Sweden!! (The longest blog ever)

Friday 08:45: Karlsruhe Hbf

Ready to go!

14:30: Hamburg

Got to get a Franzbrötchen wenn in Hamburg!

They had 16 different types! 

Then we met Anja and Michael and all got onto the bus at 16:00 and drove until 19:30 to the border of Germany. There the bus drove on to a ferry. We had to get off the bus and on deck during the trip.

This is the stairway up:

And the view from the top!

Bye Germany!

This is inside the ferry:

There were two buffets and a shop and cafes! Not a small ferry

These were the stairs back down. We had to make sure to get back to the bus before the ferry docked so that the bus could get out as soon as possible.

Walking to the bus:

We had one more ferry ride at 22:00 and then we had to try to sleep until 04:00 where we had another break and then we arrived in Idre at 09:00!

Unloading the bus

As you can see, definitely not Germany anymore

This was our little hut:

Lino and I slept in the loft, Anja and Michael downstairs. 

We had two bathroom and this little kitchen :)

Our view from the hut:

First things first: jump into the snow

Not so easy to get out though

This is a huuuuge frozen lake right in front of the camp

This is the "Eisloch":

They cut the 60cm ice layer for those who would like to get into the lake even when it's frozen shut.

(Anja was the only one from us who dared do it)

Then we decided to build a snowman:

The amount of snow was really crazy, Lino just made a seat:

And I fell in!

It's really hard to move through such amounts of snow:

But we still worked diligently 

Our snowbear :)

Time to pose!

I like this picture ;)

Then they took us to the ski shop, we were taken there everyday to change skis for the day.

This crazy looking contraption dries and warms the shoes from inside:

And they had SO many different skis:

You need different types depending on if you are skating or doing cross country or backcountry or just normal alpine skiing.

Then also had to had to get the right shoes:

Then we went out on my first small cross-country tour right next to the camp! 

Good thing snow is quite soft because cross-country is hard! 

Lino and Michael hadn't shown me how to break. We did a round tour where the way back was mostly downhill. Right before that Michael turned around to me and said "Good luck" and I was like "oh oh" and then I flew down the hill! And at the end of the hill there was a bend so I just flew out of the path and into the snow. And that happened about 6 more times. Was a bit painful but very funny.

Us posing in our winter gear :)

I was very excited

All that in 24 hours!

On to Sunday:

First proper cross country tour:

They took us up to what is called the "Fjäll", it's sort of a flat mountain where there are lots of routes.

For cross-country you sort of walk/glide in these grooves in the ground called "Loipen":

I first had to get the hang of being on skis and getting the movement right. 

Michael decided to stay home because he had also fallen down  many times the day before.

You can see I am struggling a bit here...

And also here

And definetly here

It was uphill!!

But the scenery was really beautiful:

Very picturesque

And very calming

I totally mastered going downhill (I still didn't know how to break by the way)

But I was getting the hang of things :)

The view from one point was really amazing!

That was day 2 :)

Monday:

We went on a "Schneeschuhwandertour" which directly translates to Snowschoeing - I don't think that is the right word, but we basically had big flat shoes so we could walk through snow:

 

I was a bit unhappy cause I was very cold

We were a big group so we moved much slower:

But again the scenery was really beautiful! I was just a bit too frozen to care at that point.

This was the aim of the tour: 

This is Swedens largest waterfall.

You just can't really see it because it's totally frozen!

Then we walked up the side of the mountain to the top!

The shoes were very cool (in both senses) because you could fold this metal part up in the back which elevated your feet, making it much easier to walk uphill.

Reached the top!

And at the top it was like a giant snow desert!

Super sunny!

This was the bridge crossing the waterfall:

And then we went back down :)

We had to make sure to follow the guides route so that we wouldn't land in one of these holes!

But the guide was really sweet. He made us a snow heart at the end! :)

I was just a bit frustrated that my hat was so pointy, it was only round if I pulled it down very low.

Us in the bus :) (See the pointy had! Grrr)

This is how we got transported to all of the different activities. They had to time it really exactly when which group got taken or picked up because of all of the different groups. 

They were really well organised

In the evenings Lino and I would try to study.

Emphasis on try. You can see it wasn't going great for me. 

Tuesday:

First time skating!

These are the skis for skating:

They are thinner and shorter but you have longer poles.

Lino was really good!

This was also so much harder than it looks! It's like rollerblading but also totally different. 

Very fun though, you really glide through the wilderness. 

This is the map on the Fjäll, it shows the different routes that you can follow.

Wednesday:

Lino decided to stay home to work on his Essay.

Anja, Michael and I went on a back-country tour.

What is back-country? It's the same movement as cross-country, but you don't follow a Loipe, you go right through the countryside. 

Off we go!

We basically skied down the side of the mountain, a bit of a challenge to stay upright but I didn't fall down! (In this section)

I was dressed much warmer on this day so I was pleased. 

And our group marched on

 I realised my exam was in a week and I panicked for a short time😅

But the hut was still compfy and we went to sleep :)

Thursday: 

Not very eventfull. I studied and Lino worked to finish his essay.

This was the main hut where we had breakfast and supper:

In the front there was a board that would be updated everyday, telling you at what time you have to be there to leave with the different groups

And this is inside :)

Supper selfie :)

Friday:

Michael, Anja and I went on another Backcountry tour, Lino stayed home to study.

On the way there we say some Moose from the bus. I never realised how big they are! They can grow to have a shoulder height of two meters. 

Then we started the tour.

The weather on this day was pretty crazy, nothing like the days before. We could barely see 10 metres ahead of us

These people were like 20 metres away from us, can't see anything else.

The group was struggling a bit, the wind was quite strong and we had to make sure to stick together.

We had to cut the tour short.

Here we were taking a break and I was trying to warm up. We learned a trick that if your hands are cold you have to slap them around you, it really does work!

Everything was frozen!

We got back to the starting point and warmed up in the restaurant while we waited for the bus.

Great time to get some thermodynamics done ;)

In the evening the cooks had made a very fancy supper, since it was the last day. 

Saturday:

Last day so we had to clean out our huts in the morning to make space for the new group arriving at 09:00.

Here Lino is vacuuming at the top, we all had our sections to clean.

Then we went skating in the day, that was lots of fun!

Then we returned all the skis and shoes and had supper at 17:30 and got onto the bus at 18:30 to go back to Germany!

We arrived in Hamburg at 10:00 the next day and then in Karlsruhe at 17:00 and that's it!

Thank you again to Michael and Anja for the trip!

It was a totally new and amazing experience.