Matt's Sweden Adventure!

More Arctic Adventure Pics

2009-02-21T09:55:00.000-08:00

Here are some new photos from the Arctic Adventure for your viewing pleasure! They all come from either the Ice Hotel, or Gällivare (where we were staying).

Arctic Adventure

2009-02-05T11:00:00.000-08:00

This is a room inside the ice hotel, complete with deerskin on the beds and an ice picture above

Torch Ceremony at Winter Market in Jökkmokk

Hello everyone. I hope you enjoy these wonderful pictures from the Arctic Circle. I have spent the past four days up here in the cold with my friends Nick, Tiff, and Kate. You may remember Nick and Tiff from my earlier holiday adventures. Kate is the new addition this time.

Temperatures have remained in the single digits for most of the time. There is snow everywhere - feet of it - and it comes up to my waist in certain parts. Luckily we have a warm hostel/house to stay in. We have had the whole place to ourselves for the weekend, and that includes a kitchen and living room. We rented a car on Friday to have for the weekend. It actually came out to be much cheaper than taking the train and gave us the freedom to do what we wanted. On Friday we pittled around the town of Gällivare, where we are staying. Unfortunetaly my boots have no tread so I fell a couple of times in the icey conditions but I'm ok. Saturday we traveled to Kiruna to see the winter festival there. Not much was going on so we just walked around and saw some of the historic structures like the town church. Before we went into the town, however, we made a stop by the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi. It was quite an experience, complete with Ice Bar and Art galleries / bedrooms. See the pictures attached. I don't think I would actually want to stay here, aside from the fact that it is expensive, you have a great chance of getting sick (as we've heard from various people). On Sunday we traveled into Jökkmokk for the winter market. On the way we stopped by a nature preserve and hiked around in the snow. We got to participate in the torch bearing ceremony in the town on Sunday evening to commemorate the opening of the market (a tradition that dates back to 1602). It was so cold, though, so we didn't stick around for too long. This is the first, and probably the only year, where not only did I not watch the Super Bowl, but I actually forgot that it was on TV! It looked like a great game and I wish I could have seen it (but it's not that big of a deal up here...).

Getting on the train near Karlskrona. It was 20 hours in all. 5 hours to Stockholm. 14 hours more to Gällivare, on a sleeper train.

Travelmates at Muddus National Park

Nick and I in the snowey wilderness outside Jökkmokk

Ice Hotel from outside

The Ice Bar inside the Hotel

Dog show in Kiruna

Main hallway in Ice Hotel

Me playing on a jungle gym in Gällivare, the town where we stayed

Holiday!

2009-01-09T11:09:00.000-08:00

lavinia and me

Happy New Year everyone! I hope that the blog finds you in good health and good spirits early in this year, and that you enjoy this installment of my blog in Europe.

I am currently on a train to Leige, Belgium with my friends Nick and Tiff. I have spent the past two days in a cabin in Bomighausen, Germany. It is a small town in the northwest portion of the country. There were some fun spots nearby though. Yesterday we traveled to a nearby town (Willengham) and ate some mexican food. Furthermore we attended a waterpark that included large slides, saunas, and a steam room (all inside of course). It was true to the European custom as well, in the sense that clothing was optional in certain parts of the waterpark. It was a bit strange for us Americans, but its the experience that counts!

Further back, I spent from December 20 - December 26 with my friend Lavinia Warnars in Nymegen, Netherlands. It was a relaxing time staying in a student housing complex at her university. We traveled to Amsterdam last Sunday and met up with some friends named Tim and Claudia there. You can see some of the pictures taken in this city. I liked it a lot, and the vibe was very agreeing. I have also experienced some traditional Dutch food in the last week. Some of which include Poffertjes (pastry things) and Dutch pancakes.
Going further back, it was a busy period before the start of my holiday. We have had two projects in which we work with outside companies. I have also formed a group for my thesis project, which begins midway through January.

And now I am updating the previous portion (after getting back to Karlskrona). I wrote the previous section a couple of weeks ago on the train.

We had a lot of fun in Leige, Belgium. There was a Christmas market there with lots of little shops, and a ferris Wheel. It is an old town of an enjoyable size.

From Leige we traveled to Den Haag, the Netherlands. This is the site of the Dutch government (even though Amsterdam is the capital, the government actually convenes in The Hague). It was a beautiful city and we had a giant Chinese food dinner here. We were in this city for one night, before traveling on to Haarlem.

Haarlem is a town about fifteen minutes outside of Amsterdam. The Hostels were booked in the big city for New Year's, so we opted to stay in this quaint little town instead. It was very pleasant. However, on New Year's Day the only restaurant open was McDonald's (much to the chagrin of my travel-mates). I enjoyed a hearty New Year's Day meal, however, and walked around the city the day after all the fireworks and craziness. It was quite a unique experience to bring in the new year outside of America. Unfortunately we were not able to go into Amsterdam on New Year's Eve, but there was a cool bar/night club near our hotel that we were able to party at!

I was able to take my travel-mates around Amsterdam the next day, having already been there. It was fun being the tour-guide, and I kind of felt like a local. It is a beautiful city with a lot of history. The people are very laid back and it has a nice feel about it. There are a number of trams and bikers, however, that you have to constantly watch out for as you are crossing streets. There are almost no cars in the city centrum.

The day after Amsterdam we took the train back to Karlskrona, Sweden. It was back-to-business as soon as I returned, and just today I have had some time to work on the blog. We had our presentations this week related to the consulting we did with outside companies (my company was Google). Excitingly, Google is interested in further contact, and wants us to make a presentation to a board of managers. Should be exciting!

The following pictures are of my vacation. I hope you enjoy!

4 different currencies I was counting on the train Christmas time in Amsterdam

My friend Poffertjes, a friendly little lion. Enjoying a delicious Oliebollen in Amsterdam!

Me, Lavinia, Claudia, Tim at the airport in Amsterdam Nick, Me, Tiff on New Year's

A windy road in Liege. The Christmas Market in Liege.

quick update!

2008-11-02T10:31:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. I am doing a quick update on my Sweden adventure. It has gotten much darker and colder here. I am not used to it yet, but soon I will be. We had a final exam on Friday that covered a lot of information. Luckily it was Halloween, so I got to spend the rest of the day preparing my costume and eating Mcdonald's. Saturday night I walked around the local graveyard because it is a Swedish tradition to light candles there on All Saint's Day. Today, Sunday, I rode out to a local farm and bought some peanut raisin butter. The weather was beautiful.
This week we are starting the next period, so I'll keep everyone informed.

At the Farm there were female Peacocks.

My halloween costume. Nick was Uncle Sam and I was Mr. Mellan Mjölk.

The Rotundan

Valeria, from Brazil, in front of the Administration building.

The MSLS Common Room/Workshop.

The Graveyard.

Fall is in the Air

2008-10-24T09:27:00.000-07:00

Hello to everyone!

It is beginning to look and feel like fall over here. I was on a bike ride early this morning to a lamp recycling factory and it really settled in. One of the pictures I've posted is of some trees near this factory. Another of the pictures is of a flourescent lamp test room. It was very warm and bright inside this room!

I realized too, that I am missing UT football back in the states. I love getting up on a fall Saturday morning and walking to the stadium with 100,000 people. It feels like football weather - its just not football season over here (at least American football).

I've been keeping very busy with class. They have given us heavy group projects that require an exceptional amount of outside-the-classroom time and planning. Luckily the people here are a pleasure to work with and everyone is very capable. It is neat to mix perspectives with others from Australia, Sweden, China, Brazil, etc. Presentations are next week, and then the the final exam for the first period. Starting Nov. 2 will be the second period of study, which is more in depth in certain areas. This is the second of three periods, with the final being the thesis period.

I am drinking lots of milk and staying active (running and a local gym called Lok-&-Motion). I have also managed somehow to set up a Swedish bank account and a phone account online. It is a challenge because everything is written in Swedish and the people at the bank don't speak good english either. Nonetheless I am taking it upon myself to learn the language, and I've successfully mastered their number system. Now I just need to master everything but numbers! LOL

I've added a lot of pictures this time, per demand.

After Ultimate Frisbee at the Retreat near Copenhagen.

Campfire at the Retreat near Copenhagen.

LongLife lamps at AuraLight.

Forest near Auralight factory.

International Food Night.

Swedish Milk.

At the barbecue back in August. I'm back right.

A pumpkin on top of a tower in Copenhagen.

Field Trip

2008-10-05T09:47:00.000-07:00

Top Left: A square in Copenhagen

Top Right: My Copenhagen Traveling Buddies

Bottom Right: Cathedral in Roskilde

Bottom Left: Actual Viking Ship

It's cold and blustery here in Karlskrona today. Hopefully this isn't a precursor to what I can expect as 'normal'

This previous week I spent in Denmark. We traveled to Roskilde on Tuesday and stayed there until Thursday morning. While we were in this place we traveled to an Ecovillage/Commune to talk to the inhabitants about their lives and find out how sustainable their community is. It has been around since the 1970's. An interesting fact is that when the children graduate high school they always leave the commune for at least ten years, and experience the world outside. Sometimes they come back, sometimes they don't. They also have wind turbines on the premises to provide all the power.

We also visited a Viking museum in Roskilde. This town was the center of the Danish universe for several hundred years, having been built before the year 1000. The Vikings considered Roskilde an important town and used it as a hub for activity. One of the pictures attached is of a Viking ship they recovered from the bay in the 1960s.

There is also a large cathedral in the center of town. It was built in the 12th century. Inside are buried many Danish monarchs. It reminded me of the great Basilicas in Italy, with all of the inscriptions on the walls and tombs, written in Latin.

After Roskilde, we traveled to a small town to the east. Actually we traveled to the middle of nowhere. We stayed at a retreat camp, complete with a gymnasium, kitchen, dining room, and dorms. Here we engaged in workshops - collectively organized and run by us. We also played Ultimate Frisbee and soccer whenever given the chance. I also got in on a game of 'lifesize' chess. The pieces were two feet tall, and the board was 10 feet x 10 feet. You had to physically walk around and move the pieces!

This retreat was our last night together as an entire group. We had a big campfire at night. My friend Karen brought her guitar so we sang some songs, passed around the guitar, and a couple of people did 'firedancing' It was a lot of fun, and we played the guitar hard enough to break one of the strings!

On Friday we had more workshops and then took the bus to Copenhagen. Everyone stayed in the same hostel, which has to be one of the largest in Europe. They unfortunetaly had only one night available, so I decided to come home on Saturday instead of trying to find another place to stay on Sunday.

It is a fascinating city. On Friday a group of us went to the Christiania district and hung out with a bunch of locals. It was a unique experience, and one most tourists don't engage in I'm sure. On Friday I walked around and took pictures of the city. I'll definitely be going back again when I'll have more time to explore and experience.

Thanks for reading this edition of MATT'S SWEDEN ADVENTURE!

2008-09-22T13:43:00.000-07:00

These are pictures from the Karlskrona area. The top left is from my bedroom window. The top right is from the walking path going to town. The bottom left is me standing in the middle of the big park in town. It's quite beautiful here, if I do say so myself...

First real blog.

2008-09-14T04:39:00.000-07:00

I am indeed in Sweden for those of you who have yet to hear from me! I arrived three weeks ago by plane, via Copenhagen. It was quite an adventure making it here to my apartment. The plane ride wasn't too long, but sleep was scarce and I was running on fumes when I got to Copenhagen to start my journey. Unfortunetaly the airline lost one of my bags so I was walking around for an hour looking for it in the airport, thinking that I
simply had not noticed it at the baggage claim. But it turns out that it hadn't gotten on the plane from Nashville. Luckily I did receive one of my suitcases so I wasn't at a total loss. And I had packed extra clothes in my carry on.
I managed to sleep on the train ride to Karlskrona. It is about four hours from Copenhagen.

Once I got here I managed to find my way to the real estate agency here in town and get my account settled. They gave me my key and I took the bus to my apartment, here next to the BTH campus. (BTH stands for Blekinge Tekniska Hogskolan). Basically its a small technical university.Since then I have gotten settled into this new Swedish home. A couple of the things I've noticed since being here:
Housing prices are comparitively cheap to the United States. For instance, my apartment overlooks a beautiful bay, its close to campus, and I pay about the same as I paid in Knoxville for it.

Food (and all goods) is extremely expensive. The cost of living is very high in Sweden, and they pay the second-highest taxes in the industrialized world.

It is custom to take your shoes off when entering a house here. Swedes get very upset when you don't do this...

The Swedish people are a little stand-offish at first, but once you get to know them they are very very kind. They generally take well to foreigners, and everyone speaks English here.

School is heating up as well. We have to give two presentations next week and there is a test. I shall be ranting on here more soon, with more details of this journey.

test

2008-09-01T09:47:00.000-07:00

this is my test blog...