Anna in Finland

The Aurora Borealis effect: When dreams become reality

Everything started with a childhood dream. As a little girl, I loved watching the stars, looking at the night sky, and making wishes. Sometimes, I even sneaked outside in the middle of the night just to look at the stars. Then, one day, I watched a National Geographic documentary about the Northern Lights, and from that moment, I knew I wanted to see it with my own eyes.

Years later, while studying for my bachelor’s degree and working full-time, I decided to follow this dream. I traveled solo to Luleå, Sweden, but I didn’t see the Northern Lights. The following year, I tried again in Tromsø, Norway. I still didn’t see it with my own eyes, although my phone did manage to capture it! After two unsuccessful trips, I almost gave up because traveling that far was expensive. But sometimes, life has a funny way of bringing us exactly where we need to be.

After graduating, my work contract ended, and I found myself unemployed, with a business degree in my hands and no idea what to do next. I applied for many jobs but kept getting rejected. However, for the first time since I was seventeen, I could finally enjoy the summer without working. I joined an Erasmus+ youth exchange, and then my younger brother suggested that I should try volunteering through the European Solidarity Corps (ESC), because he had volunteered in Italy and loved it, so I decided to give it a try. And then I found Finland! I was screaming like a little girl because I thought this might finally be my chance to see the Northern Lights. I applied immediately, had an interview just one day before my birthday, and about a week later, I got the news:

They were waiting for me in Finland!

I arrived in September, thinking I’d stay for six months. But I had no idea that Finland would become my second home. In January, I decided to extend my contract, and in the end, I stayed until the end of June, ten months that I’ll never forget.

My adventure started in Rovaniemi, where I spent my first night. After traveling for 29 hours, instead of sleeping I went for a short walk, and on my way back, I saw it.

The AURORA BOREALIS aka THE NORTHERN LIGHTS! On my very first day in Finland!

After years of dreaming and traveling, I finally saw it with my own eyes. I was crying while watching the sky, thinking about that little girl who used to sneak outside at night just to look at the stars. Her dream had finally come true. And somehow, I already felt that I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

My new home was Ranua, a small village in northern Finland. As someone who’d always lived in a city life, moving somewhere with no public transport was quite a change. My bike and my own two feet became my best friends. But surprisingly, I felt at home very quickly. I volunteered at the local Youth House, spending time with children and teenagers, playing games, organising activities, and joining school projects and the art club. I’m a very extroverted person, so making connections came naturally to me. I was so happy when the kids started approaching me, asking who I was and how long I’d stay in Ranua. Little by little, I became part of their lives, and they became part of mine.

One of my first big experiences was the arrival training in Kokkola. I was nervous because I didn’t know anyone and most of the other volunteers lived in southern Finland. But I quickly made amazing friends, and some of them became my closest friends even after the training ended. We visited each other in Helsinki and Ranua, and I’m still grateful for those friendships. Later, I also travelled to Sweden with some of the young people to watch an ice hockey game. It was my first-ever hockey match, and months later, I found out that the game had been connected to a colleague who joined our team in April. It’s funny how life connects people in unexpected ways!

And then came the Arctic winter with –30°C, endless snow, and darkness like I’d never experienced before. There was snow everywhere, sometimes reaching my knees, and I tried almost everything I could. I made my first snow angel, made ice cream in the snow, and threw hot water into the air at minus twenty degrees just to see it turn into a cloud of ice crystals. Of course, I’d seen these things on TikTok, so I had to try them myself. The days became incredibly dark, but the lights in people’s windows, the snowy landscape, and the Northern Lights made everything magical. In December, two of my friends came from Hungary to visit me. We went to Santa Claus Village, pet and feed reindeers, tried snowmobiling, went ice skating on a frozen lake, and enjoyed the sauna. It was amazing to share my new home with people I loved. I also spent New Year’s Eve in Helsinki with my friends, another bucket-list dream checked off!

During those ten months, I tried so many things for the first time.

I went downhill skiing, tried snowmobiling, learned cross-country skiing, and even went ice swimming in the sea. My neighbour, Anni, taught me some of these activities and became one of the most important people in my Finnish life. She wasn’t just my neighbour, she became a friend who made me feel less like a stranger in a foreign country. We went on trips, visited different places, went swimming, enjoyed saunas, and shared so many beautiful moments. I’ll always be thankful for her kindness.

I also got to spend Christmas back home in Hungary, and in February, I went to Egypt with my family. Going from -26°C in Finland to +30°C in Egypt was quite an experience! It was so nice to spend some time with my family and friends, even if I had to return to the Finnish winter afterwards. I was also lucky enough to have some of my friends and family come and visit me in Finland. Showing them the place that had become my second home and sharing those experiences with them meant a lot to me.

As the months passed, something changed. I wasn’t just the Hungarian volunteer anymore. I started feeling like a real part of Ranua. I learned more Finnish, shopping became easier, and people started recognising me around the village. Some parents told me how happy they were that I was there because their children were improving their English and had someone new to talk to. Those words meant so much to me. I realised that I wasn’t only getting something from this experience, I was also giving something back. Even today, I still keep in touch with many of the young people, and they share their lives and everyday stories with me.

It’s such a special feeling to know that I became part of their lives, just as they became part of mine.

When spring arrived, I started swimming in the lake with Anni. My first swim was when the water was only six degrees and the air was fourteen degrees! We went swimming regularly as the weather got warmer, and we even had picnics while there was still snow on the ground. I spent more and more time with the young people outside the Youth House, too. We’d meet at the supermarket, walk together, play games by the lake, or simply sit and talk. That’s when I truly realised how much I belonged there.

But then May arrived, and I started thinking about leaving. The Youth House closed at the end of May, and it was much harder than I’d expected. During June in my last month, I helped at a children’s camp and spent my final two weeks doing everything I loved: swimming, cycling, visiting the polar bears at the zoo, going to cafés, and spending time with my friends and colleagues. Anni and I also visited her mother’s home, planted potatoes, went to the sauna, and attended the Midsummer Film Festival. I tried to enjoy every single moment because I knew my time was running out.

Saying goodbye was heartbreaking. I organised picnics, swimming, and sauna evenings with the young people, trying to see everyone one last time. Packing my suitcases was even harder because I struggled to fit all my belongings into my suitcases, but how could I possibly fit 10 months of memories into them? I even had to leave some things at Anni’s place, promising I’d come back for them one day. And I still mean it!

Before leaving, I made a special souvenir for myself, a T-shirt where the children, teenagers, colleagues, and other people I’d met could write messages or draw something for me. It became the most precious thing I brought home because every little drawing and message reminds me of someone who made my time in Finland special.

Coming home was wonderful, but also painful.

I was happy to see my family and friends, yet I missed Ranua terribly. I cried a lot and struggled with the feeling of leaving a place that had become home. Slowly, I started finding my rhythm again, but a part of my heart stayed in Finland.

When I first traveled north to chase the Northern Lights, I never imagined I’d find so much more than just a beautiful sky. I found lifelong friendships, a second home, new skills, unforgettable adventures, and a version of myself I hadn’t known before. I arrived as a girl with a childhood dream, and I left ten months later with a heart full of memories and people I’ll never forget.

And that little girl who used to sneak outside at night to watch the stars? She finally got to live her dream, watching the Northern Lights dance across the sky almost every night, sometimes even from her bed, through her own window.

Sometimes, one dream takes you on a journey that changes your entire life. Mine took me to Finland and I’ll always carry a little piece of it in my heart.

Hosting organisation:

Monkkari 2.0 Ranua's Youth House is operated through the youth, sports and culture office of Ranua. The main focus of Youth House is to provide a place for the young people where they can come to spend time and make new friends. Open evenings and events are organized regularly, such as arts and crafts or doing sports together. Additionally, there are camps and activities offered for school brakes.

Youth Work in Ranua project organized by Ranua Municipality

Date: September 2025 - June 2026

Volunteer: Anna Bettina Danku

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