Hej Blog Buddies,
I know that I haven’t been posting regularly; I need to get back into my habit of doing that, starting today.
Tuesday, February 24th:
As this week are the Vasalopp ski races, most schools (including ours) don’t have class, in order to accommodate for the events and tourism… around this time, most Swedish schools have a weeklong break called sportlov, this is Mora’s. Because of this, we have not had official lecture at all. It has been a nice chance to get caught up with readings, but we had a series of day trips to various places and to hear various people speak.
On this day, we went to the education administration building in Mora and met with a woman named Ulla Israelsson. She spoke to us for about almost two hours about the Swedish education system. It was really interesting to hear and learn about this system.
After speaking with students here and to an official representative of the schooling system, I am growing quite fond/jealous of the set up here. All schooling is free (well, outside of taxes), from the first day you arrive, to the day you graduate, and not only that, but students also get a living stipend to pay for food and books. I know many people who work a significant amount of time, while in college, in order to help support themselves; here, while some do work for the extra cash, most have no need for a job.
Ulla focused mainly on the primary school years, as she is a former 7th, 8th, and 9th grade teacher. School is mandatory and compulsory for all kids in Sweden through grade nine. She also told us that for day-care is subsidized by the government, so one parent isn’t working to simply pay for the astronomical costs of childcare (Matt, if you’re reading this, you and Carolyn should move to Sweden!)
After our time with Ulla, we went to Anders Zorn’s house, here in Mora. Anders Zorn is famous artist who lived between the 19th and 20th century. He painted the portraits of three U.S. presidents; these works are on displayed at the Whitehouse. We weren’t allowed to take photos in the house, but it was very impressive - - the great room was modeled after old Viking churches (see here: http://photos.igougo.com/images/p330484-Vik_Norway-Hopperstad_Stave_Church.jpg ).
After a guided tour of his house, we went to the Anders Zorn museum adjacent to his house. Our coordinator here in Mora, Anna (who is wonderful), talked to us about traditional Swedish folk music and played four different instruments for us, a cowhorn (made from an actual cow’s horn), a birch bark horn, something that looked and sounded like a recorder, and a fiddle. Roland made an interesting observation and said in an email “And Anna is amazing. She's taught us that bra is not just a useful Swedish adjective but also a place to store all kinds of things.” (this was after she pulled a bar of soap and the cowhorn out of her bosom…)
Wednesday, February 25th,
On this day, we took a group trip to Falun and Smedjebacken (both within the municipality of Dalarna). Falun has historically been a major copper mining town and was responsible for a lot of wealth of the Swedish monarchy.
Along the way we stopped at one of the mines and looked around for a bit from the observation deck. After the mine we went to the provincial museum of Dalarna county. We saw a lot of the traditional Swedish folk costumes, other random knick-knacks, and artwork. This area is known for its textiles, so the museum had some interesting textile displays, including the mural of the brook (see photos)…
After eating lunch at the museum, we went to the small town (~500 people) of Smedjebacken, where we saw the world’s longest tapestry. It was made to tell the story “The Red Orm” - - and it did so, in 90 meters of fabric. There were over 120 scenes sewn onto it. It is housed in a very industrial-looking workshop, which has now been converted to an art gallery. I got some good photos of it, check them out.
It was interesting how we moved from place to place… we commissioned a city bus (capacity of probably 70 people) to drive 17 total people (an hour to Falun, two hours to Smedjebacken, and two hours back to Mora). I don’t know what we paid for it, but it doesn’t seem like a very cost efficient or environmentally efficient method of travel.
Thursday, February 26th:
On this day we visited Vasaloppet museum, here in Mora. We saw a film on the history of the race… The Vasalopp is a reenactment of when Gustav Vasa came to Mora seeking help from the people in the area to help drive the Danes out of Sweden, upon their unwillingness he fled, as he was being followed by people trying to catch/kill him, the Mora folk reconsidered and sent their two fastest skiers after him, they caught up with him near the Norwegian border, 90 km away, which is why this race is 90km long. Also at the museum we learned about other historical things about the race.
Like in Jokkmokk, the large influx of people has been gradual, but obvious. It is no coincidence that there seems to be a large event everywhere we go, Roland specifically planned this trip so that we would get to experience all of these large events. Which is a good thing, otherwise, I think some people (perhaps myself…) would grow tired of these small towns.
Mixed in throughout the week, we have had Swedish language lessons [each time I try to type the word “Lesson” or “lessons” I end up typing “lesions”…]
As you may or may not know, back at Gustavus, along with Emily Thayer, I am running to be Student Senate Co-Presidents (elections are Monday, March 9th). The term is for the next academic year. In an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of our campaign, one of our challengers said that I had obtained my application illegally and that I am constitutionally ineligible because I would be unable to comply with the standards set forth for the Co-Presidents Elect… This complaint was made to the Senate Ethics committee, who held a hearing to rule in our case… As I obviously couldn’t be there, I spent quite some time, preparing a statement for Emily to read to the board; this took up a significant portion of my day. The allegations were clearly untrue, but I had to make my case regardless. After hearing both sides of the complaint, the board made the correct decision and unanimously ruled in our favor... maybe I have a future in Constitutional law.?.?.?.?. : )
Friday, February 28th:
As I said in a previous post, there are 11 races that happen prior to the big, Vasaloppet. On this day was the 45km “Skate Vasa.” In which participants use the “skate” method, as opposed to the “classic” method. Our instructor, Roland, was able to find a last minute opening in the race and took it. This is less than one week after he skied the “short” Vasa (30km).. We all went to the finish line, which is in downtown Mora, to watch him cross… It is a tradition to give one’s friends and family members a small wreath upon completion. As he skied by us, he realized that we had one for him, so he tried to stop and come over to the side where we were, but in the process fell to the ground. We were recording this, mind you. He was able to laugh it off, and finished the race with the wreath around his neck. (Sorry Roland, I had to…)
A member of our group, Aaron, knew this guy from the States, who was in Mora with his brother to ski on Sunday. His brother is a Nobel Laureate in chemistry and works for Johns Hopkins. His name is Peter Agre. I don’t really know why, but he wanted to meet with us and it turns out that he was born in Northfield, MN, where his dad was chemistry professor. (Thinking about it now, he might have taught my grandpa..) He moved out to the east coast, but returned to Augsburg for his undergraduate degree. We met with him for about an hour and he told us some great stories about his life, researching, winning the Nobel Prize, and anything else that came to mind. He seemed like the type who would talk your ear off, if you let him. It was a random connection, but one that had great results.
Saturday, February 28th:
Today was a very relaxing day for me. I was able to sleep in, only to 10:30, but still! I spent most of the day preparing my journals (which are due weekly) to be handed in. I also watched a movie that I hadn’t seen in a while, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which I really enjoyed. It deals with the issue, if you could forget someone, or something, would you want to, even if forgetting meant taking the good memories as well as the bad ones? (My answer in case you’re wondering, would be “no”)
Tomorrow is the day of the big race, be sure to check for updates on that!
Missing you all, a lot,
Andrew
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