She works one kilometer underground in the northest parts of Europe. Construction surveyor of Lapland iron mines - Zuzana Janovčíková.

If you have to guess where this young and pretty woman works, so I´m sure that your answer will be wrong, very wrong. The place is above the Arctic Circle, where the temperature is also - 40 ° C. Zuzana Janovčíkova, from Slovak village Poniky, is construction surveyor in Lapland iron mines.

„I must tell workers how and where to drill and if the place will be blasted or not. We have 55 active sections of mining which are blasted every day. It is big responsibility. If something goes wrong I am the first person to blame,“ Zuzana explained her work in the northernmost parts of Europe.

She studied geodesy/surveying in Brno. Her classmate from college offered her to take this job. Zuzana had to replace an absent construction surveyor.

„At first I thought that I will work somewhere around Stockholm. This was a challenge for me. I should stay in Sweden three months. I already live the third year there,“ Zuzana said.

Local temperature is sometimes - 40 ° C. „Yes, you can live with that. If you go out from your house to your car but be outside longer time is really very hard.“

She doesn´t see sun two months, December and January, but the local sky knows to prepare another spectacle - Northern Lights. „Or you can see the sunrise and sunset at the same time,“ Zuzana talked.

Social life is not very action there but the nature and peaceful atmosphere are unbelieveble. „You wake up and the reindeers with several rabbits are before your home,“ Zuzana described her morning visitors.

Slovak construction surveyor also worked for other Swedish projects - building of academic buildings in Stockholm or builndg of wind power.

Swedish iron and Swedes

Swedish iron is the best and the most expensive in the wolrd. The largest resources of european iron are in the country of three crowns - Swedish nickname. Especially known place with this iron is Swedish city Kiruna. People from this city must leave because of iron mining. It is not first time. „Swedes don´t have no problem with it. They are very adaptable. I remember how the entire house went before me on the road,“ Zuzka talked.

„I know one area with really beautiful villas but without people and with a warning of danger and with a ban go there. The villas can be underground at any time because of activities in the mine.“

Zuzana talked us that northerners are very trusting people. „My colleague laughed at me when I locked my car. She didn´t understand it.“ They also do not care about the lives of others. It is also reason why they don´t need curtains on the windows. And their English is really perfect. You can speak English also with old grandma.

But Swedes are also little reserved people. „When I met Slovak woman in the plane we automatically started to talk to each other. But they dont do that. Its not typical for them. They are not cold but not such social open as we,“ young Slovak construction surveyor of Lapland iron mines described the main differences between two European cultures.

€ Lapland prices €

one beer 0,5 l – 1,8 € in local shops, 7,8 € in local restaurants

local food Köttbullar – 9,5 € in the restaurants

František Fefe Kekely