Växjö Part Två

Thursday 4/30/15

A relaxing day in Växjö. Its hard to believe I'm in school when all of Sweden is my classroom.

Woke again with a book, a view and a cup of coffee. My favorite.

There is a nice sand beach by our hotel. The water is freezing but refreshing when you dare to take dip. 

As I ate lunch I watched Becca, Erin and Hannah brave the cold water. 

Hannah bailed as soon as she put her feet in :)

At night we headed to the main square in town. In 1985 the picture below became famous. There was a neo-nazi demonstration occurring in the main square when this lady attacked a demonstrator with her purse. In some way she was a victim during WWII and decided to stand up for her beliefs, as caught in this picture. This picture makes us discuss the right to protest, even for neo-nazis, and her use of violence against the protesters.

In that same square we attended a festival that celebrated the beginning of spring and King Carl of Sweden's birthday. There was a fabulous a cappella group called Vocal Vibrations that sang Technologic by Daft Punk and Edge of Glory by Lady Gaga. All of us were jamming out to the music.

Laura, Amelia and Anna especially got into the music.

Vocal Vibrations

After the music and a speech there was a parade with a band and children holding torches. They led the crowd down to the lake for a fireworks show. Hannah managed to catch on video a near save by one of the adults. One boy almost caught his friend on fire. Kids and torches don't seem to be a great combination… 

They lit a huge bonfire with the torches, as is tradition all over Sweden on this night.

Friday 5/1/15

Det regnade men vi springade! (It was raining but we ran!) Well almost all of us. For weeks many of us have been training to run a 5K race around the main lake in town. Unfortunately, my foot has been sore for a few weeks do to overuse so I had to reluctantly join the cheering squad. We had 14 runners from our group participate and our entrance fees were covered by the Wellbeing Initiative at Gustavus. 

Pat was too sick, my foot was sore and Britta had a rolled ankle. Together we made the sickling cheer squad and we cheered well! Many of the other students said our cheering allowed them to finish the last leg of the race!

We made awesome signs for everyone in the race. 

Sidney warming up those hips before the race. There was group warm ups at the starting line. 

Ruby and Sidney getting pumped up. 

Laura, Erin, Hannah and Paget lining up

Ruby and Sidney glamour shot

There was even a little kids race. 

It was Pat's birthday so we had american breakfast for dinner. Too bad he was really sick but the food was awesome!

Pat blowing out his birthday cancel stuck into Paget's half eaten rolled up pancake. 

Laura's awesome birthday card for pat, the boy scout. I drew the beard!

The sunset was so incredible we all paused our movies. The trees looked like they were on fire.