A Start to A Really Fun Month

So as you can tell blogging is a bit of a struggle for me. I apologize for the lack of posts. Since the last time I posted I have returned from Stockholm, Tallin, Norway, London, Paris, Norwich, and Sevilla. Needless to say it has been super busy and so much fun.

October started out with a trip to Stockholm and Tallin with my core class from my program. Stockholm was absolutely beautiful and I loved getting the chance to see where Brady lived for the past two years. I now know why she wanted to stay there for so long.

 The trip itself started off pretty poorly by forgetting my favorite kind of cupcake on a table outside my house when I was in a rush and a nice metro ticket at 7:30 in the morning before I caught my flight. Whoops! But once we were in the airport and I was able to get a chai tea latte from Starbucks my day turned around. Stockholm was incredible! There were many academic visits that went along with the fun cultural things that we did. We had the chance to go to a specialized hospital for sports injuries and watch a patient have their ACL repaired. That was definitely a highlight to the academic visits.

During our free time we got to go to an outdoor village called Skansen. It was a little town inside Stockholm that even had a zoo to go along with it! The shops that were in the village were mostly closed, but they are known for an amazing glass blowing shop that I managed to miss.  I was too wrapped up in the fact that the leaves were finally changing colors and fall had arrived.

After frolicking around Skansen, we got to go see the Vasa museum. This may be my favorite museum that I have seen throughout all of Europe. It was mind boggling to see a ship so big that had once tried to set sail, but sunk pretty close to shore. Most of the ship was perserved in its original state, with a few new things here and there that needed to be added to keep it together.  

 There was still a lot to see and do during a short stay in Stockholm, and the trip was not complete without a trip or two to one of the best restaurants EVER... Vapianos. It was definitely a group favorite and we managed to eat there a few time while in Stockholm, and even in Tallin. We had the chance to ride up the side of the Globe, a huge arena that hosts many sporting events and concerts, to see all of Stockholm. It was a pretty cool getting to see every side of the city. It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be! 

Obviously the trip could not be complete without going to the Absolut Ice Bar. I had never really heard of it other than from Brady, but learned that there is one in Copenhagen and London too.  It was really cold in there, so thankfully we had these funny looking ponchos on to keep up warm.  Getting to the ice bar was not as simple as we were hoping it would and we barely made it in time before it shut down. They say that you can stay in there for 45 minutes, but seeing that we got there with only 30 minutes to closing and the fact that the place was an actual ice cube I was glad we didn't stay for the whole time. We each got a drink served in an ice glass. Without a glove on it was pretty difficult to hold onto the glass!

 The time had come to leave Stockholm and move onto seeing Tallin, but not without a fun little boat trip across the Baltic. A cruise ship with a bunch of friends turned out to be one of the most fun nights that I have had here. The ship itself was pretty interesting and tacky. I don't think that staff really liked us because they were not the friendliest, but we definitely gave them some good business that night. With a mixture of karaoke, dancing, playing in the little kids ball pit, people losing things left and right it was such a fun night! 

Our stay in Tallin was short, but you really only need a day to see all the was worth seeing there. Our academic visits were definitely not as exciting as the ones in Stockholm, but we managed to get through them so we could enjoy the fun things there. We got a tour of the old city which was very pretty. The colors of the building were really pretty. After our tour we got to eat dinner at a medieval times restaurant which was an experience in itself. They served us huge chicken legs, a plate of melted cheese, lentils, a few other interesting food items.

The best part of our time in Tallin was our chance to learn how to curl. The rink where we got to do this did not look like a very pleasant place to be, but then again a lot of Tallin was not very nice. It was fun to try out this sport. It is a lot harder than it looks and I even managed to fall pretty hard on the ice at one point while trying to sweep the stone.

Overall, the trip was so much fun and I am glad I can put both Stockholm and Tallin on my list of places I have visited. It was nice to get back to Copenhagen because I knew that it was just the beginning of a really fun month! Next on the list of things happening in October..... a little visit from DAD!