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.