Jag är inte en Viking

Last weekend the program organized a trip to Gotland, an island in the Baltic Sea that has a rich medieval history.

Because of its strategic position, Gotland has been host to many different ethnic groups and ruling nations. I’m not certain of the exact order, but Gotlandic culture has been influenced by the Romans, Greeks, Arabs (through trade), Estonians, Russians, Germans, French, Finns, and of course the VIKINGS. Gotland is famous for having the highest concentration of stored Viking treasure, houses, graves, and so on. However, and this part was kind of disappointing, the Vikings on Gotland were mostly the peaceful, matriarchal, agrarian, trading types.

Even if the Gotlanders were pretty bad at winning battles, it was amazing to be standing on land that had such a rich history.

For the trip, we stayed inside the city walls (pictured above) of Visby. These walls were first constructed in 1200! They’ve grown since then, but still. Inside the walls we were greeted by a charming and very Germanic little city. It’s touristy but adorable.

But of course we didn’t just stay in Visby. On Saturday we went to the east coast of the island. We tramped through a bog in order to see sixth-century grave sites:

clambered across the natural architecture of the Baltic seashore:

learned about the history of Christianity on Gotland:

and generally enjoyed the pastoral Gotlandic landscape:

which was filled with:

GOTLAND SHEEP. They’re pretty adorable and have inspired my desire to join Jayme and become a goat/sheep farmer in rural Sweden.

Look ma! I got one! (photo cred. to Kelsey)

But despite all these sheep, “Gotland” does not actually mean “land of the goats,” as we had surmised. Instead, it means “land of the streams,” which was apparently pretty apt before the 1850s when they began draining all the wetlands. Fun trivia fact of the day, kids! Use it well.

After our adventures around Gotland, there was nothing left to do but enjoy Viking-related activities and enjoy a Viking feast. Obviously. I didn’t take any pictures of these events because they were pretty silly and/or I didn’t want pictures to exist. But let’s just say that lots of axe-throwing and yarn-spinning and eating-food-with-hands occurred. It was amusing to see the city-kids squirm, to say the least.

It was definitely an entertaining, albeit exhausting, trip. I will say that I was extraordinarily happy to return to Stockholm where my own bed was safely located near Zinkensdamm. It’s weird to think of Stockholm as home, but it finally has. I’m not a tourist anymore and for that I’m pretty happy.

P.S. – Thanks, mom, for making me bring a raincoat. Seriously. It’s my new favorite thing.