitants of this large town on the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia, right at the mouth of the Kemijoki River, the weather seems to be unbearably mild. «We're usually close to -30 degrees in the middle of January. Northern Finland is usually cold and harsh in winter», we say.