Good-bye Stockholm…

My last day here in Stockholm was a rainy one, which made it a bit sadder. Today I squeezed in all the final things on my list; first stop was the Moderna Museet. Had I listened to my trusty iPhone I would have walked about 10 feet to catch the bus, which was directly outside my hotel, however I double checked with the front desk and they assured me that my stop was upstairs near the central station… it was a nice walk at least back and forth, it was a cooler morning and the clouds were dark. Once I arrived in Skeppsholmen, another island outside of Stockholm I found my way to the Moderna Museet. Just in front of the museum was a row full of wishing trees. Passers by were encouraged to fill out their life’s wishes on this tag and use the string to tie it to the tree. <3

I absolutely loved the Modern Museum; modern art is one that speaks most to me. I love how simple with regards to the medium yet still extremely powerful and meaningful regarding the message.  It being a rainy and dark it was a perfect day to spend indoors for several hours. The rain stopped just long enough for me to find a spot outside overlooking the water to eat my lunch. Thankfully huge umbrellas covered the chairs and tables, so when the rain picked back up again I was covered and still able to eat outside. I ended my time with a quick pit stop at the gift shop, of course. I spent my last hours this afternoon and evening Gamla Stan walking around the shops and restaurants. It was still pretty rainy, so after about 2 hours of shopping my feet were pretty soggy and cold from the rain, I headed into a cute little Italian restaurant for the last supper, in Stockholm. It was a delicious meal and the hospitality was even better. Evo was my waiter, from Bulgaria. Overall this was a perfect ending to my trip, there is nothing left on my check list as far as sightseeing, I’ve meet some great lifetime friends (we already have our Swe-union/get together planned in Tampa in a few months) I was embraced and loved by the Lovewell community, cast and staff, who let us all into their world and I’ve learned so much about a new culture and even more about my self and for that I say, Tack!

Early flight in the morning back home, my Swedish Adventure is coming to a close, but certainly not my hunger for seeing the world. J

K

Ice Bar’s and Crayfish Party’s and Palace’s… Oh My!

“Yes, I’ll have a Wolf’s Paw please” these are only words one can express at Ice Bar in Stockholm City, where we were Sunday night. After a long and miserable bus ride (I don’t do well sitting for 5 hours) we were back in Stockholm. So of the group were leaving Sunday night and early Monday morning, but Jana, Julia, Naomi, DJ and I all had a few more nights together. After getting settled into our hotels we quickly headed to the Nordic Sea Hotel where we had a fabulous dinner. Julia and DJ had elk stew, and I had the Bookmaker Toast, easily one of the best meals we’ve had here. After diner we hit the Ice Bar right next door. In order to avoid freezing, we geared up with big heavy coats and gloves that they provide, and in we went! The entire bar was made completely of ice, every inch of it. It’s created after a hotel in the north of Sweden that all ice as well. Our drinks were chilled to the perfect temperature, which tends to happen when your drinking out of a cup made from ice. The Wolf’s Paw is Vodka and Lingonberry Juice, it was tart the moment in hit your tongue. We could only handle about 30 minutes until we were annoyingly cold. It was well worth it and the best way to end the evening.

Monday started off with my new favorite breakfast here at the Adlon Hotell. The Brie Cheese and the fresh fruit and yogurt, tomato’s and meats and my absolute favorite is the Swedish Saffron and Pistachio Bread, it never gets old!

Jana, Julia and I hit the streets afterwards to locate the bus station in order to head to Djurgården, an island outside of Stockholm.  Djurgården is home to some famous sites such as Skansen and Vasa Mussette. Our first stop was Skansen, which is an outdoor museum. It has many Scandinavian animals such as reindeer, goats, wolf’s, etc. and shows all the parts of Sweden before the industrial era. We even got to sit down in one of the huts in the Sami Camp. Sitting on the soft reindeer fur comforter and looking around at all the special tools and trinkets they had was very surreal. All the animals were my favorite part, how many people can say they’ve seen a reindeer! We went into several of the shops; one being the general store where one of the available items was fresh hops. If you think it couldn’t get any better than hops, the bakery was right down the road… it was full of steam in order to get the dough to rise. The cinnamon pretzel was so satisfying.

After Skansen we had lunch at Rosendals trädgārd, it was a beautiful café in the midst of a huge garden abundant of flowers and vegetables and fruits. I had a salad with goat cheese and cuscus followed by carrot cake! With our full belly’s we headed to the Vasa Mussette, which houses a Swedish war ship from the 1600’s that only sailed for about 25 minutes before it sank. It started its voyage on August 10^th, the anniversary is right around the corner. However, before it started the voyage, despite its failure, a lot of time was spent building the ship. The ships architect did not use any sort of blueprints or measurements while designing the ship, which could be to blame. The Vasa laid in the Baltic Sea for over 333 years before they were able to salvage it, and it’s 98% in tact with its original material. After walking all day throughout the island, we decided to take a taxi back unannounced to us how expensive they are!! We apparently picked the wrong company, as other taxis are less expensive.

As if our day was not full enough we still had our Crayfish party to go to, at Maria’s house. Maria is the one that came into our class earlier in the week and talked to us about the Swedish educational system. She has an amazing apartment here in Stockholm and we were scheduled to have dinner on the rooftop of her building. Unfortunately it was raining, so we had to eat in the inner part of the rooftop, which was still gorgeous. We had a pretty fantastic spread complete with crayfish, burgers and hot dogs, cheeses, fruit, chips, cake, fresh bread, traditional Swedish cake found in the northern part of Sweden, you name it and it was there.

Today (Tuesday) we said good-by to Janna, DJ and Naomi as they were all flying back home early this morning. So Julia and I went to Drottningholm Palace! It was a beautiful hour boat ride over there, which landed us with a front row spot into the palace. The palace was filled with beautiful colors and royal detailing; my eye didn’t know where to look there was so much to take in. One of my favorite parts was a room that posed as a bedroom for the Queen, however it’s not where she slept, it was used for visitors to come and dote over her while she lay in bed. Must be nice!

The Palace Park was beautiful, it so long and appears to go on forever and sort of melts into the skyline when you look through it. The upkeep it must take to man all of the shrubby and flowers must take forever! Julia and I also got to go into the theater for a tour, we volunteered to go back stage with our guide and demonstrate with the props for the group to hear. The original wind and thunder machines were still in tact, so Julia took the wind by spinning the wooden wheel that rubbed against this soft paper that created a sound identical to fast wind, and I pulled on these two long strings attached to a wooden box with rocks in it to create the thunder sound. It was really surreal to think that we were using these props that are hundreds of years old that were used to put on fabulous plays for Royalty.

After we got back from Drottningholm I went into City Hall for a brief tour. City Hall is made with over 8 million bricks and 1 million of those are hand made bricks! City Hall hosts many large events throughout the year, the biggest being the dinner and dancing celebration for the Nobel Prize awards. The dinner is hosted in the large sized banquet type room that was designed to look like an Italian piazza; they call this the blue room. My favorite room was a room that was tiled in a mosaic pattern top to bottom with real golden leaf tiles. The pictures depicted historical moments and scenery and some real life moments representative of Sweden. It was so over the top!

Tomorrow is my last day in Stockholm, and I have a full agenda to get through.

Saying good-bye to the city tomorrow will be hard, I’ve grown to love it here, but I will be happy to get home and see my family and little Marcie-Belle.

god natt

-K

The Final Act….

After spending some time outside in the sun and by the water all day on Thursday at Blå Jungfrun, I am now looking less and less Swedish and more like a tourist… due to my awkwardly placed sunburned spots. I didn’t realize how much sun I’d really gotten until I got back to the room on Thursday night and saw that my chest and a patch on my arm that was bright red from the sun.  

Friday morning we had our last official class here in Oskarshman, we watched some great videos of Sir Ken Robinson. The part that resonated most with me was the bit on how young children aren’t afraid to  “have a go” because they aren’t worried to be wrong, and “if your not prepared to be wrong you’ll never come up with anything original”.  After our class and lunch we headed to the Forum where the cast is preparing for the opening of The Women of White Chapel. It was all hands on deck throughout the afternoon. We all took on tasks: putting together programs, setting up the t-shirt booth, taking tickets, etc. It felt good to be apart of helping put things together, and being around the cast and their upbeat energy. 

Opening night went off without a hitch, and the show was absolutely fantastic! I’d been able to see bits and pieces of Act I throughout the past two weeks but Act II was a total surprise and I was blown away with the talent! High on Lovewell energy we all headed to the Pub after the show to celebrate the success. I had a blast, however was sad to know that this was one of our last nights together. 

Saturday morning, we all had breakfast and then left for a private tour of the Frederiksberg mansion. Henerick, who came and spoke to our class in earlier weeks, mother runs the mansion. It was pretty cool to be the only group and have access to see things they do not usually include in the tour. The tour was full of history from this small town of Oskarshamn, and housed some original pieces dating back from the 1600’s. It also houses, one of the oldest mineral collections in the world in one of the rooms, they all still have their original documentation alongside them. We had a few hours of downtime to start packing and preparing for our departures on Sunday. Tonight (Saturday) was also the second showing of The Women of White Chapel, if it’s even possible it was better the second time around. Soon we will be heading down to the beach area where they are hosting a part for the cast, crew, families, staff, etc. to celebrate the show. We’ve been told there will be food and drinks to last all night long…. can’t wait! 

It will be sad and sort of weird to leave tomorrow, I’ve settled into a routine here that feels about normal, it’s be so much fun meeting such great people and building lasting relationships. Most of us are staying the extra days in Stockholm as a buffer before we go home, more exploring more learning and more fun to be had!  

xxoo

K

Smiles of a summer night….

Thursday August 2^nd

My day started out with a trip to Blå Jungfrun, and it was much more than I’d expected in many ways. I caught the 9:30AM boat over to the island; it was about an hour and ½ ride through the beautiful waters of the Baltic Sea. It was a perfect day to be outside, the sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Once we arrived to the island, the guide handed us a map and a few bits of important information. The most important being about the rocks of the island, because this is the “evil and magical island” and home to the evil sprits, they recommend you not take any of the beautiful rocks with you as a souvenir as it brings bad luck for as long as you have the rock. Many people have ignored this and have ended up mailing their rocks back explaining all of their bad luck that’s happened since. I believe that you create you own luck, and life is really what you make of each situation, but I certainly wasn’t going to chance it, especially being 4,000 miles away from home.

The island was so beautiful and very physically challenging. If I’d known about all the climbing I may have thought twice about going, but I am really glad that I went as it was a great experience. The entire island is made from these huge rocks that are millions of years old. We are told they are similar rocks to what you’ll find in Australia as many years ago Blå Jungfrun was quite close to Australia.

We arrived onto the island promptly at 11:00AM, and we had to be back by the boats at exactly 2:15PM. It takes about 2 and ½ hours to climb around the perimeter of the island, so I immediately started my excursion. The huge clay orange rocks are very sturdy, however it was at times very difficult to move from one to the next as there is no clear pathway, my only guide was the waist high wooden markers painted with white to keep me on track. In the beginning I followed what looked to be a nice couple, they were Swedish and seemed to know what they were doing (as I was by myself). The first point I made it to on the island was Stora jättegrytan, which is a stone during the ice age that has a big gaping whole through it, it was very neat to see. Next I walked down through the boulders and landed at Labyrinth. I walked through the pathways of Labyrinth and was not able to figure out a way to the center. So I gave in, and decided to sit down and enjoy the scenery and eat my packed lunch. The staff here at the school where so kind to pack me a lunch after I told them I’d be out for the entire day. Feeling the cool breeze and the warm sun on my face, all while looking out to the Baltic Sea! Certainly the best lunch I’ve had.

Next I decided to climb more towards the center of the island, and see the Kyrkan and Toppen stops. The center of the island was more of woodsy scenery; I was still using the white wooden poles to guide me through. Most of the time when you are standing at one of the poles you can see where the next one is so you know where to go, but some of the time I had to use my instinct while climbing over rocks and branches and through leaves and plants of all kinds. It was certainly a physical challenge and a mental one. I learned how to trust my gut instinct to lead me to the right direction. Because most everyone in the group split up and went their own directions there were times when I was very alone in certain areas, it sort of made me feel like James Franco in the movie 127 hours…creepy! Then, just about every 20 minutes or so I’d run into someone from the group, which was always a huge sign of relief! I walked through some stunning caves and made it all the way on top of the island, where the view was exquisite. When I saw the variety of our group it kept me encouraged that I could make it back to the other side of the island where I needed to be, there was a pregnant woman and people 3 times my age climbing these rocks, so I could to!

After  almost 3-hours of walking and climbing the island I had finally made it back to where the boats were! I felt a great feeling of accomplishment for making it back unscathed. I still had some time left, and I joined in with the Sweds by going down near the water to dip my feet it, it brought a delightful cooling over my body, I was pretty hot and sweaty by then. A lot of folks were daring enough to make it all the way into the cold water.

I made it back to the harbor around 4PM, and was able to relax a bit before dinner here at the school. We had a hearty meal of meat loaf and potato’s; it was just what I needed to restore my energy. After dinner a few of us walked over to check out this huge castle looking tower that we see everyday near the school, it turns out it’s just a water tower, and you can walk all the way up to the top, but it was closed once we got there.

Around 7:30 a few of us, with our professor, headed to a small impromptu concert at the döderhultarn kyrka (church). This is where Axel Pettersson (the artists who does the wooden carvings I talked about) get’s his nickname, döderhultarn from. He was named after the town he lived in. It was a beautiful concert of a clarinet and piano, very peaceful and meditative music. Afterwards we met and talked with Father Norrgård. Elizabeth, who we’ve meet earlier in the week, was also there. Her father is the one who started the oskarshamn folkhögskola, where we are staying. She invited us back to her house for a drink. We drove through acres and acres of land that her family owns just to get to her house, which was very beautiful. She is an artist and has her painting surrounding all of her walls trough her home.

It was a day full summer day filled of beautiful experiences, which I am so very grateful to have had.

Goodnight,

K

*I hope I’ll be able to walk in the morning; my legs and thighs are already sore from the island adventure! =) 

Wednesday August 1^st 

Well it’s officially my birthday month! LOL I like to celebrate all month long and enjoying the last half of my trip in Sweden is the perfect kick-off! Today we had class for about 2 hours this morning, we had another guest speaker come in, Maria, and she is a teacher here in the Swedish public school system. She talked to us in detail about the differences between the Swedish and American systems. We’ve previously learned that kids do not start school until they are 7 years old, and they start right at 1^st grade.  A few of the major differences that stood out to me are that when students move from middle school to high school which starts here at 10^th grade, they pick a “track” to focus on. For example, music, medical, technology, theater, or technical (beauty or mechanics), there are 16 tracks total and the students will still be required to take some general ed type courses but most of their courses will focus on what they want to study in later on in college. Allowing students to focus mainly on their strengths and interests. Maria also shared with us that as teachers they each are assigned a group of students that are separate from their class, where they act as mentors to these students through their graduation. Also, during the parent/teacher conferences that happen once per semester, are mainly run by the students, the students work with their teachers and mentor to prepare goals and outline their achievements, and this is what they talk about with the parents during the meeting. The student shares their accomplishments and where they are currently in all their classes, and they also share and outline their goals and where they want to be. I found this to be quite interesting, as it really calls for a lot of self-responsibility on the students part and allows the teachers and mentors to guide the students and see them through so they meet their goals. I really like the idea of students having their own goals verses goals set by the teachers, as we know every student is different and wont take the same path throughout their education. I don’t think the Swedish system is perfect, but it certainly has some encouraging traits.  After hearing from Maria, we moved onto a discussion around Swedenborg who was a Swedish scientist and philosopher, he is a controversial figure due to the dreams and visions he claimed to have experienced coming from the Lord and also angels, demons and sprits in order to reform Christianity. Swedenborg was a great opening to an interesting debate between everyone in the class on religious beliefs. In our class we have people from Venezuela, Cuba, Columbia and all throughout the US (Chicago, New York, Florida, etc.) and it was interesting to hear everyone interpretation on their beliefs and how they grew up knowing religion. 

After a full class we had lunch, which was a delicious fried fish, and then we all split in to groups and went to the local Antique shop and into town to see the flea market that was set up in the center of one of the squares. The flea market wasn’t big, like the ones that are back home in Orlando on the weekends, but it had it’s charm. There were some beautiful flowers and orchids for sale. 

This evening some of us pitched in and helped the Lovewell staff set up at the theater for the big opening night on Friday of The Women of White Chapel, about Jack the Ripper. I helped pain some of the sets and backdrops. The students are getting really excited and there is a little anxious energy in the air. 

Tomorrow I am headed to Blå Jungfrun, a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea. It’s said to be a very evil and magical place and witches often visit. There is a recommendation that you don’t take anything from the island back home with you, as it will cause bad luck. People have taken rocks in the past and have mailed them back with letters explaining all their misfortunes. I’m not sure I believe all that, but I’ll leave the rocks there just to be safe. Who knows what will happen….

Tuesday July 31^st 

Today in class we reviewed the Lovewell process and our professor shared some past stories of best practices in working with the students. Also, Janna one of the students in out class is an expert on the Alexander Technique, so she hosted a short session with us. 

What the Alexander Technique does is teach you how to observe your body and it’s movement and identifies ways to improve it. For example how you stand, or sit or, hold your head or hands. Once you identify, you work to improve it in order to get your body back to its natural comfortable movement so you can release tension within your body. It’s been shown to have a positive effect with folks who have been “mis-using” their bodies throughout a period of time. Its very interesting stuff. One of the best examples I think Janna gave was comparing the Alexander Technique to Physical Therapy, in an example of someone who broke their right leg and having a cast on it, well other parts of the body will compensate for the leg being out of commission and can cause strain on those parts working in overdrive. When you go to physical therapy after an injury you learn to strengthen the injured part, in this case the right leg, but no time is spent on working with the left leg or the hip or the parts that had to make up during the injury…this is where the Alexander Technique comes in. 

Monday July 30^th 

Today I enjoyed the traditional Swedish breakfast as usual, and then we all headed to our classroom. We dipped into some Quantum theory discussion and overview with the materials we were given.

After class we enjoyed lunch, over looking the beautiful green grounds of the school. Next I went into town and walked around, it was a colder rainy day today so there wasn’t much going on. I did get a chance to enjoy some Fika at the famous bakery again, Konditori Flanaden. I had to have another taste of the flakey almond bar; it was even better the second time! It rained on and off the rest of the day, which made it yet another perfectly cozy day back at the school and the best weather for sleeping.