Get to know Anni

Hello everyone! I have the honor to be the first team member to introduce myself. My name is Anni and I'm 21 years old girl from Finland, the only team member who has been born and raised in Lapland. My hometown Keminmaa is small village in Sea-Lapland. My family consists of me, my sister and our parents. My big sister is currently located in England and my parents live in Keminmaa.

Through several coincidences I ended up to study at Lapland University of Applied Sciences in Rovaniemi. I was supposed to study business, but instead I now study at Degree Programme in Tourism. And I could not be happier! Already during the first autumn I knew that this is what I want to study and this is where I belong to. I will write more about my studies later on, so stay tuned!

My work experience in tourism starts from my first summer job that I had when I was 15 years old. I worked in Hotel Pohjanranta which is located in my hometown. There I worked during five summers; I have had several different kind of tasks during the years for example cleaning, reception, breakfast and bar. During the first year of our studies, we did field work in SantaPark. For three weeks we worked at the home cavern of Santa Claus. There I got the first touch to the Christmas season in Rovaniemi.

After the first year I did my practical training in Germany in the summer 2014. I was working in Hotel Sonne's Bar VIA in a small town called Füssen. Although it was a small town, there were lot of tourist in the summer since the castle of Sleeping Beauty, Castle Neuschwanstein, is located 5 km from the city center. Going to Germany was one of the best decisions I've made by this far in my life. I grew so much, learned a lot, get to knew new language and culture, met so many nice people and got to see amazing places. I lost a piece of my heart to Füssen, and Bavaria in general, and hope to visit there soon!

After the training I went for an exchange to Austria. I studied one semester at Krems University of Applied Sciences in tourism and leisure management programme. The school was located in Krems an der Donau, which is approx. 70 km from Vienna. Krems is a small town in Lower Austria along the Danube. Being an exchange students was great. My roommates were great, the city was nice, the school and courses were interesting and of course got to knew new people around the world! If you ever have a change to go for an exchange, do it!

This autumn has been quite hectic; school, work, EMCup and tutoring new DPT students. But I'm not complaining! I have been busy, but at least I have been doing things I really enjoy. Last week I started my advanced training at Hotel Rantasipi Pohjanhovi. Pohjanhovi is a legendary hotel in Rovaniemi as it is the oldest hotel here. The first time Pohjanhovi was opened was in 1936, but it got destoyed in Lapland War. Pohjanhovi was build again and in 1947 the doors opened again. 

I think this is it for now! 

Like, comment, share and ask questions if you have any! :)

- Anni