My Solo Stockholm Adventure

It disappoints me that it has taken me this long to catch up, yet again, on my blog. But I did want to devote a fair amount of time to relaying the details of my final adventure rather than write a half-hearted entry in an airport somewhere. As it stands, with the excitement still going on in my life these days, it will probably take me several hours with breaks in between. So here goes...

Not that I didn't love love LOVE Norway, but I must confess: Sweden was my first choice of destinations when I was initially looking for study abroad programs. Norway was, however, a very close second, so I was no less excited when everything worked out for me to go there. But my desire to visit Sweden, particularly Stockholm, never faded, so I was really hoping to be able to make a side-trip over there sometime before I had to return to the U.S. I thought it was going to work out for me to go with some of my new friends for a weekend, but we ended up going on the cruise to Copenhagen instead. (I know, boo hoo, right?) Needless to say, although I was disappointed that my dreams of Stockholm would not be coming to fruition on that particular weekend, I jumped at the opportunity to cruise to Copenhagen with so many incredible people. But I did not give up on my dream of Stockholm. In fact, I had a pretty crazy idea. What if I could change my flight to leave from Stockholm instead of Oslo and leave Oslo 1 day earlier to spend 24 hours in Stockholm? It was crazy, but I thought it just might work...and it did! The folks at Iceland Air were nice enough to charge me a minimal fee and change my flight easily!

Fast forward to Saturday, July 23rd. The attacks on Oslo had happened just the day before, but I figured the airport would be one of the safest places. As crazy as it seemed and as nervous as I was at first, by that point I was SO excited about this trip. And spoiler alert: it did not disappoint!


I took a cab to Oslo Central Station (just to be safe, given the events of the previous day) and a train to the airport. It was recommended that travelers arrive at the airport very early due to extra security precautions, but ironically, I found that it was quicker than any experience I've had at an airport in America! However, Norwegian Air charged me an arm & a leg for every kilogram my luggage was over the limit...and my luggage was HEAVY. I'm ashamed to say how much it cost to get my month's worth of stuff on that tiny plane. At this point, I was incredibly excited but also somewhat depressed about the end of my Oslo experience. But to my wonderful surprise, while aimlessly wandering around the airport, I ran into Marcus & Madi, my Australian friends from my program! Hanging out with them for a few hours before our flights left made the transition from the end of one of the best months of my life to the beginning of a new adventure on my own much easier. After we lounged around the airport for about an hour, it was time for them to board their flight to Stavanger, so we had to part ways. Luckily, I had been stalking my other Australian friend, Lucas, who was also stalking me; thus, we ran into each other near my gate and hung out until it was time for me to board my flight. It's always nice to have a friendly face around at times like that, a proper send-off for my big solo adventure!


I arrived to sunny weather in Stockholm, and after fighting my way through a group of about 50 teenage Brazilian boys, I collected my bags and set off in search of the baggage storage area. Cue blood, sweat & tears. Minus the blood. But sweat and tears for real. I'd done my research beforehand and knew that the baggage storage area was on the first floor between terminals 4 & 5. However, it was not that simple. The elevators wouldn't go to the correct floors, the signs made no sense, the list went on. I went back to the same woman behind the information counter three times nearly in tears trying to find this place. Eventually, I made my way to the deserted grey dungeon underneath the airport. But the fun wasn't over yet! I still had to lift the suitcase that weighed more than all three of my young siblings combined (maybe a slight exaggeration...but not much!) into a locker over my head. It took a lot of psyching myself up and summoning all of my strength, but I got that sucker up there, and I felt like a superhuman version of myself afterwards!

I received a warm welcome from the royal family of Sweden.

Okay. No more sweat, no more tears, and still no blood. I was ready to truly embark on my adventure. To my great advantage, my wonderful boyfriend had given me a Frommer's guide to Scandinavia for Christmas in 2010 that contained all the information I could possibly need for getting from the airport to the metropolitan Stockholm area where my hostel (and let's be honest, pretty much everything else) is located. Not wanting to waste any time after the luggage storage debacle, I immediately purchased a one-way ticket on the Arlanda Express train to Stockholm City, where I got on a T-bana (subway) train to the stop near which I had purposely selected a hostel.

Half-mast for Norway. :(

View of the Swedish countryside from the Arlanda Express

Stockholm Central Station

 

I must say, that express train was flawless. Not only was it yellow, but it also was impeccably clean, had comfortable seats, had a restroom on board and took half the time of the alternative method of transportation. Thanks for the tips, Sal! :)

When I was choosing a hostel, I purposely chose one that was close to a T-bana station to ensure that I could get where I wanted to go easily and was not doing too much walking by myself if I came back late at night, even though Stockholm is one of the safest cities in the world. It had some of the highest ratings & seemed perfect on paper/computer screen, but you never know with things like that until you see them. But Skanstulls Vandrarhem (try saying that 10 times fast) hostel was amazing! It was really close to the Skanstulls T stop, was even nicer inside than it appeared on the website, had a friendly reception staff and even more amenities than expected. 

This has just been the journey...and my trip was all uphill from there! Stay tuned for my re-cap of the real adventure!

Why Norway?

22 July 2011 was a terrible day in the country of Norway. Events transpired that led people all over the world to utter the phrase that happens to be the name of my blog.

Last Friday was supposed to be nothing more than the last day of my summer program and an opportunity to finish souvenir shopping. In a matter of hours, it became the most tragic day in Norway since World War II. Jenny, Liz and I had returned from souvenir shopping downtown (near Parliament & the government area...) and were working with the other Americans to prepare a dish for our farewell dinner that evening when we heard the news. In an attempt to assassinate the prime minister of Norway, some maniac had set off a car bomb in the government building of Norway's capital. Not far from where we had just been souvenir shopping within the past hour and a half. Not far at all. (Not close enough that we would have been injured, but close enough that, had souvenir shopping taken a little longer, we may not have had to hear about it from the internet.)

Since it had just happened, not many details were available via the media other than that at that point no one had been killed and only a few injuries had been discovered. Although we were upset by the news, there was nothing we could do except try to stay calm and embrace our last day with the group. Since, unfortunately, bombings like that happen every day in various parts of the world, we really were not sure how big this news would be in the U.S. or if it would even be a blip on the radar of the American news media, but we decided to shoot quick e-mails to our families just in case to let them know we were alright. Although we were anxiously awaiting more information regarding the incident, none was available, so we proceeded with the evening as planned.

At the international dinner I learned of the second attack, which was certainly more than an incident, a shooting at a summer camp on the nearby island of Utoya. I must say, at the time we were a bit too preoccupied & distracted with the festivities to be too shaken up about that day's events. Perhaps this was partly a defense mechanism as well. It was not until after the dinner that we discovered the severity of the events that had transpired and that the "thunder" many of us had heard earlier from our apartments was not a natural phenomenon but the bomb meant for the prime minister.

Initial suspicions were that the attacks were the work of Al-Qaeda or a similar terrorist groups, made more likely by the fact that many of them took credit for these horrific events. With that in mind, I think everyone's first thought was, "Why Norway?!" It is literally one of THE most peaceful, ethical and neutral countries in the world. If Norway is not safe from these types of attacks, no place is. Period. Unfortunately, the state of affairs in the world today has led us to expect terrorist threats every day in America and to keep the possibility in the backs of our minds nearly all the time. However, no one expected anything like this to happen in NORWAY, least of all the Norwegians. If you watch a video of the attack on the government building, the shock is palpable; the Norwegians are standing or walking around, many on their phones, gaping open-mouthed and silent. There was no chaos or mass pandemonium, just pure shock. Perhaps even more shocking than the attacks being the work of a terrorist organization was the truth: both attacks were carried out by a man named Anders Behring Breivik FROM NORWAY. The lunatic of a man is a self-proclaimed Christian who, according to his "manifesto," is outraged at HOW ACCEPTING NORWAY IS OF OTHER CULTURES, NAMELY MUSLIMS. Seriously? SERIOUSLY? Basically, he sought to mirror Al-Qaeda but on the exact opposite end of the spectrum of extremism. To read more about this sociopath & his twisted beliefs, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/world/europe/24oslo.html?_r=1&emc=eta1. This just goes to show that, although many people throughout the world confuse the two, the issue is not religion, but extremism. Practicing every religion are ethical, morally upright people who wouldn't hurt a fly as well as the occasional misguided extremist. As far as I am concerned, the only religious issue here is the religious/ethnic intolerance of this terrorist.


This particular extremist first used a car bomb to blow up the government building on what was fortunately a public holiday, so the prime minister was working from home. However, seven others were killed. Newspaper covers in Norway show images of this scene from which I will never recover. I will not share details, but some of the images of the casualties, one in particular, are burned into my brain forever. As though this were not enough, the same guy left the scene and entered a youth political camp, claiming to be a police officer there for routine extra security due to the earlier bombings, complete with police uniform. He then proceeded to shoot and brutally murder 80-something people. Including innocent children who were simply trying to participate in politics. (I am not positive, but fro what I understand this camp is loosely similar to something like Young Democrats/Republicans or College Democrats/Republicans in the U.S. But like I said, that's just an educated guess.) What happened at that summer camp on the island of Utoya was brutal. Accounts and interviews from survivors were some of the most moving, bone-chilling words I have ever heard. I will not subject anyone who does not want to hear/read to the gory details, but if you want to know more, gruesome images, detailed accounts, horrifying stories and, of course, the cold, hard facts, are easily accessible via various news websites should you be interested in reading more about the events of that day.


I truly can not imagine how someone could do something like this anywhere, let alone in a country like Norway, and even though I wasn't born & raised there, I called Oslo "home" for a month of my life, so I am not traumatized or anything, but I do feel somewhat personally affected. After learning so much about Norwegian culture and experiencing firsthand the integrity & calmness of these people, I am outraged & shocked that anyone, regardless of his nationality or religion, would commit such acts of terror in this beautiful place. If you have read my previous entries, you know that Norway is a trust-based society. The government trusts the people, the people trust the people, and the people trust the government. You don't have to swipe your card to ride the subway; they just trust that you bought one. People rarely abuse this system, and this true integrity of the Norwegian people as a whole is one of the things that attracts me to the country & culture in the first place. There is debate in the media about the potential long-term effects of this tragedy on Norway and its people. Every country has sociopaths, but this particular one inflicted so much damage that is quite possibly irreparable. They were completely unprepared for the events of that day, but now they will have to be. This may or may not require making adjustments to their seemingly Utopian society where everyone trusts everyone, everyone cleans up after themselves and everyone does what they're supposed to. I'm no expert on national security, so I will be waiting to see if these adjustments are all political/governmental or if there will be drastic impacts on the Norwegian people & culture. Of course I hope they are prepared to prevent & respond to things like this in the future. I just hope it doesn't take away Norway's innocence.

I would like to close with a quote from Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg that I found very moving and optimistic: "No one will bomb us to silence. No one will shoot us to silence. No one will ever scare us away from being Norway. You will not destroy us. You will not destroy our democracy or our ideals for a better world."

 (Photo from Google Images)

Please keep the Norwegians in your thoughts in this difficult time & hope for a safe future for their country! Also, thanks to everyone for the positive thoughts & concerns while I was over there. While I was perfectly safe (as was everyone in my program), it was a sad time, and it was so nice to have support & concern from friends & family.

Re-cap...again

As most of you probably know, I have returned to the U.S. Unfortunately, I have not been able to keep up with my blog for the past week or so. A lot of things have happened in the past week, the vast majority of which were extremely positive and one notable event which was, quite simply, tragic. I plan to catch up and write blog entries responding to the attacks in Oslo that occurred a week ago today (I feel the event deserves more than simply an "I'm okay" Facebook post on my part), telling of my solo adventures in Stockholm and Iceland and providing my "closing remarks," if you will, regarding my program/the best summer of my life. My internet access has been quite limited lately, as it cost money to use the internet at the airports in Europe, I returned to Boston only just Monday, and on Wednesday Sal & I embarked on our 4-stop roadtrip down the East coast of the U.S. from Boston to Florida. Maybe I'll even continue my blog to include my final adventures of the summer! We'll see. So be patient, but more importantly, stay tuned!

6 Hours in Copenhagen

A few weeks ago, I was invited to go on yet another weekend trip with people from my program. Cruise to Copenhagen with 29 of my new friends?! Uh...yes, please! Although I had really wanted to go to Stockholm that weekend, I didn't have to think twice. And I am so very glad I jumped at the opportunity to visit another Scandinavian capital with great friends for a very reasonable price, even though we would only be spending part of one day in Copenhagen.

 The group :)

We didn't really know what to expect of the Crown of Scandinavia, but to my surprise, the ferry was just like any of the cruise ships that leaves from Port Canaveral or Miami, complete with many upscale restaurants & buffets, pools & jacuzzis, bars, shops, clubs, movie theaters, etc. What more could we have wanted? We arrived at Oslofjord & got on the ship around 3:30 on Friday afternoon & spent the next couple of hours exploring the ship & its amenities before taking advantage of the very pricey but also unlimited buffet for dinner. 

 How cool does Oslo look from the water?

 First order of business: Titanic photo. (Joe from the US & Axel from Turkey/Spain/London)

 Arne!

 My favorite Michigan State girls. :) (Megan, Lauren & Jenny)

Bye, Oslo!

After the buffet, we decided that Thursday night's karaoke outing was not enough for us and immediately hit the club/bar to continue the streak. It was a late night.

 Madi! (From Australia)

 Arne, Lauren & me

 At 8:00 sharp the following morning, we were rudely/conveniently awakened in 3 different languages, basically telling us that we had better get off the boat within the next 2 hours. We did not want to waste ANY time, so we leaped out of bed & headed up to Guest Services to exchange our currency from Norwegian Kroners to Danish Kroners & purchase tickets in advance for Tivoli Gardens, the amusement park we planned to visit later that day. We only had about 6 hours in Copenhagen, and we intended to use every minute to the fullest, so we immediately made our way to the canal for the canal tour of the city with a brief stop at the famous Little Mermaid, which is based off of Hans Christen Andersen's story.

Wez! (Australia)

By this point, I already knew I was a fan of Copenhagen. Far more than traditional visual art, I can appreciate architecture, and along with everything else Scandinavian, I like their architectural styles, so Copenhagen was right up my alley in just about every way. The canal tour gave us a spectacular view of the city & its architecture, unique in that it was from the water. Also, there are lots of yellow things in Copenhagen. :)

 Can I live here, please? It's only a few billion Kroners...

After the canal tour (as well as before & during), we were RAVENOUS. We were supposed to eat lunch at & go on a tour of the Carlsberg Brewery but were informed by a hotdog vendor that it would be very time consuming for us to get there from our current location, even by bus, so we had to skip it due to the time constraints. It was disappointing, but we didn't let it get us down & continued with our day. We stopped for lunch at a bakery en route to our final destination, Tivoli Gardens.

On another note, Copenhagen also has something similar to the horses in Ocala or the apples in NYC: elephant statues everywhere! In addition to architecture, bodies of water, crepes & the color yellow, Copenhagen is known for one of my favorite animals.

So cute!

I don't think too many people in the U.S. have heard of it, but Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen is actually quite famous. From my brief experience there, I would say it's like Epcot with more nature, beer gardens, a few rollercoasters, plus Denmark/minus other countries, plus a Titanic exhibit & aquarium, & less expensive. So they're really not that similar.

 We got Carlsbergs in Copenhagen since we couldn't do the brewery tour.

At 3:00, we left Tivoli Gardens to make what we expected to be a long trek back to the ferry. We stopped briefly for crepes (I got Nutella/banana- SO delicious!) & to pick up a few souvenirs and got lucky enough to catch a shuttle back to the ferry. Even better, the bus driver let us on for free! 

Even though we were only there for a few hours, I got enough of a feel for Copenhagen to know that I absolutely LOVE it. It is officially one of my favorite cities that I have visited, and I would love to go back one day if the opportunity arises. We made the most of our time & had a fantastic day overall.

We were exhausted & crashed when we got back to our cabins. Or at least we tried to in spite of the plethora of announcements coming through our intercoms & prank calls from our friends. Saturday evening we ate far less extravagantly, but it was even better food in my opinion. Jules, Caitlin, Liz (my roommates for the cruise) & I went to bed around 2:30 am. Only to be awakened again around 4 am by a...visitor, for whom I was forced to get out of bed & open our door to let into our room. The events that commenced next are worth alluding to due to their "crazy story from college that sounds like something from a movie" nature but I will refrain from posting details to protect those involved. I will say that it involved a rude awakening, some Australians with a really awesome (not) idea, a bath towel & a "documentary." I'll leave it to your imagination. I just went back to sleep.

We had to be off the ship by 9:30 in the morning, so it was another relatively early morning followed by everyone sleeping for the rest of the day when we returned to our apartments in Oslo. I can't even remember the last time I actually fell asleep during the day, but the jet lag & overall lack of sleep I've been getting on this trip finally caught up with me in the form of a 3-hour nap.

The weekend ended with a viewing of the Justin Bieber movie in the laundry room on my laptop with 2 friends (one willing & eager, one somewhat resistant). Perfect ending to a perfect weekend.

Building Character: Preikestolen

On Saturday it was finally time to embark on the adventure we set out for: hiking to the top of Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock in English). Of course it was pouring rain by 7 am, but that wasn't going to stop us. The first bus stop was tricky to find, but we figured it out. Our hostel was in BFN (BFE but with Norway, get it?), so it required 2 buses & a ferry to get there. The ferry gave us an incredible view of the islands around the coast and dropped us off at the bottom of the cliff. It was at that point that I realized for the first time what I'd gotten myself into. This was not hiking; it was BOULDER-HOPPING. Like diagonal rock-climbing. In the rain.

If you know me, you can probably deduce that hiking isn't exactly my "thing," let alone boulder-hopping. It seemed like a scary feat at first, & I was unsure about my ability to make the 2-hour trek to the top, which happened to be 2,000 feet off the ground.

But I made it. Fully intact, soaking wet with no serious injuries. And it felt great. I can honestly say I have never felt as empowered & accomplished as I did then. The "hike" was difficult due to the steepness of the inclines, both up- & downhill, the slipperiness of the rocks, & the uncertainty about the stability of the rocks on which we were stepping. Look up from the ground for one second or take one wrong step, & you could be seriously injured. No pressure. Although it was difficult & certainly not safe, it was doable. I don't want to be overly dramatic; I'm no superhuman. A relatively fit & coordinated individual with good balance & logical thinking skills could probably do it, but that doesn't change the fact that it is a major accomplishment to make it not only to the top but also to the bottom again.

 Lucas

 Bridges = pretty much the only breaks.

 Yes, the Preview backpack made the journey with me.

P-LUV '10 :)

 First glimpse of a fjord!

 About half-way up the cliff

 Trail marker

Words & pictures can not do this experience justice. When we got to the top, it took my breath away. I thought, "THIS is why people come to Norway." I wish Preikestolen were better known throughout the world. Honestly, I think it should be up there with the 7 Wonders of the World. Being up there was a combination of feeling like I was on top of the world & being overwhelmed by it all.

Naturally, the first thing most of us did was rush to the edge & hang some body part (legs, head) off of the cliff. Talk about exhilarating! Again, pictures & words can not do it justice, but they do a pretty good job.

 FJORD.

 Getting close! We had to shuffle across a TINY ledge to get to the very end.

 Preikestolen.

Just chillin. NBD.

 

 I did it!

 The tiny orange line is me. Sorry, Mom. :)

I couldn't have asked for a better group to travel & share this experience with! From left to right: Deniz, me, Lauren, Joe, Liz, Caitlin, Jules, Megan & Lucas. Thanks to Jules & Liz for making a plan, sticking to it & finalizing the details!

In a word, amazing. Definitely one of the highlights of my life. And another word, character-building. That's how I like to think of all difficulties in life. As I was climbing rocks in the pouring rain, I could feel myself building character, & I really feel like I'm a stronger person for having completed this adventure.

Some things I learned: Fjords are really cool & actually highly underrated in my opinion. FYI, they are inlets surrounded by steep cliffs caused by glaciers. Hostels are good things. Pushing myself just a little out of my comfort zone has yet to be a bad idea, especially not in this case. AAA makes the best earplugs. PB&J is one of the greatest concepts of all time. The end.