Stockholm

Last weekend I traveled up to Swedens capital and largest city, Stockholm along with lots of other exchange students. On Friday night I took the bus to Lund, and from there I got on the night train to Stockholm Central. I was in a liggvagn, which is a sleeper car, in which I slept badly. At around six in the morning we arrived at the station. We weren't meeting the guides and hosts until around 10:00 a.m., so I spent the following three or so hours on a Burger King breakfast and reading my book.

Finally, everyone met up and we headed out into the city. We started off walking arouind and saw a lot of things: the Parliament building, the Prime Minister's office, a famous church where the Swedish royalty get married, the palace and Stor Torget (the big square) which ironically was quite small. After that, we were given about three hours of free time. I wandered around Gamla Stan (the Old Town) for a while. One of my friends bought a shirt that said: "Vodka, bringing people together".

After that we had a traditional Swedish meal, meatballs with mashed potatoes and gravy. On our way to the restaurant, we observed an anti-nazi ralley complete with chanting people with signs and police. When I left the restaurant after lunch, I could hear whistles blowing. As we continued up the street, a police car crashed into and knocked over one of those stub like structures that are supposed to discourage cars from driving into pedestrian only areas.

Having eaten, we went bovling (bowling)near the youth/travelers hostel where we would be staying. We stayed for about an hour which gave me time to do badly at two games. I did get one strike though. Then they gave us more free time before dinner, so we all split up and went our seperate ways. Me and a few others walked around and nearly succeeded in getting lost.

Dinner was spectacular. We ate at a fancy Italian restaurant. I had some of the greatest pork I've ever had. After dinner we lounged about and did some activities. One was a quiz about Sweden with questions about famous Swedish olympians, inventors and political parties. Then some of the exchange students who have been here the longest (from Austrailia and New Zealand, they come up and leave in January) and Swedish returning exchange students gave advice about being living in a foriegn country and exchange in general.

After that we were free until the next day, so me and some others stuck around in the foyer playing cards. We all played B.S., Much to our amazement, the Swedes didn't know what that was so we had to teach them. Then we played Texas Hold'Em betting with car-shaped candies called "Bilar". We did that until either they were all eaten or too disgusting to eat. What followed was an epic game of Egyptian Rat Screw, which went on for ages. I even earned a nickname from it. At one point, a drunk guy wandered in and we all sat in hushed silence and watched him stumble around until the manager helped him into the elevator.

During our card games, we were joined by a guy who was staying at the hostel as well. He sat down and introduced himself as Shan. He was interested in what we were doing in Sweden and our exchanges and explained that he was traveling the world with three of his friends before he went to college. It was really interesting to meet him and hear his stories.

The next day after breakfast we headed out to Skansen Djurpark (Zoo). There were lots of interesting animals to see, many of them native to Sweden. I saw seals, otters, bison, moose, wolves and some owls. There was a guy there taking photographs of the owls who started giving us a nice explanation about the species of owls and their habits right until a well meaning simile about the accuracy of owls' eyesight turned into a full-blown rant about the U.S. military operations in Afganistan. There was also an interesting glass blowing demonstation.

After lunch and goodbyes, Chad, Tony, Josh, Claire and I went back to Claires house in Stockholm and sat about for awhile. Chad, Josh and Tony were going to be staying for a few days before leaving for Helsinki on Tuesday and my return ticket wasn't until around midnight and I had some time to kill. We went out again shortly after and met up with other exchange students with badly scheduled tickets who were hanging around in the train station for a few hours.

It was a great evening, we were at a coffee house for a while (where I bought a chocolate ball for 25 crowns or a little over four dollars) and then ventured out into Gamla Stan again before returning to Claires house and watching "Crash". I didn't get to finish the movie because I had a train to catch, and an hour later, I was on the night train back to Lund. From there, the bus to Ystad. And from there, my long awaited bed. Where I stayed until about two in the afternoon.