I know I have not written in FOREVER, but here I am! I will sit down with my pictures from Derry/Londonderry, London, and Paris and write an entry, but for now, I will regale you with my Swedish adventures!
On Sunday I left the creepy Paris hostel for Sweden (Skavsta airport to be exact)! The air plane began its decent and all I could think was: HELLO DULUTH, MINNESOTA! Sweden is covered with woods, lakes, and rocks. Further, my friend who is hosting me and I jumped in there car the other day and it still had its SNOW TIRES on! hahhahahahha I felt at home.
Now I say that Sweden looks like northern Minnesota, but the cities do not. Stockholm itself is built on a group of islands and the buildings are gorgeous and resemble castles. Unlike London, Stockholm and the other cities, Sweden actually looks Swedish!
The View from our ferry on the way to the Vasa (seen later on)
I made my friend take me around the city and had a blast. The tourist office with a native was a riot! We walked around the city and headed to the Vasa museum which houses a really old ship that was expensive when it was built and promptly sunk in the harbour. VERY NEAT.
Then we headed over to the Riksdag (Sweden's Parliament) for a tour that examined all the art in the building. I was more interested in the rooms and walking around. It was a long tour and completely in Swedish with a tour guide who could have been Gary Busey's twin!
The Riksdag and Gary Busey or whatever his name was.
The next day, we headed to Sigtuna, the oldest city in Sweden. The city is small but there were tons of old churches with dead guys and rune stones EVERYWHERE. The lakes and area were gorgeous and still had a little ice on them even though the weather was gorgeous!
St. Olof's Church (not St. Olaf!) and also the home of Eric from True Blood
We headed to Upsala, my friends university town, to look around and meet up with some friends. We walked around too tired for our own good and ate a French hot dogs. SO TASTY. Later, we went out to a Nation for a concert which was great! A Nation is like a fraternity club. No one lives in the house, and the Nation organizes events and is in charge of student housing. So, if you like the benefits of a certain Nation, or want to live in their apartments, you pay a membership to join. It was fun, especially since I do not speak Swedish, to see the young crowd in their habitat.
Yesterday I tried to fly back to Galway. But, A VOLCANO ERUPTED IN ICELAND AND SHOT ASH INTO THE AIR SO EVERY PLANE IN EUROPE IS GROUNDED. It felt like I was in Twin Peaks with Pierce Brosnan. I had to take a bus alllllll the way out to the airport and rebook my ticket because no one had any information and because I needed to talk to someone who spoke English. It was a LONG day, but I got to see the sights again!
I am excited to have a couple more days in Sweden, but I have finals next week and none of my materials here with me to study! SCARY. I hope the planes get up and running soon!
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