The beginning

As the snow has melted, I have been thinking about my first couple of days in Sweden. I arrived late on Friday 17th January to around -15 degrees. My first thoughts were: 'Wow, there really is a lot of snow here!' 

On Saturday, my first whole day in Sweden, we were out in the snow all day. Klara is part of the IFK Umeå Ski team who were helping out in the Swedish classic cross-country skiing championships (SM). I was helping at the start, writing numbers on bags for the competitors to put their clothing in. So with 12 hours of arriving, I was already testing my knowledge of Swedish numbers... I think I did ok considering! I think the temperature was around -20 degrees (but it might have only been around -15), and I was wearing at least five layers, and maybe three pairs of socks! 

We stayed out until around 4.00 in the evening (I think...) and it was so nice to go back inside where it was warm!

The next day was much the same, but we were not helping out again. It was the skate (freestyle) cross-country ski SM. It was much easier to see the races this day, as even though the start and finish were in the same area it was hard to watch the races while concentrating

on understanding Swedish accents!

It was a shorter day on Sunday, as the races were only 3-4 minutes long (where as Saturdays races were over 30 minutes), and the mass start finals were finishing just after lunchtime. 

Ice inside a tunnel

I had a great start to my exchange, meeting new people, and beginning to get used to what it was like. One thing that I found very different to life at home apart from the snow, was how it got dark just after 3.00!