January 17th blog

We left Lillehammar, Norway to start our new chapter of our adventure in Sweden! Today, we went to Mora. We boarded the bus around 7:30 and made our 4 ½ hour journey. As much as we loved Norway, I think the group was excited to check out a new country. Our first stop in Mora was to Mora’s Folkhögskolan.  The first thing we did when we got there was go to their cafeteria to have lunch.  We had: a rice and ham hotdish, salad, corn, bread, pasta salad, and coleslaw.  I think we all agreed that it was one of the best meals we have had so far.  A woman who was actually born in Minnesota gave us a short presentation on what their school is all about. What she explained to us is that there are multiple ways in Sweden to get your “ticket” to college, a folk school being one of them. It can replace high school (or what they call “gymnasium”) or some people attend a folk school after they have completed gymnasium to further prepare themselves for university or a job. We were all pretty amazed at what type of school this is. We don’t have anything too similar to it back in the states. We were told folk schools cater to the needs of the students and it all about ideas and “the living dialogue”. It seemed really neat. We were also told there are no grades or tests! I think we can all agree that is something we are jealous of. After visiting the folk school, we went to the Vasaloppet Museum. The Vasaloppet is a ski race starting in Sälen and finishing in Mora. Thousands of people compete in it every year. There is a ski race in Mora, Minnesota similar to the one here in Sweden. They are sister cities! A common sight we saw here in Mora was the Dala horse. We are in the region called Dalarna. The Dala horse is a symbol of this region and later on became a symbol for Sweden. It will be cool to visit the Nusnäs Dala Horse Factory tomorrow on our way to Stockholm. Later on in the night, many of us decided to go bowling at a nearby alley to our hotel. Some students from the folk school met up with us there. It was fun to chat with them a little more and learn about their lives. It wasn’t a late night for most. We went to bed at a decent hour to get our rest for Stockholm tomorrow!

Mora Folk School:

Map of the Mora Folk school

The Mora Vasallopet Ski museum

Bowling:

Blog by Hannah & Marley