We are alive!

I'll be the first to admit that the blog has been neglected a bit recently, but with exams finishing last Thursday, we were a bit preoccupied with passing Aerodynamics. With that over I though I would give a little glimpse of some of the things that we got up to when we weren't studying.

First off, we went on a field trip to the airport for our Jet Engines subject. After squeezing 5 people into a Renault Twingo with no back seat to get there, we spent the whole afternoon pretending to fly the planes and playing with engine parts.

For those following at home, that is an annular combustor.

I also learned how to bake bread and so I've spent the last couple of weeks experimenting in the kitchen. I've even perfected cheesymite scrolls!

Bread!

Something I challenge you to do back in Aus is ice skate on the sea out to an island!

We skated around from one side of Lulea, out around the town and back to the other side.

Last weekend I went to a music festival held in the Lulea town hall. There was everything from Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish death metal to Swedish hip hop.

We rocked out to Ison & Fille- Authentic Swedish Hip Hop. Check them out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9RPFVapIVA

After 2 and a half months in Sweden, it time for a haircut. They are really expensive in Sweden so I did what any fiscally responsible person would do; got Peter to cut it for me.

Before.

After. Btw I did cut the emo fringe a bit after this photo.

The haircutting team. Need I say any more.

Finally, the main reason I though to write this blog was that I was at such a loose end that I was building card pyramids. When I finished celebrating finishing, I realised I no longer had an excuse not to update the blog.

Winner at life (also looking about 12 post haircut)

Swedish Army Training (igloo building)

9/3/10: 1100 hours- We reported to Arvidsjaur Army Base; location of the Swedish Armed Forces: Unit for Cold Weather Operations. Major Tony Gustafsson greeted us with a message; follow his instructions or die.

9/3/10: 1300 hours- We received our equipment and headed North to our super secret igloo building location.

We got our guns later.

9/3/10: 1315 hours- We were given shovels and a simple instruction: Make big piles of snow (Sir yes sir). Two hours later we had quite a big pile.

Thats one big pile of snow.

10/3/10: 0800 hours- We assembled for the march back to our piles of snow (Quincys) and carved them out.

Digging the igloo out.

10/3/10: 1600 hours- We were finished and had a beautiful igloo.

Other groups did a dodgy job on their igloos so that they had time to dig a highly complex series of snow tunnels. 7 entrances; all interconnected.

10/3/10: 1630 hours- Dinner time: REINDEER KEBABS around the fire.

10/3/10: 2000 hours- Back to the igloo for a dance party and bed. It was a balmy 4 degrees in our igloo.

Built in speakers- Genius!

Team Aust!

Chillin' with our music

11/3/10: 0800 hours- Packed up and ready to head home. Mission accomplished.

As usual you can find more photos here:

http://gallery.me.com/perkinsgroup#100280

Kiruna

Kiruna is a town about 200km North of the Arctic circle. You would have to be stupid to try and get there and back in a day.

It was 5am and we were at the bus stop. The bus was late but morale was clearly at a high.

5 hours later we were in Kiruna. Firstly, we went to the KLAB Iron Ore Mine for a guided tour. The mine is nearly 1500m deep and we were at level 500m. Equipped with our hard hats we pillaged iron ore pellets and cores. They are called green pellets because they are magnetic (go figure).

Thats one big front loader.

They even had trams.

Next, we drove across town to the star attraction in Kiruna, the Ice Hotel! It was quite cold and the ice seats didn't help. The hotel itself is one big art gallery plus beds. Every year they harvest ice from the river for the next year's hotel. They then keep it in a giant freezer through the summer and build the hotel again when it gets cold enough. There are 70 art suites (with beds), each with their own themes and artists all around the world compete each year to have their own room.

Arriving at the Ice Hotel- Check the sky.

The main hall in the hotel.

Cam and I with an ice angel.

Peter showed his love for gingerbread- ice or otherwise.

After the best buffet lunch ever (7 types of salmon including chocolate chilli) we headed to the original ice bar. Everything was ice, right down to the cups and tables. It was super cool.

Our group of friends at the ice bar. Skål!

There are more photos of our day here:

http://gallery.me.com/perkinsgroup#100263

Lulea Ice Hockey

Last weekend we ventured to Coop Arena to see the mighty Lulea HF play ice hockey. With only weeks before the playoffs it was a pressure game. We got the cheapest tickets; standing with the cheer squad. Definitely the best place to be.

First things first, we hit up the merch store and got ourselves Lulea jerseys. Then we were ready for the game. The lights dimmed and a giant bear head descended from the roof. Cue the music and out skated the Lulea team from the bear's mouth! 2 hours of uninterrupted chanting and cheering followed. After conceding a goal Lulea went onto win 3-1, clearly due to our undying enthusiasm.

Building the suspense.

We were ready!

Go Lulea!

We got a salute from the team after a hard earned win.