Midnight Sunset

Tonight is our last night in Borlänge. We fly to Venice, Italy tomorrow morning! Now the real adventure begins. Who knows where I'll end up! Luckily going to Stockholm allowed me to practice traveling by train. Now it'll be no sweat because I know what to expect. The last couple of days have been very low-key. I've been trying to take it easy to let my ankle heal. It's getting ever-so-slightly better each day (I'm getting extremely impatient!).

I took this picture last night at about 11:45pm. It doesn't ever get completely dark this time of year. I'm glad I've never had problems falling asleep! The prolonged sunset is beautiful...then the sun comes back up. I love it.

Cold and rainy in a tiny town

Ika took me to her school and showed me around today, then I took off on my own and went to Kupolen (the dome-like building). I walked around for a while then walked back to meet her. After lunch we hung out for a while before going to meet her friend Johanna. We met her at a different grocery store (where Ika put her plastic bottle into a machine and got paid for it!) before walking back to her apartment. It's actually a student living space. She shares a kitchen and living room with 7 other students and they each have their own dorm-type room. We hung out with Johanna for quite some time. We had SUCH a good time talking and laughing. After we left her place we walked back to Ika's and changed so she could go to practice and I could go run. Today I went to a gym and ran on a treadmill (door with the red sign). It's sooo cold and wet right now. Unfortunately I pulled my Achilles heel! Who knows what caused it (riding a bike, running in the cold, the plane, the list goes on). So I'll be icing and resting for a few days before we take off on our road trip (which we are soooooo looking forward to). Luckily it is supposed to be sunny tomorrow afternoon. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed.

Grand opening and the store.

Yesterday we decided to go to the local mall to eat lunch before grocery shopping. The mall is called Kupolen. It's the one big thing in this town. So obviously one may infer that Borlänge is a very small town. After lunch we didn't get to grocery shop because we had to race back to her apartment so she could change and make it to a "grand opening" of something called the Banana Field. It's a new outside multisport field which accomodates Basketball, Handball, Football (Soccer), and Floorball (a game played with a hockey-type stick and a pickle-type ball, very popular in Skandinavia). Ika and one other girl from her team were the representatives for handball.

After that, we got to go grocery shopping. We went to a place called Willys. Ya know, a grocery store is pretty much a grocery store. BUT we came across the coolest thing. The largest section of Wasa bread I've ever seen!! The wierdest things entertain me, who knows what will strike my fancy next=). I was also involved in my third Swedish tranaction yesterday. The groceries that I bought were 149.00 Kroner, or about 15 Euro, or about 18 or 19 US dollars. I'm very below my budget by the way!

Today Ika has to go study for her Math exam she has on Monday so I'll be on my own for a bit. I think I'll go for a long run today, and then who knows. I'll probably go explore that mall a bit (don't worry those of you who are concerned -you know who you are-I'm not going to buy anything!) I'll keep you posted on what I do!

Much better

I slept from 11pm to 10am! Hopefully that kicked the jetleg. Yesterday evening I went to Marika's handball practice. That's a pretty intense game! They use what look like little soccer balls and they put glue on their hands so they can grip the ball. It's actually alot like soccer, however you carry and throw the ball instead of dribble and kick.

This morning I finally woke up and Ika made us oatmeal. I went for a run, which was cold rainy. It's been a very long time since I've run in Washingtonesque conditions! Now we're going to go to the grocery store. Wahoo!

Borlänge, Sweden

Well, I got here safe and sound! I'm a little delerious right now, due to lack of sleep=) My flight was great, however long. The food was decent, the people I sat next to were pleasant, and there were a few movies. The slight nervousness I had subsided the moment I spotted Marika at the exit. We sat at the airport for a few hours and chatted over coffee while we waited for our train. Then we chatted for another couple of hours while on the train. This place is vast, and green, and beautiful and I can't wait to explore it. Marika made me a fantastic dinner of salmon, potatos, and salad after we got a ride home from the train station from her friend Kajsa (in her Saab). Now I've got to keep busy so I stay awake! I need to kick this jetleg!