Kiruna Church

Just across the street from where we work is a beautiful church aptly named the Kiruna Church. So far, it's the only one in town, and it was voted Sweden's most beautiful building. For the whole country, that's pretty impressive. I'm told that it's built in the shape of a traditional Sami hut, and that's why it's the shape it is. It also has quite a non religious feel about it, mainly because this isn't a particularly religious place but also because the designers wanted the miners to have something bright when they came out of the mine. It is really well kept, with gleaming gold statues on the outside, and an awesome bell tower and on the inside it is all dark wood. It was a really nice visit for just a lunchtime visit. The founder of the mine is also buried here too.

Kiruna Ball

During our time in Kiruna, the boys have devised a sport called Kiruna Ball. It's a really cool game with a combination of football and netball with both basketball nets and football nets on the pitch. The kids living at Bromsgatten devised it because they lived in a place with an a really cool kids play park with a zip wire and everything! On Friday we all went to theirs for a BBQ and a world cup tournament for Kiruna Ball! It was great, and I even played one match and survived! At the end we took a really nice photo of all of us in celebration of the England team winning the first ever tournament of World Cup Kiruna Ball!

Kiruna Mine

Today we took a tour through one of the most important places in Kiruna, the Mine. It is the entire reason the town is here and is a big employer here. It is an LKAB run Iron Ore Mine, the biggest iron ore mine in the world actually. It is currently mining at 2000m down, an amazing feet and has over 400km of roads underneath the surface. It's like something out of a film. We took a bus down through all the dark tunnels underground to 575m where we they have a museum, a tour, a bunch of machinery for viewing and even a cafe! It was utterly freezing, but really interesting to learn about something which runs the economy here. We got to wear snazzy yellow hard hats too!

Kiruna, Middle of nowhere Sweden

On the last day in July I boarded a plane to Stockholm, Sweden. It was a very early morning trip to get me down to Heathrow, and to say I was nervous was a complete understatement. I worried and worried the entire time waiting for my flight, but did relax a little once I was on the plane, and then through to my connection, before I arrived in Kiruna, located 145km above the Arctic Circle. It's a minute little airport about the size of a barn. I can't really begin to describe how empty the place is! It is a beautiful place surrounded by lovely dense forests, but we spent several days before we even saw a person! The reason for coming here? I went on a University course in Human Space Travel and exploration. It's an amazing oppourtunity, and so when I got the chance, I went out to the town to take some photos.