Wow, once again it has been way too long since I’ve written. It would probably take me weeks and weeks to say all I want about the last two months so I’ve included things I’ve been keeping track of all along and some highlights (don’t worry though, I’m still terrible at summarizing so if you have a few hours to kill continue on):
• It is fashionable for women here to wear all black with white shoes – an interesting combination if you ask me.
• Public transportation here is great but there were two instances in one week where I and everyone else had to get out of the subway and take the bus because people were screwing around on the tracks! It didn’t take long for the busses to come but it was still such a pain; especially since the second time it happened, the bus dropped me off and I had no idea where I was… I was lost for about an hour until a friend found me!
• Potato chips = crisps because French fries = chips… ahh, the UK.
• People clapped when our plane landed in Poland… one of my friends asked if that’s a rare occurrence that deserves props when accomplished…. :)
• Oslo, Norway is ridiculously expensive – McDonald’s meals were $8+.
• Countryside in Norway and Sweden between Oslo and Stockholm is very similar to that of Pennsylvania… trees, fields, rocks (more water in Norway and Sweden though).
• People drive very fast here. The speed limit may be 90 km/h but 100-150 km/h (60-90 mph) is the range people actually drive… I did not see one government official monitoring the highways although in Norway there are a lot of cameras.
• Destiny Café in Oslo = cheap alcohol + prostitutes + graffiti + creepy old men + a great place for happy hour and not a second more.
• H&Ms in Warsaw, Poland are more expensive than in Sweden which is surprising.
• Americans get crapped on in Europe… or at least Brad and I were in Poland. The Aussie and Scot that were with us thought it was hilarious. I would have too if it weren’t me and I didn’t have to walk around with a wet shirt on (due to my pathetic attempt at washing it out).
• Poland had really wide streets and underground crosswalks linked with subway system instead of disturbing the traffic.
• Strange little departure areas in Warsaw’s airport. Area for Gates 1 and 2 didn’t have a bathroom and area for Gates 3 and 4 didn’t have any sort of place to buy food and drinks… I know because we went to 3 and 4 when we should have gone to 1 and 2.
• I appreciate that everyone in Sweden speaks English a little more because we experienced the language barrier when trying to get to the top of Warsaw’s tallest building… the guy at the receptionist desk on floor 15 did not speak a word of English while trying to tell us we came the wrong way and had to go back downstairs to get to the top via a different elevator shaft. Eventually, he just pushed us back in the elevator and pressed the ground floor.
• Stag parties are bachelor parties that last not only for a night but for a whole weekend.
• Mojitos are amazing.
• Café Opera of Stockholm was not as great as I thought it’d be… it was really expensive and small for the amount of people that were there. Since there was a private party at the beginning of the night we had to stand in the dining room… awkward since people were still ordering dinner… I had one small glass of wine for 10 USD!
• City Hall event was pretty cool. Beautiful building and good free food and wine but kind of lacking in the entertainment department.
• We had a corridor dinner and all the food was good. I don’t really know what most of it was, but it was good.
• Bulgarian Whiskey supposedly cures everything… I can attest to the fact that this statement is false because I had sniffles when I took the whiskey and they were still there the next day.
• Right now it is very popular in Finland to take shots of alcohol that tastes like liquefied black licorice and the original-flavored cough medicine… I can’t even say which I preferred… probably the whiskey.
• One night I came back to my room at 1 am (no, I was not intoxicated) and the lock was broken… so I could not get in. I had to sleep in the common room – very weird! Right before I laid down on the stiff old sofa, I had to remove part of a candy rapper and a raison… lovely. Luckily, very nice flat-mate of mine let me use his comforter and pillow (I made him chocolate cake to say thanks).
• I am still watching Grey’s Anatomy… the show is pure genius. Private Practice is also showing a lot of potential.
• Korean cuisine is very good! My friend, Sul, made me a traditional South Korean meal with a beef stir-fry sort of thing, sushi, rice, and a really spicy, leafy vegetable salad.
• Saw an IMAX in Swedish but I paid a little extra for an earphone to listen to the English audio… very strange having each ear hear a different language.
• Austrians are hard-core coffee drinkers. A friend of mine claims that for a while he drank an average of 6 or 7 cups a day while in Austria! It is a good thing he came here or he would probably be dead!
• American males have to fill out a special form in order to get a Russian visa… the last question asks something like "Do you or have you ever had education or formal training in the production or use of nuclear, biological, or chemical weaponry?" I can not believe they have to ask! Everyone should know that American males all have to take a class covering all those subjects while they are in high school. Is that not standard in every country? :) I guess I should not make fun too much because I’ve been told the US asks the same sort of questions on its Visa application form.
• I am going to Scotland for Christmas! Yay! I get to meet my best friend, Claire’s, family… it should be great. I’m thinking Bailey’s at 8 am Christmas morning with Claire’s grandpa sounds quite enticing.
• I should be blonde… that hasn’t changed. ;)
• Now the sun rises at about 8 am and sets at 3:15 pm! It really messes with your system… sometimes I feel like I should be eating dinner at four when I’ve only just had lunch a few hours before!
• It has snowed a few times but nothing has stuck yet.
Since my last entry I have traveled to Oslo (Norway), Warsaw (Poland), Røros (Norway), and St. Petersburg (Russia).
Nine friends and I rented two cars and drove about 7 hours to Oslo, Norway for a weekend. Our hostel was nice but it was in a bad part of the city; as we were driving around at about 11 pm to find a parking spot, we saw a hooker get picked up by a man in a car… creepy. Our first day, it was raining and didn’t really stop for a significant amount of time until we were on our way back to Stockholm the next day. We were all wet and cold so we went to the central train station to get some coffee and then we walked to the Modern Art Museum. The entrance was free which, I’ve been told, isn’t uncommon in Europe – very nice! At night we started off at Destiny Café for happy hour and took a good chunk out of their stock of beer… our whole table was filled with beers. Once we finished and happy hour was over, we moved to a much nicer bar and later went to a club which was very nice.
The next morning we ate packed up our things, checked out, and drove to the sculpture garden. It was large and contained many unusual sculptures of men, women, and babies. Some of them were sexual, some artsy, and some sort of creepy – like the one in which a man has about five children crawling on him and it looks like he is angrily trying to get them off and throw them as far as possible! At that point, it was mid-afternoon and time to head back to Stockholm. As we were driving out of Oslo, the sun came out and looked beautiful against the lakes and forest. Unfortunately, there was nowhere to pull off the highway to take pictures; I took some from inside the car but none of them turned out all that well. We got back to Stockholm at about 10:30 pm and I was quite tired… so much excitement! :)
The next weekend, I went to Warsaw, Poland with three friends. Warsaw is a beautiful city that is a mix of modern and old-fashioned buildings. David, Brad, Nic, and I stayed at the Okie Dokie Hostel which is located at the center of the city and a short walk from most of the major tourist sites. It was a really nice hostel that I definitely recommend if you’re ever in Warsaw. We arrived in the early afternoon so we walked around, went up in the tallest building in Warsaw, went to the mall (which is famous for its undulating glass roof), had a few drinks at a few different places, had a late dinner along with many mixed drinks, and then walked around the city at night.
• It is fashionable for women here to wear all black with white shoes – an interesting combination if you ask me.
• Public transportation here is great but there were two instances in one week where I and everyone else had to get out of the subway and take the bus because people were screwing around on the tracks! It didn’t take long for the busses to come but it was still such a pain; especially since the second time it happened, the bus dropped me off and I had no idea where I was… I was lost for about an hour until a friend found me!
• Potato chips = crisps because French fries = chips… ahh, the UK.
• People clapped when our plane landed in Poland… one of my friends asked if that’s a rare occurrence that deserves props when accomplished…. :)
• Oslo, Norway is ridiculously expensive – McDonald’s meals were $8+.
• Countryside in Norway and Sweden between Oslo and Stockholm is very similar to that of Pennsylvania… trees, fields, rocks (more water in Norway and Sweden though).
• People drive very fast here. The speed limit may be 90 km/h but 100-150 km/h (60-90 mph) is the range people actually drive… I did not see one government official monitoring the highways although in Norway there are a lot of cameras.
• Destiny Café in Oslo = cheap alcohol + prostitutes + graffiti + creepy old men + a great place for happy hour and not a second more.
• H&Ms in Warsaw, Poland are more expensive than in Sweden which is surprising.
• Americans get crapped on in Europe… or at least Brad and I were in Poland. The Aussie and Scot that were with us thought it was hilarious. I would have too if it weren’t me and I didn’t have to walk around with a wet shirt on (due to my pathetic attempt at washing it out).
• Poland had really wide streets and underground crosswalks linked with subway system instead of disturbing the traffic.
• Strange little departure areas in Warsaw’s airport. Area for Gates 1 and 2 didn’t have a bathroom and area for Gates 3 and 4 didn’t have any sort of place to buy food and drinks… I know because we went to 3 and 4 when we should have gone to 1 and 2.
• I appreciate that everyone in Sweden speaks English a little more because we experienced the language barrier when trying to get to the top of Warsaw’s tallest building… the guy at the receptionist desk on floor 15 did not speak a word of English while trying to tell us we came the wrong way and had to go back downstairs to get to the top via a different elevator shaft. Eventually, he just pushed us back in the elevator and pressed the ground floor.
• Stag parties are bachelor parties that last not only for a night but for a whole weekend.
• Mojitos are amazing.
• Café Opera of Stockholm was not as great as I thought it’d be… it was really expensive and small for the amount of people that were there. Since there was a private party at the beginning of the night we had to stand in the dining room… awkward since people were still ordering dinner… I had one small glass of wine for 10 USD!
• City Hall event was pretty cool. Beautiful building and good free food and wine but kind of lacking in the entertainment department.
• We had a corridor dinner and all the food was good. I don’t really know what most of it was, but it was good.
• Bulgarian Whiskey supposedly cures everything… I can attest to the fact that this statement is false because I had sniffles when I took the whiskey and they were still there the next day.
• Right now it is very popular in Finland to take shots of alcohol that tastes like liquefied black licorice and the original-flavored cough medicine… I can’t even say which I preferred… probably the whiskey.
• One night I came back to my room at 1 am (no, I was not intoxicated) and the lock was broken… so I could not get in. I had to sleep in the common room – very weird! Right before I laid down on the stiff old sofa, I had to remove part of a candy rapper and a raison… lovely. Luckily, very nice flat-mate of mine let me use his comforter and pillow (I made him chocolate cake to say thanks).
• I am still watching Grey’s Anatomy… the show is pure genius. Private Practice is also showing a lot of potential.
• Korean cuisine is very good! My friend, Sul, made me a traditional South Korean meal with a beef stir-fry sort of thing, sushi, rice, and a really spicy, leafy vegetable salad.
• Saw an IMAX in Swedish but I paid a little extra for an earphone to listen to the English audio… very strange having each ear hear a different language.
• Austrians are hard-core coffee drinkers. A friend of mine claims that for a while he drank an average of 6 or 7 cups a day while in Austria! It is a good thing he came here or he would probably be dead!
• American males have to fill out a special form in order to get a Russian visa… the last question asks something like "Do you or have you ever had education or formal training in the production or use of nuclear, biological, or chemical weaponry?" I can not believe they have to ask! Everyone should know that American males all have to take a class covering all those subjects while they are in high school. Is that not standard in every country? :) I guess I should not make fun too much because I’ve been told the US asks the same sort of questions on its Visa application form.
• I am going to Scotland for Christmas! Yay! I get to meet my best friend, Claire’s, family… it should be great. I’m thinking Bailey’s at 8 am Christmas morning with Claire’s grandpa sounds quite enticing.
• I should be blonde… that hasn’t changed. ;)
• Now the sun rises at about 8 am and sets at 3:15 pm! It really messes with your system… sometimes I feel like I should be eating dinner at four when I’ve only just had lunch a few hours before!
• It has snowed a few times but nothing has stuck yet.
Since my last entry I have traveled to Oslo (Norway), Warsaw (Poland), Røros (Norway), and St. Petersburg (Russia).
Nine friends and I rented two cars and drove about 7 hours to Oslo, Norway for a weekend. Our hostel was nice but it was in a bad part of the city; as we were driving around at about 11 pm to find a parking spot, we saw a hooker get picked up by a man in a car… creepy. Our first day, it was raining and didn’t really stop for a significant amount of time until we were on our way back to Stockholm the next day. We were all wet and cold so we went to the central train station to get some coffee and then we walked to the Modern Art Museum. The entrance was free which, I’ve been told, isn’t uncommon in Europe – very nice! At night we started off at Destiny Café for happy hour and took a good chunk out of their stock of beer… our whole table was filled with beers. Once we finished and happy hour was over, we moved to a much nicer bar and later went to a club which was very nice.
The next morning we ate packed up our things, checked out, and drove to the sculpture garden. It was large and contained many unusual sculptures of men, women, and babies. Some of them were sexual, some artsy, and some sort of creepy – like the one in which a man has about five children crawling on him and it looks like he is angrily trying to get them off and throw them as far as possible! At that point, it was mid-afternoon and time to head back to Stockholm. As we were driving out of Oslo, the sun came out and looked beautiful against the lakes and forest. Unfortunately, there was nowhere to pull off the highway to take pictures; I took some from inside the car but none of them turned out all that well. We got back to Stockholm at about 10:30 pm and I was quite tired… so much excitement! :)
The next weekend, I went to Warsaw, Poland with three friends. Warsaw is a beautiful city that is a mix of modern and old-fashioned buildings. David, Brad, Nic, and I stayed at the Okie Dokie Hostel which is located at the center of the city and a short walk from most of the major tourist sites. It was a really nice hostel that I definitely recommend if you’re ever in Warsaw. We arrived in the early afternoon so we walked around, went up in the tallest building in Warsaw, went to the mall (which is famous for its undulating glass roof), had a few drinks at a few different places, had a late dinner along with many mixed drinks, and then walked around the city at night.
Our second day we walked to the old city, walked back to the new city to watch a rugby match, shopped for a while, and soon after it was time for our hostel’s happy hour. There were a bunch of Irishmen there for one man’s stag party. They were all drunk, bought everyone in the (very small) bar a round, and pulled out a guitar to sing some great Oasis classics and new Snow Patrol songs. When happy hour was over, we went to a club and eventually met up with the Irishmen there. They were still really drunk and happy to buy drinks… good for us. I had a conversation with two of them who happened to be engineers working for a company that makes refrigerators. I mentioned that I have 8 months of experience in the industry and then they both gave me their business cards! I never contacted them since we were all intoxicated and that probably doesn’t count as serious networking, ha ha ha! The next day none of us were feeling very well. We got up late, went to the Hard Rock Café, watched a rugby match, and had a nice evening in since we had to get up early for our flight back to Sweden. I had a lot of fun and would like to go back to Poland some time… I’ve heard Krakow is an even better city to see.
A couple weeks later I went to Røros, Norway with the Stockholm BEST (Board of European Students of Technology) group. I was introduced to this group by a friend in one of my first period classes and have been going to the meetings ever since. The aim of the group is to get European students to take mini courses (2 weeks) that are given throughout the year at different universities in Europe, travel to new places, meet new people, and have fun. The Nordic Regional Meeting was held in Røros, so people from schools in Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Norway attended.
On our way we saw a herd of moose in the road! There were actually only 3 in the road but there were at least 10 off on the side of the road! Pierre was driving pretty fast around a curve in the road so he had to stop quickly to avoid hitting and scaring the moose. Jasmine was driving the other car behind us and a few seconds after we stopped we heard wheels screech… Jasmine didn’t realize we had stopped and so she had to break really hard and actually turn her car a bit to avoid hitting us! Welcome to Scandinavia, huh?! Eventually, they cleared the road and we continued on our merry way.
It was very interesting because there were people from almost every country in Europe but a lot of them are exchange students in the Nordic region. I attended two training sessions (creativity and fundraising), an international “dinner,” a presentation by Shell employees, and many other smaller events. The training sessions were taught by other BEST members who have gone to specific training sessions qualifying them as a trainer on subjects they choose. The international “dinner” was amazing… everyone was supposed to bring something from their home country that is representative of the country. I brought peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and everyone else brought alcohol and candy and lots of other stuff. I felt like such a schmuck because I was the only country that didn’t provide some sort of alcohol (I clearly didn’t get the memo… I did tell some people about Miller beer though, but I don’t think that made up for the fact that I didn’t have any - whoops)! When I presented (I was number two after the Latvian girl who brought chocolate, candy, and alcohol), it was so embarrassing because I had to say that I only brought pb&j sandwiches… Here is the list of everything I got to try (well, everything I can remember):
Ø Latvian wine, chocolate, powdered sugar-covered lignon berries, cheese (really good)
Ø Norwegian wine (extremely sweet), beer, bread a little thicker than a tortilla with butter & cinnamon & sugar, chocolate covered marshmallow bears, chocolate covered Bugles, smoked salmon (I didn’t have any)
Ø Italian wine, Christmas bread with and without dried fruit inside (extremely good – kind of like angel food cake), 3 different types of dried breads (all good), hazelnut chocolate
Ø Austrian vodka, chocolate cookies with thin layers of pastry (which you are supposed to soak in the vodka, light on fire, and then eat! – we didn’t do that since it is dangerous when people are drinking a lot :) )
Ø Central & South American [Mexican & Argentinean] wine with coke, dulce de leche (a lot like caramel but it comes in jar and is more liquidous)
Ø Finnish Mintus (like mint schnapps), black licorice-tasting alcohol (thick and disgusting – probably doesn’t help that I really dislike black licorice)
Ø Spanish creamy alcohol, ham
Ø French wine, brie, chevre cheese (smelly but good), baguette
Ø Icelandic vodka with orange juice, shark (chewy and gross – luckily by this time I couldn’t really taste or smell it), dried fish (really bad – like jerky but even worse because it’s fish; I couldn’t taste the shark but I could taste the dried fish!)
Ø Danish Robitussin-tasting alcohol, fried pig curly ‘chips’ (with a thick layer of fat –not my cup of tea), liver paste on dark bread (better than I expected)
Ø Swedish sangria, warm wine with peppermint chunks & almonds & raisons, flatbread with caviar in paste form from a toothpaste tube (caviar = not good), also banana caviar (extremely not good), herring covered in mayonnaise or mustard (I didn’t try because I already have and didn’t like it), licorice, candies
The place we stayed was above a huge, old, retired copper mine. There were three buildings one of which was the place we stayed in and one of the others was a museum and entrance for the mine. The bathroom situation was really strange. There was a small room with one urinal and two stalls and then there was a really large room with two trough-like sink contraptions with a total of 6 faucets (the water of 3 was all caught by the same ‘trough’ and drained at one side). In the bigger room, there were also two showers. The shower area was partially separated from the sink area but didn’t have any curtains and it was quite easy to see into the shower area from the sinks! Not to mention, that there was absolutely nothing separating the two showers from each other! I only took one shower the whole weekend (yes, I was pretty disgusting) because it was a little too scary to think how easy it would be for someone to see things I didn’t want them to see (even if by accident).
The last morning, people were all hustling to get organized and out of the cabin. We ate sandwiches (typical breakfast here) and we went to the mine museum which was right next door: Olavsgruvet (= Olav’s mine). Afterwards, we hugged, thanked everyone, and said bye. Santi, Katja, Leo, and I went to Røros to sightsee a little before leaving. We met some of the other people from the RM who were going to explore Røros while they were waiting for their train to come. We saw the outside of the ‘famous’ church (we came too late in the day and it was closed) and went to gift shop. This strange cat that’s face looked like Garfield’s (the cartoon/comic) seemed to follow us around while we were walking. We said good-bye again and started to drive back around 4 pm. We arrived in Stockholm around 12 am. Santi and I went to return car but we couldn’t so we drove it back to Lappis… got in a little after 1 am.
My most recent international excursion was to St. Petersburg, Russia. I went with my French friend Sandra, from my Swedish 1 course in August. We took the Viking Line’s ship named Isabella to Turku, Finland which was an overnight journey yet I managed to only get an hour of sleep! On the cruises like this one, there are discos and lots of cheap alcohol – two good reasons for traveling students to negate sleep. :) When we docked in Turku, we piled into two coach busses and began the 8 hour road trip to St. Petersburg. We stopped about every 2 hours for bathroom, food, and to stretch out our legs. Crossing the Finnish-Russian border was really tedious! We had to get out on both sides, wait in a line for our passports to be checked, wait for the bus driver and bus to be checked (also possible luggage checking), and then once we got back on the bus we drove maybe a hundred meters and were stopped so our visas could be checked again.
A couple weeks later I went to Røros, Norway with the Stockholm BEST (Board of European Students of Technology) group. I was introduced to this group by a friend in one of my first period classes and have been going to the meetings ever since. The aim of the group is to get European students to take mini courses (2 weeks) that are given throughout the year at different universities in Europe, travel to new places, meet new people, and have fun. The Nordic Regional Meeting was held in Røros, so people from schools in Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Norway attended.
On our way we saw a herd of moose in the road! There were actually only 3 in the road but there were at least 10 off on the side of the road! Pierre was driving pretty fast around a curve in the road so he had to stop quickly to avoid hitting and scaring the moose. Jasmine was driving the other car behind us and a few seconds after we stopped we heard wheels screech… Jasmine didn’t realize we had stopped and so she had to break really hard and actually turn her car a bit to avoid hitting us! Welcome to Scandinavia, huh?! Eventually, they cleared the road and we continued on our merry way.
It was very interesting because there were people from almost every country in Europe but a lot of them are exchange students in the Nordic region. I attended two training sessions (creativity and fundraising), an international “dinner,” a presentation by Shell employees, and many other smaller events. The training sessions were taught by other BEST members who have gone to specific training sessions qualifying them as a trainer on subjects they choose. The international “dinner” was amazing… everyone was supposed to bring something from their home country that is representative of the country. I brought peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and everyone else brought alcohol and candy and lots of other stuff. I felt like such a schmuck because I was the only country that didn’t provide some sort of alcohol (I clearly didn’t get the memo… I did tell some people about Miller beer though, but I don’t think that made up for the fact that I didn’t have any - whoops)! When I presented (I was number two after the Latvian girl who brought chocolate, candy, and alcohol), it was so embarrassing because I had to say that I only brought pb&j sandwiches… Here is the list of everything I got to try (well, everything I can remember):
Ø Latvian wine, chocolate, powdered sugar-covered lignon berries, cheese (really good)
Ø Norwegian wine (extremely sweet), beer, bread a little thicker than a tortilla with butter & cinnamon & sugar, chocolate covered marshmallow bears, chocolate covered Bugles, smoked salmon (I didn’t have any)
Ø Italian wine, Christmas bread with and without dried fruit inside (extremely good – kind of like angel food cake), 3 different types of dried breads (all good), hazelnut chocolate
Ø Austrian vodka, chocolate cookies with thin layers of pastry (which you are supposed to soak in the vodka, light on fire, and then eat! – we didn’t do that since it is dangerous when people are drinking a lot :) )
Ø Central & South American [Mexican & Argentinean] wine with coke, dulce de leche (a lot like caramel but it comes in jar and is more liquidous)
Ø Finnish Mintus (like mint schnapps), black licorice-tasting alcohol (thick and disgusting – probably doesn’t help that I really dislike black licorice)
Ø Spanish creamy alcohol, ham
Ø French wine, brie, chevre cheese (smelly but good), baguette
Ø Icelandic vodka with orange juice, shark (chewy and gross – luckily by this time I couldn’t really taste or smell it), dried fish (really bad – like jerky but even worse because it’s fish; I couldn’t taste the shark but I could taste the dried fish!)
Ø Danish Robitussin-tasting alcohol, fried pig curly ‘chips’ (with a thick layer of fat –not my cup of tea), liver paste on dark bread (better than I expected)
Ø Swedish sangria, warm wine with peppermint chunks & almonds & raisons, flatbread with caviar in paste form from a toothpaste tube (caviar = not good), also banana caviar (extremely not good), herring covered in mayonnaise or mustard (I didn’t try because I already have and didn’t like it), licorice, candies
The place we stayed was above a huge, old, retired copper mine. There were three buildings one of which was the place we stayed in and one of the others was a museum and entrance for the mine. The bathroom situation was really strange. There was a small room with one urinal and two stalls and then there was a really large room with two trough-like sink contraptions with a total of 6 faucets (the water of 3 was all caught by the same ‘trough’ and drained at one side). In the bigger room, there were also two showers. The shower area was partially separated from the sink area but didn’t have any curtains and it was quite easy to see into the shower area from the sinks! Not to mention, that there was absolutely nothing separating the two showers from each other! I only took one shower the whole weekend (yes, I was pretty disgusting) because it was a little too scary to think how easy it would be for someone to see things I didn’t want them to see (even if by accident).
The last morning, people were all hustling to get organized and out of the cabin. We ate sandwiches (typical breakfast here) and we went to the mine museum which was right next door: Olavsgruvet (= Olav’s mine). Afterwards, we hugged, thanked everyone, and said bye. Santi, Katja, Leo, and I went to Røros to sightsee a little before leaving. We met some of the other people from the RM who were going to explore Røros while they were waiting for their train to come. We saw the outside of the ‘famous’ church (we came too late in the day and it was closed) and went to gift shop. This strange cat that’s face looked like Garfield’s (the cartoon/comic) seemed to follow us around while we were walking. We said good-bye again and started to drive back around 4 pm. We arrived in Stockholm around 12 am. Santi and I went to return car but we couldn’t so we drove it back to Lappis… got in a little after 1 am.
My most recent international excursion was to St. Petersburg, Russia. I went with my French friend Sandra, from my Swedish 1 course in August. We took the Viking Line’s ship named Isabella to Turku, Finland which was an overnight journey yet I managed to only get an hour of sleep! On the cruises like this one, there are discos and lots of cheap alcohol – two good reasons for traveling students to negate sleep. :) When we docked in Turku, we piled into two coach busses and began the 8 hour road trip to St. Petersburg. We stopped about every 2 hours for bathroom, food, and to stretch out our legs. Crossing the Finnish-Russian border was really tedious! We had to get out on both sides, wait in a line for our passports to be checked, wait for the bus driver and bus to be checked (also possible luggage checking), and then once we got back on the bus we drove maybe a hundred meters and were stopped so our visas could be checked again.
After we had been driving in Russia for a while our busses pulled off to the side of the highway and an unmarked white van pulled up in front of us. The van’s driver got out and opened up the back of the van to reveal loads of alcohol, cigarettes, chocolate, and rubels (Russian currency) to be exchanged with the Euros we were told to bring! It was like a bunch of kids in a candy store; within a few minutes of him opening his van, we were all huddled around placing our orders and taking the cheap goods! A few minutes later, the man left with a much lighter truck and a much thicker wallet. I bought a bottle of vodka… please, I was in Russia… it’s practically law! When I think back on it, there can't be many sketchier situations than buying a bunch of cheap goods out of the back of an unmarked van... on the side of a highway... in Russia... Ahhh, the memories!
We arrived to Ladoga Hotel in St. Petersburg at about 9 pm. I went out with some people to walk around and find something to eat. St. Petersburg is a beautiful city and has beautiful subway stations (compared to the ones I’ve seen in the US - and they are even better than the ones in Stockholm). The next morning, we ate breakfast at the hotel and went to Pushkin Palace. It was very ornate; there were many halls full of gold fixtures and decorations, large mirrors, and huge candelabras. The famous Amber room was also a sight for sore eyes but it was not quite as large as I expected it to be. We went to a market nearby and I bought a couple commemorative magnets. ;)
After that, we were dropped off in the city center for some free time before the Russian Folk Dance Performance. Sandra wasn’t going to the optional event so I walked around town with an American from Long Island and an Englishman. We went inside the Church of Spilled Blood (shown in the picture above) which was completely covered in mosaics… no stained glass or paintings, just mosaics… very pretty. It was very nerve-wrecking for me, but we ate at a rather fancy Chinese restaurant across from the palace where we would see the Russian Folk Dance Performance. Dinner was pretty good and inexpensive for the quality and look of the place. We had a few communication problems while asking for a table and ordering because German is the second language in Russia so not many people know English. I ended up running a larger tab because the waitress kept asking me if I wanted rice even though I said no. Since she kept asking, I figured rice came with my entree and just said yes. She asked, “For one?” and I said yes, but we got a huge platter full of rice. Needless to say, I shared and didn’t bother to tell her I thought the rice would just be for me. She did know more English than anyone else I had met at that point, so I gave her a tip… not common in Europe or Russia unless you are a really pleased customer.
The performance was very interesting. The outfits, dancing, and singing were all different from any other sort of performance I had seen… I don’t believe Broadway shows any of that stuff! J When we got back to the hotel, people were drinking so I joined in… I really wanted to finish off the bottle of Russian vodka I bought so I could keep the bottle as a souvenir. Thanks to some good friends and other people, it didn’t take so long to drink it all. The next morning I woke up and was still quite intoxicated. We went on a bus tour of St. Petersburg and were then dropped off in front of the Hermitage Museum. Sandra, some other people, and I went to get some lunch first and then spent a few hours at the museum. We were there for 3.5 hours and saw a lot, but there was a lot that we didn’t get to see. Eventually, we had to leave because we were going on a small cruise around St. Petersburg. The boat was extremely small and we were given Russian vodka, champagne, and caviar. I hadn’t been feeling well all day so I had one sip of the champagne and knew I wouldn’t be drinking that night. I tried the caviar and found out that I will be happy to never put that stuff in my mouth again! It was extremely salty, fishy, and I could feel it when the individual eggs burst as I chewed! Eww, just thinking about it makes me cringe.
It was our last night in St. Petersburg so we all decided to go out to the club Metro. No one (including our guides) knew where the club was so it was 11:30 pm by the time we reached it. There were three floors, each with its own dance floor, bar, and sitting area. On the third floor, there were “male strippers” but they weren’t really strippers… they were just all greased up, wearing very small shorts and construction hats, and dancing on raised platforms with poles. Their dance moves weren’t what I imagine male strippers’ moves to be either. Just to explain a little, I can only describe this so well because, as one guy said, it’s like a car wreck – you can’t take your eyes away! Ha ha ha! Creepy, but true. Also, I have never been to a strip club, but with movies and nusic videos these days, not much is left to the imagination. Anyway, that night I managed not to get a wink of sleep (the club closed at 6 am and our luggage was to be on the bus at 7:30)… luckily, we had the 8 hour bus ride…but unfortunately, we still stopped every two hours and then had to deal with all that hassle at the border again. It was nice to stop at the duty free shop though and buy lots of cheap alcohol. I bought a bottle of Absolute, Mintu, and two bottles of wine… all of which I am saving for my joint birthday celebration with David, the Scot (who has the exact same birthday as me – year and everything!).
That night on the ship I got 3 hours of sleep… wow, as I’m writing this I’m realizing how little I slept that weekend… no wonder I’ve slept through my alarm almost every day this week!
Also, recently I took the bus to Vaxholm, Sweden (only a 45 minute bus ride) which is a sweet little city about half way up the archipelago. I went with Matteo and we walked around the city (didn’t take too long :) ), had some tea, and then caught the boat back to Stockholm. It was amazing because the sun was setting as we were on the boat in the archipelago! We took some incredible pictures… even though we were battling the cold outside the boat.
Now that I have taken that much more time from your lives, I’ll say goodbye, take care, and my next edition will include Thanksgiving dinner with my friends, David’s and my joint birthday celebration, and (let’s be serious) probably my Scottish Christmas! Ha ha ha, like my little plug there!? Anyways, I will try to write sooner than Christmas, but you all know how it is! :)
After that, we were dropped off in the city center for some free time before the Russian Folk Dance Performance. Sandra wasn’t going to the optional event so I walked around town with an American from Long Island and an Englishman. We went inside the Church of Spilled Blood (shown in the picture above) which was completely covered in mosaics… no stained glass or paintings, just mosaics… very pretty. It was very nerve-wrecking for me, but we ate at a rather fancy Chinese restaurant across from the palace where we would see the Russian Folk Dance Performance. Dinner was pretty good and inexpensive for the quality and look of the place. We had a few communication problems while asking for a table and ordering because German is the second language in Russia so not many people know English. I ended up running a larger tab because the waitress kept asking me if I wanted rice even though I said no. Since she kept asking, I figured rice came with my entree and just said yes. She asked, “For one?” and I said yes, but we got a huge platter full of rice. Needless to say, I shared and didn’t bother to tell her I thought the rice would just be for me. She did know more English than anyone else I had met at that point, so I gave her a tip… not common in Europe or Russia unless you are a really pleased customer.
The performance was very interesting. The outfits, dancing, and singing were all different from any other sort of performance I had seen… I don’t believe Broadway shows any of that stuff! J When we got back to the hotel, people were drinking so I joined in… I really wanted to finish off the bottle of Russian vodka I bought so I could keep the bottle as a souvenir. Thanks to some good friends and other people, it didn’t take so long to drink it all. The next morning I woke up and was still quite intoxicated. We went on a bus tour of St. Petersburg and were then dropped off in front of the Hermitage Museum. Sandra, some other people, and I went to get some lunch first and then spent a few hours at the museum. We were there for 3.5 hours and saw a lot, but there was a lot that we didn’t get to see. Eventually, we had to leave because we were going on a small cruise around St. Petersburg. The boat was extremely small and we were given Russian vodka, champagne, and caviar. I hadn’t been feeling well all day so I had one sip of the champagne and knew I wouldn’t be drinking that night. I tried the caviar and found out that I will be happy to never put that stuff in my mouth again! It was extremely salty, fishy, and I could feel it when the individual eggs burst as I chewed! Eww, just thinking about it makes me cringe.
It was our last night in St. Petersburg so we all decided to go out to the club Metro. No one (including our guides) knew where the club was so it was 11:30 pm by the time we reached it. There were three floors, each with its own dance floor, bar, and sitting area. On the third floor, there were “male strippers” but they weren’t really strippers… they were just all greased up, wearing very small shorts and construction hats, and dancing on raised platforms with poles. Their dance moves weren’t what I imagine male strippers’ moves to be either. Just to explain a little, I can only describe this so well because, as one guy said, it’s like a car wreck – you can’t take your eyes away! Ha ha ha! Creepy, but true. Also, I have never been to a strip club, but with movies and nusic videos these days, not much is left to the imagination. Anyway, that night I managed not to get a wink of sleep (the club closed at 6 am and our luggage was to be on the bus at 7:30)… luckily, we had the 8 hour bus ride…but unfortunately, we still stopped every two hours and then had to deal with all that hassle at the border again. It was nice to stop at the duty free shop though and buy lots of cheap alcohol. I bought a bottle of Absolute, Mintu, and two bottles of wine… all of which I am saving for my joint birthday celebration with David, the Scot (who has the exact same birthday as me – year and everything!).
That night on the ship I got 3 hours of sleep… wow, as I’m writing this I’m realizing how little I slept that weekend… no wonder I’ve slept through my alarm almost every day this week!
Also, recently I took the bus to Vaxholm, Sweden (only a 45 minute bus ride) which is a sweet little city about half way up the archipelago. I went with Matteo and we walked around the city (didn’t take too long :) ), had some tea, and then caught the boat back to Stockholm. It was amazing because the sun was setting as we were on the boat in the archipelago! We took some incredible pictures… even though we were battling the cold outside the boat.
Now that I have taken that much more time from your lives, I’ll say goodbye, take care, and my next edition will include Thanksgiving dinner with my friends, David’s and my joint birthday celebration, and (let’s be serious) probably my Scottish Christmas! Ha ha ha, like my little plug there!? Anyways, I will try to write sooner than Christmas, but you all know how it is! :)
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