I can now say I have been north of the Arctic Circle. Just as the snow had disappeared from my home in southwestern Sweden, I spent 23 hours on various buses and trains and arrived in Kiruna where it was considerably colder and snowier. I met about sixty other Rotary exchange students from around Sweden. It was a fun five-day trip.
Kiruna is the northern-most city in Sweden. It has a population of over 20,000. The LKAB mine as well as a space research facility are the main employers. We visited the huge mine during the trip but my camera died. The mine is so large that we took our coach bus down three kilometers on a two lane road. The road had a gradual decline. We stopped at an underground museum, learned about the mine at the underground movie theater, and had fika in the underground café. The mining operations were even farther underground. The iron ore is now extracted mostly by huge machines that are controlled from above-ground. Most of the miners now actually sit in an office building. They hold joysticks and control the machines using computers and videos. Part of the city of Kiruna is being torn down and rebuilt elsewhere. The mine must continually do research to find new places to continue mining, and there are valuable resources underneath the city. Also, the mine is becoming too close to the city for safety. The mine has to pay, but they say the new buildings will be nicer than the old.
The largest ice hotel in the world is located a bit outside of Kiruna. Everything in the hotel was made out of ice, besides the occasional glass door. My camera did not do justice to the beautiful ice structure. The hotel is build every year from ice harvested the year before. Artists from around the world apply to design one of the suites-each with a different theme. There are also ordinary rooms. There was poetry and quotes carved, beautiful murals, and sculptures within the rooms, lobby, and hallway. There was a room with a 1950s car made out of ice, walls carved in geometric patterns, a room with a polar bear, and on and on. I felt like I was dreaming.
We spent half a day in Narvik, Norway. This city is northwest of Kiruna, on the coast. As you can see from the picture, the water wasn't frozen, and never freezes due to the gulf stream. The mine in Kiruna transports all of the iron ore away from Narvik. It would not be so feasible to continue mining operations in Kiruna if there was no way to ship it away. Ordinary railroad tracks around Europe cannot support the super-heavy loads, so shipping the ore is necessary. The bus ride out to Narvik was beautiful. The geography was unique with mountains, fjords, and beautiful lakes.
As soon as I returned, I switched host families. It was rather difficult to move again from a place I had grown to love, but I will be back again.
I am now out on the land again, but this time only a short bus ride from town. The weather is nice and I can bicycle eight kilometers to town whenever I want. I have been welcomed and feel very grateful and I am excited to get to know another family. I now live with two host sisters who are 13 and 17, two horses, numerous cows, four cats, a dog, and three birds.
I am on påsklov/Easter break. Yesterday I sat in the sun all day, biked, and baked chocolate cake with a friend, and then sat outside with my host family and enjoyed the cake, ice cream, and warm weather on the green grass in shorts!
Encountering some blåsippor on my morning walk.
I love the peacefulness and beauty which comes with living outside of town. I am having fun discovering my new home.
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