Funäsdalen Fjällsemester

Standing around on the ski slope- our home for the week is in the background.

 This week in Sweden: a questionably planned trip out to the mountains for a bit of field work! The majority of the people in this program here at MIUN are exchange students and it's no secret that the university wants to treat us to a good time. (likewise, we're headed to Stockholm later this month)

Notably, signs are in both Swedish and Sami.

On Monday we drove three hours south to Funäsdalen, a mountain town with the usual ski industry. Where all the shops are dedicated to outdoors equipment, fancy candles, and bulk candy. I'd wager such places can be found on all inhabited continents. We stayed in a excellent ski lodge, cheap because it's the off-season, and much nicer than I'm used to for school trips.

A traditional mountain farm, which we explored on the way there. 

The reason for all this was to measure the height and diameter of trees to calculate their volume, useful for estimating biomass, timber value, and habitat. (there's no reason that we couldn't have done this in Östersund, hence my speculation that the uni is treating us)

A typical thinned-out forest near Funäs. These trees grow slowly in the fleeting summers here.

The actual measuring took only a few hours, doing 10x10 plots and then estimating the tree-density in a larger area. Everything else was crunching numbers and making maps in GIS. The forests here are as boring as they come, just spruce, pine, and birch. Throw in a dense carpet of moss and berry bushes and you have an idea of the terrain across most of this country.

Right down the road, a lovely waterfall. 

Three moose seen from a distance and the last of the lingon and blueberries.

So we had time to do loads of other things! Play cards and eat while it rained, and hike when it didn't. It hasn't been especially warm, but everyone was well-prepared and in good spirits. This was effectively a school-flavored vacation for us- what a cool opportunity I've stumbled into.

On Thursday we drove two hours over the border into Norway to Røros, a copper-mining town and UNESCO World Heritage Site. The former mine area is pretty bleak, but the rest of the town is packed with pastel-colored wooded houses. Like Funäsdalen, it's intensely commercial, but in a more cozy way. If I had the cash and the space in my luggage I'd buy every sweater and coffee grinder in that town. 

The original green roof appears to be of Norwegian origin.

A troll and an average street in Røros. I had the strongest coffee of my life here- Thor's Hammer!

The old mill and tailings heaps, quite the juxtaposition to the cheerful town. 

We took the backroads home and were treated to some excellent and vast scenery. Reindeer are given free range of the mountaintops so one must drive carefully! We didn't see it, but the rumor is that it snowed a little in Östersund while we were away. I welcome it: do your worst, winter!