Sweden Throwback

A sad story: one week before returning to the United States after 6 unforgettable months in Sweden, my computer crashed and I lost all of my photos from my time abroad. It was a very sad day when I was told that my files were unrecoverable, and I have been slowly coming to terms with this. My photos were a part of me, and also the best way to share with others all of the amazing experiences I had during my time at Uppsala Universitet. I hope that some day somewhere, a computer nerd will be able to make my pictures magically disappear, so I continue to guard my old hard drive until that day comes. In the mean time...

Today I was cleaning out my "Sent" mailbox on my macmail and to my EXTREME surprise and delight I found a single lingering email with a few pictures that I sent to Jay's family and my family right after Jay and I returned from the North of Sweden and Norway when Jay was visiting in March. There are a few of Jay and I on the tundra (yes, like National Geographic... basically we are the coolest people you know), and also a picture I took during the ride back to Abisko, Sweden from Narwick, Norway. I made Jay pull over on the side of the road in the freezing weather (and wind) to take ONE more photo of the beautiful north sky and Norwegian mountains as the moon was rising. I just think it is a really cool picture that captures the landscape during our time in Lappland. I miss Sweden a lot and this was one of the pictures I most thought of when I was lamenting the great computer crash of 2008.


Trying (and failing) to take a picture in Kiruna of the snow around town with the camera timer


Jay getting our cross-country skiing equipment ready at our hostel in Abisko - best place in all of Lappland to stay. On our second day Jay and I went on a dog-sledging trip. It was just the guide, Jay and Me - and it was AWESOME. We got to harness the dogs ourselves (Siberian Huskies), and we each had 4 on our sledge. It was like riding through Narnia, only better.


Taking a break for a little picnic in the snow.


Successful camera timer picture - thank you gorilla pod! Jay and I cross-country skiing in Abisko. We didn't see another person the entire outing!


Norwegian Tundra...Right over the border in Norway - it was COLD! Notice the "summer home" in the background.

The border runs along the mountain chain, so you have to cross through the mountains to get to Narwick, which is a large port on an isthmus of the fjord.


This is Jay and Me on the ski slope overlooking Narvick - look, it's the Atlantic!


A sea-level view of the fjord


A Norwegian Troll gracing the side of the road on the way to Narvick