A Swedish Experience...

Hei Hei (this is Swedish for Hello – pronounced Hey Hey)! I think I might adopt the greeting…it’s really cute to hear the Swedish people address you with “Hei Hei”. As I write, I am crossing the Baltic Sea by ferry from the small Swedish island of Gotland back to Stockholm. It’s the last day of our trip in Sweden, and we are heading for an airport hotel tonight, as we have an early flight in the morning to London.

The trip has been great! I’ve had a blast with my four friends. We have decided that this has been a good learning experience when it comes to a backpacking trip. We have learned what we can and can’t get by with when travelling, and I think we all have a better idea of how to pack for our next adventure. Stockholm itself was absolutely gorgeous. I will post some pictures for proof!! We have done everything from wander around the new and old parts of Stockholm, visiting the Royal Palace, churches, and just absorbing the beautifully colored buildings and scenery, to ice skating in one of the city squares one evening, as well as visiting many museums. As some of you know, me and museums don’t get along for many hours at the time. However, this trip has been a good learning experience for how to tolerate museums when everyone else in the group enjoy taking in every part of them (well, almost everyone – Steve and I are in agreement that art museums are torture, especially when you don’t know much about art history). However, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed what I’ve learned from them. My favorite museum that we visited was called Skansen on the island of Djurgarden (which is part of Stockholm). Skansen was an outdoor museum that depicted Swedish life in the 1600s and 1700s. It was the world’s first open-air museum, opening in 1891. The museum has over 150 traditional houses and exhibits from all over Sweden, including wildlife (my favorite being the reindeer!). It reminded me a bit of Old Salem in North Carolina, for some reason.

I think the hardest part of our trip to Sweden in November is the lack of sunlight and daylight in general. We experienced about an hour of sunlight the entire time in Sweden. Every day it was dark by no later than 3:30, which was very confusing. We found that we were tired ALL the time, and I think part of that was our bodies’ confusion with whether or not it was bedtime. However, I guess it was good practice, because before long in St. Andrews it will be getting dark that early. It already gets dark before 5:00 pm as it is! We found that Sweden was so expensive and we were so tired that most evenings we would stop by the grocery to get something inexpensive to eat and retire to our hostel room. We had a great time hanging out with each other, even if it was just being silly and laughing in the hostel! In Visby (the harbor town we stayed in while on Gotland), some of us had what you would consider an authentic Swedish meal. We tried the herring, which was served with mashed potatoes. It was very good, but we definitely ate too much! I guess being American girls in a restaurant with mostly men works out for the best sometimes, we they brought us free appetizers! Funny thing was, we almost didn’t find food last night. It is definitely obvious that Visby is a summer destination probably mostly for the Swedish to escape the tourist-infested Stockholm! Once it was dark at 4:00 pm, all the shops closed up and you could hardly find someone on the small cobblestone streets. It was like a ghost town! With no grocery store in sight, and some of us really wanting to eat at least one authentic meal before leaving Sweden, we started looking for a place to have dinner around 5, since there was nothing else open to do! We went into 4 restaurants, and every one of them informed us they were closing. FINALLY, we found the little “hole in the wall” as I would refer to it who was open and could serve us. It was a great experience…only about 7 tables in the entire restaurant, and they were probably just as surprised to see tourists this time of year as we were to realize how empty the island would be! Today was the worst weather we’ve had the entire trip. Although it’s been cold and wet, we have pretty much avoided any rain. All I have to say, is thank goodness for long underwear, hats, and gloves!! However, today it was miserably rainy. After a nice more “posh” night in a hotel than we’ve had the other nights in hostels, we were well rested and ready to see the sights despite the rain. We toured the Gotland museum, cathedral, and the many ruins that date back to before the 12th century. The wind was so strong as we made the 20 minute walk back to the ferry this afternoon, with rain pelting down on us, we almost blew over!

We’re headed to London tomorrow morning to meet other friends who will be down there or are coming. I am almost excited to be going back into civilization!! Overall the trip was awesome, and I feel like I’ve gotten to know those who travelled with me so much better. We travelled well together and that excites me for our other upcoming trips throughout Europe! Hope you are all holding up in NC and everyone is cheering on the TAR HEELS!!! HORRAY for football season this year!! Please send emails to keep me posted on what’s going on in your lives as well!! Look forward to another update soon!