Adventures in Sweden

A Paddle Through Middle Earth

This weekend, I went on an optional trip with my school to Sweden! It was called "Sweden Canoe and Hike Trip," but really it should have been called "Sweden: Epic Adventure Trip." After this weekend, I will forever have a magical impression of the country of Sweden. Our group, 46 students + 4 interns, left Copenhagen early Saturday morning and took a 20 min ferry ride to Sweden (they're so close!). Then, we took a bus into the beautiful countryside and canoed down Ronne Å River. It was gorgeous. Swedes are nice. There were a bunch of old men walking along the riverside who were waving to us, plus, the architecture of the houses there made it feel like we were canoeing through a picturesque hobbit town. In the picture, is a girl I met named Cali, who was my canoeing buddy.

Next, we went to our hostel for lunch. Since there were so many of us, our school rented out the entire hostel for our group, and this hostel was the cutest, prettiest hostel I have ever seen. It was run by this adorable, old Swedish couple. There were marble and granite floors and nice decorations everywhere and it was so clean. We had to take our shoes off when we were inside, and there was a basket of little slippers to wear. So cute. We had a delicious lunch that was prepared by the couple and then were off to go on our hike.

Become a Citizen of the Micronation of Ladonia

We went near the town of Himmelstorpgården to a national park called Nimis. However, what our tour leaders didn't tell us was that the hike itself... not that interesting. It was through woods without many views. BUT the trail leads to THE MICRONATION OF LADONIA!!! What is the Micronation of Ladonia, you ask? Well, its essentially every little boys dream turned into an adulthood reality. This man decided to found his own "nation" and build a series of pathways and towers out of thousands of tiny pieces of wood, nailed haphazardly together. Just look. I can't do it justice in words... or even really in pictures for that matter:

The view from the top of the path leading down into this crazy series of wooden pathways on the beach.


One of the towers (at least 3 stories tall) of Ladonia, complete with the "nation's" flag.

It was like a giant playground. Really, really fun and absolutely amazing to explore. I would definitely recommend visiting if you ever find your self on the coast of Sweden. Also, if you're still intrigued by Ladonia, visit the website: www.ladonia.net. You can become a citizen. If you pay enough money, you can be a member of the House of Nobles.

Wait a second... Rappelling down cliffs in Sweden was not part of the trip description. But I'm game.

On Sunday, we were all thrown for a second loop, because we were told we'd be rappelling down a cliff. This was somehow entirely absent in the trip description, but of course everyone was beyond excited to do it. We went to a nature preserve called Kullaberg near the town of Molle. The coast and water here was gorgeous. Crystal blue waters, with huge rocky cliffs all along the coast. Plus, we had awesome weather--65 degrees and sunny the whole weekend. So we get here to see this little baby cliff, and then a monstrous cliff. The little baby cliff we all had to go down first to get a hang of the motion of rappelling. Then, we graduated to the monster cliff. Probably a good 500 feet or so above sea level. The slide of the cliff was completely vertical (and in some places at a negative angle), so standing at the top was absolutely terrifying. Imagine: You in a harness attached to a rope, being able to see nothing but a vertical sheet of rock and water far below, and telling yourself its a good idea to lean horizontally backward over the edge. So despite my fear in the beginning, once I got over the top edge, it was so fun and really exhilarating. It's something I'll probably never do again, so it was an awesome addition to our trip.

That's me!