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Norrbotten Travel Blogs

Background: A military power during the 17th century, Sweden has not participated in any war in almost two centuries. An armed neutrality was preserved in both World Wars. Sweden's long-successful economic formula of a capitalist system interlarded with substantial welfare elements was challenged in the 1990s by high unemployment and in 2000-02 by the global economic downturn, but fiscal discipline over the past several years has allowed the country to weather economic vagaries. Indecision over the country's role in the political and economic integration of Europe delayed Sweden's entry into the EU until 1995, and waived the introduction of the euro in 1999.

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By Arcticnick
July 21st 2009

Scoring from the Chief Europe » Sweden » Norrbotten

Before my story begins I should first qualify myself. Much of my life is repetitive, dull and quite unremarkable but when I do actually get out there and get going then something strange seems to happen and quite independently of any apparent input from me, adventure seems to find its way to me, beating down my door, quite unhindered by the usual vines, thickets and brambles of most adventures. To put it more simply...shit just seems to happen to me. This is not a work of fiction. Everything you read actually happened although some of the finer details may have [View Full Entry]

By BrettSallach
June 23rd 2009

Research Europe » Sweden » Norrbotten » Luleå

Research In Sweden After arriving in Luleå, our first task was to figure out what research project we would be working on. We had oppertunities at two locations, LTU the technical University in Luleå, or at SICOMP (Swedish Institute of Composites). At first my priority was to stay in Luleå where ten people would be staying, only three would be going to Piteå. But after going over the projects, I realized that to make the most out of the experience I should move to Piteå where there was a project with Civil Engineering applications. SICOMP is funded with grant money [View Full Entry]

By BrettSallach
June 22nd 2009

Hello Europe » Sweden » Norrbotten » Luleå

Scandinavian Adventure So this week is our last week here in Sweden. After spending the first week in Stockholm and a week in Norway, it seems that our six week stay here has gone so fast. Sweden has been awesome though. We have met some really fun people and we have experienced so much. It is not that hard to imagine living here, as almost everything is the same as America and everyone speaks English. The one thing I wish is that there were more oppertunities to speak Swedish. Most everyone would rather just speak English instead. This makes it [View Full Entry]

By stevekatrijn
April 18th 2009

Expedition Honeymoon Europe » Sweden » Norrbotten » Kiruna

Kamperen bij -15

(voor Nederlands, scroll naar beneden) Getting married on Saturday ... and on Sunday morning to the airport: not the French Riviera but destination Arctic Circle. A little cooling is always welcome, not? "What is that?" they ask at the check-in. These are 2 sleds of 30 kg with everything to survive independently for 12 days in negative temperatures ... Eyebrows are frowning, so great, a honeymoon! Lapland, the region above the Arctic Circle, stretches across 4 countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland and a piece of Russia. We choose the Swedish part of Lapland: rugged mountains, arct [View Full Entry]

By Emily O
March 16th 2009

Arctic Circle! Europe » Sweden » Norrbotten » Kiruna

Beginning of the Acrtic Circle

Two weeks ago, I took a 17 hour train ride to Lulea, Sweden. Its a few hours from the Arctic Circle and its where Kai studies. I had a bed in the train so it wasn't as bad as it sounds because I just watched movies on my laptop and slept for a good portion of the ride. Kai's roommate Markus had two friends from Germany visiting him as well and we all rented a car to drive North for the weekend. There were many other exchange students who joined us in other rental cars. We drove a few hours North [View Full Entry]

By chelsea18
February 3rd 2009

Jokkmokk! Say Whaaaa?! Europe » Sweden » Norrbotten » Jokkmokk

The Sami Flag

Hej från Sverige! I've been in Jokkmokk now for about a week and a half and have not blogged about it, that's a problem! We are staying at Samernas, a school that focuses on teaching pretty much all aspects of Sami culture. Only about 30 students study here in areas like Sami traditional food, Sami language, reindeer herding, and handicrafts. We live now in the same dorms that the students who study here do. Most of them are our age, being one or two years out of high school, but there are a few older students as well. Before I get [View Full Entry]

By chelsea18
January 26th 2009

More Funner Europe » Sweden » Norrbotten

Roland's birthday!

Yoooo! This blog is the second one of many to come and I plan on writing it in a way that is more similar to the way that I talk. I wrote the first one, while planning to add it to the Gustavus blog forum so I wanted the language to be sufficient but screeeewww that! Let's be real, I'm midly inappropriate at times and not the best writer, so I might as well have a little fun blogging! I've not yet begun to talk about actually being in Sweden so let's do that! The first city that we stayed in [View Full Entry]

By chelsea18
January 25th 2009

FIRST BLOG! Europe » Sweden » Norrbotten

Times Square

Hej Alla! I am writing to all of you from the wonderful land of Sweden and oh, how great it is! I apologize for the late start in this blog process but we have been quite busy! For starters, we are currently in Jokkmokk in Norrbotten, which lies just above the arctic circle. It is surprisingly "warm" here. Today, it has been the coldest so far, 0 F at noon. If you can believe it, I've already been up and gone to church this morning. I couldn't understand most of what was being said because I've not studied very much in [View Full Entry]

By Emily O
December 16th 2008

Thanksgiving 2008 Europe » Sweden » Norrbotten » Luleå

Delicious Meal

I know I'm a month late, but I had such a great Thanksgiving this year! I flew up to Lulea to visit Kai for the weekend. I got there on Tuesday evening and there was so much snow! I don't know how much exactly, but check out the pictures. It was a beautiful winter wonderland! On Thursday, we started cooking at 1pm. We started by peeling potatoes and cutting bread into cubes for the stuffing. Kai worked on the coconut cream pie while I started the stuffing. I mixed olives, apples, and onions with the bread and chicken stock for my [View Full Entry]

By Anth Steph
December 12th 2008

Chasing the Northern Lights Europe » Sweden » Norrbotten » Kiruna

Arriving in the Arctic Circle Winter

The Arctic Circle in winter. Are we crazy? Nope. Just cold. We'd been to the Arctic Circle in Summer (Tromso, Norway) and seen the midnight sun, so it seemed that we should go again in winter for complete symmetry. Mostly we were interested in seeing the Northern Lights (although we knew we would need luck on our side). And it was soooo cool! Kiruna is 67.81˚N, and the week before we arrived it had been averaging in the minus twenties. Our few days were a balmy minus 12! We knew it would be seriously cool right from the start, when we [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Europe » Sweden » Norrbotten