Exploring LA – Life in Ludvika

Is living in a Swedish small town really that exciting? Yes, it is and here I will tell you why!

Being born and raised in Borlänge, most of my friends and family expected me to live in Borlänge when I got offered the trainee position at ABB. Or truth be told they honestly told me: “But you can’t live in Ludvika, it’s such a small city”. True, the city center is small and there are only 16 000 inhabitants, but it is more than enough for the everyday lunch or a casual AW.

Regardless of what everyone told me, I decided to move here anyway and I’m happy with my choice so far. The small-town life has many other advantages, for example having a 5 minutes bike-ride to work. That’s something I value a lot since it gives me so much more free time than if I would have commuted. Commuting is however an option, and I have colleagues commuting from Borlänge, Falun & Västerås. That works smoothly from what I understand with frequent trains or buses both in the mornings and afternoons.

Back to Ludvika (or LA as we call it here) what do we do here for fun? If you are a person that loves the outdoors, like me, Ludvika is great! The city is surrounded by a lot of lakes and big forests that one can explore. Hiking, biking, skiing, kayaking, you name it. I was wishing for a really snowy winter this year so that I would be able to go cross country skiing just outside my apartment, but so far the weather gods don’t seem to cooperate.

Being a part of the Ludvika trainee family is my favorite thing about this city. All of us moved here without really knowing anything about it, so we are exploring the city and this region together. Since there are 11 of us, and since we all live within a one-kilometer radius it is easy to organize stuff and there is always someone wanting to do something.

ABB has both a gym that’s free to use for all employees and also different clubs organizing events. We have managed to squeeze in a couple of activities like curling, pubs, cricket, dart & shooting air rifles already between our weekly dinner gatherings.

Back in October we also went on our first Dala-tour to explore the more northern region around lake Siljan. That tour of course included a visit to the famous dala horse factory because you can’t live in Ludvika and not have your own dala horse. The second Dala-tour is coming up in the end of February when all of us will be skiing either the 30km or 90km Vasaloppet race. Therefore, we spend as much time as possible preparing for that challenge.

With that being said, yes Ludvika is small, but every city is what you make of it – and according to me: The Ludvika trainees of 2019 are making this place great!