Out Like a Lion

Last night I was skyping with one of my best friends who is studying in India this semester. She was complaining about it being 90˚F and being attacked mosquitoes.

I woke up to this:

A snowy and very windy day.

I hope saying goodbye to March means saying goodbye to the snow! 

I am ready for sunshine :)

Thank You!!

Gaby, I can't thank you enough for such a wonderful time!

I enjoyed every minute of it ☺
♥♥♥

German Health Care

Germans believe in three things:

1. Frische Luft (fresh air)

2. Mineral Water

3. Good Bread

Gaby and I spent the morning relaxing at the Mineral Baths.

 It was such a warm and sunny day that I was actually able to get a bit of a tan while bathing in the outdoor mineral bath.

The mineral bath was full of elderly people most of whom were surprisingly fit and healthy. Many of them frequent the mineral baths several times a week. If there was a mineral bath near where I lived I would probably go that often too. It was so rejuvenating and my skin felt so fresh and healthy afterwards.

Later that day Gaby took me to a Power Plate Class. I had never heard of Power Plate and was eager to give it a try. Basically, while standing on a vibrating platform you hold your body tense in certain poses for 45 seconds. In order to prevent the vibrations from rattling your bones, you tense you mussels to redirect the vibrations.

Buildings

The hideous library which...

...Looks so much better at night.

The inside made me a little dizzy. Looks more like a museum than a library.

And speaking of museum, you could rent art from the library! How cool.

View from the 8th floor of the library.

The Porsche Factory.

And the Porsche Museum.

The Mercedes Museum.

Mercedes Museum Gifts Shop and Showroom.

A walk

A lovely river walk in the warm sunshine. 

Add caption

Vineyards on the hill.

Walking Heidi through the neighborhood.

  

 

Hello Stuttgart

A view from the top.

 

 

In the city:

 

Ämbetsmannamiddag

A special dinner was held for all of the Ämbetsman (or officers) at VG. 

The theme of the night was Stars.

Upon arrival, everyone selected a name from a hat which determined which table you would sit at.

On each table was a list of words to be included in a song, a speech and a skit to be created so throughout the dinner we worked on these pieces. Towards the end of the meal it was time to preform. I guess they were pretty funny but I wouldn't know because I couldn't understand what they were saying :/ Although I have learned and can understand a lot of Swedish, it is difficult to follow casual student conversation because there is so much vocabulary I do not know. This made it a little bit difficult to become fully involved in the dinner but luckily there is another American Ämbetsman so she and I stuck together.

Our Words.

Tablemates- Tobias (the Star Chef), Nicolas (Tiger Woods), Linnea (Super Woman)

More tablemates- Linnea. Alice (Galaxy), Anna (a Star)

Hanna (the Sun) and I (Stars and Stripes)

 Speeches, Skits and Songs:

Of course there was more singing from the songbook

Jennie (Dr. Botox- she make the stars)

Carolina (an Alien)

The dinner was fun but would have been more fun if I was as Swede.

Vasaloppet och Blåbärssoppa

I spent the weekend in Karlstad. 

Check out my posts about it:

Day 1

Day 1 continued...

Day 2

Sunday morning was spent around the TV. Watching TV in Sweden?? 

This Sunday marked the annual Vasaloppet. A 90km cross-country ski race between the village of Sälen and town of Mora in Darlna Sweden. It is traditional for the racers to eat Blueberry Soup (a thick, sweet blueberry drink) during the race. In their honor Emil made us some Blåbärssoppa.

Dean and I watching the Vasaloppet.

Breakfast while still watching. 

Homemade roll with Butter and Cucumbers. Yogurt with Blåbärssoppa.

 After witnessing 3 records including-

1st place male (3rd time winner) breaking historic record

1st place female breaking historic record

2nd place female also breaking historic record

 it was time to get out. 

Peace Goddess

The peace treaty between Sweden and Norway, signed in 1905 turned Norway into an independent country. In memory of this, "The Goddess of Peace" was placed in the city center as a memory of the peaceful separation of the Swedish-Norwegian Union.

Värmland Museum

We spent a few hours in the history museum before hopping on the train back to Uppsala.