In the evening of the 1st of January 2010 we started our 500 km journey to Rovaniemi using a rented car. After we left a major snow storm behind us we had a nice and easy ride through the Scandinavian winter and arrived in Rovaniemi at about 4 am. We rested in the car for some hours and got up again quite early to buy some warm tee and warm up at a gas station. Even though it did help to rest for some hours, I can’t advise anyone to sleep in a car at -26° C unless you have perfect cloth which we obviously didn’t have. At about 10 am we arrived at the Santa Claus village outside of Rovaniemi. Santa’s home turned out to be a bunch of houses designed to attract children and impoverish parents; what a surprise! Luckily I’m neither so I managed to visit the different attractions without spending an unreasonable amount of money. While I successfully ignored attractions like “meet Santa and pay 25€ for one photo with him” I enjoyed my time at Santa’s post office and the museum. Apparently he gets about 32000 letters per day at Christmas time. They are sorted by language and then given an automated reply. From this office, where the staff is female, mostly blond and wears a funny red elf-hat you can also send Christmas cards to your family. The postcards get a Santa postmark and can be chosen to arrive either in the next couple of days or just in time for the upcoming Christmas 2010. I liked that idea and send one to my little sister. In the museum you could find several rooms explaining the history of Santa Claus with all his different names and looks. Together with the image of Santa the decoration, habits and probably the idea of Christmas vary from country to country. For next Christmas I’m thinking about writing the big red guy a postcard suggesting to switch to GNU/Linux (picture 2).

After a short walk in the city centre of Rovaniemi we started our journey to Kiruna. 340 km later we arrived in the centre of a small city covered in at least 30 cm of snow. Being located on a hillside with a church on top Kiruna isn’t a place to get lost. Still, to get to our home for the next two nights we were happy to find some locals. We asked two seniors for the local vandrarhem (youth hostel) and ended up with them sitting in the back of the car discussing where to go. While we first talked to them in English they had their discussion in Swedish and were apparently very happy about me understanding them and trying to talk to them in their mother tongue. With these two women on board we found our way in no time and were once again astonished by the helpfulness of Swedish people. In the same evening we gave back the rented car and enjoyed a short walk through the city.

The next morning started at 9 am. A small bus picked us up and took us to a cabin next to a frozen lake. A very committed and pleasant man, who turned out to be the boss of the small company organizing this day trip, distributed proper cloth and introduced us to our means of transportation for our trip to the Ice Hotel. In groups of two (luckily we were an odd number of people and I happened to be the only one without a partner and this way got drove all the way instead of “only” half of it) we used snow mobiles to drive over frozen lakes, hills and through woods. We enjoyed an unbelievably beautiful winter scenery and arrived at the Ice Hotel at 11:30 am. The Ice Hotel is a huge building entirely made of snow and ice. Well, snow and a mixture of snow and ice they call “snice”. For the twentieth time now a different version of this hotel has been build every year. Inside, every room is unique. People from all around the world send in sketches and the year’s best are build. Every room has its own idea, its own shape and lightening. Walking through a building entirely made of snow and ice is absolutely fascinating. Everything seems volatile and yet surprisingly stable. Next to the Ice Hotel they even built a church which appears to be one of Sweden’s most popular locations for weddings. At 2pm we started the snow mobiles again and went back. This time our guide allowed us to drive a little faster. I ended up driving 100 km/h and had a big smile on my face. I now agree with someone I met in Umeå who told me that driving a snow mobile is one of the best things you can do in your life

Having arrived at the cabin next to the frozen lake again, we sat down around a small fire and enjoyed our lunch. We had reindeer meat, potatoes, lingonberries and tee. It was the perfect ending to an unforgettable trip. If you should ever get the chance to go to Kiruna and see the Ice Hotel, do it. If you have enough time for a day trip you will never forget, book it here.

At 9:31 am on the 4th of January we took the train to Abisko. Abisko is a tiny village 100 km from Kiruna. We were told it had only 84 inhabitants. Considering the number of houses we saw, that could actually be true. Abisko is well-known all over Sweden. It is famous for its national park with mountains, a huge lake, small rivers and a lot of small ways to hike, do cross-country skiing, climbing and many other things. After we arrived and found the local supermarket our little group split up for the rest of our time in Abisko and everyone ended up in a new group. For me the day went on with a small hiking tour through the woods together with a Chinese guy I had met in Kiruna and now run into again. We walked past (and of course across ) a frozen river and just some way through the woods that seemed convenient. Soon it got dark and we were very happy to have a flash light. A little cold but fascinated and happy we returned to the local vandrarhem at 4:30 pm. Back there I shared a room with five exchange students from Malmö. Luckily we got along pretty well and had a great time together. Actually, I can hardly remember a time I laughed that much in two days!

The day ended with a Swedish sauna. The landlord asked us – a group of nine people – to only bring soap and handed us towels to sit on. While we all were surprised to bring soap into the sauna, we were soon given an explanation. Our landlord told us about his philosophy of saving water and preventing the body from sweating during the day by having your shower in the evening in the sauna. Enjoying this way of warming up again after a cold day, I decided to repeat this procedure at the end of the next day.

The 5th of January was the unquestionable highlight of my Lapland tour. At 9 am a group of 17 people met outside the hostel and walked to the nearby dog camp. We prepared ten one-person sleighs and 40 dogs to create a time worth remembering. With – who might have guessed – four dogs per sledge we went on a two hours tour through the mountain area. Assisting the dogs when going uphill and trying not fall of the sledge when going downhill or doing turns we were quite exhausted after a couple of minutes. After every quarter of the way we exchanged our sledges for a place on a snow mobile’s trailer that has been taking the other half of the group for a fun ride. After these two hours all of us were thrilled about this trip. One of my room mates called this dog sledging tour one of the best things he has ever done in his life. I’m willing to agree with him. Driving fast on a snow mobile was a lot of fun, but actually doing some work yourself, together with the joy of working with living creatures – with 40 dogs (!) – is something I will never forget. But still, the day wasn’t over yet!

After a short break, a cross-country skiing tour and the obligatory two sauna hours, we went on another very special trip. At about 10 pm we walked down to the lake and kept starring at the sky. Our position so far up north, the cold and clear air offered us the opportunity of seeing one of nature’s finest spectacles: the northern lights. Since I came to Sweden in August, I always hoped to see the northern lights. It was the 5th of January that I finally saw them and it was worth waiting! I was lucky enough to find people who spent hundreds of euros for a camera to get the perfect shot. Because it was them who put all that money and effort into getting these amazing pictures I am of course not going to publish them. Anyway, thanks a lot guys. I am very happy to have them in my private photo album

On the 6th we went on our way back home. It took us almost 11 hours to get back to Umeå by train. For me that was a time to think about this amazing tour through Swedish and Finish Lapland. In my mind I relived the whole tour again: the Christmas post card, snow mobile driving, the Ice Hotel, dog sledging, the northern lights and a great time I had with people from all over the world. Now, there’s only one major tour left on my “to do in Sweden” list: visiting Stockholm.

Our trip started on Friday at about 4 pm. We met in front of the IKSU building (European’s largest sports centre), got into the bus and had a nice 320 km trip to Borgafjäll through the Swedish countryside. In the bus we had the chance to get to know our fellow international students and enjoyed the 2006 Bond movie Casino Royal (again, with subtitles). At about 9 pm the bus stopped some hundred meters up a mountain. We took our luggage, turned on our torches and started walking into the forrest. After 20 minutes we arrived at our base camp. Some of the guides had come hear by car and had already build up most of the tents. Everything we had to do was to find ourselves a tent in groups of three people and enjoy a nice evening around the camp fire. To get warm the frilufts crew encouraged us to take part in some Swedish and Norwegian folk dances which were actually quite funny. Later on, after some time of sitting – or rather walking – around the camp fire trying to warm up most of us went to “bed”.

At 7 am we met again around the camp fire and had our breakfast. Again, the frilufts crew and a member of the International Office had already prepared the fire so we just had to get up and enjoy the nice morning in the middle of a forest. As I found out, I wasn’t the only one who had difficulties finding sleep. Quite a few of us only managed to sleep for a few hours, if at all. Having camped before I didn’t expect any problems finding sleep. But yet, the rather cold climate of Lapland with a temperature of -5° C during the night managed to put my former camping experience into a new perspective . Still, some cold feet were nothing that a hot tee and a breakfast couldn’t deal with.

After the breakfast we divided into groups of nine including one guide each. Warmly clothed we started our way up the nearby mountains on a wonderful sunny day. Starting inside a forest we reached wide spaces of snow and almost no vegetation after less than an hour. With the peaks of two mountains on our left hand side, wide snowy spaces in front of us as well as on our right hand side, we were all enjoying the impressive scenery of Swedish nature. Meter by meter we reached even further into the mountain scenery of Borgafjäll and enjoyed the view over the woods and the beautiful Borgasjön (the lake named after the small village – or did the lake give the name to the village?).

As time went by we reached a wonderful plateau being framed by different mountainsides, covered with snow and crossed by small streams. On one end of this plateau our guide surprised us with a small cabin giving us the chance for a little break. Heading inside and taking of our back packs our guide whispered something that made us all come out again. Between two mountains a group of seven or eight reindeer crossed the plateau. Having noticed our presence they first stopped and starred into our direction. Being more than a hundred meters away we apparently didn’t scare them too much as they soon moved along calmly and quietly. Hardly understanding the luck we’ve had meeting these animals on our hiking trip, we all enjoyed this great moment with big smiles on our faces.

After a break inside the cabin we decided to move on. Together with the other groups that had arrived at the cabin we decided to divide into two big groups for either the way home or the way up to the peak of one of the mountains. I was in the group trying to get up to the peak. After a few hundred meters we found out about the difference between an easygoing walk in the mountains and the attempt of actually standing on top of one of them. As we were going up the weather seemed to change. Clouds had started to conceal the peaks of the mountains. Hoping to find a clear sky above these clouds we were proven wrong as time went by. On a small plateau the guides decided to turn around and head back to our base camp. Having hoped for a nice view from the top of the mountain it was obvious that this decision was right. On this second plateau you could hardly see anything but your nearest surroundings. Still, on our way down we had a great view over the first plateau and later on over the valley.

Between two and three hours later we arrived at our base camp and had a happy night sitting around the fire and talking about our great hiking trip. This night many of us finally found some sleep. More or less awake we spent our Sunday morning cleaning the base camp and enjoying our last hours in Lapland with some games. Mostly, each game was about moving and getting warm as on Sunday we woke up to a snow-covered and cold base camp. At about 1 pm we got into the bus again and headed towards Umeå. As it seems to be the standard in Sweden we were asked to fill out feed back forms for IKSU frilufts to evaluate and improve their services. As far as it concerns me, there wasn’t much to improve. The guides and the International Office both did a great job and obviously enjoyed what they were doing. They were eager to help and provided us with a great weekend of hiking and camping in the mountains of Lapland.

For those of you who would like to see some more pictures I have taken during the trip, feel free to contact me as there is a whole gallery waiting for you. Also if you have any questions about the trip or things you would like to point out, I’m always happy to receive your responses either via one of the ways mentioned in the about section or just by leaving a comment.

Part of enjoying my life was today’s day off which I spent playing the new FIFA 10 demo and watching the German Bundesliga. What a useless, wasted and yet great day . After a few hours of studying I decided to use this day for nothing but sitting around and doing some nerdy stuff. I started with estimated 20 matches of FIFA 10 demo. I think I’m falling in love with this game. I then browsed tech-related forums and listened to loud music. I only left my room for some food (picture 1) and a short walk to the local supermarket. Today’s highlight was definitely the Bundesliga match between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich which ended in a glorious 5:1 victory for my favourite team. Just yesterday I had discovered that eurosport.se offers an hd livestream of every Bundesliga match for a monthly fee of 5€. I decided to give it a try and signed up for one month. After this first day with two live matches, a one hour summary of Wolfsburg vs. Leverkusen (picture 2) and several five minute summaries of the other matches I’m pretty sure I will continue paying Eurosport this small sum that I would otherwise easily spend for two cokes in a local sport bar for just one match. After the last interviews and news I switched to virtual football again and beat Barca 3:1. That was a nice ending of the day! Tomorrow I will be meeting some international students for fika and watching the Formula 1 race in Monza with them. In the evening there will be another football match. Only this time, it will take me a little more to score than pushing a button on the controller as I will be playing with some students on the university’s football field.

On Monday the 24th I went to Frankfurt airport for a flight to Umeå via Stockholm. After two hours the plane landed in Stockholm and I tried to get the connecting flight to Umeå. Unfortunately that didn’t work out very well and I missed the plane. Being a little shocked at that moment this wasn’t really a major problem as I was handed out a new ticket for the next flight just two hours later without further costs. In these two hours I met three Germans who had also missed their flight. Together we took the next plane to Umeå and arrived in our rooms in Ålidhem at about eight pm. I used the rest of the day to get to know the other people on my corridor as well as to talk to a friend from back home via Skype.

Tuesday morning started with a 20 minute walk towards the university in hope of actually finding the campus. While the road took me through a forest and past something that looked like a factory I arrived at the Universum Building 30 minutes early. Inside this modern looking building I found the “Aula Nordica” where the orientation week was supposed to take place. It’s a huge auditorium that would be perfect for presenting a theatre performance: There’s a big stage, different light settings, lots of curtains, remarkable acoustics and a nice atmosphere. Talking to some people already sitting there the Aula Nordica filled with international students. In the next two hours we were introduced to the University, the city of Umeå, some major facts about life in Sweden and upcoming events of the orientation week. Later that day most of the international students met in the city centre at the “Rådhustorget” (the town hall square) for a beer/water/wodka or in my case, a cold Coca Cola

The second day at Umeå University started just like the first one did except that I found the buildings I was looking for immediately and even five minutes earlier. We were introduced to the University Library, heard even more interesting stories about “Sweden and the Swedes” and were presented Umeå’s sport centre IKSU, Europe’s largest sport centre. In the evening we met at Mariehemsängarna (big meadows near the University) to play some Swedish games. Divided into several groups we played “Kubb” and “Brännboll“. Already knowing Kubb I decided to try Brännboll. It was actually great fun until rain set in. Somehow we decided to keep on playing and had even more fun sliding from base to base. As the rain grew stronger and stronger we were all soaking wet and finally decided to head home. About 40 minutes later I arrived in my room in Ålidhem and enjoyed a nice warm shower.

Thursday started surprisingly healthy but a little tired as I was (and am) still waiting for the post to bring my pillow and blanket. At the Universum Building we were introduced to the Swedish system of study, the municipality of Umeå and the student unions. At two pm we started a campus race. In groups of eight to twelve people we walked around the campus looking for small boxes containing hints that could lead us the next boxes. Although we haven’t been able to find every ten boxes we had a great time and got to know each other a little better. Besides that we actually got to know the campus which was probably the main goal of this “friendly competition”, as the organisers called it.

Today we were offered some further insights to society and life in Sweden as well as a very interesting and entertaining presentation of the Sámi. Later on we went on a bus tour around Umeå and enjoyed our first fika. After a guided walk tour in the city centre we finally met for a welcome reception at Rex. I put pictures of this day in the gallery. If you’re interested in seeing them please contact me as the gallery is password protected.

Looking back to those first five days I am really enjoying Umeå so far. Except the excitement of living in a country you don’t know and enjoying a week like you’re on holiday there are some things I am really starting to like about this place. For example, everyone involved in the organisation of the orientation course is obviously doing a great job as they are trying to get us new students socialised as soon and as good as possible. Even the housing is great. Something special that’s come to my attention is the university’s staff apparently caring for questions of equality in an extend that can hardly be compared to German standards. There seem to be a lot more people in this university that have actually heard of and thought about questions of gender, class and race than there appear to be in German universities. Having in mind that I only got to know a few Swedes, it does already seem that the Swedish society is a lot more open-minded and influenced by the thought of equality and justice than others, including my home country’s, seem to be. It will be quite interesting to see how this point of view might be confirmed, changed or argued. I’m looking forward to this. I am also very happy about meeting all those different people from all around the world. I am not sure about the countries but I have at least seen and talked to one person from every continent. It’s great to get the opportunity of talking to all those people with different social backgrounds and different cultures. There’s so much you don’t know about other countries and cultures that you can find out by just talking to people.

After my first week in Umeå I am quite happy to be here. I will let you know about my first courses and trips as soon as I find the time to do so. There will also be some pictures of Ålidhem and the room I’m living in.

I just wanted to let you know that philipp-hoehn.de is back. I haven’t been posting to the weblog for nearly two years because… well, let’s just say I didn’t have neither the time nor the motivation. But this is going to change. At least for the next ten months I will be using this page to blog about my time in Sweden. But first things first. Let me just tell you in a few words what changes I’ve been doing to the site in the last two years and what I plan to use it for in the upcoming days and weeks.

In May 2008 I migrated this website from evanzo to ispOne. The decision was easy as ispOne offers a lot more service while being nearly have as expensive as evanzo. At evanzo I had the usual webspace supporting php, one mysql database, one ftp account and an annoying administration interface. At ispOne I’m having my own vserver offering me the flexibility of changing whatever I want and using it just the way I want. As I’ve only had about four hours of downtime in more than one year I’m really enjoying the reliability. I’m pretty happy with the speed too as it’s running two websites, my very own mail server with postfix, dovecot, greylisting and squirrelmail, a picture gallery, a file server for my personal use, an ftp server and some minor apps within perfect speed. If anyone is thinking about moving to a vhost provider feel free to write me a mail and I’ll be glad to help you out. Otherwise, if you’ve made different experience with either evanzo or ispOne feel free to express yourself in the comments.

After the big migration in May I applied a major upgrade of wordpress some weeks later. I was looking forward to this upgrade as it offered a whole bunch of new features and security fixes. Enjoying the new features I did a minor mistake that consequently crashed my whole wordpress database. Somehow it wasn’t even possible to recover the old site and redo the upgrade. So I had to reinstall wordpress and enter every single text including every single comment (i. e. every author name, every date and every text). As you might guess this left me a little upset For some weeks I didn’t even visit my own website. Fortunately that’s over!

Beside these changes at philipp-hoehn.de there where quite some interesting things happening in my life. When writing my last post to the blog I just moved to Marburg and started studying Political Science. After two years I’ve – fortunately – grown accustomed to studying and living on my own. In fact, I’ve found some nice new hobbies, met various great people, made new friends and gained interest in some new fields. I’m probably going to write about some of these things in the future. But that might depend on whether I’m having enough time and whether I’m in the right mood. So don’t expect too much.

One major theme of the upcoming posts is going to be my trip to Sweden. Since Monday the 24th of August (yeah, it’s only been two days!) I use to live in Umeå, Sweden. I’m here as an Erasmus exchange student and I will be staying for ten months. Read more about this in the upcoming posts or just contact me (see the about page for contact information, use the contact form or just leave a comment).

At last, there is one more thing regarding philipp-hoehn.de: There will be some small changes in the next days and weeks. The banner is going to be replaced by a set of pictures I’ve been taking. Most sections have been or will be redesigned. And, as you might have guessed, there will be new content I’m looking forward to posting on my blog again and I hope the number of people visiting the site and commenting the blog will rise back up to where it once was.

Thanks for reading.