Stories and Silliness from Sweden

Before the last round of exams in my first course we had a week field excursion about 2 hours further north. We drove up to Åsa (pronounced Ou-sa) in a caravan of red VW vans to the hostel we were staying at and the research station nearby.

The Euro-van I rode in (2 swedes, 3 germans, a dane and I) arrived at the hostel early (thanks to our Swedish drive and co-pliot who knew their way). Anni (a german gal) and I got the only 2-person room, which seemed like a good idea at the time. Unfortunately we didn't realize that being next to the kitchen meant that we would get no sleep between the late night party-people (the guys) and the early risers (mainly the gals). So it was a sleep deprived week during which full attention was required for lessons and exercises out in the field in cold weather. Jealous yet?

Aside from the forestry learning aspect of the trip I remember a few interesting observations:
- The van with the Russian Mafia (as the Russian group of students has come to be called) is always blasting dance music whether it is while driving or while others are trying to enjoy a relaxing lunch by the lake.

- The TV shows everyone showed up to watch in the evening were re-runs of The Simpsons and Married With Children. I was amazed that everyone seemed to know these programs. No wonder people have bizarre impressions of the US!

- The sound of leaves blowing in the wind seems quite strange even spooky after a week in conifer forests (pine, spruce). Maybe this is the REAL reasons foresters don't like broadleaves (like oak and maple) here in Sweden. Its not about the lack of market for the wood, its because they are scared :-)

- The key to maintaining patience and sanity among 40 (mostly under 23 years old) foresters is to seek out the most peaceful place around and be there as much as possible. I didn't find this place until the last night, big mistake

- Måsken means "seagull" in Swedish but means "crap" in Danish - I think there is a connection ;-) Note, this was the name of the room I was staying in.

- My new favorite word in Swedish is Skoggies. In Swedish Skog means forest. Skoggies are students from Umeå the main campus of the forestry university in Sweden way up north. So I am not technically a skoggy but I still love the word!

- Another thing that I thought was amusing was this sign near the lake. Watch out for headless kayakers!














The next field trip is about a week away in mid-November and is bound to be even colder, some areas in Sweden already got their first batch of snow over the last week. And in true Scandinavian forestry fashion one day has been set aside for hunting, I am hoping to take that day off to go to the nearby city of Gotenborg to explore and relax!

Lastly, although I am not a big fan of Halloween (for adults anyway) I do enjoy carving a jack-o-lantern and eating toasted pumpkin seeds - yum. See below M's and my artwork. Which one do you like better, feel free to vote using the Comments option on the site :-)