Sweden Rotary planned this trip for all the exchange students living in Sweden (duh). Anyways there were 20 of us on this trip from all over the world living all over Sweden. The amount of bonding that can happen between exchange students over four days is amazing! All coming from such different backgrounds but able to instantly click and become such amazing friends!!
Anywho...Monday:
Flew up to Kiruna (1 hour 30 minute flight)
Visited the Ice hotel! Yes a hotel made of ice; and yes people do sleep in it. The beds are blocks of ice but they also have a matress and reindeer pelt that you lay on. Every year they have to rebuild the hotel and every year it is a little different. About half the rooms are themed. The hotel brings in artists who create ice scultpures in the rooms depicting something. For example one of the rooms was disco themed and had ice sculptures of dancing polar bears and a disco ball!
Aussies!
Left to right: USA, India, Brazil (top), Japan, Mexico
The glasses are made of ice so they cannot wash them, thus you get to keep your glass!
Argentina
Left to right: Australia, Canada, USA, and USA
Todomundo means everyone
In honor of the 2014 World Cup.
Wall design
Fishy!
'Merica!
We then took a short walk to meet a Sami person and his reindeer. The Sami people are the natives that live in northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Russia. They survive off of reindeer herding, eating them, using their pelt for cloths and blakets.
Tuesday we got to play outside in the snow, ice fish, and drive snow mobiles!
Left to right: Australia, Argentina, and USA
Ice Fishing! But not one caught anything :(
Argentina and Australia
Top to bottom, left to right: Australia, Brazil, USA, Canada, Japan, Japan, India, and Japan!!
Wednesday was by far our most beautiful day! Not a cloud in the sky and we got to head an hour and a half out of Kiruna to a town called Börkliden; very known for skiing and outdoor activities.
All of us exchange students from 9 different countries.
We had a massive tournament of Swedish rugby in knee deep snow. It was really hard but really fun!!!
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Snow shoeing!!!!
Girl from Canada and me! (We are practically neighbors seeing as she is from Vancouver Island).
Represent!
Me and Utah!
Uppsala gang!
Ben (Tiawan) and Me
Grace (New Zealand) and me with our flag capes
Aussie doing a flip off of a pile of snow. Photo creds to me :-)
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Sledding!
Our last night we had a fancyish dinner and each country sand their national anthem.
That's the gang!
"Oh say can you see!"
"Oh Canada...!"
These Aussies
The girl in the middle is a nativ Sami girl! It was very cool to talk with her and learn a little more about the Sami culture.
"Jag vill levar Jag vill bor i Norden!" (Sweden)
Haka dance preformed by New Zealand
Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico
India
Tiawan
One of the women who planned the weekend is from Austria and sand her national anthem
And some other fun pics
Girl Power
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