A day in Are

Today was another fun filled day. I didn't believe that I would actually get tired like we were told ahead of time, but now I believe it. Each day is packed to the brim with activities...and I love it!

So I got up early, 6:30am. We are 7 hours ahead of Wisconsin time so I was lucky that Jamie was up late and we got to chat (it was midnight your time) on Skype. Ask Mrs. Moore to log in and I will try to call school some time this week.

Then I had a breakfast of toast with ham and cheese on top. That was paired with a cup of very strong Swedish coffee. Then it was off to Are (pronounced Or-a). This is a ski and tourist town. Our first stop was to the top of the ski grounds. We were able to eat lunch here as well and it is the resteraunt at the highest altitude in Sweden. It was also a great place for many wonderful pictures. The scenery is breathtaking..almost looks like a painting, doesn't it?!

Here is also a picture of the team that I am traveling with.

After lunch we went to a glass blowing business. We were able to watch them make a glass bowl. The bowl takes about 50 minutes to make and takes two people working together to make it. It is easy to see why it costs as much as $90 for one of these handmade pieces. They have a kiln with liquid glass. It is clear and then they add colored glass chips to it. It melts into the clear glass. Then they form it into different shapes. I've included a pictue of glass Easter eggs they made. They have to constantly keep the glass moving because it is so hot and will just drip right off the metal stick if they don't. IT seems like something that would take a long time to learn how to do ...and without getting burnt. When they get the piece how they want it, they put it in a kiln overnight. It has to be slowly cooled or else the piece will crack. For thin pieces they only have seconds to get it in there without cracking. With the bowl I watched them make, they have a little longer.

After watching glass blowing, we had fika (coffee break) and then on to a Chocolate factory where I was able to sample many different types of handmade chocolates. They had irish cream chocolate, white chocolate, chocolate with blueberry, chocolate with lingenberries, and many others.

Tomorrow I am moving host families and also going to get my first glimpse of a Swedish school...stay tuned for details.

Note: For more details, you can also check out the team blog at www.gsesweden2010.blogspot.com

I think you will find the blog about the monster living in the lake interesting!

Love,

Ms. C.

4/20/2010- First Full Day in Ostersund

Today was a long day since we still had jet lag. We started our day at 9am with a tour of Froson Island. It was a beautiful view as you can see. This area of Sweden was also formed from glaciers ..just like what we learned about Wisconsin.

We visited some churches that were made in the 1600's ...hundreds of years before Wisconsin was even a state.

At 9:30am we had our first "fika" (fee-ka). It is a coffee break that everyone in Sweden has. People at work and everywhere stop to have a half an hour coffee break. Their coffee is much stronger here and along with it was a wonderful selection of goodies. You will be very proud of me 4th graders because I turned it down and look how good it was!

In the afternoon we visited a University and a travel agency that specialized in golf trips to places like Turykey and Portugal(in Europe). The universities here are different because you don't have to pay for them. The payment comes out of the taxes people pay to the government.

We had another Fika break at 2:30...a person could get used to all these coffee breaks. After we finished I went home to my host family where we had dinner of smoked fish with cloud berries, smoked moose, salad, and one yummy chocolate. All the food was fresh from this area. We don't have cloud berries but they were made into a sauce similiar to a sweet tarter sauce for the fish. They are also used by themselves on top of waffles and ice cream. Fish is also very popular. I had fish for lunch as well and herring is popular as an appetizer. Reindeer meat is also popular and I had a stew with reindeer meat last night. Poor Rudolph tasted so good!!

Tomorrow we are off to hike one of the nearby mountains so I must called it goodnight!

I made it!

Monday 4/19

It was an interesting time, but our group made the trek! We were one of four flights to make it to Europe. When we landed we couldn't get our connecting flight because they were all canceled. So we took a long train ride and arrived at our destination, Ostersund, at 4:30pm. That is almost a full day of traveling withouth sleeping in a bed or a shower (we left Chicago at 4:30 the day before.

When we got in we met the group from the Swedish and met our host families, or people we are staying with.

I had dinner of reindeer stew...yummy, with potatoes and salad. Then it is resting time and getting ready for tomorrow... a visit to Froso Island and presentations!

Ms. C is getting ready...

This will be Ms. Castleberry's blog about her trip to Sweden. You'll see where I go, what I see, and what I learn. Enjoy!