...Sweden, that is!! Yes, it's true, we needed a break from the "bubble" of St. Andrews, so 4 of my friends and I packed our bags and headed for Stockholm, Sweden yesterday. After a stressful week, this holiday was much needed!
What a crazy week it has been...the US election on Tuesday/Wednesday for us (which the Brits and Scots and pretty much all of Europe seem to be more interested in than their own elections) required some to stay up all night just to see the outcome, Guy Fawkes Day (an English holiday that is in remembrance of a conspiracy to blow up English Parliament and the King in the 17th century...check out more info on it here: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/guyfawkes.html). This holiday consisted of bonfires, fireworks, and such on the beach. Unfortunately, I couldn't celebrate the holiday at all, and could barely even pay attention to the US election as a result of having a huge exam on Thursday morning. Therefore, there was no staying up to watch the results and acceptance speeches. I think I calculated that I spent over 9 hours in the library on Wednesday....WAYYYYY too many in my opinion! Thursday started at 5:30am for me, an exam at 9:30, and then back to Deans Court to pack in a hurry and leave immediately following.
Travel was pretty much painless yesterday. We took the train from St. Andrews to Glasgow. That was about a 3 hour journey in the end. We flew Ryanair from Glasgow to Stockholm, and then took a bus into the city. Everything was on time and went very smoothly. However, it was nearly 12 hours of travelling by the time we got to our hostel. The five of us are sharing a room to ourselves, which is nice to have a bit of privacy!
Today was a great day. We started our day with a nice coffee and pastry. Then we ventured out into the city, just walking the streets. We came across this street market, which had lots of fresh produce for sale. And let me tell ya, after eating Deans Court food for nearly two months, the sight of fresh vegetables and fruit is a beautiful thing!! It was pretty chilly here today. Although it was about 38 degrees, it is a different cold from St. Andrews. It felt much colder here than it does in St. Andrews. We definitely bundled up with multiple layers, gloves, scarves, and hats. We walked into the Old Town of the city and spent the afternoon at the Royal Palace, churches, and stopping in shops. The Old Town is so quaint! However, it was sad news when it got dark at 3:30pm this afternoon. I am writing this at 7:15pm and it feels like it's midnight it's been dark so long. This is what we have to look forward to in about a month in St. Andrews...AHHHH!
For those of you who are H&M lovers like myself, you would be in heaven here. There are literally multiple H&Ms on every block in Stockholm. Why, do you ask? Welcome to the origin of H&M!!! We have, however, been holding back, as we haven't actually ventured into one yet....but no worries, we will! Tomorrow and Sunday we will be continuing to tour the city and some of the more than 24,000 islands that make up Stockholm. Monday morning we're taking a ferry over to the island of Gotland to Visby, Sweden to stay the night. Weather and time of year permitting, we are hoping to rent bikes on the island and tour Visby by bycicle. Wednesday morning we are heading back to the UK, but to London rather than St. Andrews. We'll meet up with some other friends from St. Andrews there and spend the rest of our "Reading Week" in London. More updates will follow as this first holiday since being in Scotland continues!!!
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1 comment:
Hey Kelsey! That's great that you are getting to travel around to different parts of Europe while you're there. I went to Sweden when I was younger and didn't realize it was the origin of H&M. I'm beginning to regret I wasn't older when I went there because I didn't have the appreciation for H&M then like I do now.
Kelly
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