The past week...

It feels like i have a lot to write.. and i don't really know where to begin... i guess the beginning of the week is a good place to start.. The train trip to Kiruna was as expected... quite long! just a nice 16 hours or so... (could've been more than half way home in that time ;) we left sunday night.. and arrived monday at around 2pm.. there were about 8 other exchange students on the same train as me.. and we were the last ones to arrive.. once we had checked into the hotel we were staying at and got settled in.. we all got on the bus and went to the ice hotel

The Ice hotel actually closed the previous day.. and we were going to be unable to go in, because it was beginning to melt.. however this day it was colder again.. so they said we were allowed to go in and have a look.. which was really cool... It was massive.. and each year they make a different one, with a different design.. Even though it was really cool.. (in more ways than one! hehe) i dont think i would like to actually spend the night there... it would be quite boring.. in all the rooms.. all there is, is some cool form of ice art and then a bed...

All of us outside of the Ice Hotel

That night some of us went sledding/sliding down a hill.. and some stayed at the hotel.. I went and it was lots of fun.. i hadn't actually done it since i have been here in sweden.. so i cant really compare.. but this hill was really steep! and pretty icy.. so it was scary aswell as fun.. one time i was going down on this plastic thing.. and it fell out from underneath me.. so i slid the whole way down on my back.. it was pretty funny cos i had no way of stopping.. and like i said it was a big hill! but i will admit.. i was pretty scared ;)

The next day we had an early start.. and breakfast was at 6.00.. The week was run by the 2nd and 3rd year students at the gymnasium in Kiruna as part of their tourism programme.. so we spent the week with them and quite alot of time at the school.. all of our meals were at the school, which was about a 10 minute walk from where we were staying.. Anywho on tuesday we all got in the bus and we we went to a town/city called Narvik in Norway! It took a few hours to drive there... and all the scenery along the way was soo beautiful!

While were in Narvik.. we just all looked around, there was a small shopping centre there.. but none of us really wanted to shop.. so we just walked around and took photos and stuff. it was quite fun..

Wednesday we split up into two groups.. My group went snow skootering first... which was super fun! we all sat in trailer/cart type things and the swedish students pulled us by the snow skooters..

we went along a track for about 20 minutes or so like this.. then we reached a large snow field.. and this is where we stopped..
Then we did lots of different activities.. to start with we played a type of chasey.. which was fun. then we got put into teams of four.. and we rotated through different things.. one was drilling a hole into the ice.. (for ice fishing)

Another was we had drunk goggles.. and we had to wear them and kick a soccer ball and get it around a cone and run back.. and then we had to run and weave in and out of the cones with the goggles on.. i sucked at this.. and fell on the ice and got a nice bruise on my knee :)

Another one of the activities was we had to weave in and out of cones while our whole team was on wooden plank things... and then the last thing was we had to light a fire in the snow... all of these activities were timed.. and the team with the fastest times won a prize.... (my team didnt win).
After this.. we could do whatever we wanted... they were letting us drive the snow skooters.. so everyone had a turn at that... some of us also went ice fishing.... but nobody caught anything..

Everyone was pretty excited to drive the snow skooters.. including myself.. however unfortunately we had to go back.. and i still hadn't had a turn at driving one yet... so they said that i could drive it back to the place.. this was all well and good.. but it meant i had to tow a trailer of exchange students.. and also had to go along a narrow path.. (i'm not the world's best steerer)..... and there was a part of the track that was quite narrow.. and on a bit of an angle.... and so i was driving along.. and i slowly began to feel that i was on more and more of an angle... and the next thing i knew.. i had tipped the snow skooter... gahhhhh.... it was a tiny bit embarassing.. and i felt a bit bad.. cos the guy who owned the snow skooter looked a bit pissed... but it wasnt broken or anything :) but the people that were in the trailer that i was towing seemed to find it quite humorous..

After that.. i let the guy drive.. and i sat behind him ;) Once we got back. we had lunch at the school.. and then after lunch we went into lessons. and spoke to the students about where we came from and things like that..

Thursday was the last day.. and alot of people were going home at different times during the day.. for those that weren't going home until that night.. (which was me!) we got to go and have a tour of the mines... we took a bus and drove down into the mines.. which was really cool. cos i havent done anything like that before... i didn't realise what it was like down there... just roads and tunnels everywhere.. with trucks and utes driving everywhere... we got to stop on the visitors level and we had a tour... it was really cool..

Our train leaving Kiruna left Thursday night.. but was about an hour late... and then when i woke up in the morning.. i found out that it was now two hours late! so this meant that i had missed my bus to Gothenburg.... i was kinda freaking out just a little bit... When we got to stockholm central station.. me and Stevie a girl from new zealand who was going on the same bus as me went and spoke to the train people.. and they put us on a train to Gothenburg, and we didnt have to pay any extra... it ended up working out a lot better. as the train is a lot quicker and more comfortable than a bus!

We arrived in Gothenburg at around 3.30pm.. and i was feeling pretty gross after having spent so much time on a train in the past 24 hours.. Where i was staying was in a town called Onsala, which is about an hour by bus and train out of gothenburg... i stayed with another exchange student called Bryce and his host family.. On the Saturday.. Me, Bryce, Tom, Stevie and Charlotte (other exchange students) all went to Liseberg the theme park in Gothenburg... it was the opening day.. which was pretty exciting.. we went on all of the rides.. and it was lots of fun! it wasn't as good as the theme parks on the Gold Coast in Australia.. but it was still lots of fun!

On the Sunday, in the afternoon i went to the ANZAC day ceremony in Gothenburg.. there were lots of other Australian exchange students there and a few New Zealand ones aswell... The reason they have a ANZAC ceremony in Gothenburg is because there are Australian and NZ soldiers buried there... After the ceremony, there was a reception and they served lots of australian foods, like vegemite sandwichs, anzac biscuits and sausage rolls!

I was meant to be taking the night bus home that night... and it was leaving at 11.3opm.. so we checked what times the bus left from where i was staying to get into the station.. and thought we had the times right... but apparently we didnt.. and i missed the bus taking me to the station.. and therefore the bus back to stockholm... so i ended up staying an extra night in Gothenburg and took the train home Monday.. oh and when we were walking to the bus station... a cat ran across the road.. and then like 5 or so seconds later another animal ran across after it chasing it... and it was a badger!! then the badger stopped in the middle of the road.. and seen us and then it started chasing us!.. we ran back a few metres.. then turned and chased it away.. it was really funny though.. i didn't even know they had badgers in sweden..

I had a great week.. and got to see and do so much.. and am now very tired and in need of lots of sleep!!!! :)

Tonight me and a few others are going to Clara's and we are going to watch the Rocky Horror Picture Show... which as some of you know, is my favourite movie :) so im looking forward to that... and then tomorrow is Valborg.. which im not entirely sure what it is.. but they celebrate it quite big in Uppsala, all i know is we are going to have a picnic and then stay the night at Angelina's so it should be fun :) but i will talk more about all of that probably next time i write....