​​Hello, I'm Sten Ohrstrom, a senior at Wakefield School in The Plains, Virginia. I have grown up living in Virginia during the school year and spending my summers in Sweden where I was born. My mom is from Sweden so I have a lot of family there and my brothers and I have grown up speaking the language. Having grown up with two cultures I have always wanted to know more about my heritage, however, going to school in America doesn't lend much knowledge about Swedish history. Therefore I felt that this thesis would be a perfect opportunity to learn more about Scandinavia and its history. The Viking age seemed like the logical period of history to study as it had the greatest effect in and around Sweden, and it was also a time of great change in Scandinavia. Through this thesis, I learned a great deal about religion, women's roles, and the trading culture in Scandinavia just to name a few topics. This thesis did exactly what I had hoped and granted me a chance to learn more about my Scandinavian culture.