Lapland, Sweden

I came back yesterday from a phenomenal trip! From March 8th-13th I went on a tour of Lapland with Scanbalt. Lapland is in Northern Sweden and above the Arctic Circle. http://www.scanbaltexperience.com/Lapland-Express

I left on Tenhult on March 7 at around 11pm since my bus was at 2am and the earliest train from Tenhult to Jonkoping station is at 5am. So I stayed in the bus station until... I was kicked out! The station classed at 12am so I had to be outside for almost two hours until my bus came! Goodness I was cold!

But I made it safely to Stockholm around 6am in the morning and since the tour bus didn't come until 1:30pm I did a little sightseeing. I walked around Gamla Stan, visited some churches, and saw the changing of the guards at the place. 

http://www.visitstockholm.com/en/To-Do/Attractions/gamla-stan/1856

It was totally a God thing to see the guards changing since I had no idea when it was and the soldiers were also escorting someone royal since many of them were mounted on horses and there was a carriage. 

After getting on the bus we drove until we got to Sundsvall University to pick up more students then from there it was a 12 hour ride to Kiruna. 

Kiruna

After resting for a bit, I had a tour of the city then it was time to go dog sledding!!! It was so fun and peaceful. Half way through we switched then I did snowmobiling. That was a bit scary, but it was also fun. 

The day was beautiful too! The sun was shining, no wind, and the air was so clear. 

We stayed in Kiruna for a night then we headed to Abisko national park about 2 hours further north. But on the way we made several stops. The first one was the ICE HOTEL! It was amazing to see the artistic work.

The next stop was a Sami home belonging to some grandparents. Sami are indigenous people living in the Northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. I fed their reindeers then in their tent to eat some reindeer. It was interesting to experience and learn more about their lifestyle. 

Abisko is a lovely area and our hostel was like situated in a valley near a lake and we were surrounded by white mountains. The first night we had a barbecue inside a tent. Then around midnight I saw the NORTHERN LIGHTS!!!!!!!! It was so amazing. The light traveled across the sky and it looked like it was dancing. Mostly the lights were green, but occasionally there was a hit of purple!

ISN'T THIS PHENOMENAL?!

The next day we took a short trip to Narvik, a small town in Norway. On the way we stopped for pictures and the scenery was just breathtaking! 

Here I am overlooking the Fjords.

 http://www.fjordnorway.com/en/ABOUT-THE-REGION/Fjord-Norway/What-is-a-fjord/?view=article

At Narvik I took a cable car up a mountain and this is what I got to enjoy! 

When we got back from Narvik I had some time to relax before I went swimming IN THE LAKE!!! 

Around 6:30pm I went with the Asian group from Scotland to the Sauna. After we were all sweating we took turns running down to the water hole to experience the arctic water!! It was FREEZING! I ran down the hill from the Sauna in flip flops then when trying to get back my feet were so frozen that my feet couldn't keep the flop flops on so I went bare foot in the snow! But I went in the water TWICE! It felt good after getting back into the Sauna, but I don't think I would ever do that again!

For the last morning there I went to see the sunrise with some girls and it was simply breathtaking! To see the  sun come up, to see the pink colors cast on the snow, and the clouds change colors.

During that time we also got to see mooses!!!!! And I got within 50 feet of them.

When I finally arrived back in Stockholm I went to see the Nordiska Museet. It was informing to know more about Swedish history. Anyway, spending the few hours in Stockholm during the beginning of my trip and on the last day really developed my confidence of my map skills! 

Anyway, now to book all my tickets for my trip with Janae and Isabella!!!