People Watching

For our last night in Mora, we threw a party for everyone. Here are some pictures. Nate and I represented the group in giving goodbye speeches. This is how I found out I was giving a speech: I was half asleep and in bed and as Cassandra comes out of the bathroom says to me, "Oh, Karla, did anyone tell you? We decided you are giving a speech tomorrow at the party." Great. Both Nate and I noted that while we had high expectations of what Mora would be like from the 2009 group, these expectations were more than met. We both also observed that this would surely not be our last visit to Dalarna. Lennart, our wonderful Nordic Politics teacher and pictured with me here, also pulled out a perfectly rehearsed speech for the occasion. Our Swedish teacher, Anna, also pictured here, read aloud her grocery list.

Yesterday morning we loaded our luggage into the school van. We decided to let the van take the luggage and elected to walk through town in the sunshine one last time. (Somehow, though I sent 2 large boxes of winter clothes home, my suitcase still feels far too heavy. It seems like I have so little with me with me until we have travel days and then I realize that I wish I had attempted to do four months in Sweden with only a backpack... if that. Maybe a purse.) We got to the train station where Anna and Lennart (along with his wife and sons) came to say goodbye. Some of our new friends from the folk high school also came along to wave goodbye and exchange some final hugs. They even did the classic running after the train as we sped away.

I love trains. I have ridden on many in my life including several long Amtrak trips and a few in Germany. I wish the ride from Mora to Uppsala had actually been longer than 3 hours. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I'm a theatre major, but I love people watching and trust me, it has gotten me into some trouble in the past. I loved sitting in the cafe car with Jen and looking around at people and thinking of what their stories might be. We even met another American, an exchange student from Louisiana! He said that he had never heard of a program like ours and thought it sounded awesome. We enthusiastically agreed.

Now we are here in Uppsala. Rather, we are staying outside the city in what I might describe as a suburb by American standards. We were met at the train station by Daniel and Julia, former Gusties who are to be our leaders and teachers while we are here. We arrived at our hostel last night and had a group dinner to celebrate our fearless leader, Eric's, birthday. I am so excited to have access to a big city to explore and likely (safely) get lost in!

My home is my heart.

Hodgepodge of Karla's recent brain activity: Enjoy.

Tonight we got a very big treat. We got to hear some incredible live Swedish folk music. It was gorgeous. The singer is a professional who has toured all over the world and there she was, performing for 13 Americans and about 10 Swedes in a little folk high school in Dalarna. I was reminded tonight of how political performing can be. The quartet was not wearing Swedish folk costumes. They explained that their reasoning for this was because the Swedish Democrats, the political party who has recently come into power and hates immigration, has adopted the folk costume as a symbol that the Swedes should "keep Sweden for themselves." These musicians were wearing traditional folk shoes, however.

On Saturday it will be time for us to leave again. We will go to the train station and board the 2:30 pm train for Uppsala. I must say, I am quite happy this one leaves before the crack of dawn. Now that we are so close to leaving, I find myself wondering why it is I seem to feel so attached to places right as we are about to leave. I thought that there was no way I could love Mora as much as I loved Jokkmokk and I'm sure those of you that have been following my posts are rolling your eyes thinking, "oh lord, she brought up that place again." I do not know how I will think of Mora when I have left, but as I roll my suitcase out from its corner and begin to pack it yet again, many images roll through my seemingly always hectic mind. I think of the opening ceremony of the Vasaloppet and the skiers crossing the finishing line one by one. Then of course there was the day this week when Sonja and I braved the bus system and visited the Carl Larsson house and then sat by the water with the intense sun on our backs. I can smell smoke on my clothes I wore yesterday and will so fondly remember our "Viking" outdoor picnic.

Today at the concert, Anna told us, in not so many words, how important the present moment are. Right now, we are in Mora and that is our most important place because it is what we are experiencing right now. On Saturday, we will move and then it will change again. Again, pulling out the Sami card, Nils-Aslak Valkeapaa wrote a poem entitled, "my heart is my home." Though I doubt I feel this on the same level as the Sami do, I think I'm beginning to understand what this means. I always kind of felt a bit like a wandering Nomad when I went to college- home doesn't really feel the same anymore, but a tiny dorm room really doesn't so much either. So, there I am, somewhere in the middle, one foot in, one foot back.

It feels the same but different here. I really feel like a wandering soul. I have about 6 outfits to choose from each morning when I wake up, and then I pack those 6 outfits into my big red suitcase and move again. Sometimes I wonder if maybe I should have decided to just go study on my own for a semester or a year somewhere. That way I could really connect to just one place and not feel that just as I'm "getting it" it's time to leave. But then I remember that so much of what makes this trip is the people I get to experience all of this with and the many incredible people I get to meet along my journey. I was thinking the other night, in the sauna of course, how much I love knowing that I'm not really saying goodbye to these places and people. I can't explain it, but there is a constant feeling somewhere in my soul that tells me I will be back again and I will meet these people again, one way or another. I'm so lucky.

International Women's Day! (Yes, it's actually a thing!)

Yesterday was International Women's Day. What exactly this is supposed to mean, we're not really sure, but of course we felt the need to celebrate. Of course, it was also Fat Tuesday so naturally I consumed a lot of godies. We had no class yesterday so Sonja and I took the opportunity to brave the Swedish bus system to get to the Carl Larsson house in Sundborn about 2 and a half hours down the road. We boarded the first bus to Falun and then grabbed the next one for the remaining 20 minutes. Buses mastered.

We arrived at about 10:30 am. Sundborn is a little village. We saw hardly any people, but the sun was shining brilliantly and the river running through town was open. Standing over the bridge listening to the rushing and lapping water made me sure that Spring is oh so close.

The tour was supposed to be in Swedish, but included in the tour was a group from New York who did not speak Swedish so the guide did her best to give a bi lingual tour. I find myself feeling guilty when things like this happen, just like I felt I was cheating when Sonja and I asked the bus drivers for directions in English. She put it quite well though when she said, "Karla, there are times to practice our Swedish, and then there are times to not get lost in the middle of nowhere Sweden. This is one of those times."

The house was beautiful. Before arriving, I had read that IKEA takes a lot of inspiration from designs in the house. Sadly photography was prohibited inside. It was so fun. We got done with the tour and realized we had about 3 hours to kill before the bus came. The only restaurant in town was a little, but delicious pizzeria. We then walked up the pathway to the town church, which Carl Larsson helped paint. There were purple paper flowers hanging in the front, a gesture surely meant to welcome warm Spring weather. Not only did we feel like we had the church to ourselves, but it felt like we had free reign of the town.

After our peaceful rest in the church, we continued down the path and sat on the bench swing overlooking the river. Both Sonja and I decided that it would be difficult to top this first ever celebrated National Women's Day.

Another Outdoor Adventure...minus the reindeer this time.

Today began with boarding another bus. Before this morning, all we were told is that we were going on a day long excursion. Some of us thought we might be looking for wolves. We knew that Kjell Westerdahl, a teacher at the folk high school and a previous guest instructor at Gustavus would be leading the adventure and he has done much work and observation of wolves in the area and all over the world. This was not to be, however, and this morning, we learned that we were just going to explore some more of Dalarna. (Though Cassandra and I did see a moose from the bus window.) It was so fun to drive through all the little villages which look oh so Scandinavian. Each village around Lake Siljan wants to be unique and have special things about them that are widely known. Example- Mora is known for the Vasaloppet. There was one village we drove through (sadly I can not remember the name) which has a mountain the inhabitants claim is the home of Santa Claus. We did not pile off the bus to check.

Our first stop was at a museum. We got out and got to learn about meteor activity in the area. I spent some time looking at diagrams of the solar system and "the Big Bang." Coming from a very small and pretty conservative high school, I was always taught that the Big Bang and evolution were theories that might have happened. Everything I read today definitively told readers that this event happened.

This is Sweden, where nothing comes in the way of fika time. We went out to the bus where there were air pots of coffee and a portable table with rolls and pepparkakor for us to have outside the bus. (and yet again- Gustavus please take note.)

We continued on to Lake Siljan where we crossed the still frozen lake to have an outdoor picnic and fire. The theme was "vikings" so we had bacon and vegetables cooked over an open fire. (Evidently bacon and veggies were eaten by the Vikings?...) We then cleaned the pot with snow and then put apple slices, hazelnuts and honey over the fire to have "apple pie" as dessert- so very delicious. I can't believe that even after 13 years of Girl Scouts, I had never heard of such a wonderful camp treat.

After our great lunch, it was time to get back on the bus and continue on our way. We stopped at a sort of wildlife preserve. We got to spend some time walking around learning about different species of wildlife in Dalarna. Example, Dalarna has more carnivores than any other area in Sweden.

I got the chance to revisit the Sami people a bit today. It was a happy reunion. Evidently, the Sami have their southern most grazing areas in Northern Dalarna. There was a section of the preserve dedicated to them. Instead of wandering around and looking at the exhibits, all I wanted to do was read the books about about Sami clothing and Nils- Aslak Valkapää's collection of Sami artwork and poems, "Trekways of the Wind." Evidently, a month later, I don't seem to have quite left the far north.

Jelly Legs

I can't imagine what it must feel like to ski 90 kilometers. In about 4 hours. To say the least, I am quite "un- athletic." This morning we walked down to the finish line to see the skiers, who began quite early this morning, cross the finish line and allow their bodies to stop the constant moving they had been engaged in for at least 4 hours. How does that feel? How can a body react to this? We saw some skiers collapse immediately upon crossing the line. 90 km is such an incredible distance.

The winners (one man and one woman) were greeted with the victory wreath and a bronze statue of a bust. (Yeah, it looked pretty heavy to me- I can't imagine holding on to something like that after skiing for so long.) Of course they were also given a kiss. From what I can tell each year one man and one woman are chosen as what we might call "Vasaloppet Royalty" in the U.S. They stand there and look cute in traditional folk costumes and get to kiss the victors upon their cross of the finish line. (How do I get picked to do this?!)

I didn't realize that there would be two awards ceremonies- one for the man and one for the woman winners. After the first one, we assumed it was all over. Then we heard on the speakers that Jenny was coming, Jenny was coming! I looked over and say a Swedish flag with the words "Jenny Hansson" written across it. This must have been her friends and family. We decided we should probably stick around a bit, and I'm so glad we did.

I felt a little sorry for the skiers who were finishing as the awards ceremony happened as it seemed like they were forgotten. I can't imagine how very rewarding it must feel to be able to say, "Yeah, I just skied 90 kilometers."

Dala Horses!...and a little adventure

Today we ventured 10 kilometers outside of Mora to see the Dala Horse Factory. We learned that the Dala horses has been a toy for children for hundreds of years. All of the horses are made out of pine from the area. Hundreds of thousands of horses are made each year and about 65% of the horses are red. We could see the horses being dipped in the dye and then we got to watch them get hand painted. It was so beautiful!

And then, we weren't standing right at the bus stop, so we missed it. We then began the ten km trek back to town. The first half was really cool. The sun was shining and gorgeous and it was so warm. We got to see a part of the countryside that we hadn't seen before. I felt more connected to Mora than I think I had before. Once we started to get out of the countryside, however, I was slightly less enthused about our situation. "Spring" in Sweden is quite similar to "spring" in Minnesota. aka lots of slush and puddles. I was not planning on walking 10 kms so naturally I wore suede, flat shoes. Let's just say that with all the water, my feet have been (hopefully) temporarily dyed black. And then, we got into the town and we saw a glowing beacon of golden light- literally. It was the McDonald's arches. After not eating all afternoon, and walking so long, I don't think McDonald's will ever taste so good as it did today. I have a feeling today's events will be a day I will remember for a long time when I think about my incredible time in Sweden and the people I shared it with whom I have grown to love so much in such a short time.

Vasaloppet!

For the last week or so, one of the biggest ski races in the world has been happening here in little Mora, the Vasaloppet. The events began last week with an opening ceremony complete with live folk music. We can now add the prime minister's wife to our list of important people we have rubbed elbows with as she gave a speech at the opening ceremony.

After a trip to the Vasaloppet museum yesterday, I learned that about 500,000 skiers from all over the world compete in the various races throughout the week. The events will conclude this Sunday with the 90 kilometer race. (Don't worry, though I thought about it, I thought it best for everyone that I do not enter...) We are hoping to travel to the starting line to see thousands of skiers begin. Apparently, it's quite a sight. The only problem is that evidently the buses which run there only go one way. Hmmmmm, hopefully we will find a way around that...

Class continues to occur daily. Mora feels more like Gustavus than any other place has. I wake up in the morning and go to breakfast in the cafeteria and then spend several hours in class, just like home. In fact, I am writing this post when I really should be working on the research paper which is due tomorrow. Procrastination. Some things really don't change. Even from 4,000 miles away.

I feel like time passing is a common theme I often blog about. It constantly blows my mind. Today marks week 3 of being in Mora. A week from Saturday we will once again pack up this place which has become home and travel on down to Uppsala. Then to Stockholm and then Spring Break. (I ordered my plane tickets to London yesterday!) I got an email from my parents this week that they have put deposits down on plane and hotel reservations and will officially be joining me in Jönköping for Easter and I am so excited!

The weather is beautiful and the sun stays up until about 6pm! I now usually only wear a fleece when walking around outside and my hat quickly feels too warm on my head. The sun is bright and warm and incredible. Quite a change from when we arrived in Umeå and it got dark at about 2:30. Umeå. Though the trip is speeding by before my eyes, still how long ago that feels- was it really only about 5 weeks ago? the market was a month ago, and let me tell you, that does not feel real at all.