My Literary Adventures

Three years ago, I won a competition to go to Finland to be part of an International Poetry Course. The course was 4 days long in July and I did not know anyone. During the duration of the course, I made a friend called Jenni who was my same age. She was living in the Artist Village where we were staying and we were, by far, the youngest poets there. The last night, the organisers of the course invited everyone to a barbecue. It was a great weather but Jenni and I felt quite out of place, so we decided to "escape". Jenni told me that she knew a lake nearby where she used to go with her friends from the Artist Village to have a good laugh. I was ecstatic! Jenni said that she would pick me up at 10pm from my room, so we agreed to go and get changed. Unfortunately, I forgot to pack any bikinis (who would have thought I was going to swim in a lake in Finland?) so I had to choose my darkest bra and panties. As promised, Jenni came to my room and we took our towels before leaving. Making sure no one was around, we ran from the site. The town we were staying is a very small village called Orivesi that we quickly passed by that night. Jenni took me through a small forest followed by a cemetery in what I remember as a quite pinteresque pathway. After what felt like an eternity, we found it: a big, cool lake in the middle of it all. Without hesitating too much, I took my clothes off and I jumped into the lake in my underwear. I love swimming and that lake offered me a warm embrace where to lose myself in. In that moment, I felt the most complete happiness. Jenni did not get in, but she looked at me from the distance, dipping her toes in the water. I dived in, looking up to the Midnight Sun through the crystalline water. Some time later, Jenni told me that it was already 1am and that we should start heading home. I covered myself in the crispy towel I brought and we walked back through the cemetery. The sun was setting behind the tall, dark trees while we were finishing a red wine bottle we managed to buy in the afternoon for the barbecue but that we never drank. When we arrived to the Artist Village, we slid in through the back door. I ran up the stairs to my room where, still in my damp underwear, I climbed into my bed. I managed to fall asleep while the sun was already rising behind me.
The next day, as we were saying goodbye, some people complained because they never saw the Midnight Sun. Then, I looked towards Jenni and she smiled at me. I will never forget her.