Senior Thomas Short took a two-week solo trip to Finland for his 18th birthday over the 2022 summer. While the process to get there was stressful, it was worth it to discover his love of a new environment. 

   Short took a plane from Baltimore to Reykjavik, Iceland, before finally arriving in Helsinki, Finland. Though it sounds simple, it took three months to get on the first plane after planning the trip. 

   First he jumped through bureaucratic hoops to get his passport done. Once the day finally arrived, he drove more nearly three hours to get to the Baltimore airport. Then a small problem occurred.

   “In between the flights, I almost got stuck in Iceland because my flight out from Baltimore was delayed,” Short said.

   He was racing the entire airport to catch his next flight.

   “Once I was on the plane, I was incredibly excited,” Short said. 

   As soon as he arrived in Helsinki, something surprising caught his attention. 

    “The whole country was so clean,” Short said. “When I was over there, I saw maybe a single piece of litter around the countryside and the city.” 

   The cleanliness of the environment made him ecstatic. 

   “Seeing how clean everything was and how fresh the air is just makes me and everyone else so happy,” Short said. 

   Short spent his time biking throughout Helsinki, practicing his photography skills along the way.