Exploring Scandanavia

Hello all! I'm excited tell you about my amazing days in Denmark and Sweden! Last Thursday, I left for Copenhagen-excited, but a little nervous to travel completely alone for the first time. However, the trip was made easier by the fact that I was staying at a friend's house so I wouldn't have to try and find my hostel when I got into the city at 10:30 PM. I was going to be staying with my friend, Daniel. Looking back on it now, I had only known Daniel four days before I asked him if I could crash at his place. He is from Mexico, and we met on the Arctic Circle trip. I guess when you are in Europe and "sort of-kind of" know someone, they are a perfectly acceptable temporary roommate. One of the great things about Copenhagen is the metro takes you right from the airport to the city centre. It definitely reminded me of the good times I've had taking the c-train to school and back every day. Daniel met me at "Fansanvej" and took me to his student apartment. It was really great to have a place to stay. He was an incredible host, cook, and tour guide. I spent that night planning for the next day.
On Saturday, I went into town by myself and saw the Round Tower and the changing of the guards at the royal palace before I started to wander into random shops, bakeries and cafe's. I was telling Daniel that it was so weird being on my own. It was SO QUIET. But it was really nice. I went to Copenhagen's famous shopping street and surprisingly didn't go too crazy! I had a lot of fun just looking at all the really nice (but expensive!) clothes. It was quite rainy out so I didn't spend a ton of time outside, but I really enjoyed the day. As a side note: in Copenhagen, they have public washrooms underground. I thought they would be totally nasty, but I went down to one and it was actually really nice! So...I took a picture. :)





That night, Daniel's residence was having a "Spring Fling" party so I got on my flowered tights and got ready to meet a WHOLE BUNCH of new people at one time. I met a lot of Canadians (even some fellow Albertans), some Americans and a lot of Aussies. It was a really great night and some of the people I met are planning on coming to Bergen in May, so hopefully I will get to see them again!
On Saturday, I got up early in the morning and saw that it was a BEAUTIFUL DAY! I hadn't seen so much sunshine since I got to Norway, so I wanted to get outside and experience it all! Daniel was kind enough to let me borrow his bike for the day, so I felt like a true Dane cycling everywhere. It is so nice that Copenhagen has bike lanes on every single street. Since I'm not so worried about getting hit by a car, I could relax and appreciate the beauty around me.

I biked for two hours, and then took a canal tour. Before the boat ride, I got some soft is AKA soft ice cream that is 100x better than any ice cream you will eat in North America, and sat on the street looking out at the harbour.





Later on I went to a cafe that was supposed to be the Danish equivilent of Starbucks. Well, let me tell you-Starbucks could teach them a few lessons. It took exactly 27 minutes for them to prepare my chai latte that I ordered "to go". I would consider myself a fairly patient person when it comes to hot drinks, but this was crazy. Lucky for me, I didn't actually need "to go", so I sat down, listened to my ipod and did some journaling and eventually enjoyed my hot beverage. :) That night, I went out for dinner with Daniel and some of my new friends. We went to a place that was very similar to a favourite restaurant of mine at home: earls. It brought back some great memories for me, and it was definitely a night of laughter and great conversation. I had to get to bed relatively early because I was leaving early the next morning for Stockholm!
When I got to Stockholm, I found my hostel and quickly made my way to the main square. Though I had been to Stockholm before, I had only been to the old town area so it was very cool to see the new part of the city. I came across a market that was selling...everything you could possibly imagine. I was excited because I thought I might be able to find something cool, but it didn't really work out because I couldn't navigate my way through the crazy amounts of STUFF. Swedes are obviously not known for their organizational skills. (See Picture)

I quickly moved onto other parts of town, but didn't stay out too long because it was FREEZING cold and very windy. Plus, I had to prepare myself for the AWESOME-NESS that was going to occur the next day when I was going to meet up with my good friend, Ben from Minnesota!!
Ben and I met at FLBC, and though I hadn't seen him since August, I knew it would be just like old times when we met up. He was visiting his sister who was studying in Upsala, so we were able to meet up. After I picked him up at the train station, we went for coffee....and stayed there for four hours. Words can't describe how fantastic it was to see someone from "home" and just CATCH UP! We walked around for a bit, took a few pictures. And made a video. But of course, the video is not working so...you guys don't get to enjoy those 2 minutes of entertainment. Nevertheless, it was a great time.
Then, we went out for lunch and had a delicious panini (Ben's favourite) and continued to be obnoxious and take pictures in random places.





Basically, it was a FANTASTIC day and I'm so glad I got to meet up with him!!! My last day in Sweden, I walked around Old Town Stockholm window shopping and enjoying the SNOWFLAKES! Found a store named after me which was also cool...!





That day I made my way home, and it was a LONG journey. As much as I enjoyed my trip it was so wonderful to be home in my own bed!! I'm going to spend the next two weeks studying before my Mom comes to visit and we head off to Prague!
More adventures to come!!!
The diva is signing out for now! Hope you all are well!
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