Saturday, July 28, 2007

My Coordinates



I am kind of "borrowing" the wireless at a resort that I'm not actually staying at, but they have a public library here so I don't feel so bad! Right now I am on Visingsö, an island in the middle of Lake Vätten, a huge lake in the middle of southern Sweden. It is a popular tourist destination but big enough to easily get away from other people. Today I rented a bike and saw the ruins of Sweden's first royal palace; beautiful flax and barley fields; a wetland nature reserve; and oak forests planted 200 years ago for the Swedish navy that are now ready to be made in to wooden boats!

Tomorrow I will head back to Frank's cabin on the east coast and spend the night before heading out for the week. Next week we are planning to finish a site we started last week, do another site on the east coast and go out to one of the large islands just off the east coast, Öland (or island country), for another site and to spend the weekend. The southern portion of Öland is a UESCO world heritage site and I hope to see viking ruins and farms that have been worked since the middle ages!

Here is the link to Frank's homepage with a downloadable pdf newsletter (nyhetsbrev) that Frank puts out about his oak project: http://www.zoologi.gu.se/kontakta_oss/forskare_larare/gotmark_frank/#Biologisk%20m%C3%A5ngfald
There is a map on page two of the newsletters that will give you a better idea of the geographical range of the project. We are only going to be able to survey 12 of the sites (since it takes us two days for each site) but the one's we won't visit are in the clusters in the east and west so I will still get to see about the same geographical range of sites. For those of you following along

Week 1: July 16, 17 - Site #4, Sandvidksås
July 18 - Site #6, Strakaskogen
July 19, 20 - Site #14, Aspenäs

Week 2: July 22 - Site #20, Fårbo
July 24, 25 - Site #11 Saftsäter
July 26, 27 - Site #17 Ulvsdal

And now I am here in Visingsö which is in the middle of the lake that sites 6 and 7 are right next to! Our plan for next week is to finish sampling at site #20, and visit sites 23 and 25.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Första veckan (The first week)

Internet access in rural Sweden is virtually impossible if you work during the day! It is kind of like Wisconsin in that the libraries have access and they are only open limited hours. So, I am going to give a quick update but won't be able to do that very often.

Sweden is going wonderfully. The plant life is very similar but different enough to be interesting and we have been working in some wonderful oak forests.

Frank Götemark, the professor I am working with, has been immensely helpful and welcoming. I am staying at his cottage now on the east coast of Sweden for the weekend with Frank, his wife and eldest daughter, Elin. We all get along very well and today I went kayaking in the archipelago east of Sweden with Elin. We got to see some lovely seabirds and hang out on beautiful rocky islands.

I am still planning a trip up to northern Sweden in mid-August and Elin has been there several times and will help me plan the trip (her insights about staying on the mountains to avoid the mosquitos and biting flies have already been valuable!)

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Sverige!

I am writing this from an appropriately well-lit and electronically wired Scandinavian apartment. I made it to Stockholm three hours late due to a lightening storm in Newark that held up all outgoing flights. Even with the delay (or maybe more apparently so because of the delay) SAS was amazing and made me remember that it can be enjoyable to fly. I cleared the passport check and customs, bought a bus ticket, and made my way to downtown Stockholm all by myself! Luckily, Caroline was waiting for me at the bus stop and we got lunch before heading back to her apartment. My wonderful hostess is off at work right now so I don't have to feel bad about sitting on the computer, immersing myself in Swedish culture by eating knäckerbröd & watching Swedish tv, and catching up on some sleep. I am excited to get into the city again tomorrow and have a look around. No pictures yet but I'll upload some as I take them.