It's finally happened, I've made it home. I was definitely ready to be back. The last few weeks of travel through Europe have worn me down and I'm ready to be back on the lake.
I arrived home around 1:30am last night after leaving Amsterdam 28 hours earlier (a whole other painful story in itself). Mom was the first person at the airport, and consequently the first to get a hug. It didn't really feel like being home though, or at least not what I had expected. I woke up (in a bed!!) at 8am and was more or less bored an hour later after trying to show mom and make a dent in the massive 10GB of pictures. Then it was a call from Tiana to see if I was up for some sea kayaking. I was planning on staying home for a bit more but then thought better of it, loaded up the car with a few bags of clothes and outdoor essentials (life jacket, tent, sandals, etc). It was like Christmas going through all that stuff (probably because it had been Christmas since I've last seen it). I'd find another box, open it up and, BOOM, something cool would be there.
Anyway, the minute I walked up to the Union in Madison, it hit me that I was home-in a jet of water (thanks Tristan). Haha, I was actually excited, showing real excitement for something. Man, I missed everything and everyone so much. I walked down to the lakefront and there were already 10 friends I hadn't seen since leaving just working down on the piers. I went out on the lake in a kayak, the first time of the year. I even had a momentary lapse in memory when I couldn't figure out how to paddle the first 30 seconds. But once out on the lake, it was just awesome, looking back at all of the boats, heading out towards picnic point, just gliding across the water. I even got a boat ride from Jessie. It's gonna be an awesome summer!!
Friday, June 29, 2007
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Arctic Backpacking
One week of backpacking, Swedish style! No tent, no stove, no water filters, non-existent 2am trains, random Norwegian girls throwing candy to us, rubber cement flavored ramen, sleeping on arctic shrubbery, turnip flakes, climbing glaciers, walking through rivers, when trails become rivers, Swedish 1,200m summits (sadly no Kebnakaise), lobster man, midnight sun (make sure to sleep face down; also references lobster man), reindeer, cooking on the beach, snowed in at mid-June, hiking through 3am - under the sun, pull my finger, drinking water fresh from mountain streams, inventing our own version of the Swedish language. All this and more to be explained soon...probably after living on trains for the next 15 days. Really, I just wanted to let you all know I am still alive despite aforementioned encounters.
This picture was taken at 3:13am.
This picture was taken at 3:13am.
Friday, June 1, 2007
My last night in Umeå
The end is near for my time in Sweden. Tonight is my last night in Umeå. I've already said goodbye to most people and we've already lost Lauren who left a little more than an hour ago. It's quite sad, though on the bright side, most of my best friends from here are within a day's drive. I'll see Hannah in England in less than a month, and Hugh will be touring the States next winter with a two week stay in the midwest (including Madison). All in all, it's been one hell of a semester and I've loved every minute of it.
I haven't quite finished packing (or cleaning for that matter) which isn't great considering that I leave on a train heading north tomorrow morning at 8:50am. However, that will be well after Matt, Kari, and Tiana (who is going to get an ass kicking) arrive at 6:05am. The ass kicking will be due to Tiana forgetting where to get off the bus. Instead of going to Alidhem Centrum (100 meters from my door) they are getting off at the downtown bus station (4000 meters from my door). Also, the local buses don't run that early thus I will have to walk down at 5:30am. Not so bad, except that the bus they are on comes right to me, we have to catch the last train to Abisko at 8:40am, and in the meantime get food and supplies as well as come all the way back to Alidhem to drop off extra gear. Oooh she's gonna get it.
The last few weeks have been pretty laid back. My last class ended a few days ago (with an oral final, no less) and in the meantime there have been hikes around the lake, games of ultimate frisbee, catching up on tv shows, and of course, nights out. Now that everyone is leaving, including me, I don't know what to do. The next month is going to be nothing but non-stop traveling and sightseeing. As much as I'm looking forward to it, I'm ready to head back home. I'm really starting to miss the nights on the terrace, Hoofer trips, sailing socials, the lake at grandma's, and most of all my many awesome friends. Oh well, plenty of time for that when I get back sometime late June/early July. Pictures and stuff from the last few weeks will come up soon.
I haven't quite finished packing (or cleaning for that matter) which isn't great considering that I leave on a train heading north tomorrow morning at 8:50am. However, that will be well after Matt, Kari, and Tiana (who is going to get an ass kicking) arrive at 6:05am. The ass kicking will be due to Tiana forgetting where to get off the bus. Instead of going to Alidhem Centrum (100 meters from my door) they are getting off at the downtown bus station (4000 meters from my door). Also, the local buses don't run that early thus I will have to walk down at 5:30am. Not so bad, except that the bus they are on comes right to me, we have to catch the last train to Abisko at 8:40am, and in the meantime get food and supplies as well as come all the way back to Alidhem to drop off extra gear. Oooh she's gonna get it.
The last few weeks have been pretty laid back. My last class ended a few days ago (with an oral final, no less) and in the meantime there have been hikes around the lake, games of ultimate frisbee, catching up on tv shows, and of course, nights out. Now that everyone is leaving, including me, I don't know what to do. The next month is going to be nothing but non-stop traveling and sightseeing. As much as I'm looking forward to it, I'm ready to head back home. I'm really starting to miss the nights on the terrace, Hoofer trips, sailing socials, the lake at grandma's, and most of all my many awesome friends. Oh well, plenty of time for that when I get back sometime late June/early July. Pictures and stuff from the last few weeks will come up soon.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Europe - Round 2: Berlin, Prague, Athens
First of all, I realize I still haven't written down anything about my first trip through Europe, and I know the longer I wait the more I'm gonna forget. Problem is, there's just too much to write so I figure if I wait long enough, I'll remember just enough to be considered manageable. Ehh, either way I'll get to it sooner or later.
Anyway, about two weeks ago Trevor, Lauren, and I booked a few flights and buses for a trip through Berlin, Germany; Prague, Czech Republic; and Athens, Greece. This originally started out as an open question of who wanted to go to Prague and when could they go. It ended up with the three of us looking for cheap airfare from random cities we could stay in a couple days apiece rather than spend 6 straight days in Prague.
Well, we found the cheap airfare (I love Europe's discount airlines) and cheaper bus options to get us from Umeå to Stockholm (YBuss), Stockholm to Berlin (AirBerlin), Berlin to Prague (Eurolines), Prague to Athens (Sky Europe), Athens to Stockholm (Sterling), and Stockholm to Umeå (SAS). For those of you counting that's two different bus companies and four different airlines. Total trip time was 8 days.
The 9 hour overnight bus was pretty uneventful. It was basically empty and even though you had an entire row to yourself, it was still hard to sleep...not to mention we got into Stockholm Arlanda at about 5am. Then it was wait around in the airport for maybe 6 hours where Lauren got really excited about the presence of 7 Eleven and their slushie machines (though sadly no Coke slushies).
Berlin was a surprisingly cool city to visit. I really just wanted to see the Berlin Wall and the Brandenburg Gate, but it turns out there's actually a fair amount to see. Our hostel was surprisingly nice (bar/lounge, outdoor patio, rooftop deck, free luggage storage, etc.) though we did share a room with 36 other people (apparently they turn their winter nightclub into one huge dorm in the summer). It's hard to describe a city but definitely take a look at the pictures and their captions, should be worth it (haha, this is of course assuming I know what I took a picture of). I will say that Berlin had a free tour service that went on 3.5 hour walking tours of the Eastern part of the city. Our guide was pretty much one of the best guides I've ever had (probably because she was Swedish). Other than that, nothing too eventful - though I did see a Panda.
We spent two days in Berlin and then caught a bus to Prague. Truth be told, I wasn't exactly sure where to find the bus station and we actually almost ended up on the wrong side of the city (I ended up reading through my travel book rather than looking online and took a guess to go with what the book said - it was right this time, not so much with the restaurants though). We got into Prague around midnight with no sure idea of how to get to our hostel. It went about like this: *Ryan pulls out compass and looks at crappy map* "I think it's this way", *Ryan leads down random streets, goes to far* "Ok, I think it was actually back that way a bit", we eventually find the hostel. Sadly, this occurred more than once (I blame it on the map...and my lack of careful consideration).
Prague was a pretty awesome city, though I think it's definitely more of a place to chill out and relax. There wasn't too much history, but some pretty awesome architecture everywhere you went. The castle was of course amazing, but there was also a pretty neat fortress up on a cliff south of the city. The castle and medieval feel to the old sections have got me pretty excited to go find some castles in the Scottish highlands, but again, check out the pictures. There was one monumental event that happened in Prague and this event was mine and Lauren's discovery of the fried cheese burger. Not fried cheeseburger, cheese burger. A piece of deep fried battered cheese thrown on a bun with ketchup and mayo. It. Was. Amazing.
Of course it being Prague, we also had to try the beer...and it was good...and cheap. You could go out for a night and spend $4 (this $4 got us a shot of Absinthe and 1.5L of beer...yes, even the cheap beer was good). It was definitely a nice change from the rest of Europe where prices make you want to cry a little on the inside (returning to Sweden, the land of expensive everything, didn't help much).
On to Athens where we found the worlds longest hallway in the Athens airport (I'm pretty sure you could actually see the curvature of the Earth). The weather was a bit rainy the first few days of the trip (scattered showers mostly) but by the last day in Prague, the rest of the trip was warm and nothing but sun. However, Athens being a decent ways south, it also meant hot...really hot. The temperature was about 30ºC (86ºF) which doesn't sound so bad, except when you've been used to -30 the last few months.
Anyway, we saw what we had to the first day and hit the beach the second. Well worth it, though I'm sure we stuck out as tourists having been living in Sweden with no sun among a beach full of tan Greeks. The crazy thing about Athens was randomly running into someone I knew from home. We had been talking about the odds of seeing someone you knew half way around the world and a day or so later I ran into Jason Gerstenkorn, a guy I went to high school with. Then we ran into him randomly the next day. Craziness.
It was then back to Umeå where we got off the plane (me still in shorts - I refused to accept the reality of the arctic) and got hit with 7ºC (45ºF) winds. Welcome back to Umeå. On the bright side, we're now the tannest people in northern Sweden.
Anyway, about two weeks ago Trevor, Lauren, and I booked a few flights and buses for a trip through Berlin, Germany; Prague, Czech Republic; and Athens, Greece. This originally started out as an open question of who wanted to go to Prague and when could they go. It ended up with the three of us looking for cheap airfare from random cities we could stay in a couple days apiece rather than spend 6 straight days in Prague.
Well, we found the cheap airfare (I love Europe's discount airlines) and cheaper bus options to get us from Umeå to Stockholm (YBuss), Stockholm to Berlin (AirBerlin), Berlin to Prague (Eurolines), Prague to Athens (Sky Europe), Athens to Stockholm (Sterling), and Stockholm to Umeå (SAS). For those of you counting that's two different bus companies and four different airlines. Total trip time was 8 days.
The 9 hour overnight bus was pretty uneventful. It was basically empty and even though you had an entire row to yourself, it was still hard to sleep...not to mention we got into Stockholm Arlanda at about 5am. Then it was wait around in the airport for maybe 6 hours where Lauren got really excited about the presence of 7 Eleven and their slushie machines (though sadly no Coke slushies).
Berlin was a surprisingly cool city to visit. I really just wanted to see the Berlin Wall and the Brandenburg Gate, but it turns out there's actually a fair amount to see. Our hostel was surprisingly nice (bar/lounge, outdoor patio, rooftop deck, free luggage storage, etc.) though we did share a room with 36 other people (apparently they turn their winter nightclub into one huge dorm in the summer). It's hard to describe a city but definitely take a look at the pictures and their captions, should be worth it (haha, this is of course assuming I know what I took a picture of). I will say that Berlin had a free tour service that went on 3.5 hour walking tours of the Eastern part of the city. Our guide was pretty much one of the best guides I've ever had (probably because she was Swedish). Other than that, nothing too eventful - though I did see a Panda.We spent two days in Berlin and then caught a bus to Prague. Truth be told, I wasn't exactly sure where to find the bus station and we actually almost ended up on the wrong side of the city (I ended up reading through my travel book rather than looking online and took a guess to go with what the book said - it was right this time, not so much with the restaurants though). We got into Prague around midnight with no sure idea of how to get to our hostel. It went about like this: *Ryan pulls out compass and looks at crappy map* "I think it's this way", *Ryan leads down random streets, goes to far* "Ok, I think it was actually back that way a bit", we eventually find the hostel. Sadly, this occurred more than once (I blame it on the map...and my lack of careful consideration).
Prague was a pretty awesome city, though I think it's definitely more of a place to chill out and relax. There wasn't too much history, but some pretty awesome architecture everywhere you went. The castle was of course amazing, but there was also a pretty neat fortress up on a cliff south of the city. The castle and medieval feel to the old sections have got me pretty excited to go find some castles in the Scottish highlands, but again, check out the pictures. There was one monumental event that happened in Prague and this event was mine and Lauren's discovery of the fried cheese burger. Not fried cheeseburger, cheese burger. A piece of deep fried battered cheese thrown on a bun with ketchup and mayo. It. Was. Amazing.
Of course it being Prague, we also had to try the beer...and it was good...and cheap. You could go out for a night and spend $4 (this $4 got us a shot of Absinthe and 1.5L of beer...yes, even the cheap beer was good). It was definitely a nice change from the rest of Europe where prices make you want to cry a little on the inside (returning to Sweden, the land of expensive everything, didn't help much).On to Athens where we found the worlds longest hallway in the Athens airport (I'm pretty sure you could actually see the curvature of the Earth). The weather was a bit rainy the first few days of the trip (scattered showers mostly) but by the last day in Prague, the rest of the trip was warm and nothing but sun. However, Athens being a decent ways south, it also meant hot...really hot. The temperature was about 30ºC (86ºF) which doesn't sound so bad, except when you've been used to -30 the last few months.
Anyway, we saw what we had to the first day and hit the beach the second. Well worth it, though I'm sure we stuck out as tourists having been living in Sweden with no sun among a beach full of tan Greeks. The crazy thing about Athens was randomly running into someone I knew from home. We had been talking about the odds of seeing someone you knew half way around the world and a day or so later I ran into Jason Gerstenkorn, a guy I went to high school with. Then we ran into him randomly the next day. Craziness. It was then back to Umeå where we got off the plane (me still in shorts - I refused to accept the reality of the arctic) and got hit with 7ºC (45ºF) winds. Welcome back to Umeå. On the bright side, we're now the tannest people in northern Sweden.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Umeå Normality
I've been back for almost two weeks now and everything seems to be back to normal. This means class once or twice a week for 2-5 hours at a time, IKSU everyday, going out or finding something to do most nights, and lots of movies and tv shows to fill in the gaps.
After coming back to cold and rain, I'll be honest, I kind of missed the shorts, sandals, and t-shirt weather. But I'll be back to it soon enough, no worries. The weird thing was my sleep schedule. For whatever reason, I couldn't sleep after I got back. The first night back was an all-nighter. You never realize what kind of an effect the sun has on you until you go somewhere that's just not normal. It never really gets dark here anymore and I blame my lack of sleep on that. I haven't slept past 8:00am until just yesterday (due to a really late night). To give you an idea of this sunlight nonsense, at about 1:00am there was more light with no moon than the brightest full moon nights back home. Current sunrise: 4:02am, sunset: 9:11pm with 19h 34m of visible light.
I took a 5:00am run to the lake last week and I've decided it may just be my new favorite place in Umeå, probably because it reminds me so much of picnic point but without the awesome nighttime view. I liked it so much though that I dragged Lauren out there at 5:00am the next morning. Of course getting up that early needs a bit more incentive than just a good view so I threw in breakfast - bacon and eggs cooked over a wood fire (though sadly not my best work).
I always wondered what they did with the crap load of gravel they threw on the roads and sidewalks over winter. Turns out they mount massive street sweeper things to a front loader and literally sweep up everything. It then goes to a massive pile where more front loaders fill up dump trucks and ship it off. They even sweep the grass, weird.
We had a bbq one day, the day it decided to turn cold actually. When I say cold I mean colder, 50 degrees to 35 degrees. On the bright side, the hot dogs were pretty good and I've learned french hot dog buns are the worst idea ever. Their only redeeming quality was that they don't make a mess when you hold them - though that thought was quickly thrown out the window when I was attacked by the hot dog and subsequently covered in ketchup. There are a lot of bbq pits around, and by a lot I mean 3 or 4 to every courtyard - I'll wait until it gets warm to enjoy them I think.
On the topic of food, I've decided that Tetrapaks are starting to grow on me (yes, those stupid milk cartons I've been complaining about since getting to Sweden). Turns out they're the best thing to use if you drink out of the carton, nice little pour spout and you never have to open them (on account of they don't actually close). They are also really easy to break down flat so you can put them in the usually overflowing cardboard bin under the counter (we have 4 different recycling bins and a can collection area in the kitchen, Swedes and their recycling).
Brittany and I got a little crazy one night when everyone else went to a fashion show/concert/dance hall thing at Universum, the student union (we didn't want to pay the 125sek to get in). We ended the night with a total of 1 couch on a car, 1 bike in a tree, 1 street sign (and I still don't actually know what it says), 1 toy tractor on a roof, and 1 bead necklace.
There was a big Valborg celebration around the campus pond on the last day in April. It was basically Jokkmokk but without the culture and snow. Vendors had set up shops and a big bonfire was built (some would say massive, but given that I grew up with bonfires the size of small houses I still say big) to celebrate the start of Spring (still not exactly sure how that works either). There was also live bands playing most of the night which was pretty cool, but the best part was all of the small fires set up around the entire pond. They made for good gathering spots.
As I said before, everything is getting back to normal, that means time for another trip. Trevor, Lauren, and I all wanted to go to Prague. What originally started out as a trip to Prague then became Berlin, Prague, and Athens and now stretches just over a week. We'll be back just in time for the brännbol tournament (baseball but with less rules I'm told) and the massive Ålidhem party that accompanies it. It will sadly also be time for plenty of good bye parties as people are already starting to leave.
Anyway, I suppose I've been procrastinating on my readings long enough. Time to write a paper. Vi ses senare!
After coming back to cold and rain, I'll be honest, I kind of missed the shorts, sandals, and t-shirt weather. But I'll be back to it soon enough, no worries. The weird thing was my sleep schedule. For whatever reason, I couldn't sleep after I got back. The first night back was an all-nighter. You never realize what kind of an effect the sun has on you until you go somewhere that's just not normal. It never really gets dark here anymore and I blame my lack of sleep on that. I haven't slept past 8:00am until just yesterday (due to a really late night). To give you an idea of this sunlight nonsense, at about 1:00am there was more light with no moon than the brightest full moon nights back home. Current sunrise: 4:02am, sunset: 9:11pm with 19h 34m of visible light.
I took a 5:00am run to the lake last week and I've decided it may just be my new favorite place in Umeå, probably because it reminds me so much of picnic point but without the awesome nighttime view. I liked it so much though that I dragged Lauren out there at 5:00am the next morning. Of course getting up that early needs a bit more incentive than just a good view so I threw in breakfast - bacon and eggs cooked over a wood fire (though sadly not my best work).
I always wondered what they did with the crap load of gravel they threw on the roads and sidewalks over winter. Turns out they mount massive street sweeper things to a front loader and literally sweep up everything. It then goes to a massive pile where more front loaders fill up dump trucks and ship it off. They even sweep the grass, weird.We had a bbq one day, the day it decided to turn cold actually. When I say cold I mean colder, 50 degrees to 35 degrees. On the bright side, the hot dogs were pretty good and I've learned french hot dog buns are the worst idea ever. Their only redeeming quality was that they don't make a mess when you hold them - though that thought was quickly thrown out the window when I was attacked by the hot dog and subsequently covered in ketchup. There are a lot of bbq pits around, and by a lot I mean 3 or 4 to every courtyard - I'll wait until it gets warm to enjoy them I think.
On the topic of food, I've decided that Tetrapaks are starting to grow on me (yes, those stupid milk cartons I've been complaining about since getting to Sweden). Turns out they're the best thing to use if you drink out of the carton, nice little pour spout and you never have to open them (on account of they don't actually close). They are also really easy to break down flat so you can put them in the usually overflowing cardboard bin under the counter (we have 4 different recycling bins and a can collection area in the kitchen, Swedes and their recycling).
Brittany and I got a little crazy one night when everyone else went to a fashion show/concert/dance hall thing at Universum, the student union (we didn't want to pay the 125sek to get in). We ended the night with a total of 1 couch on a car, 1 bike in a tree, 1 street sign (and I still don't actually know what it says), 1 toy tractor on a roof, and 1 bead necklace.
There was a big Valborg celebration around the campus pond on the last day in April. It was basically Jokkmokk but without the culture and snow. Vendors had set up shops and a big bonfire was built (some would say massive, but given that I grew up with bonfires the size of small houses I still say big) to celebrate the start of Spring (still not exactly sure how that works either). There was also live bands playing most of the night which was pretty cool, but the best part was all of the small fires set up around the entire pond. They made for good gathering spots.
As I said before, everything is getting back to normal, that means time for another trip. Trevor, Lauren, and I all wanted to go to Prague. What originally started out as a trip to Prague then became Berlin, Prague, and Athens and now stretches just over a week. We'll be back just in time for the brännbol tournament (baseball but with less rules I'm told) and the massive Ålidhem party that accompanies it. It will sadly also be time for plenty of good bye parties as people are already starting to leave.Anyway, I suppose I've been procrastinating on my readings long enough. Time to write a paper. Vi ses senare!
Monday, April 23, 2007
Back from Europe
After a month of traveling through a few countries (England, France, Spain, Monaco, Italy, Austria, Germany, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, Netherlands, and Belgium) I've finally made it back to Umeå, which, let's be honest, is basically home. Tons of good stories and even more pictures will make there way online sooner or later, but for now, I just need to catch up on a few things (email, laundry, sleep, etc.).
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Åre Madness 2007
At long last, my ski trip to Åre, Sweden has happened. Though I originally meant to get out there for the 2007 FIS World Alpine Championships, it didn't happen. However, exactly one month later, 50 of us Swedes and internationals spent a long weekend on and off the pistes of Sweden's most famous ski resort. I signed up for the trip with IKSU Alpin, a group that is basically Hoofer's Ski and Snowboard, except that these guys have their act together (they are just finishing up an expansion that will double the space of the already largest athletic facility in northern Europe).
Anyway, I had just gotten back from the trip up north with Jenny and I had to finish up some schoolwork before we headed out on Thursday afternoon. Long story short, I did laundry at 8:00am and didn't get packed until 30 minutes before we left. However, I am now done with any sort of school related work until the end of April. Unfortunately, half way to Åre (7 hour drive via bus) it started to rain...and it didn't stop. Even after we got to our condos and went to bed around midnight you could still hear the rain outside. At this point I'm thinking there isn't going to be a bit of snow left on the mountain.
The next morning we were up bright and early to get to the lifts and do some skiing. Turns out, there was still over a meter of snow, but it was now covered in a layer of ice. No problem, the sun was out and it was warm. Very warm. By mid afternoon we were skiing through slush. I can't complain, the rentals were good and I was skiing in Sweden. After a full 9 to 4:30 day, we headed to one of the pubs on the hill for an After ski party, "possibly the best after ski in the world" says the banner sponsored by Carlsberg. The live music was really good, though it was Swedish so really they could have been singing anything and we wouldn't know better. By the time we were done and had skied back to the condo, everyone was dead. There was no going out on the town that night, only dinner at a local restaurant. Holy crap do you not want to eat out in Sweden if you can help it. 215 kroner for a buffet, and we weren't even in the main part of Åre. Oh well, we were on vacation.
Saturday was much colder, but the wind had picked up - almost 20 m/s. The peak was closed so no way to ski the summit. Though things were still a bit icy in places, the snow was generally okay. We had spent a bit of time in the terrain park but then moved on to the moguls and the lesser used trails. I can now say I will do any mogul run I come across, no fear. My biggest problem was that my speed was quite a bit faster than most of the people I was skiing with which meant frequent stops while people caught up. It was worth it though to be on slopes that steep and carve all the way down them. At one point my eyes were watering through my goggles (time for a new pair I think). Towards the end of the day it started to snow. By the final few runs of the day we had picked up a couple inches and were staying out on the lesser used trails as long as possible before the lifts shut down.
The next day it had continued to snow. Urska and I were at the lifts 30 minutes before they opened but it was worth it. I was the first one down a run through 5 inches of powder throughout the entire trail. Sooo smooth. Det blåser! It was windier Sunday than Saturday and so there was only one open chairlift. Everything else was t-bar. I hate t-bars...with a passion. Regardless, we headed over to the far right peak where we found the most amazing tree runs I have ever seen in my life. It was work, I could barely stand by the end of one run, but it was incredible. 3 or 4 of us found a section of trees that no one had been too. Fresh tracks every time. I've never had so much fun in the trees. I really think they might have been the best runs I've ever taken in my life. Sadly, the trip had to end. Our bus headed back at 4:30 making it home by midnight.
On the bright side, I leave for a month in Europe in just a few days (fair warning for when I don't update everyone for a while). I also bought my map of the Kungsleden and planned out the route. After those two, everything else will be icing on the cake. What an awesome semester.
PS: Pictures are up -->
Anyway, I had just gotten back from the trip up north with Jenny and I had to finish up some schoolwork before we headed out on Thursday afternoon. Long story short, I did laundry at 8:00am and didn't get packed until 30 minutes before we left. However, I am now done with any sort of school related work until the end of April. Unfortunately, half way to Åre (7 hour drive via bus) it started to rain...and it didn't stop. Even after we got to our condos and went to bed around midnight you could still hear the rain outside. At this point I'm thinking there isn't going to be a bit of snow left on the mountain.The next morning we were up bright and early to get to the lifts and do some skiing. Turns out, there was still over a meter of snow, but it was now covered in a layer of ice. No problem, the sun was out and it was warm. Very warm. By mid afternoon we were skiing through slush. I can't complain, the rentals were good and I was skiing in Sweden. After a full 9 to 4:30 day, we headed to one of the pubs on the hill for an After ski party, "possibly the best after ski in the world" says the banner sponsored by Carlsberg. The live music was really good, though it was Swedish so really they could have been singing anything and we wouldn't know better. By the time we were done and had skied back to the condo, everyone was dead. There was no going out on the town that night, only dinner at a local restaurant. Holy crap do you not want to eat out in Sweden if you can help it. 215 kroner for a buffet, and we weren't even in the main part of Åre. Oh well, we were on vacation.
Saturday was much colder, but the wind had picked up - almost 20 m/s. The peak was closed so no way to ski the summit. Though things were still a bit icy in places, the snow was generally okay. We had spent a bit of time in the terrain park but then moved on to the moguls and the lesser used trails. I can now say I will do any mogul run I come across, no fear. My biggest problem was that my speed was quite a bit faster than most of the people I was skiing with which meant frequent stops while people caught up. It was worth it though to be on slopes that steep and carve all the way down them. At one point my eyes were watering through my goggles (time for a new pair I think). Towards the end of the day it started to snow. By the final few runs of the day we had picked up a couple inches and were staying out on the lesser used trails as long as possible before the lifts shut down.
The next day it had continued to snow. Urska and I were at the lifts 30 minutes before they opened but it was worth it. I was the first one down a run through 5 inches of powder throughout the entire trail. Sooo smooth. Det blåser! It was windier Sunday than Saturday and so there was only one open chairlift. Everything else was t-bar. I hate t-bars...with a passion. Regardless, we headed over to the far right peak where we found the most amazing tree runs I have ever seen in my life. It was work, I could barely stand by the end of one run, but it was incredible. 3 or 4 of us found a section of trees that no one had been too. Fresh tracks every time. I've never had so much fun in the trees. I really think they might have been the best runs I've ever taken in my life. Sadly, the trip had to end. Our bus headed back at 4:30 making it home by midnight.On the bright side, I leave for a month in Europe in just a few days (fair warning for when I don't update everyone for a while). I also bought my map of the Kungsleden and planned out the route. After those two, everything else will be icing on the cake. What an awesome semester.
PS: Pictures are up -->
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Nine Days in the Arctic
Contrary to popular belief, I did not drop off the face of the earth last week...I was merely sitting on the edge. From Piteå and Kiruna to Poikijärvi and Jukkasjärvi, Narvik and Riksgränsen - I've tried more things for the first time in one week than at any time since the age of two.
Jenny Dahlberg, a friend from Hoofers, came over on the 2nd of March. We spent a couple days in Umeå seeing the town and roasting the marshmallows that mom sent over on the lake. On Sunday, we made an attempt to catch a bus from Umeå to Piteå...holy crap did that not start off right. After getting to the bus stop, I realized I had forgot to send in my paper that was due the next week. Deciding that it'd probably be better to walk to the regional bus station rather than wait for a city bus that may or may not come, I ran back to my room to send off the paper and gave Jenny really really...really bad directions to a bridge that I'd catch up to her on. My bad. She ended up off in another direction and I spent the next 40 minutes running around the area I thought I'd meet her at. Well, we ended up missing the first bus, but I still couldn't find her. However, she managed to borrow a cell phone and call me. She said she was at the bus station, so I said I'd meet her there.
Turns out, she somehow got to the bus station downtown (FYI, there are two 'Umeå Busstations'). When I realized she was at the wrong stop I took a bus downtown, but didn't see her at Vasaplan (the local bus hub) and not knowing how to get to the other station, I went back to the Hospital. I got another call from another borrowed cellphone 20 minutes before the next bus was scheduled to come (this is going on three hours since I'd last seen her). Found out she was indeed at the other regional bus stop and figured we'd just have to meet on the bus. 20 minutes later, we met up and where on the way north.
We were met by Sören and Eina (Jenny's relatives) who took us to their cottage near Piteå. It was the classic Swedish countryside that looked and felt remarkably similar to the Wisconsin countryside (fields, red barns, cows, etc.). We then proceeded to meet more relatives and have some awesome Swedish food. The next day we made our way up to Kiruna with stops at some local highlights (a church, the arctic circle, random coffee shops at the side of the road). By night time we made it to Kenth and Ann's (Jenny's cousin) in Poikijärvi. The room was really nice with both a sauna and laundry in the building, plus a kitchen overlooking the Torne river and the ice hotel.
The next morning we were up early heading out to one of their dog sled camps to set up for a large group of BMW executives coming up from Germany. I ended up getting to drive a snowmobile through snowy goodness to the site and setting up a Sami lavo (fancy name for tepee) 20 feet off the ground. There were also lots of wild reindeer. One of our jobs that day was to get ~30 gallons of drinking water. To do this you need a bucket, an ax, a funnel, and 5 gallon jugs. You then chop a hole in the lake and fill your bucket. The water is ridiculously clear (not too mention it looked pretty tasty). That afternoon I officially became a musher. I harnessed up my sled dogs and hitched them to the sled. After a 3 minute crash course in how to drive a dog sled, we were off. The mushing lasted a couple hours and I successfully managed to not tip over and crash my sled. Meanwhile, throughout the entire day, the Swedish army was dropping paratroopers along the river. It really was something else to see this river used as a sort of highway with dog sleds and snowmobiles flying by on either side and little men in white jumpsuits falling from the sky.
On Wednesday, I had my first ice fishing experience. After chasing some reindeer off the road, Sören, who is the old guy I aspire to be like, took us out to the lake near the camp. We drilled our holes, sat back on our reindeer hides, and waited for the fish. I got the first, and the second, and I think probably the third. After only a couple hours and yet another coffee break (literally 3 or 4 of them a day) we had 16 perch, 8 of them mine, and 1 of them Jenny's. Sören cut them up out on the lake and smoked them later that day. Good stuff. I also got my first bit of moose meat for lunch, followed by reindeer for dinner.
Thursday morning, Jenny and I got to ride reindeer (well, sleds pulled by reindeer anyway). I think we ended up kind of joining an icehotel tour but regardless, I got to race a reindeer around a track for almost a kilometer. That was followed by a Sami guy handing out Lingonberry juice (man, Swedes drink almost as much Lingonberry juice as they do coffee) and roasting reindeer strips over a campfire in his lavo. I've decided wild reindeer meat does actually taste better than venison. Later that afternoon we headed out to Riksgränsen, the northernmost ski resort in the world, with Ann and her two daughters Clara and Elina for some skiing. However, Jenny and I drove separately in an old Subaru (Sa-bar-oo in Sweden). Not a problem, except that I don't drive stick shifts. Turned out, I managed to do it alright - I didn't stall once the first day. That night I made another attempt at building a snow cave. This time, however, it was amazing. Because they have proper snowbanks this far north, I was able to build a tunnel big enough that you could stand up in it in some places and you could even see the entrance to the cave from the top of the mountain.
Friday and Saturday were spent skiing with quite a bit of off-piste runs. Sometimes the clouds would blow in on the front side and we'd have to move around to the back, other times, the opposite would happen. Regardless, the skiing was fun. The snow could have been a bit softer, but no complaints - minus the bad visibility the second day. It was slow going on some of the steep, unmarked terrain but still worth doing.
Sunday morning we cleaned up the condo and drove down into Norway through the mountains to visit Narvik to do some site seeing then headed back to Poikijärvi. After checking email and resting up for a few hours it was off to the ice hotel and dinner. Kenth got us a room in the ice hotel and so Jenny and I ended up getting to sleep in a giant fridge. I say fridge because it was actually 4 degrees warmer outside than inside. They gave us some awesome arctic sleeping bags though and they did the job well. Apparently, if you're too cold, you're supposed to take off more clothes since more body heat warms the bag (they literally say sleeping naked is best, right after they tell you about the double bags available). Before bed, however, we chilled out (literally) in the ice bar for a couple hours, having some really good vodka drinks in glasses made of ice.
Monday was a fairly easy day with a tour of the world's largest underground mine and souvenir shopping (not my idea) in Kiruna. That night we had a very Swedish elk dinner with Sören, Eina, Kenth, Ann, Clara, and Elina followed by a video of Kenth's expedition to the north pole with Prince Albert. That would have been an amazing trip. But, that was the end of ours. We caught a 6:00am flight back to Umeå this morning and Jenny heads back to airport to catch a flight back to the States in about 5 hours. The whole trip was maybe $400. In the meantime I need to write a paper and study for a Swedish exam before heading out to Åre on Thursday for 3 days of awesome skiing with about 140 university students.
So to recap, things I had never done before this week:
1. Hitched up a dog sled and gone mushing
2. Set up a Sami lavo
3. Seen paratroopers jump out of a plane over dog sleds and snowmobiles
4. Been in snow up to my thighs
5. Gone ice fishing
6. Raced a reindeer
7. Eaten reindeer fried over an open fire in a Sami lavo
8. Eaten moose, and elk for that matter
9. Driven a stick shift car
10. Skied at the northernmost ski hill in the world (in both Norway and Sweden)
11. Slept in a room made completely of ice
Now what do I do??
Jenny Dahlberg, a friend from Hoofers, came over on the 2nd of March. We spent a couple days in Umeå seeing the town and roasting the marshmallows that mom sent over on the lake. On Sunday, we made an attempt to catch a bus from Umeå to Piteå...holy crap did that not start off right. After getting to the bus stop, I realized I had forgot to send in my paper that was due the next week. Deciding that it'd probably be better to walk to the regional bus station rather than wait for a city bus that may or may not come, I ran back to my room to send off the paper and gave Jenny really really...really bad directions to a bridge that I'd catch up to her on. My bad. She ended up off in another direction and I spent the next 40 minutes running around the area I thought I'd meet her at. Well, we ended up missing the first bus, but I still couldn't find her. However, she managed to borrow a cell phone and call me. She said she was at the bus station, so I said I'd meet her there.Turns out, she somehow got to the bus station downtown (FYI, there are two 'Umeå Busstations'). When I realized she was at the wrong stop I took a bus downtown, but didn't see her at Vasaplan (the local bus hub) and not knowing how to get to the other station, I went back to the Hospital. I got another call from another borrowed cellphone 20 minutes before the next bus was scheduled to come (this is going on three hours since I'd last seen her). Found out she was indeed at the other regional bus stop and figured we'd just have to meet on the bus. 20 minutes later, we met up and where on the way north.
We were met by Sören and Eina (Jenny's relatives) who took us to their cottage near Piteå. It was the classic Swedish countryside that looked and felt remarkably similar to the Wisconsin countryside (fields, red barns, cows, etc.). We then proceeded to meet more relatives and have some awesome Swedish food. The next day we made our way up to Kiruna with stops at some local highlights (a church, the arctic circle, random coffee shops at the side of the road). By night time we made it to Kenth and Ann's (Jenny's cousin) in Poikijärvi. The room was really nice with both a sauna and laundry in the building, plus a kitchen overlooking the Torne river and the ice hotel.
The next morning we were up early heading out to one of their dog sled camps to set up for a large group of BMW executives coming up from Germany. I ended up getting to drive a snowmobile through snowy goodness to the site and setting up a Sami lavo (fancy name for tepee) 20 feet off the ground. There were also lots of wild reindeer. One of our jobs that day was to get ~30 gallons of drinking water. To do this you need a bucket, an ax, a funnel, and 5 gallon jugs. You then chop a hole in the lake and fill your bucket. The water is ridiculously clear (not too mention it looked pretty tasty). That afternoon I officially became a musher. I harnessed up my sled dogs and hitched them to the sled. After a 3 minute crash course in how to drive a dog sled, we were off. The mushing lasted a couple hours and I successfully managed to not tip over and crash my sled. Meanwhile, throughout the entire day, the Swedish army was dropping paratroopers along the river. It really was something else to see this river used as a sort of highway with dog sleds and snowmobiles flying by on either side and little men in white jumpsuits falling from the sky.
On Wednesday, I had my first ice fishing experience. After chasing some reindeer off the road, Sören, who is the old guy I aspire to be like, took us out to the lake near the camp. We drilled our holes, sat back on our reindeer hides, and waited for the fish. I got the first, and the second, and I think probably the third. After only a couple hours and yet another coffee break (literally 3 or 4 of them a day) we had 16 perch, 8 of them mine, and 1 of them Jenny's. Sören cut them up out on the lake and smoked them later that day. Good stuff. I also got my first bit of moose meat for lunch, followed by reindeer for dinner.
Thursday morning, Jenny and I got to ride reindeer (well, sleds pulled by reindeer anyway). I think we ended up kind of joining an icehotel tour but regardless, I got to race a reindeer around a track for almost a kilometer. That was followed by a Sami guy handing out Lingonberry juice (man, Swedes drink almost as much Lingonberry juice as they do coffee) and roasting reindeer strips over a campfire in his lavo. I've decided wild reindeer meat does actually taste better than venison. Later that afternoon we headed out to Riksgränsen, the northernmost ski resort in the world, with Ann and her two daughters Clara and Elina for some skiing. However, Jenny and I drove separately in an old Subaru (Sa-bar-oo in Sweden). Not a problem, except that I don't drive stick shifts. Turned out, I managed to do it alright - I didn't stall once the first day. That night I made another attempt at building a snow cave. This time, however, it was amazing. Because they have proper snowbanks this far north, I was able to build a tunnel big enough that you could stand up in it in some places and you could even see the entrance to the cave from the top of the mountain.Friday and Saturday were spent skiing with quite a bit of off-piste runs. Sometimes the clouds would blow in on the front side and we'd have to move around to the back, other times, the opposite would happen. Regardless, the skiing was fun. The snow could have been a bit softer, but no complaints - minus the bad visibility the second day. It was slow going on some of the steep, unmarked terrain but still worth doing.
Sunday morning we cleaned up the condo and drove down into Norway through the mountains to visit Narvik to do some site seeing then headed back to Poikijärvi. After checking email and resting up for a few hours it was off to the ice hotel and dinner. Kenth got us a room in the ice hotel and so Jenny and I ended up getting to sleep in a giant fridge. I say fridge because it was actually 4 degrees warmer outside than inside. They gave us some awesome arctic sleeping bags though and they did the job well. Apparently, if you're too cold, you're supposed to take off more clothes since more body heat warms the bag (they literally say sleeping naked is best, right after they tell you about the double bags available). Before bed, however, we chilled out (literally) in the ice bar for a couple hours, having some really good vodka drinks in glasses made of ice.
Monday was a fairly easy day with a tour of the world's largest underground mine and souvenir shopping (not my idea) in Kiruna. That night we had a very Swedish elk dinner with Sören, Eina, Kenth, Ann, Clara, and Elina followed by a video of Kenth's expedition to the north pole with Prince Albert. That would have been an amazing trip. But, that was the end of ours. We caught a 6:00am flight back to Umeå this morning and Jenny heads back to airport to catch a flight back to the States in about 5 hours. The whole trip was maybe $400. In the meantime I need to write a paper and study for a Swedish exam before heading out to Åre on Thursday for 3 days of awesome skiing with about 140 university students.
So to recap, things I had never done before this week:
1. Hitched up a dog sled and gone mushing
2. Set up a Sami lavo
3. Seen paratroopers jump out of a plane over dog sleds and snowmobiles
4. Been in snow up to my thighs
5. Gone ice fishing
6. Raced a reindeer
7. Eaten reindeer fried over an open fire in a Sami lavo
8. Eaten moose, and elk for that matter
9. Driven a stick shift car
10. Skied at the northernmost ski hill in the world (in both Norway and Sweden)
11. Slept in a room made completely of ice
Now what do I do??
Monday, February 26, 2007
Abisko, Kiruna, and the Norwegian Coast
Best trip so far. Nine of us (me, Wayne(Hannah's boyfriend from England), Hannah, Lyndsey, Lauren, Trevor, Ryan, Sarah, and Brittany) packed up and headed to the far north of Sweden to see the ice hotel. We rented two cars, two cabins, bought a crap load of good food, and left town Friday morning...well Friday afternoon by the time we were actually making progress. The plan was to drive up to Abisko on Friday, see the ice hotel on Saturday, and drive home via Norway on Sunday.
The drive up was fairly uneventful. Lauren saw the first moose, but by the end of the trip we had seen a total of 11, and not a single picture to show for it (usually due to someone shouting moose, me asking "what?", and then we're past it). Also speaking of pictures, I put them up (Abisko, Kiruna, and Norway on the right). We got into town somewhere around 9pm, picked up the keys and found our cabin.
The cabins were nice enough, we had two units side by side that overlooked some mountains across a frozen lake. We did all of the cooking and socializing in one and really only used the other for sleeping (I still think we should have crammed everyone onto the living room floor but that's the Hoofer in me talking). Anyway, the places were comfortable and the food was damn good. We had chili the first night with some things I had never thought to put into chili (avocados, green and red peppers, fresh tomatoes, salsa). It turned out to be amazing. That was followed up by pancakes and real maple syrup sent over from Canada Saturday morning; spaghetti, salad, corn, and broccoli Saturday night; and breakfast burritos with more avocado, peppers, cheese, eggs, salsa, tomatoes, tortillas, etc.) Sunday morning.
After a lazy Saturday morning, we made our way to this somewhat random chairlift that (for 100kr) went to a cafe near the top of a mountain. On the way to this chairlift we passed the entrance to the Kungsleden trail. I didn't get a picture, but Wayne said he and Hannah got one for me. That'll have to hold me over for a couple months until I can come back and do the first 100km or so. Speaking of which, Tiana - you up for some Swedish backpacking this summer?
The lift didn't quite go to the top of the mountain, but it was close so Trevor and I took off for the ridge line while the rest of the group headed to a relatively close rock outcropping. It was a good hike, but holy crap am I out of shape. My lungs hurt like hell by the time we stopped. The worst part about going to this place was that I realized people were actually skiing there. It wasn't a resort or anything, just one slow chairlift to the top, but because it wasn't anything major there was tons of untouched powder. When I realized that I had no way to get a pair of skis I may have cried a little.
After checking out the view for a while we headed an hour east back to Kiruna to see the ice hotel. This place was completely made out of snow and ice, even the pictures on the wall...it was amazing. There was evem a pretty big chandelier made of nothing but ice and fiber optics. Each room had it's own theme and was designed and sculpted to match that theme. Of course you also needed a way to keep warm, which is why we had to order a drink from the ice bar. The entire bar was built with ice, right down to the glasses they served your drink in. The best part (or worst depending on how you look at it) was that the drinks were the same price as any bar in Umeå - only 105kr (~$15) They went so far as to build a chapel of ice next to the hotel. I really can't describe this place and even the pictures don't really give you an idea of what it was like. If you ever get a chance to see it, I highly recommend it.
The next day we cleaned up and got on the road by 10am. We had heard the drive through Norway was good for scenery so we opted for that route. The only problem we might have had was that Lyndsey and Trevor had forgotten their passports. Turns out, we didn't need them. The border was so lax that the only way to tell was the change in speed limit signs. You took a look back, then forward again and said "Hey guys, I think we're in Norway."
The drive was definitely a scenic one...about 12 solid hours of weaving in, out, over, and under mountains and coastline plus another 4 hours of Swedish countryside. Again, the pictures didn't do it justice. Every couple kilometers there would be a 7-10% grade on a narrow icy road. This road also had one of the longest tunnels I have ever been through. It was at least 4km long and we were underground for about 3 minutes. There were also quite a few suspension bridges and even a ferry that took us across one of the many fjords. The ferry was 198 Norwegian crowns ($32) but it was worth it. We sailed down the middle of the fjord surrounded by snow covered mountains on all sides. The only thing that comes close to comparing is Alaska.
I also got to taste the Arctic Ocean (though it may have been mixing with the North Atlantic at that point). It seemed slightly less salty than other oceans I've tasted.
Thank god for the car we rented. All in all, those were the most difficult roads I've ever driven in my life, and I was doing it for 12 hours. Good thing for top of the line snow tires and anti-lock brakes. The traction control I could have lived without. I almost killed us about 15 times (not seriously mom, don't freak out). The crazy thing is that our car, an Audi A6, was brand new (less than 3,500km, we almost doubled the odometer) and found out that MSRP starts at $42,000. Why any company would give it to a 20 year old foreign kid to drive through these mountains is beyond me.
It was definitely a good way to spend the weekend and the best trip I've been on yet. The best part is that I get to do another version of it in a week or so when Jenny comes over and we head up to not only the ice hotel, but some dog sledding and skiing as well.
The drive up was fairly uneventful. Lauren saw the first moose, but by the end of the trip we had seen a total of 11, and not a single picture to show for it (usually due to someone shouting moose, me asking "what?", and then we're past it). Also speaking of pictures, I put them up (Abisko, Kiruna, and Norway on the right). We got into town somewhere around 9pm, picked up the keys and found our cabin.The cabins were nice enough, we had two units side by side that overlooked some mountains across a frozen lake. We did all of the cooking and socializing in one and really only used the other for sleeping (I still think we should have crammed everyone onto the living room floor but that's the Hoofer in me talking). Anyway, the places were comfortable and the food was damn good. We had chili the first night with some things I had never thought to put into chili (avocados, green and red peppers, fresh tomatoes, salsa). It turned out to be amazing. That was followed up by pancakes and real maple syrup sent over from Canada Saturday morning; spaghetti, salad, corn, and broccoli Saturday night; and breakfast burritos with more avocado, peppers, cheese, eggs, salsa, tomatoes, tortillas, etc.) Sunday morning.
After a lazy Saturday morning, we made our way to this somewhat random chairlift that (for 100kr) went to a cafe near the top of a mountain. On the way to this chairlift we passed the entrance to the Kungsleden trail. I didn't get a picture, but Wayne said he and Hannah got one for me. That'll have to hold me over for a couple months until I can come back and do the first 100km or so. Speaking of which, Tiana - you up for some Swedish backpacking this summer?
The lift didn't quite go to the top of the mountain, but it was close so Trevor and I took off for the ridge line while the rest of the group headed to a relatively close rock outcropping. It was a good hike, but holy crap am I out of shape. My lungs hurt like hell by the time we stopped. The worst part about going to this place was that I realized people were actually skiing there. It wasn't a resort or anything, just one slow chairlift to the top, but because it wasn't anything major there was tons of untouched powder. When I realized that I had no way to get a pair of skis I may have cried a little.
After checking out the view for a while we headed an hour east back to Kiruna to see the ice hotel. This place was completely made out of snow and ice, even the pictures on the wall...it was amazing. There was evem a pretty big chandelier made of nothing but ice and fiber optics. Each room had it's own theme and was designed and sculpted to match that theme. Of course you also needed a way to keep warm, which is why we had to order a drink from the ice bar. The entire bar was built with ice, right down to the glasses they served your drink in. The best part (or worst depending on how you look at it) was that the drinks were the same price as any bar in Umeå - only 105kr (~$15) They went so far as to build a chapel of ice next to the hotel. I really can't describe this place and even the pictures don't really give you an idea of what it was like. If you ever get a chance to see it, I highly recommend it.
The next day we cleaned up and got on the road by 10am. We had heard the drive through Norway was good for scenery so we opted for that route. The only problem we might have had was that Lyndsey and Trevor had forgotten their passports. Turns out, we didn't need them. The border was so lax that the only way to tell was the change in speed limit signs. You took a look back, then forward again and said "Hey guys, I think we're in Norway."
The drive was definitely a scenic one...about 12 solid hours of weaving in, out, over, and under mountains and coastline plus another 4 hours of Swedish countryside. Again, the pictures didn't do it justice. Every couple kilometers there would be a 7-10% grade on a narrow icy road. This road also had one of the longest tunnels I have ever been through. It was at least 4km long and we were underground for about 3 minutes. There were also quite a few suspension bridges and even a ferry that took us across one of the many fjords. The ferry was 198 Norwegian crowns ($32) but it was worth it. We sailed down the middle of the fjord surrounded by snow covered mountains on all sides. The only thing that comes close to comparing is Alaska.
I also got to taste the Arctic Ocean (though it may have been mixing with the North Atlantic at that point). It seemed slightly less salty than other oceans I've tasted.Thank god for the car we rented. All in all, those were the most difficult roads I've ever driven in my life, and I was doing it for 12 hours. Good thing for top of the line snow tires and anti-lock brakes. The traction control I could have lived without. I almost killed us about 15 times (not seriously mom, don't freak out). The crazy thing is that our car, an Audi A6, was brand new (less than 3,500km, we almost doubled the odometer) and found out that MSRP starts at $42,000. Why any company would give it to a 20 year old foreign kid to drive through these mountains is beyond me.
It was definitely a good way to spend the weekend and the best trip I've been on yet. The best part is that I get to do another version of it in a week or so when Jenny comes over and we head up to not only the ice hotel, but some dog sledding and skiing as well.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Sad day in Sweden
Yes, Hugh left Sweden today. We knew it was coming, but we figured someone would be able to stop him from making his flight...oh well. He was only here for the Australian summer session which was a little over a month. At least he went out on a good week.
We all went out to the lake on Valentine's night to build a campfire. After finally finding a campsite with enough wood, we got the fire going and did our best to make s'mores. I say did our best because I'm pretty sure Sweden doesn't believe in graham crackers...or normal sized marshmallows. At any rate, we found some digestive cookies that were fairly close to graham crackers and we searched for the thinnest chocolate bar we could find (most of them are pretty massive). At first, it didn't look like Sweden had marshmallows either but Lyndsey and Hannah were able to find them in the other grocery store. They turned out to be pretty good so we can't complain. At one point, Trevor managed to fall into the fire and lose his glove at the same time. We're pretty sure it didn't go into the fire with him, but it was nowhere on the ground either.
We did some more Swedish dancing, this time learning Shadish...crazy swedes and their dances.
On Saturday, Hannah, Lauren, Hugh, Brittney, and I hiked 14km or about 8.5 miles down to Holmsund which is where the Ume River empties out into the Baltic Sea. The hike there was interesting considering no one really knew where we were going except that we needed to go in a general South, Southeasterly direction. We made it, eventually, but not without going down random roads seemingly in the middle of no where, wading through snow while going over clear cut forests, and following railroad tracks only because we knew they'd get us to the town. Good thing we were planning on taking the bus back. Regardless, it was a good hike and I got to walk on the Baltic Sea. We also came across a pizza place with decently good pizza, so again, nothing to complain about.
We went out to a corridor party near my building that night. It was a big place with a lot of people but Hugh, Hannah, and I bailed after about an hour, instead opting to go watch movies until 3am.
Sunday night was quite good, as well as being Hugh's last night in Sweden. We made a simple dinner beforehand and then headed out to Sarah and Ryan's place for a murder mystery. The setting was Casablanca in the late 1930s and a famous mime artist had been murdered. I played the role of Kirk Ramson, a hopeless American romantic nursing a bottle of whiskey, but also the head of a significant black market. Other characters included a Gestapo agent, the deputy mayor of Casablanca and his French wife, their daughter, a French poet/communist, a Scottish journalist, and a man secretly pretending to be a woman. There were 11 of us, everyone dressed up as their character (thanks to a local thrift store), doing their best at speaking in French, Scottish, Russian, and German accents. It really was a good time (check out the pictures in 'Sverige' to see the costumes).
Hugh then spent the night on my couch (which I hear is quite comfortable if there are any takers). We spent the night comparing the size of our campuses and cities on Google as well as comment on how much of a douche Hugh was for leaving so soon. At the very least most of us will see him next year when he does his frozen north tour (we are all going to hold you to that Hugh). The impressive thing was that just about everyone managed to drag themselves out of bed at 8 this morning to come to my place and see him out the door. Good luck back in Australia Hugh, we'll be sure to remind you weekly of all the fun you're missing out on.
We all went out to the lake on Valentine's night to build a campfire. After finally finding a campsite with enough wood, we got the fire going and did our best to make s'mores. I say did our best because I'm pretty sure Sweden doesn't believe in graham crackers...or normal sized marshmallows. At any rate, we found some digestive cookies that were fairly close to graham crackers and we searched for the thinnest chocolate bar we could find (most of them are pretty massive). At first, it didn't look like Sweden had marshmallows either but Lyndsey and Hannah were able to find them in the other grocery store. They turned out to be pretty good so we can't complain. At one point, Trevor managed to fall into the fire and lose his glove at the same time. We're pretty sure it didn't go into the fire with him, but it was nowhere on the ground either.
We did some more Swedish dancing, this time learning Shadish...crazy swedes and their dances.
On Saturday, Hannah, Lauren, Hugh, Brittney, and I hiked 14km or about 8.5 miles down to Holmsund which is where the Ume River empties out into the Baltic Sea. The hike there was interesting considering no one really knew where we were going except that we needed to go in a general South, Southeasterly direction. We made it, eventually, but not without going down random roads seemingly in the middle of no where, wading through snow while going over clear cut forests, and following railroad tracks only because we knew they'd get us to the town. Good thing we were planning on taking the bus back. Regardless, it was a good hike and I got to walk on the Baltic Sea. We also came across a pizza place with decently good pizza, so again, nothing to complain about.
We went out to a corridor party near my building that night. It was a big place with a lot of people but Hugh, Hannah, and I bailed after about an hour, instead opting to go watch movies until 3am.
Sunday night was quite good, as well as being Hugh's last night in Sweden. We made a simple dinner beforehand and then headed out to Sarah and Ryan's place for a murder mystery. The setting was Casablanca in the late 1930s and a famous mime artist had been murdered. I played the role of Kirk Ramson, a hopeless American romantic nursing a bottle of whiskey, but also the head of a significant black market. Other characters included a Gestapo agent, the deputy mayor of Casablanca and his French wife, their daughter, a French poet/communist, a Scottish journalist, and a man secretly pretending to be a woman. There were 11 of us, everyone dressed up as their character (thanks to a local thrift store), doing their best at speaking in French, Scottish, Russian, and German accents. It really was a good time (check out the pictures in 'Sverige' to see the costumes).
Hugh then spent the night on my couch (which I hear is quite comfortable if there are any takers). We spent the night comparing the size of our campuses and cities on Google as well as comment on how much of a douche Hugh was for leaving so soon. At the very least most of us will see him next year when he does his frozen north tour (we are all going to hold you to that Hugh). The impressive thing was that just about everyone managed to drag themselves out of bed at 8 this morning to come to my place and see him out the door. Good luck back in Australia Hugh, we'll be sure to remind you weekly of all the fun you're missing out on.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Bits and Pieces of Nothing Important
Sadly, no northern lights tonight...couldn't see through all the snow that is still currently falling. Did I mention it's a balmy -5°C? I tried to get into ICA for a milk fix (I finished off 2 liters last night - milk withdrawal from being sick and not having any I think) but they were closed. Oh well, nice walk anyway.
I added contact links under the picture of that good looking guy on the right side of your screen. Clicking each of the links (in respective order) opens an email message addressed to me, adds me to your Skype contacts, adds me to your MSN messenger contacts, goes to my Facebook profile (I wanted one more link and that was the best I could do).
Mom's Netflix account finally supports 'Watch Now' which lets you stream movies from their library directly to your computer which is great...if you're in the states (not available to people in the rest of the world). Good thing for public proxy servers, as far as they know, I'm in the middle of California. Second problem, I have download speeds of 1,100 kbps which is also great, except they cut you off at 12gb of traffic in a 30 day period. Thus I have been suffering through 15 kbps for the past two weeks. What a pain.
Jenna Guensburg probably makes the most amazing cards in the world. I'm not even joking. Mom can vouch for her, so can Hannah, Jen, and Jennifer. Anyway, Jenna, thanks for the valentines card.
Finally, in case some of you are still confusing Sweden with Switzerland or you're just wondering what the hell is in Umeå, Sweden, here's a link to the tourist office's video. It's actually pretty good, I recommend it. WARNING: may add insult to injury for those of you living in slightly duller corners of the world. Download the video here.
I added contact links under the picture of that good looking guy on the right side of your screen. Clicking each of the links (in respective order) opens an email message addressed to me, adds me to your Skype contacts, adds me to your MSN messenger contacts, goes to my Facebook profile (I wanted one more link and that was the best I could do).
Mom's Netflix account finally supports 'Watch Now' which lets you stream movies from their library directly to your computer which is great...if you're in the states (not available to people in the rest of the world). Good thing for public proxy servers, as far as they know, I'm in the middle of California. Second problem, I have download speeds of 1,100 kbps which is also great, except they cut you off at 12gb of traffic in a 30 day period. Thus I have been suffering through 15 kbps for the past two weeks. What a pain.
Jenna Guensburg probably makes the most amazing cards in the world. I'm not even joking. Mom can vouch for her, so can Hannah, Jen, and Jennifer. Anyway, Jenna, thanks for the valentines card.
Finally, in case some of you are still confusing Sweden with Switzerland or you're just wondering what the hell is in Umeå, Sweden, here's a link to the tourist office's video. It's actually pretty good, I recommend it. WARNING: may add insult to injury for those of you living in slightly duller corners of the world. Download the video here.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
It's probably about time for another update
Okay, so I'm getting worse at keeping this up to date. My bad. Anyway, things have pretty much settled down into a routine after about a month. Tuesday and Thursday is class, Thursday through Saturday tend to be parties, there's at least one movie night a week in there, big dinners on Sundays (tonight was mini pizzas), and random trips to IKSU or downtown to fill in the rest of the time. If that fails, there's always TV shows to download. The problem with routines, though, is that they tend to get boring. Thus, I need to get out of town.
It turns out that there is a ski bus that runs every Saturday during the winter that stops at Ålidhems Centrum (the section of town I live in) where for 220kr you get transportation to one of the better ski hills (Bygdsiljumsbacken) in the area about an hour away, plus they throw in a lift ticket. Not a bad deal.
I'm planning on renting a car Wednesday and heading out to a small town called Bjurholm. They have an elk farm and Sweden's tallest bridge. The real reason I want to go out there, however, is the Balberget nature reserve. You can hike to the top of a large hill (480 meters) for a view of the entire region. There is also an abandoned mine in the reserve.
Since just about everyone is going caving next weekend in Norway, Trevor and I will probably head out to a ski hill. I'd like to get out to Hemavan which is on the far west of Sweden (a few hours away by bus), but we may just end up somewhere close. It'd be better if someone drops out of either the caving trip or an ice climbing trip on Saturday (I'm the first person on the reserve list for both trips).
For the weekend after, 9 of us rented two cars and a couple cabins up in Abisko (far, far north). Sweden's tallest mountain (Kebnekajse) is nearby so I'm climbing that sucker. It's also the start of the Kungsleden (king's trail) so I'll at least get to step on it (the idea being it'll hold me over until I can do a five day trip in the spring). After getting up there Friday night and putzing around Saturday morning, we are driving down to Kiruna to visit the Ice Hotel. (Yes, Jenny, I know, we're going literally two weeks later. It'll be worth it, besides, I'm in it for the good times with friends more than anything.) I'm not really sure what the plan is after that, but it'd be nice to drive through the Höga kusten (High Coast) region. I also plan to dig out a snow cave. And possibly sleep in it.
Jenny comes in the next week so after a few days here we're off for a week and a half or so of awesomeness up north which includes Luleå, the ice hotel, dogsledding with the fam, and, my personal favorite, skiing at Riksgransen, the world's northernmost ski resort (I believe it may also be a glacier).
In other news:
I finally tried Surströmming tonight. Surströmming is a Swedish delicacy (or at least that's what they want you to think). Basically, this stuff is Baltic herring that rots in barrels for a few months, and is then canned where it ferments for six months to a year. The smell is terrible and I had to open the can outside. Because of the fermentation, there is actually a fair amount of pressure built up inside the can (the ends actually bulge out). Anyway, I opened the can and poured the fish out into the sink. We didn't have any fillet knives so Hugh and I ended up ripping the stuff to shreds. They catch the herring right before they spawn so the sink was covered in fish eggs as well. Long story short, we managed to get edible (debatable) pieces of meat on to the flat bread with potato and onion (this is evidently how you're supposed to eat it). We all agreed that the taste wasn't that bad, except for Trevor of course who ate his piece with nothing but a bit of potato. At the very least, I have now tried it and will ideally never again have to go through the process again. (Those of you at Hoofers disregard that last statement. I am bringing at least two cans home for all of you to enjoy at a council meeting)
I am trying to go climbing here more often, problem is, I have neither shoes, nor a harness. Thus, I climb in hiking shoes, and if I get pissed enough, I take off the shoes and climb in socks. It works, but barely. I don't want to buy shoes here, but I'm not sure if I can stand to climb much more in bike socks with the word flammable written across the side.
I also have to stop procrastinating and finish my last two papers for Swedish History. The sooner that happens, the sooner I will have only 8 hours of total school work for two weeks. Beautiful.
I did another round of Swedish folk dancing. This time, it was much better, and admittedly, fun. We did bail out early in order to have a proper pre-party before we headed out to Skogis (4th student pub) for the international party. I don't know what else to say about it (I can't even remember the name of the dance we learned) but hey, I'm learning a piece of Swedish culture.
Daylight is coming!! The sun now rises by 7:45am and sets after 4:00pm. The first day of 24 hours of visible light is coming soon...I think I may spend that entire day awake and outside. The weather on my internet browser is also reminding me that it is currently -22°C and clear. And how much snow did Madison actually get last week?? People need to tell me these things.
The northern lights are predicted to be "Active" tomorrow night and the next night. A big group of us are planning on heading out to the lake tomorrow and setting up a campfire. Hopefully the lights will show up too.
I should probably also mention that I broke a window in Swedish class the other day since I am now infamous for it and people I don't even know come up and laugh at me. The thing is, I was racing to get a seat by the wall before Hannah and Lyndsey got them (and by got them I mean there were 4 or 5 seats left for 3 of us). I decided I'd try to jump over the table. Did that, but also caught my foot on a chair, so I fell over the other side and put my elbow through a window.
I finally got around to calling the airport to find out about aircraft rentals. Looks like I probably won't get a chance to fly in Sweden. There is a club, but membership is 1400kr for a year, and I'd need about two flight lessons to get checked out in the Archer (I fly small Cessnas) as well as get acquainted with the layout and area around Umeå - each of these at a cost of 1200kr. So, in dollar terms, it's about $580 before I'll be able to fly here. Not quite sure it's worth it, but I don't know (that's what I said about my skis).
Sköt om dig everybody!
PS: Thanks for the card J. Ferris, Linda, Andy, Adam, Eli, Claire, Amanda, Laura, B-West, Brett, Jim, Erin, and Amelia.
It turns out that there is a ski bus that runs every Saturday during the winter that stops at Ålidhems Centrum (the section of town I live in) where for 220kr you get transportation to one of the better ski hills (Bygdsiljumsbacken) in the area about an hour away, plus they throw in a lift ticket. Not a bad deal.
I'm planning on renting a car Wednesday and heading out to a small town called Bjurholm. They have an elk farm and Sweden's tallest bridge. The real reason I want to go out there, however, is the Balberget nature reserve. You can hike to the top of a large hill (480 meters) for a view of the entire region. There is also an abandoned mine in the reserve.
Since just about everyone is going caving next weekend in Norway, Trevor and I will probably head out to a ski hill. I'd like to get out to Hemavan which is on the far west of Sweden (a few hours away by bus), but we may just end up somewhere close. It'd be better if someone drops out of either the caving trip or an ice climbing trip on Saturday (I'm the first person on the reserve list for both trips).
For the weekend after, 9 of us rented two cars and a couple cabins up in Abisko (far, far north). Sweden's tallest mountain (Kebnekajse) is nearby so I'm climbing that sucker. It's also the start of the Kungsleden (king's trail) so I'll at least get to step on it (the idea being it'll hold me over until I can do a five day trip in the spring). After getting up there Friday night and putzing around Saturday morning, we are driving down to Kiruna to visit the Ice Hotel. (Yes, Jenny, I know, we're going literally two weeks later. It'll be worth it, besides, I'm in it for the good times with friends more than anything.) I'm not really sure what the plan is after that, but it'd be nice to drive through the Höga kusten (High Coast) region. I also plan to dig out a snow cave. And possibly sleep in it.
Jenny comes in the next week so after a few days here we're off for a week and a half or so of awesomeness up north which includes Luleå, the ice hotel, dogsledding with the fam, and, my personal favorite, skiing at Riksgransen, the world's northernmost ski resort (I believe it may also be a glacier).
In other news:
I finally tried Surströmming tonight. Surströmming is a Swedish delicacy (or at least that's what they want you to think). Basically, this stuff is Baltic herring that rots in barrels for a few months, and is then canned where it ferments for six months to a year. The smell is terrible and I had to open the can outside. Because of the fermentation, there is actually a fair amount of pressure built up inside the can (the ends actually bulge out). Anyway, I opened the can and poured the fish out into the sink. We didn't have any fillet knives so Hugh and I ended up ripping the stuff to shreds. They catch the herring right before they spawn so the sink was covered in fish eggs as well. Long story short, we managed to get edible (debatable) pieces of meat on to the flat bread with potato and onion (this is evidently how you're supposed to eat it). We all agreed that the taste wasn't that bad, except for Trevor of course who ate his piece with nothing but a bit of potato. At the very least, I have now tried it and will ideally never again have to go through the process again. (Those of you at Hoofers disregard that last statement. I am bringing at least two cans home for all of you to enjoy at a council meeting)
I am trying to go climbing here more often, problem is, I have neither shoes, nor a harness. Thus, I climb in hiking shoes, and if I get pissed enough, I take off the shoes and climb in socks. It works, but barely. I don't want to buy shoes here, but I'm not sure if I can stand to climb much more in bike socks with the word flammable written across the side.
I also have to stop procrastinating and finish my last two papers for Swedish History. The sooner that happens, the sooner I will have only 8 hours of total school work for two weeks. Beautiful.
I did another round of Swedish folk dancing. This time, it was much better, and admittedly, fun. We did bail out early in order to have a proper pre-party before we headed out to Skogis (4th student pub) for the international party. I don't know what else to say about it (I can't even remember the name of the dance we learned) but hey, I'm learning a piece of Swedish culture.
Daylight is coming!! The sun now rises by 7:45am and sets after 4:00pm. The first day of 24 hours of visible light is coming soon...I think I may spend that entire day awake and outside. The weather on my internet browser is also reminding me that it is currently -22°C and clear. And how much snow did Madison actually get last week?? People need to tell me these things.
The northern lights are predicted to be "Active" tomorrow night and the next night. A big group of us are planning on heading out to the lake tomorrow and setting up a campfire. Hopefully the lights will show up too.
I should probably also mention that I broke a window in Swedish class the other day since I am now infamous for it and people I don't even know come up and laugh at me. The thing is, I was racing to get a seat by the wall before Hannah and Lyndsey got them (and by got them I mean there were 4 or 5 seats left for 3 of us). I decided I'd try to jump over the table. Did that, but also caught my foot on a chair, so I fell over the other side and put my elbow through a window.
I finally got around to calling the airport to find out about aircraft rentals. Looks like I probably won't get a chance to fly in Sweden. There is a club, but membership is 1400kr for a year, and I'd need about two flight lessons to get checked out in the Archer (I fly small Cessnas) as well as get acquainted with the layout and area around Umeå - each of these at a cost of 1200kr. So, in dollar terms, it's about $580 before I'll be able to fly here. Not quite sure it's worth it, but I don't know (that's what I said about my skis).
Sköt om dig everybody!
PS: Thanks for the card J. Ferris, Linda, Andy, Adam, Eli, Claire, Amanda, Laura, B-West, Brett, Jim, Erin, and Amelia.
Monday, February 5, 2007
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Jokkmokk Winter Market
Yesterday, at 4:00am, I boarded a double decker coach bus headed north of the Arctic Circle to Jokkmokk. All this week, there is a winter festival put on by the Sami (history of Sami = history of Native Americans - but with warmer clothes) with street vendors, exhibits, food, and fireworks. Minus the 4am thing, it was definitely a fun trip. Hugh can now tell people he finished dog sledding only to call shotgun in a helicopter and take off. Though I didn't do the dog sledding (I can do it with Jenny in a couple weeks) or the helicopter tour (I'd rather fly a plane), I did get to pet a reindeer...as well as eat one (they're actually pretty good). I also got to watch a reindeer race where two reindeer are hitched up to their own sleighs carrying a random person from the crowd. They then race in a big circle where a group of people jump on a trailing rope at the finish to stop the sleigh and the reindeer from crashing into people. In all honesty, reindeer racing is probably the only real entertainment needed in the world.
I'd also like to point out that I miss snow...lots and lots of snow. Luckily, Jokkmokk had snow...lots and lots of snow. I may have been a bit more excited than everyone else, but seriously, I haven't played in snow up to my knees in a long long time. No one should live like that. I should probably also thank Jana for the gaiters which kept my feet completely waterproof (did I mention Gore Tex is the greatest invention ever? - yes, even better than sliced bread). I should probably also mention that I'm sorry to everyone else that was not waterproof and thereby ended up soaking wet by the end of the day (due to my shenanigans...and snow tackles).
Other than that, this morning I had one of those moments where you wake up and it just occurs to you that life couldn't get any better. I love it here.
I'd also like to point out that I miss snow...lots and lots of snow. Luckily, Jokkmokk had snow...lots and lots of snow. I may have been a bit more excited than everyone else, but seriously, I haven't played in snow up to my knees in a long long time. No one should live like that. I should probably also thank Jana for the gaiters which kept my feet completely waterproof (did I mention Gore Tex is the greatest invention ever? - yes, even better than sliced bread). I should probably also mention that I'm sorry to everyone else that was not waterproof and thereby ended up soaking wet by the end of the day (due to my shenanigans...and snow tackles).
Other than that, this morning I had one of those moments where you wake up and it just occurs to you that life couldn't get any better. I love it here.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Just another update
First off, things I now wish I had brought with me:
1. Skis
2. Skis
3. Climbing shoes
4. Harness
5. Skis
6. Wireless router
7. Camp stove, tent
Oops.
Now, the good stuff. Aerobics and I do not mix well. Mostly because I am not smooth or graceful...at all. Also, it was me and 30 other girls which in itself wouldn't be bad, except that you know everyone is thinking, "Wow, what's that guy's deal? Why is he here?" kind of thing. Haha, interesting, but probably not for me.
I saw my first northern lights Monday night. Very cool. That's really all I have to say about them. A bunch of us hiked out to the lake to watch and it was basically one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. Check the facebook album link for more pictures.
I learned a little more Swedish which is awesome. I actually succeeded in having a (very) short conversation with a Swedish friend last night. We had a wine tasting party with approximately 20-30 bottles of wine from all over the world. When the table was covered you knew it was going to be a good night. I also ended up meeting a few more Swedes which was pretty cool.
After that we all (20 of us) taxied downtown. The last Tuesday of every month there is a club called Rex that opens up to let students in free (coat check is still extra of course) so we all went down to check it out. It was a fairly decent place, but the unique thing about it was that the dance section of the club looked like a converted subway tunnel. It was pretty interesting, but also a lot of fun.
By about 1:45am Hannah, Trevor, Lauren, Brittany, and I headed back to Ålidhem by way of the river path. There was a bit of snow falling and it wasn't too cold, basically, it was just a really good walk.
I finally got some bouldering done this morning too. Man, I have not gone climbing in waaay too long. Plus, I don't have any climbing shoes with me and IKSU doesn't rent them, only harnesses. So, long story short, I struggled on things I could do without a problem a month ago. At least it's free (well, paid for in the membership price anyway) and it's in the same building as the pool, gym, track, etc. so I have no excuses. I also got on the wait list for a caving trip to Norway (only 6 spots were left on the trip and 7 of us that wanted to go - I've done it, plus I'm a nice guy, thus, the wait list). I'm also on the wait list for some ice climbing that same weekend. Hopefully someone will drop out between the two, but if that fails, there's always Åre for some skiing.
Aside from climbing this morning, today has been one of those much needed days of relaxation; so...in keeping with that theme, I'm off to Ryan and Sarah's for a movie night. How sweet it is.
1. Skis
2. Skis
3. Climbing shoes
4. Harness
5. Skis
6. Wireless router
7. Camp stove, tent
Oops.
Now, the good stuff. Aerobics and I do not mix well. Mostly because I am not smooth or graceful...at all. Also, it was me and 30 other girls which in itself wouldn't be bad, except that you know everyone is thinking, "Wow, what's that guy's deal? Why is he here?" kind of thing. Haha, interesting, but probably not for me.
I saw my first northern lights Monday night. Very cool. That's really all I have to say about them. A bunch of us hiked out to the lake to watch and it was basically one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. Check the facebook album link for more pictures.
I learned a little more Swedish which is awesome. I actually succeeded in having a (very) short conversation with a Swedish friend last night. We had a wine tasting party with approximately 20-30 bottles of wine from all over the world. When the table was covered you knew it was going to be a good night. I also ended up meeting a few more Swedes which was pretty cool.After that we all (20 of us) taxied downtown. The last Tuesday of every month there is a club called Rex that opens up to let students in free (coat check is still extra of course) so we all went down to check it out. It was a fairly decent place, but the unique thing about it was that the dance section of the club looked like a converted subway tunnel. It was pretty interesting, but also a lot of fun.
By about 1:45am Hannah, Trevor, Lauren, Brittany, and I headed back to Ålidhem by way of the river path. There was a bit of snow falling and it wasn't too cold, basically, it was just a really good walk.I finally got some bouldering done this morning too. Man, I have not gone climbing in waaay too long. Plus, I don't have any climbing shoes with me and IKSU doesn't rent them, only harnesses. So, long story short, I struggled on things I could do without a problem a month ago. At least it's free (well, paid for in the membership price anyway) and it's in the same building as the pool, gym, track, etc. so I have no excuses. I also got on the wait list for a caving trip to Norway (only 6 spots were left on the trip and 7 of us that wanted to go - I've done it, plus I'm a nice guy, thus, the wait list). I'm also on the wait list for some ice climbing that same weekend. Hopefully someone will drop out between the two, but if that fails, there's always Åre for some skiing.
Aside from climbing this morning, today has been one of those much needed days of relaxation; so...in keeping with that theme, I'm off to Ryan and Sarah's for a movie night. How sweet it is.
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