Sweden Adventure

Fool me once...

Well if I had a dollar for every time I’ve been confused for a native Swedish I would have a first class seat all the way through Europe! My salon blonde hair and baby blues have fooled just about everyone I’ve come into contact with… some tourists even stopped me to ask for directions! Ha! Each day here gets better than the next. On Sunday I was able to sleep in a bit at the hotel and make the necessary time adjustment. I had the most delicious traditional Swedish breakfast provided by Adlon Hotell. A smörgåsboard of fresh meat slices, many different kinds of cheeses (my favorite was the Brie) with tomato and fresh peppers, also a kind of breakfast bread complimented by the best kind of jams and jelly’s I’ve ever had…. but doesn’t end there… also a selection of flavored yogurts and fruit and granola to put on top! It sure beats the smoothie of frozen fruits I usually have on the way into the office.

So after breakfast I ventured out on my own for a few hours. I found my way to the old town, which is the original Stockholm from the 13^th century. It’s the perfect combination of small shops and boutiques and restaurants and history. I was only able to spend a small amount of time there, because I had to catch my bus to Oskarsham. I will definitely go back towards the end of my trip here. I was able to see the changing of the guards in front of the Royal Palace where they have a type of ceremony (video coming soon).

I went to central station to catch my bus, my class here has 11 people, so we had to split up onto several buses, as there were not enough tickets available for one bus. I’ve had to be very conscious of land marks and making a visual map in my head to remember my way around, although I look Swedish I cannot pronounce any of the street names! The bus was almost 5 hours into Oskarsham where our dorms are at the college we are staying at (no direct bus) but it wasn’t too bad. Once we arrive most of us were still pretty jetlagged and settled into our rooms here, ate a quick dinner and crashed.

This morning (Monday) we started our “school” schedule which consist of breakfast each morning from 8:00-9:00AM, then class for about 1-2 hours, then we have some down time to explore before lunch, then dinner from 5:00-5:30 and the rest of the evening is ours to explore and work on our assignments. Today I went with DJ and Naomi into the town are were the grocery store is and walked around to get familiar with the area. The weather is absolutely perfect here, between 60-70 degrees… it’s so nice to walk around and enjoy the breeze! When we found the grocery store, which is similar to a Target back home (grocery, home supplies, beauty, etc.) I had to buy a hair dryer and straighter! Even though I have an adaptor the voltage of most of the US tools are too high. It was a ponytail day for me, and I’m glad it was as another lady in my class used her dryer this morning and blew a fuse for the entire floor and in past years our professor told us some have even caused a small fire! I didn’t want to chance it! The professors here at the college are throwing us a little party this evening to welcome us, while out shopping this afternoon we made sure to stock up on the alcoholic beverages. We’ve learned that the Swedish are very accepting of most everything and all ways of life and lifestyles, however they are very strict on alcohol… you can’t buy past 6PM. It’s been an awesome first few days here, I can’t wait for all that’s to come. We are doing to do some longer field trips this weekend to Gotland and Blå Jungrun.

Pictures to go with “A first class experience” post below J

The lovely Swedish ladies greeting as we got on the plane to Amsterdam.