I flew in
to Stockholm around midnight, so by the time I arrived at Cityterminalen it was
quite late. Fortunately my hostel was quite close, but being me I of course
walked around in circles for fifteen minutes before realizing it was right
there. In most cities, including my own, arriving at 1am with no idea where I'm
going would be quite terrifying , especially with all my luggage and valuables
at disposal... yet I felt so safe. I asked for help from three different groups
of people and they were all incredibly kind! First impression: golden.
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| Stockholm<3 |
Sweden
has the reputation of being quite expensive, home to the $10 big mac, but I
didn't find that to be the case. Perhaps because I had just left Switzerland,
in comparison it just didn't seem so pricey.
After
spending two nights in Stockholm, I went to Linkoping to visit my friends
Emma and Frida. Fortunately for me, I arrived at Frida's house on national cinnamon bun day, and when I walked in it smelled heavenly. It tasted heavenly too :) Linkoping is one of many university towns in Sweden, and it has
a wonderful young vibe while still feeling really cozy.
It being
autumn, I automatically fall in love with any place where the leaves are
falling, but Linkoping made it rather easy. Emma and Frida also helped ;)
It was so
good to see them. It had been a little over a year since we were in Zanzibar
together. I only had a few days with them but they were well spent.
We
spent Saturday at this place called Borg which is only the coolest place I've
ever been to. It was basically playing all day and it was sooo fun! Each room
has a different obstacle or challenge that involves climbing walls, ropes, not
touching the ground, solving riddles, and swinging on swings. After
successfully completing each room you get a stamp and there are more than
thirty rooms. Some rooms can take up to an hour or more to solve! We got around
ten which was a pretty good accomplishment, although the countless twelve year
olds surrounding us would probably not agree, actually the group of three 70
year old women probably wouldn't agree either. I'm sure made it through every
room ;)
Later
that night we went to their friends birthday party, which was dominated
by blond girls speaking Swedish, but I still met quite a few people and it was
a good time. I found a wine juicebox (yes, that exists!) and a sheep-skin rug,
so really it was quite difficult not to have a good time.
Perhaps my favorite past time in Sweden, and being anywhere really, was just catching up and reminiscing in various little cafes and coffee shops around the city. Some of them were really adorable!
Speaking
of adorable, Sunday morning Emma prepared brunch for us at her house which is
outside of Linkoping, in the Swedish countryside. It was absolutely adorable,
beautiful, peaceful, incredible! Not only did we have the most wonderful brunch
but her house was just so lovely and tranquil. I can see why she says it's
worth the thirty/forty-five minute commute.
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| Reunited! |
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| Emma's House |
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| Beautiful Brunch! |
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| Emma's cat was also incredibly snuggly. No exaggeration. I generally am not a huge cat person, but he made it pretty hard not to be. |