Planning for more fun! ...and studying

I am going on a cruise to Russia, Finland, and Estonia!!


A couple days ago, Tina saw the great deal on Groupon (Europe has groupon!! This is like heaven!) so we booked it that night. haha it was fun booking our tickets and bus/train tickets to Stockholm.


But both of us together... We still aren't the sharpest pencil in the box. We thought the ticket was per person, but it is per two people so we are trying to get a refund or find some other friends to come along.
http://www.stpeterline.com/en/OnBoard/News.aspx

 Tiny and Rachel sing their favorite tunes, because they are going to Russia! 
Oh Lord won't you buy me... :D


But here is a funny story:

Yesterday morning, some eggs EXPLODED in my face!!!
I was cooking them in the microwave like I usually do, I opened the door and about 2-3 sec later it erupted! I got it in my face, hair and shirt, but thank goodness it was still inside the microwave!

Anyway, today I just booked my flight to Poland! Through Ryanair the flight will only cost $28!! Insane! Then the hostel for two nights will only cost around $14!! Amazing right?!

Since I've come back I have been trying to study (well in between looking up travel info!). I am cramming for my Swedish Exam on the 22th! Then I have a group paper and presentation on the 26th.
Please pray for me! I feel really nervous about the Swedish...

But tonight I will go to an Irish pub with my host family for St. Patrick's day. It should be fun since we are meeting another Swedish family and their 3 international students. 

Lapland, Sweden

I came back yesterday from a phenomenal trip! From March 8th-13th I went on a tour of Lapland with Scanbalt. Lapland is in Northern Sweden and above the Arctic Circle. http://www.scanbaltexperience.com/Lapland-Express

I left on Tenhult on March 7 at around 11pm since my bus was at 2am and the earliest train from Tenhult to Jonkoping station is at 5am. So I stayed in the bus station until... I was kicked out! The station classed at 12am so I had to be outside for almost two hours until my bus came! Goodness I was cold!

But I made it safely to Stockholm around 6am in the morning and since the tour bus didn't come until 1:30pm I did a little sightseeing. I walked around Gamla Stan, visited some churches, and saw the changing of the guards at the place. 

http://www.visitstockholm.com/en/To-Do/Attractions/gamla-stan/1856

It was totally a God thing to see the guards changing since I had no idea when it was and the soldiers were also escorting someone royal since many of them were mounted on horses and there was a carriage. 

After getting on the bus we drove until we got to Sundsvall University to pick up more students then from there it was a 12 hour ride to Kiruna. 

Kiruna

After resting for a bit, I had a tour of the city then it was time to go dog sledding!!! It was so fun and peaceful. Half way through we switched then I did snowmobiling. That was a bit scary, but it was also fun. 

The day was beautiful too! The sun was shining, no wind, and the air was so clear. 

We stayed in Kiruna for a night then we headed to Abisko national park about 2 hours further north. But on the way we made several stops. The first one was the ICE HOTEL! It was amazing to see the artistic work.

The next stop was a Sami home belonging to some grandparents. Sami are indigenous people living in the Northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. I fed their reindeers then in their tent to eat some reindeer. It was interesting to experience and learn more about their lifestyle. 

Abisko is a lovely area and our hostel was like situated in a valley near a lake and we were surrounded by white mountains. The first night we had a barbecue inside a tent. Then around midnight I saw the NORTHERN LIGHTS!!!!!!!! It was so amazing. The light traveled across the sky and it looked like it was dancing. Mostly the lights were green, but occasionally there was a hit of purple!

ISN'T THIS PHENOMENAL?!

The next day we took a short trip to Narvik, a small town in Norway. On the way we stopped for pictures and the scenery was just breathtaking! 

Here I am overlooking the Fjords.

 http://www.fjordnorway.com/en/ABOUT-THE-REGION/Fjord-Norway/What-is-a-fjord/?view=article

At Narvik I took a cable car up a mountain and this is what I got to enjoy! 

When we got back from Narvik I had some time to relax before I went swimming IN THE LAKE!!! 

Around 6:30pm I went with the Asian group from Scotland to the Sauna. After we were all sweating we took turns running down to the water hole to experience the arctic water!! It was FREEZING! I ran down the hill from the Sauna in flip flops then when trying to get back my feet were so frozen that my feet couldn't keep the flop flops on so I went bare foot in the snow! But I went in the water TWICE! It felt good after getting back into the Sauna, but I don't think I would ever do that again!

For the last morning there I went to see the sunrise with some girls and it was simply breathtaking! To see the  sun come up, to see the pink colors cast on the snow, and the clouds change colors.

During that time we also got to see mooses!!!!! And I got within 50 feet of them.

When I finally arrived back in Stockholm I went to see the Nordiska Museet. It was informing to know more about Swedish history. Anyway, spending the few hours in Stockholm during the beginning of my trip and on the last day really developed my confidence of my map skills! 

Anyway, now to book all my tickets for my trip with Janae and Isabella!!! 

Becoming more Swedish

It has been a fun couple of days. The weather has been so nice that a couple of days ago I went on a picnic. There is a lake near where I live so I went there to enjoy the sun. 

This is what I had...

 Surströmming

fermented fish

http://fish.gourmetrecipe.com/Popular_Fish_Dishes_Surstroemming_l30

The smell wasn't too awful although it did stink. As for the taste it was ok, it was really salty, but I won't eat it again. However, the view was beautiful!

Yesterday I made biscuits for everyone since none of my housemates had ever tried an American biscuit! To them a biscuit is a cookie. So I just had to make them some. Tina and I went to the store together since it is nice to be with someone when shopping takes more than two hours. Everyone loved them, but sadly they were too salty... because I borrowed sugar from Mona, but I accidentally took her salt!! And then sadly I knew the first batch was salty so I put in more "sugar" in the second batch so it turned out really salty!

 Then today I got to see the King and Queen of Sweden!!! These are some of the girls I saw the royal family with. We went to Books and Coffee after our Swedish lesson and hung out until it was time to go. 

Queen Silvia

King Carl XVI Gustaf

Well I just wanted to let you all know what I have been up to and now I got to study a bit before I leave for Kiruna!!!!! 

Norway!! Third country in Europe!

I got back yesterday from another wonderful weekend! This time I went with Hanna to Oslo, Norway!!!

We left really early on Friday morning (March 1) arrived in Oslo around 2pm. After getting turn round for a bit (just a little) we found our hostel. The room had several other guests and the ones I got to know was a Norwegian girl who had been there for about three weeks earning a bar tending certificate and a women who moved there from Greece to work as a chef. Anyway, we headed out to enjoy the city. We went to Vigelandspark via the trolley. It was interesting to see all the sculptures since they all were missing clothes... But it was great walking around and enjoying the sunshine!

This is Hanna! 

For dinner, we wanted to eat a typical Norwegian dish. We went to Nilsen Spiseri, where we had meat cakes and WHALE! It was quite good, but it is hard to explain what it tasted like... a bit fishy and rubbery? For dessert we had a pancake with brown cheese. The cheese was ok, it is made of caramel, but not sweet.

Then we walked on the roof of the Opera house. It was a good first day in Norway!

(Saturday March 2) 

The next day, we had breakfast at the Oslo Cathedral. I had traditional Norwegian cake! It had nuts with a crust made from egg whites with berries. It was good, a bit sweet, but with the coffee it was perfect.

This is the royal place which was guarded by four soldiers. 

 Storting (parliament)

The harbor! Unfortunately, since it was still winter, the tour boats weren't running yet. 

 

City Hall                                                                                               Akershus Fortress

an Amazing bakery! 

It was so sunny we had to eat outside!

A troll! They are a big part of folklore in Norway. 

We went to the Opera house again so we could get better pictures!

For dinner we ate a Christina, it was a posh (what English people) restaurant. It was lovely with candles everywhere and upscale decorations. But I think we would have been happy with anything since it took us forever to find a place that wasn't too expensive or had available tables! We went to at least 9 places before we decided to wait for a table at this place. 

(Sunday March 3)

Our bus was leaving at 2pm so we went to the National Gallery which had art work from Picasso, Edvard Munch and Van Gogh. 

Then we had our last fika at the harbor. It was a great ending of a grand adventure. It was wonderful going with Hanna since she is funny, interesting, and curious. Getting to know her better was the highlight of the trip