January 19th post

Today was a beautiful day to be alive in Stockholm, Sweden and our day was filled action packed adventures! After a delightful Saturday night out on the town, we started off our Sunday with a trip to the exhilarating SkyView Globe. The Globe Arena happens to be the largest spherical shaped building in the world! We had the opportunity experience a thrill ride in a glass globe that took us to the top of the Globe Arena! We had a magnificent view of the city and although it was a tad frightening for some, everyone got some great photos! Next we met our Swedish tour guide Beatriz who took us on a bus adventure through the gorgeous city of Stockholm! We were able to view some famous landmarks dating back to as early as the 13^th Century!! Stockholm is a city of islands and each island had something unique to offer to the tour. We even got to see a statue of our very own Gustav Adolph Vasa II! After viewing the harbor that used to house the sunken Vasa ship, it was amazing to be able to view the restored ship at the Vasa Ship Museum! We learned that when the ship was raised from the depths of the harbor, it was still ninety percent intact, which is surprising with its massive size. In the museum, we had to climb to the sixth floor to even be able to see the deck of the ship! No wonder they had to build the museum around the ship itself. After exploring the wondrous Vasa ship museum, we loaded the bus once more and headed for the city center to fill our growling stomachs. We were treated to a delectable and delicious Swedish lunch of filet mignon. It was amazing. And to top of our already spectacular lunch, we were even served ice cream, topped with chocolate and a ginger bread cookie. After we nourished ourselves, we were set loose in the city to do whatever we pleased. Many of us chose to explore the old town, also known as Gamla Stan. There were quite a few small shops as well as beautiful and historic architecture. A few of us stopped in a small café where the storeowner graciously described to us the history of his building. It was quite the cultural experience, and the desserts and drinks were absolutely delightful! The pedestrian street in the city center was lit with twinkle lights and bustling with locals and tourists alike enjoying the shops of the city! After our exciting day the hot tub and sauna at our hotel felt wonderful! After a relaxing Sunday evening, we’re all looking forward to our last day in Stockholm tomorrow!

Steph & Jessie

Jan. 17th bloggers

Saturday, January 18th

January 18, 2014

This morning we left our hotel in Mora at 9:30 to go to the dala horse factory where we learned the history behind the wooden dala horse that has become world famous. The process that is used and detail needed to create each dala horse is pretty astounding. One small wooden horse take up to 2 weeks to make from start to finish. Through a process of 6 or 7 steps they take a block of wood and turn it into a beautiful handmade wooden horse. The craftsmanship that was exhibited by the workers at the factory is something that seems to be lost in today's society.
After some shopping and tours of the factory, we left and were on our way to Stockholm. The bus ride took about 5 hours and was filled with lot of napping and a couple intense games of hearts! Our hotel in Stockholm is adjacent to the Ericsson Globe which is the largest sphere shaped building in the world. After unpacking and a couple of hours of free time, we ate a quick dinner at the hotel which featured some delicious Swedish meatballs with spaghetti, bread, and salad. Tonight a group of 20 or so of the students on the trip went out to downtown Stockholm together which ended up being an interesting and fun experience. For one, none of us had ever taken metro transit in Europe so we had to figure out our transportation and ended up riding the subway downtown.The biggest issue we faced was finding a bar that would let a group our size in and have room for us all. So once we found one called "Broken" we stuck with it and hung out there for the rest of the night before heading back to the hotel for bed!"

Thanks

Trevor and David

Some photos from Sweden

Swedish National Hockey Game:

Globe Arena in Stockholm - right next to our hotel:

Swedish Meatballs for dinner tonight:

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 

January 16th Part 2

The day finally came; we got to go skiing in the mountains of Norway! I know many of us had been anticipating this day since we left on our trip. It started off in typical fashion of something going wrong. We missed the bus that was supposed to come to the hotel so we had to walk down the hill to catch the bus at the station an hour later. We eventually made it to the hill and everyone was very anxious to get going. The large group we had seemed to separate pretty quickly and on the second run down me and a couple others decided to go off the beaten trail and forge a path through an unregulated (non-groomed) part of the hill. We almost made it through the knee-deep snow when Neil took a tumble and hurt his shoulder. This was very frustrating. First, it took a while before we could get a medic to look at Neil and then they had no system in place to get him down the hill and to the hospital. He ended up taking a taxi and was only diagnosed with a sprained ligament. So what could have been a lot worse turned out to be okay. The rest of the day went relatively smoothly and speaking for myself, this was probably the coolest thing I have ever done! At the top of the mountain you could hardly see 100 ft. in front of you the snow was coming down so hard! There were spots where all you could see was the tops of the trees because the snow was so high! It snowed all day without lightening up which was awesome for skiing but made it difficult to take any good pictures. We all had a blast and wanted more time on the hill but how sore we all were I don’t think we could have stayed out there any longer! All in all it was a great day and I think it left most of us wanting more. That was the best skiing I have encountered thus far in my life and I can’t even imagine such a place exists!

Cameron C.

Neil at the hospital in Lillehammer:

January 16th blog - Part 1

Today started with an early morning. We all grabbed breakfast from the hotel, which was a nice spread of delicious foods set out in a buffet style. After dinner we all bundled up and made a decision on what today’s plans would include. We had the option of going downhill skiing, snowboarding, snow shoeing, or dog sledding. Cam and I went on the opposite groups so we split our blog up to fit both events. I went dog sledding with eight other students, both professors, and good Ol’ Lawry. We got to hop on our bus and go dog sledding just outside of Lillehammer. The view along the way was incredible! We have had non-stop snow since we arrived in Lillehammer. It is a pretty, thick, fluffy snow. It is making the trees and the surroundings look gorgeous! The houses that we passed had several feet of snow on top of their roofs and many seemed to have snow built around their house so tight it was questionable how they got in and out. We arrived at the dog sledding area and were greeted with several loud barks and howls of twenty-four Alaskan breed dogs (most of them were or similar to Huskies). We huddled into a Sami Tent provided for us with a fire inside to keep us warm. It was very cozy and we were willing to stay a night inside of it. We chatted and drank coffee, tea, and a hot fruit drink with a side of homemade “Christmas biscuits” (gingerbread cookies). We went out to the dogs and greeted them and made new furry friends. We then listened to a quick lesson on how to drive the sleds and how to harness the dogs. We all assisted with harnessing them although it was harder than it looked with them bouncing all around in excitement. Finally, we got into groups of two and the first group went out on their hour-long journey. After they returned, the second group went. It was an amazing experience! It was still snowing and the wind hurt our faces and made it hard to see. But it was all very worth it. Half way through we got to switch places (one person drives, one person lays in the sled). Bonnie and I, however, could not switch because I ended up not weighing enough to break. In the attempt to switch back, the dogs took off, leaving Bonnie on her belly and me without any control of the dogs. The guide on the snow mobile had to come rescue me and get us back on track. Shortly after, Aaron hit a hill and was tossed from his sled and in an attempt to regain control, he fell again. (There is video proof!) Afterwards we said goodbye to the dogs and huddled back in the tent to warm up.

            The bus took us to a National Cross Country Ski Tournament so we made a stop to see that. Unfortunately, we missed it. But we got to still see the awards being handed out. There was one athlete who, jokingly, came out and stood on the First Place step even though he came in 32^nd place. We later discovered that he was Oystein Pettersen, a Norway Gold Medalist in Cross Country. No one knew at the time so we missed our chance to rub elbows with someone famous.

            We headed back to the hotel and enjoyed some down time before walking back to the Olympic Museum (since it was “closed” yesterday). We enjoyed our tour of the history of Norway’s Olympics and were pleased we actually got to see it. We ended our night enjoying Fish Cakes at Nikkers restaurant in Lillehammer. Overall, everyone seemed to have a fantastic free day and had it well spent with no regrets. Everyone is heading to bed early. We will all feel a bit sore tomorrow after today’s adventures.

Terrece Oldenberg 

Video of dogsledding