Hello again and welcome back. I know it's been a while since my last post (as per usual) however I have a normal life as well and there isn't something exciting to tell about every day.

Anyways, into the exciting things! Firstly, I went on my first Swedish excursion to a Swedish Art Gallery in Stockholm.

I saw these and immediately thought of Australian beaches...

This painting just made me wonder... and laugh

I also went into Stockholm with the Exchange gang and checked out some of the subway stations. The subways in Stockholm are decorated with paintings and other artistic pieces and the station at Kungstregården is easily my favourite.

Kungstregården station

Aside from our city shenanigans, the point of the trip (for me) was to find where my Rotary meetings would be held and on Tuesday I went into Stockholm (by myself!) to meet with my Rotary club. I met with my Rotary Counsellor Kelly Tainton at the Grand Hotel who then introduced me to the other members of the Club. 

When they say, "Grand Hotel," they aren't kidding. Across from the Royal Palace and with views of the Palace, The King's Garden and the water, the Grand Hotel is something else. My Rotary lunch was held inside the Hall of Mirrors, where the Royals would have their afternoon tea. Kelly gave me a short tour of the Royal section before bringing me down for lunch. For lunch we had Reindeer Stew with coffee and chocolate afterwards. 

Of course the purpose of the meeting wasn't just to eat and so it was time for me to introduce myself to the club. Kelly arranged for me to take a 5 minute section of the meeting where he could ask me questions about myself and my exchange so far to fill in the other members of the club. It was very relaxed and within moments I was back in my seat listening to the other topics of the day. 

Kelly at the top of the stairs leading down to the Hall of Mirrors

The Royal area, the left windows look out to the Palace and to the right is the Hall of Mirrors. 

The meeting overall went amazingly well and I can't wait to go back and do a short presentation in Swedish.

Finally, last week was Sportlov, which is like a week long holiday that Swedes take in order to break the school term into shorter chunks. For Sportlov, my family decided to go skiing in the French Alps and so, on Saturday morning we were on a plane to Grenoble in France.

Eating a Baguette, in France, with the Alps behind me

Something that surprised me, we were driving to the Alps and out of nowhere...

This doesn't even begin to capture the height of the mountains

Where I had lunch on Sunday with Fred, at 2600m

This was interesting, I haven't seen a sign warning of a 1km cliff before...

Skiing in the Alps was incredible. I was booked in for ski school from Sunday to Thursday from 9 to 12 and afterwards I had the afternoon to pick out my favourite pistes and get skiing. 

My first day skiing was difficult... 

I didn't fall... too much, and I made it down the mountains safely though I think it was just a touch too high for me at that point. It was on Tuesday that I really got the technique down. On Tuesday morning I was boosted to the next level group and so we caught a train through a mountain from 2100m to 3300m. I will admit, I was slightly worried... But once I got there and started skiing it was easy. Plus there were plenty of fast parts so that made it okay. 

On Wednesday I met with some Irish friends from ski school and went on some of the easier pistes after having lunch together. It was good to practise skiing with people in my skill level outside the constraints of ski school. 

By the end of the week I had the technique down pat and was skiing like mad. Unfortunately, it had started snowing and so our skiing was cut short, and by 3pm we were fika-ed out and back in the room. 

I flew back to Sweden on Saturday morning and arrived after all the airport shenanigans that night.

So far Sweden has provided me with some of the most amazing experiences in my life and I can't wait to see what else it has to teach me. I don't have anything special planned for this week so far however I'm heading to Northern Sweden on the 31st March so look out for a blog post after that.

Until then, 

The Swedish Adventurer.