Sweden Trip

Before I tell you about Sweden...

For my Auntie:

School work is okay.  I do not have nearly as much reading or writing to do here, but I have had a lot of project work.  A lot of what I am learning is interesting, but I actually wish it were more content based, academically focused and challenging.  Weird right?  AND... I AM SOO EXCITED TO SEE YOU IN 2 1/2 WEEKS!!!!!

For Rachel:

I really liked the visiting family and I am excited to spend more time with them.  The beds were actually not very comfortable.  So far the beds I have stayed in here are much smaller and harder than those at home.  Here is a picture of my bed.

For Jimmy:

Get a life.

SWEDEN...

So, we left early Saturday morning to catch a ferry to Sweden.  It was a very short ferry (about 20 minutes) and then a quick bus ride to the hostel where we stayed that night.  The picture below is of Kronborg Castle in Helsingor, Denmark where the ferry departed from.

After we checked into our hostel, the 40 of us split up.  Half of the group went to go biking and the rest of us went canoeing for the day.
The canoe trip was very informal.  We all got into canoes and made our way down the Ronneå river at our own pace.  It was very pretty and scenic along the way, but mostly we enjoyed being outside and on the water.  It was a very relaxing trip.  We pulled our canoes up onto the shore and ate our lunches in a random field.  In all, it took us about 4 hours to make our way to the final docking location. We then had the chance to walk into the town of
Ångelholm for a short while before going back to the hostel.

When both groups had returned that evening we had a BBQ cookout at the hostel.  It was a little windy and the tough guys that were attempting to keep a fire going were rather pathetic.  I thought about giving them a quick lesson in fire building 101, but decided not to hurt their male egos.  The chicken wasn't cooked and the burgers were gross, but man those marshmallows were delicious!

The next day the groups switched and I got to try biking.  I was a little nervous going into this adventure because we were completely on our own.  Armed with only a few tiny maps and some suggestions about sights to see we left the hostel. 

About 45 minutes into the trip my friend Erin's bike broke.  Her back wheel would not turn and we were pretty much in the middle of nowhere on a Sunday morning when nothing was even open.  So, instead of heading back and missing out we WALKED!  Erin, I, and an intern working  at DIS named Jill walked with our bikes for about 2 hours and then ditched 'em in a town called Brunnby.  Determined to see some great sights we pressed on.  Along the way we had the chance to see some gorgeous country side and ocean views.

The main attraction that people on the bike trip wanted to see was the driftwood sculptures called Nimis.  Now, apparently Sweden doesn't really believe in road signs or indicators of tourist attractions because THERE WERE NO SIGNS.  We got lost many times and had to ask at least 8 different groups of Swedes for directions.  Nimis was on the side of a mountain that you had to navigate through a forest to get to.  We took many wrong turns, climbed up two mountains and down a cliff face before we got to our destination.

In the end, it was worth it.  Nimis was VERY cool and we had a hilariously great time getting there.  To give you a little background, Nimis was built illegally by a man named Lars Vilks in the middle of a nature reserve.  It is a maze of towers and tunnels built entirely from drift wood nailed together on the side of a mountain.  He began working on it 27 years ago and has yet to finish it.

At the end of our trip Erin, Jill and I were incredibly proud of the fact that we had made  it to our destination without bicycles.  We hiked for 5 hours, traveled 12 miles, and were able to see the same sights that those on bikes did.  It was definitely an adventure, and I slept VERY well that night.

(FYI: After we saw Nimis Jill called a taxi to take us back to the starting point... we never did get the bikes back.)