First off, I want to apologize for taking so long to post updates. I always end up finding something else to do instead, blogging is kind of lower priority. But now I have a break from classes and writing papers so I’ll just power through and post a bunch about my travels around Europe.
Next trip after Stockholm was Lappland. On March 10th, we took a train from Växjö over to Alvesta where we met up with the Students from Lund. We then took the train up to Stockholm, then transferred to our train to Kiruna. This was the first time I’ve even been on an overnight train in a sleeper car and it was pretty awesome. When you first get into the compartment, you think, how are six people gonna be able to sleep in here? But the backrest of the bottom bench flips up into the middle bunk, and the top bunks flip down from the ceiling, so there’s a triple bunk on each side of the car. Not exactly the most private of accommodations, but we’re all students, so no one really cared.
We arrived in Kiruna, Sweden at about 10AM on March 11th. We hoofed it over to our motel about a mile away, and then checked out the city. It kind of reminded me of the smaller mining towns in Northern Minnesota. There’s a very large iron ore mine right outside the city. At night, there are hundreds of light posts surrounding it, and it looks like some kind of spaceship landed just outside the city limits. Kiruna also is the host to many Swedish and European space programs due to the fact it is the Northern-most city in all of Sweden. The town is also gradually being moved to the Northwest due to mine. It is feared that the ground on which the town is built on is gradually shifting and sinking due to the mining operation. Most of the buildings are just going to be torn down and rebuilt, but the city hall is going to be cut into four parts, and gradually moved to its new location.
One of the major attractions in the area is the Ice Hotel. Every year, they make this hotel out of giant blocks of ice by the nearby river. They even send the ice blocks around the world so different cities can make Icebars because the water is so pure in the river, the ice is extremely clear. Some of the rooms in the Ice Hotel are designed and created by artists from around the world. Every year, artists send in their designs and a committee picks their favorite designs and the artists fly out to create their masterpieces. They even had an “Ice Age” move themed room that had an ice slide in it! There is also an Icebar in the hotel that serves cocktails in glasses made out of ice. It was very “cool”. HA! Get it?
The next day, we headed off to our authentic Sami camp (pronounced saw-me). The Sami are the indigenous people of Northern Finland, Sweden, Norway, and some parts of Russia. Many of them are involved with reindeer herding and some countries have laws which only allow people of Sami ancestry to practice reindeer herding. We drove at to a spot where we got to dogsled and snowmobile to the camp. Dogsledding was a lot of fun. Those dogs are really, really strong, and they just love to run. We’d take breaks occasionally so the dogs could catch their breath and rehydrate by eating snow. When we arrived, we were introduced to our guide for the overnight say, Stig. Right away, he put us to work. Chopping wood and clearing snow away from the building doorways. I got some weird vibes from this guy right off the bat. Couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but I thought he was a real creep. I realized my suspicions were correct as two days we were there went on. Stig had this really cool dog that would come up to people and seem like he was looking for some attention but Stig kept saying, “You touch my dog, and I get to touch you!” And he was serious, in a way. Anyway, there were two cabins available for our group, a more modern one and a more “authentic” Sami cabin. My friend, Clay, went over to the modern cabin and put our stuff on some bunks to save or places for the night, but they somehow were moved, and we had to go over to the more rustic cabin. Clay and I ended up having to sleep head to toe in a one person bunk with crappy sleeping bags. Not only that, the flu on our fireplace was not working correctly, and the wood burning stove was the only source of heat, so we got really cold and the whole cabin was pretty much filled with smoke. Needless to say, I was a little less than thrilled with our accommodations, and did not think this experience was worth the money. The thing I was most excited about was getting to eat some reindeer. However, our Stig was not exactly the best of cooks. For lunch we got to eat some reindeer soup. It was watery broth with mushy canned vegetables and tiny strips of flavorless reindeer meat. Again, a little less than thrilled. For dinner, we had pasta with frozen stir-fry vegetables and the same strips of reindeer. Ugh. So much for my hopes of getting to eat a reindeer steak or something. So yeah, a lot of our time was spent doing chores. We sawed and chopped wood, brought buckets of water up from the river, stoked our own fireplaces, went with Stig to check his icefishing nets, and prepared the “sauna” for the night. I decided to opt out of the sauna. Although there’s nothing I like more than being wet and sweaty before going to bed in a smokey, freezing cold single bunk with a bed mate, I decided against it. In the morning, we explored the area a little bit, and I got some beautiful views of the landscape and running river. Overall, I wasn’t impressed by this “authentic Sami experience”. Icefishing and snowmobiling are pretty common in the good ol’ MN. But the dogsledding was definitely the saving grace of this experience.
After our Sami experience, we took the train heading up further north. The group split up because we had an iceclimbing experience scheduled at Abisko National Park, but two groups were going to go on the 14th of March, and my group (made up of the Americans, Germans, and our one token Irish guy of the group) were going the next day. So we decided to take the train past Abisko National Park up to the city of Narvik, Norway. I had never been to Norway, so I figured why not? Check another country off the list. However, I kind of regretted going there. It was extremely cold and snowy, there wasn’t very much to see there at all, and everything was super expensive. It was something like 20 bucks for a fast food meal! There was a pretty cool sign that pointed in the direction of a bunch of majors cities that I got a picture in front of, but other than that, it was a disappoint. Saving grace here was getting to see some awesome fjords on the train ride up there, but it was hard to get pictures from the train. This expedition just further proved how much more superior us Swedes are to the Norwegians!
We arrived late that night at our hostel in Abisko. Isaac, Clay, David (token Irish guy), had a nice long relaxing time in the Sauna near our room. Apparently, we were supposed to head down to the sauna by the lake where you can actually take a polar dip, then run back into the sauna, but no one ever really told us when we were leaving, so we missed that opportunity. Although, it was nice having it be just the four of us. The next morning, we loaded up on a very good traditional Swedish breakfast and made our way over to a frozen waterfall to do some ice climbing! Both groups that went yesterday had gotten everyone up to the top of the waterfall, so there was no way we were going to be outdone! Most of us made it up to the top with no problems, but a couple of us needed some coaxing. Isaac got about 3/4ths of the way up and was like, “Ok, I think I’m gonna be done now!” But I managed to instill some courage into him and push him up to the top! Way to overcome your fear of heights, Isaac! After iceclimbing, we take the chairlift up to Aurora Sky Station on the Scandinavian Mountain range. This was probably the most beautiful view I had seen in my whole entire laugh. While we stood in awe of the landscape, David, Isaac, Clay and I broke into a four part harmony of “Amazing Grace.” It probably would have brought a tear to your eye if you had been there.
And that’s where the Lappland adventure pretty much ends. We caught the train back to Stockholm station, and then back to Växjö. Overall, I’m very glad I went. It was the experience of a lifetime. If I were to do it again, I would try to plan a trip with a smaller group of people on my own, instead of going with the ESN group. I would cut out the overnight stay at the Sami camp and instead just rent some snowmobiles, and pay for some dogsledding time. We weren’t allowed to drive over 30 km/hr or something like that for safety reasons and because we were behind the dog sleds. The trip through ESN was fun, but I think I could have planned a better trip for less than the 6000 SEK I paid for this trip.
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