Final Post from Sweden

Really... my final post ever from Sweden!? This is sad, because I've enjoyed my time over here so much. Tomorrow I leave in the evening tomorrow night, and take a train to Copenhagen at midnight. I will sleep in the airport overnight, because my flight leaves early at 7.30. Hopefully, since I'm flying gold, I can chill and eat free food in the "gold lounge" or whatever.

Recap of James Jarman's and Victor's Visit: They came in Wednesday, and I showed them what Sweden was like, and I think they enjoyed it. We went and hung out at O'leary's sports bar Thursday night. Friday we went snowboarding at a "mountain" 30 minutes away. The mountain wasn't very big, so it was a perfect opportunity to try and learn snowboarding. After falling on my ass the first run down, I picked up on turning/carving and the rest was easy. Even pulled an air off a jump. :) After waking up early on Friday to go snowboarding, we went to a goodbye party at Villhemsro, a student accommodation 10 minutes by bus. James and Victor were meeting people, as people were crying and saying goodbye, so it was interesting, lol. But its a different experience for them, because they came as friends already knowing someone in Sweden.

My finals went well, and I hope I passed all 4 classes so I get my international engineering minor. Everything has been coming to a close the past 2 weeks, so I've been slowing getting ready to go home. I said a lot of goodbyes today, or "see you laters." Most semesters at UCF fly by, but this semester felt like a long time. I've been in Europe for a long time, and done a lot of travelling: Copenhagen, Munich for Oktoberfest, Kiruna, Tallinn-Estonia, and of course Norway and Stockholm with my father. I really bonded with my friends in Delta, and we have become very close. I will miss them a lot, and probably won't see them for at least a year or two. Starting off 4.5 months ago not knowing a single soul in Europe, to the place where I'm at today is really rewarding to think about. I will really miss Sweden, but my time here is finished. Time for the next chapter of my life, to use the things I learned here. Hej da!

Friends are coming soon

As I write this, 2 friends from back home - James Jarman and Victor- are almost here to visit me in Jonkoping. Should be a fun time, and I am very excited at showing someone from back home "my" city. I am done with my finals, but still have 2 small assignments to turn in. But basically, I am free from school now. I just get to experience the last couple of days the way I want - no school. I am thinking about going snowboarding this friday at a "mountain" within an hour drive from here. Yes, snowboarding....the hill isn't very steep, so this will be a good opportunity to learn it - can't be more difficult than wakeboarding.

The sidewalks here are frozen solid. This happened because the temperature went above 0 and the snow melted, then the next day went back below and froze. Its very difficult to walk on them, and I have witnessed one person falling - hilarious! lol

Last sunday, I went to my contact person Madde's house and made Lussebullar, which is typical for Swedish people to eat this time of year. It was fun hanging out, talking about the semester, and playing Swedish games, such as laying out a bunch of raisins on the table, and guessing which one the other person was thinking of. lol yea, Swedish people can be weird. We also drank the alcoholic version of Glögg, which was strong and overpowering. They only drink Glögg during the holidays.

The next couple of days will be full of goodbyes, because I come home in 6 days. :(

KIRUNA + End of Semester

Okej, so I'll do a quick blog update because I'm taking a break from studying. I have a Materials and Simulation Final on Sunday. On tuesday, I have a short paper due for Intercultural Communication, as well as a quiz and we also do a 10 minute presentation about our country in front of the entire class. So this is my last blog update until monday. It's also really sad that I have less than 2 weeks remaining here in Sweden. I think it will be just as tough to say goodbye as it was coming here. All good things must come to an end, though.

Last weekend, we took a trip to Kiruna, and it was a blast. Kiruna is the northernmost city in Sweden that is located above the artic circle, with a poplulation of merely 20,000. The city is alive because of the worlds largest iron ore mine located right beneath the city. Actually a cool thing about the mine is that it is actually destroying the city (due to creep/land deformations from the mine), so the city must rebuild away from the mine in the next 5-10 years.

The fun part of the trip:
We did a dogsled tour the first night, and it was a unique experience. We didn't get to actually drive the sleds, but it was still pretty cool to be driven by Huskies. Our sled was kinda heavy, and I could tell our guide was having difficulties driving the sled - as a result we got a little bit off course and ran into a tree! lol. On Sunday, we went on a snowmobile tour to the ICEHOTEL. The ICEHOTEL (http://www.icehotel.com/uk/ICEHOTEL/About-ICEHOTEL/) is purely made from ice and snow, and was under construction when we saw it. Also the snowmobiles had awesome acceleration (topped out at 105 km/hr) and it was a great way to see the untouched beauty of Swedish Lapland. Our accommodation was an 11-person cabin about 5km away from the city at a place called Camp Alta. It was nice to sit around our fire and warm up after being in -20 degree Celsius weather. Finally, we did not get to see the Northern Lights. :( I think it was too early in the season, which is disappointing. I'll add it to my bucket list and do it later in life. To sum it up: awesome trip, kinda expensive, but definetly worth it. :)

*Check back later for pictures from the trip