Branäs

Antje was experimenting with my camera...

Lovely day.

Värmland

Rentals...

Branäs

Today a group of the international students went on a day trip to Branäs, Värmland! Every semester, the international office organizes a trip to a town somewhere in Värmland, so that we can become more familiar with the province that Karlstad is located in. This semester, they decided to take us skiing! I was so excited :)

We met at the University at about 7:00 this morning, and got on the bus for a 2 1/2 hour bus ride to Branäs. The ride was beautiful. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera on the bus (it was underneath), so you will just have to use your imagination. Everything was covered in snow and we drove through a valley alongside a creek almost the entire journey. The sun was rising over the east, and it resulted in a pinkish/purple hue on the edges of the sky. Gorgeous. Plus, along side the road there were too many red and white wooden houses to count. I felt like I was in a storybook. 

When we arrived, it was -7 C, which isn't too terrible, but it was chilly. After what seemed like an eternity waiting in line to rent boots, skis, poles, etc, we got on the gondola to the top. We quickly discovered that Branäs is not a huge ski resort, in that we successfully completed every run, some multiple times, in the first half of the day. In addition, apart from the gondola, all of the lifts were T-bars :) Nonetheless, we were able to have a great time just cruising down the slopes and soaking in the beautiful surroundings...and sun! 

It was a wonderful day, to say the least!