Ski trip at Romme Alpin, Sweden

Not many people know but I've long had a list of things I want to do in life. One of those things is skiing. I went on a ski trip last weekend with the Chinese-Swedish association (SKS) to Romme Alpin, Börlange. It took 2h30min by bus and I had to wake up at 6 AM after going partying the night before. However, I managed to sleep on the bus and soon found out I had not been the only one on the bus that had been to the same corridor party.

The weather was perfect during the two days of the trip: sunny and between -3 and 0 degrees. When arriving I got amazed with the hight of the slopes and wondered how I would manage to ski all that downhill! The ski resort wakes up very early (9 AM) and soon becomes crowded, as it was when we arrived. We got the equipment and I soon discovered that ski boots are not at all comfortable, maybe in order to prevent you from injuries.

There are two kind of lifts: the ones where you sit, and the ones you grab and get pulled. The first time I tried the second one I let go too soon, almost when getting to the top of the hill, which made me slide downhill all the way backwards! Funny for the first ski experience! Learned my lesson on when to let go the lift handle! During the only lesson we took the instructor teacher how to make the snow plow (how to break when going downhill). Apart from that we didn't learned anything from him and I had to figure out how to turn and break when doing that to avoid gaining too much speed. At first I was counting the number of times I fell but soon lost count!

In the end of the first day I had done green and a blue track (which is harder than the green). During the blue I basically fell most of the times and tried to make it straight down because couldn't manage to break very well in such steep slopes.

At night we got a room in the ski lodge, which was modern and cozy. Then, we had an amazing Chinese dinner at a restaurant in the center of town (never saw so many plates I had no idea what it was in my life). I had a lot of fun asking what each thing was, what it was made from and about other Chinese customs. This is the best way to learn things, by talking to people ;-)

The next morning we had a fabulous Swedish breakfast waiting for us! I found how amazing it is to have yogurt with own-made cereals at breakfast and now do that all the time. Everything was very clean and had a home-kitchen style. Hard to explain this if you've never been here. Some people call it Stockholm style.

I soon found out that somehow I had become really good at skiing during the night. Its like if my brain consolidated all the movements and techniques I needed when sleeping. Some people had described to me that happening to them but I had never understood it before. Therefore, I managed to do all the green and blue slopes falling much less and in a very enjoyable way. I even managed to do a training similar to the competitions on TV in which you have to change direction between each color bar buried into the snow.

In red, the slopes I've skied on

One thing I haven't mentioned yet is the feeling I got when arriving to the ski resort: I arrived to paradise. However, when I got to top of the mountain I didn't know where I had arrived. I guess there is always a place better than the other, even when you don't believe it.

Last but not least, I didn't took many photos because didn't want to bring the camera with me to the slopes since falling could make me break it.

If you're wondering why I seldom post things on this blog I answer what someone once told me here in Sweden: "If you are constantly writing about your life you've no time to live it"

Photos:

After the American Dream… comes the Swedish dream

This blog intends to present the experiences and impressions of a student in such a modern and high-quality standard country such as Sweden.

A little about me and the American experience…

I am a Portuguese student who just finished his major in Biology, two months ago, at University of Porto. I have then undertook a summer course at the University of Berkeley, California. This has been, for sure, the best experience of my life so far. I have met people from every country in the world and gained personal and professional perspectives that had never crossed my mind before. I have been in Berkeley, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Hollywood, etc. The best way to describe America is just saying “It’s like a movie, all the time”. Everything is big, both the country and the thoughts and ideas of the people who live there. The campus of the University of Berkeley and Stanford couldn’t be more beautiful and organized. The weather is great most of the times, since I do not like very high temperatures. Many photos of these amazing places can be checked out at my Facebook account.

But enough  about America for now… because now I am in Sweden.

I arrived at Uppsala on 23rd of August to undertake a master in Molecular Medicine. Sweden is very well-known by its organization, modern facilities, efficiency and cold weather. Already I  the airplane I could sight through the small windows enormous extensions of landscapes, rivers and lakes.

After landing in the Arlanda airport I caught a bus to Uppsala. The first thing I noticed is that there are bicycle tracks everywhere, following each street and cutting through the woods. One could go from the airport to Uppsala by bicycle if feeling like it (I advice you not to do that though because it’s very far). 40 minutes after I finally arrived to Uppsala. I was greeted and helped by my International Buddy, Sanna, who helped me getting to the hotel. She was also the first to show me the city and to introduce me to the Nations concept.

The truth is the students in Uppsala Universitet almost compulsory have to become part of student nation. Although this concept exists in other University cities throughout Sweden, it has even more emphasis in Uppsala. There are 13 student nations in the city. By being a member of one you can get inside the parties and use all the wide range of facilities (library, culture groups, trips, etc) with a discount or for free. These buildings are scattered around the left side of the river that splits Uppsala in two.

I can honestly say I have never seen so many bikes as in Uppsala. There are parking sites for bikes in every place and most of the people go everywhere that way. I have bought my bicycle already and I can say it couldn’t be more useful. Every morning I pick up my bicycle and go to classes, crossing several beautiful landscapes, classical bridges over the river decorated with flowers, apple trees with bunches of red apples in its branches, etc. I see people picking apples or mushrooms in this time of the year in many places; I’ve picked some myself. Sometimes a student is passing by and just throws his bag towards the top branches, in an attempt to make the best apples fall.

Uppsala city center square

From my point a view, what makes a great country are the small details. These, when considered together, form a whole amazing picture in the case of Sweden. At Uppsala Universitet every student gets a card and a code, as part of your student identification. When I asked what was this card for I got the simple answer:

“Oh, you can use it to open doors.”

Although I did not fully understand at the time I then realized every student can enter the University buildings at any time, even when the University is closed. You just need the card and PIN code. At weekends or during the night, if you feel like going to the University to study, use the computers there or even enter the library and use all the books you may need, you can do that, and do not need anybody’s permission. So, I should say:

“If you want to study, there is anything that prevents you from doing it, you have all the facilities at your disposal at any time.”

This was detail number 1.

Others will follow when I have time. There are a lot of things I want to say but no time to describe them all. Now, I will turn off my computer and live a bit more of the Swedish dream

Where I am living now - Camping park