The City & Thoughts

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Well, differences between Lulea and Maryville abound, but I am going to go in depth here about them so hopefully when I am through, you will understand what I mean.

First off, Lulea is a coastal city. Much of the year, they have ice breakers to break open the ice and let ships through. Lulea is also spread out over the archipelago. This means there are different islands that are connected by bridges and roads. The school is on Porson. My home is in Bjorkskatan. The city center with the airport and such is called Centrum. There's also Gammalstad, the old churchtown that is the historic start of Lulea and still standing with traditional houses and the Kyrkan-the church. There are others, but I haven't been to many of them yet.

There is a lot of forest here, for a city. The Swedes love their trees and the air quality here is the best in the world. There is also snow everywhere. They have a very long winter. The sun sets here at 3 pm in the afternoon, so there is a lot of dark. The sky usually turns a purplish, orangeish, bluish, or pinkish color then. They do have Northern Lights, but I am waiting to see them. In the summer months, they have the midnight sun, where it is literally sun all day. Now, Lulea and most other cities in Sweden, has a great public transportation system. The busses here can take you anywhere and run regularly. They are very comfy too.

Most people here live in apartments, though there are few townhouses in certain areas. They have a ski hill, called Mattsund. You can also see many people snowmobiling. I've already been to the Arena and watched a hockey game. They play a lot of hockey here. Another thing-Swedish people walk or bike. I cannot begin to count how many people I have seen walking dogs or doing what they call promenading (walking with ski poles very fast). They have public school and most people speak both Swedish and English. They have Swedish and English television. People here are fans of Desperate Housewives, Lost, the OC, and even Prison Break. I've seen episodes of MacGyver too.

Cars here are built with an engine warmer. This means you have a cord that plugs into a machine that looks like a parking toll machine. It keeps the engine from freezing while cars are parked. You also do not see many gas stations here. Alot of people bike. Cars drive on the ice too. They have ice roads. Another interesting thing about Lulea-straight from the Mayor himself-is that the county it sits in, Norbotten, is always growing in land mass. This is because the ice pushes more and more land up, lifting it. Cities near Lulea include: Umea, Pitea, Kiruna, and Skelleftea. It's a very safe place to live too, though they say watch for pickpockets near tourist areas.

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Photos

Sunrise
From the kitchen window, the sun was coming up. I love the snow.

Porson Bridge
The bridge on the bike path to school. The water is frozen and covered with snow.