Post-Barcelona was a slow week, I kind of had the post-vacation blues. One thing about London is that it truly is always gray and rainy. When you've just had the weekend of your life in Spain, and you come back to cruddy weather and lots of schoolwork, your mood kind of gets thrown out of whack. Nothing terrible, mind you - I just didn't feel like doing much besides class, work, going to the gym, and sleep. Studying abroad is a lot like studying in New York in that way - once you get comfortable, you kind of feel guilty not going out to see something new everyday, but it's just not feasible. After a fairly non-eventful week, I was excited to head out and enjoy my weekend a bit. Thursday night we went for margaritas and Mexican food (my two favorite things) at Desperadoes in Angel - perfection. Then we hit a bar and McDonald's (duh) for a late night McFlurry. Friday night was a bit more epic - Hannah, Margaret, Eduardo, Javier, and a few others pregamed in the Nido kitchen and headed to SoHo to a club called The Den. It was a bit crazy - we were out til almost 5, and the night may or may not have included some She Wolfing, a missing coat, the country of Estonia, British TV executives, Tubes of Shame, Princess Diana, and the number 30. That's all you get to know.
Saturday we slept in, did some work (aka napped), and then went to Wagamama for dinner with Kaila and Hannah. We met up with Allen, Justin, Keely, and a few others for beer at The York, then came home to watch Lost and order late night pizza with Margaret. She now has accounts with every single British pizza place. Classy, my lady.
Sunday involved lots of paper writing, so let's skip that and get to ... Ke$ha!!! So I got a text from myspace (because I'm apparently a 12-year-old girl) about a secret show in London on Monday night. So, I love Ke$ha, and although my lovely friend Matthew first introduced me to "Tik Tok", I was well-versed with her work on the recent classic, Flo Rida's "Right Round", and feel somewhat responsible for playing her at every single social event until people had no choice but to like her. I'm not saying I single-handedly made Ke$ha happen. I'm just saying that her specific brand of weird dance-pop is perfectly tuned to my personal music trends, and that ... I basically single-handedly made her happen. Anywho, of course I had to hit up this concert, especially after missing the Valentine's Day show in NYC that most of my friends went to (bitches). Unfortunately, we have a required class that night... so I got my priorities in order, and immediately decided to skip the class. FIDLAR. I went by myself, and stood in line in the freezing cold while playing Ke$ha on my iPod to remind me why I was there. A few hours, some frozen hands, tons of weird British teenagers in animal costumes, and one Mayo Chicken value meal from McDonald's later, I met up with some other NYU people who were randomly there. I also met some British kids who were OBSESSED with America and asked me about 1000 questions about it (yes, we have Domino's Pizza. yes, we have Subway. yes, there are beaches in California, and they say dude). They were nice though, and a good distraction from the cold until we headed into the show. The show was AMAZING - only a few of her songs, but it was a packed venue and 4 hrs(!) in the cold landed me a pretty sweet spot. A couple hundred of us danced to "Backstabber", "Dinosaur", "Party at a Rich Dude's House", "Blah Blah Blah", and of course "Tik Tok", during which she assaulted us with glitter confetti. This was pretty incredible - sorry I don't have pictures. I had to rush through quite a bit of homework to make up for all the time I'd missed that afternoon, but it was totally worth it.
Tuesday through Thursday were again fairly uneventful - I had a nice date with someone I met the weekend before, did lots of homework, and packed for our weekend in Stockholm. AHHH! ANOTHER TRIP!
Our trip to Stockholm once again took a bus, a flight, and another bus just to make it to the city. The flight itself was fairly uneventful, but Kelly, Morgan, and I immediately got excited on seeing the snow when we landed in Vasteras, Sweden. Very Scandinavian and very pretty. The bus through the countryside probably offered plenty of nice views, but unfortunately it was too dark to see much more besides snow and pine trees. We got to Stockholm and found it amazingly well-lit - and completely deserted. It wasn't too late - only 10pm. But there was NOBODY on the streets or metro. We got off the metro and tried to locate our hostel, but the snow-lined streets all had crazy names and the map was hard to decipher. Once we got our bearings, we walked through a small park and ended up climbing a steep, snowy hill, all of us wondering just what we'd gotten ourselves into. At the top of the hill we had an AMAZING view of the city - lots of water, lights, buildings, and ice. Unfortunately, our hostel - a boat known as Rygerfjord located on the bay - was way down below us. We were on a ridiculous cliff with no way to get down except for ... the staircase of sure death.
Welcome to Sweden!
Morgan and Kelly braving the staircase of death
A view of Stockholm from the cliffside - so pretty
Rygerfjord is down there (somewhere)!
(Btw if Sweden looks like Antarctica with nice buildings, it kind of is. No worries.)
Several near-death slips and slides down the iciest wooden staircase in Sweden, we were at our hostel - Rygerfjord! (I will spare you all "I'm On a Boat" jokes - that song stopped being funny about 5 minutes after it aired, and I blame this on the same people who ruined "Napoleon Dynamite") It was quaint, especially after the crazy shitshow that was Kabul (our hostel in Barcelona). It had a bed-and-breakfast feel, except floating. Our 12-person dormitory was in the hold of the ship, near the front, so we were legitimately in the ship's hull. The staircase to the room was incredibly steep, and the ceilings and bunks were low, which proved a bit tough for me, but somehow my 6-foot frame managed. Our French roommates were loud and obnoxious (thanks for yelling all the time at 8am, douchebags!), but I actually managed some pretty good sleep. It was about 11:30pm, and we still hadn't eaten dinner. We had a craving for some good Swedish food (meatballs, plz, in and around my mouth), but instead we got... well... McDonald's. Dammit.
I'm on an over-referenced, tired pop culture reference! (Our hostel, Rygerfjord)
Another staircase of death, this one down to our room
Damn you McDonald's. You seductress. You TEMPTRESS.
The beautiful streets of Sweden
With no guidebook (we blame the fire in Nido, not Kelly - no worries, love), we decided instead to wander the city post-dinner. We saw some cute streets, all well-lit and completely vacant, a few bars (23 years old can NOT be the drinking age), and some gorgeous architecture. We took another stroll down the perilous cliff and staircase of death, and, after talking to some nice people in the hostel common room, called it a night.
We got a long night's rest, met up with Laura (coming in from quite the journey from Florence), and headed out to see the city in the daytime. It was ... actually harder to see. A huge fog had come in overnight, and it was difficult to see very much until you were right on it. Undeterred, we left our island (Stockholm is an archipelago, and situated on a series of islands) to head to Gamla Stan, where the old city of Stockholm is.
DISCLAIMER: None of the buildings I'm going to show you will have accurate captions. Here's why:
A) I don't know any of their names
B) If I did know their names, they would likely be 20 letters long, consist mostly of vowels and the letter's G, N, T, and S, as well as some foreign punctuation, thus impossible to spell
C) If managed to both know the name of the building and how to correctly spell it, I would have no idea of its significance
D) If I managed to know the name, spell it right, and know why it's important, you would probably not be able to tell it apart from any of the thousand other Scandinavian buildings I took pictures of
With this in mind, enjoy these pictures as well as the names I have assigned them
Talltowerwithpointytoppengurken
Othertalltowerwithpointytoppenfleimen
Enclosedbridgeoverroadenhaggen
The Royal Palace (hey I remembered one! Yay learning!)
We did some shopping, sight-seeing, and photo-taking in Gamla Stan (as well as having our first meal of Swedish meatballs, gravy, lingonberry sauce, and mashed potatoes - SO. EFFING. GOOD.), and then headed across another bridge to the city center, which actually had an H&M on every single street corner. No joke, we counted seven within a four block radius. I may have bought lots of hot new shirts. Thanks for being the birthplace of H&M, Sweden!
We then took the Ikea shuttlebus to MY FIRST IKEA VISIT EVER at the BIGGEST IKEA IN THE WORLD!!! It was pretty monumental. Arkansas doesn't have Ikea, and I've never been to the Brooklyn one, so seeing it for the first time in its original country was downright cool. The room designs - so chic! The color schemes - so coordinated! The meatballs - so Swedish (and a bit too soon after our first round of meatballs...oh well). We played (500) Days of Summer in most of the showrooms, sat on chairs that were way too small for us, and traversed the 5(!) floors and entire warehouse of this ridiculous place. We mentally decorated all of our future apartments - now, if we could stop spending money on RyanAir flights, beer, and meatballs, we could maybe one day afford a space to furnish. This does not seem likely.
I see ya, Ikea!
The epicness of Ikea
Bags bags bags bags bags bags (EVERYBODY!)
Kelly's Ikea Cooking Hour (with Kelly, starring Kelly)
Wow, Swedish menu, let's not call names, k?
Post-Ikea, we took the bus back and walked home to get ready for the night. With no real plans in mind, we enjoyed some spiced rum and then headed out to find some dinner. We found a phenomenal place with good pasta, good beer, and Swedish Ben Affleck. Morgan enjoyed it so much he took a nap!! Emily managed to find us after traveling Friday night, and our walk home was filled with snowball domination, a brief encounter with a boulder of snow and the Swedish police, and yes, the staircase of death.
Morgan, obviously having the time of his life
Laura, but also, more importantly, Swedish Ben Affleck. You can't really see it here, but oh man, he was SOOOO Ben Affleck
This is regular.
And, because I'm an asshole, here's another one of Morgan sleeping!
Saturday, with all of 5 of us finally up and in Sweden mode, we grabbed a quick breakfast and headed towards the ferry to take us to Djurgarden, another island with a theme park, a zoo, and a Scandinavian village to explore. The ferry was awesome - it cut across the chunks of ice with ease, and the views, though freezing, were incredible. The theme park at Djurgarden looked awesome, but was unfortunately closed. Too bad, I am so in the mood for some European roller coasting. The zoo and village - a large complex known as Skansen - was open, so we paid our Swedish Kronor and headed in. This place was really awesome. The village had a glass-blowing shop, several historic sites, a park for skating, sledding, and barbecuing, and lots of friendly Swedes. Also it was a friggin baby explosion. I guess when you are as good-looking as the Swedish, all you want to do is reproduce but damn... it was like a Stroller Party in there. The staircases in Stockholm actually have special tracks for strollers. In addition to the village, we saw seals, reindeer, moose (NEACURH love), herons, bison, and wolves - all animals native to the cold Scandinavian wilderness. The bears were in hibernation, as were the lynx and the wolverines, but kudos to this zoo for being one of the few I've seen outside of Jurassic Park that leaves the carcasses of its animal's food out in the open. Oh hey there ribcage!
The ice that our ferry totes dominated
Creepy frozen abandoned amusement park! I want to go there!
Our village/zoo/baby factory/stroller party (sorry I have no pics of animals - we had a bit of a camera snafu, but come on, a moose is a moose is a moose)
Post-Skansen (and yet another round of Swedish meatballs), we took the ferry back to Gamla Stan to show Emily the older parts of the city. It was nice, but a wave of sleet soon scared us back to the hostel. Which was okay, we had some big plans ... drinking vodka while watching the Swedish Celebrity Version of The Singing Bee! (Not really, but this did transpire) No, we had to make it to the Ice Bar! After pregaming and getting ready, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and went to Ostermalm (the city center) to go to a bar made entirely of ice. So amazing - we wore these massive fur-lined coats and walked in to a factory-themed ice chamber. The bar, the walls, the cups, the chairs, the tables - all ice. It was freezing, but the drinks were delicious and the music was good. We took a bunch of photos and drank some glow-in-the-dark concoctions before having to leave shortly - they don't want you getting hypothermia, apparently, but I would have stayed all night.
Our group in the Ice Bar - we look like wizards, or eskimoes, or both
Ice chair!
Ice bar!
Ice table with ice glass and icy cold vodka drink!
Post Ice Bar, we took a trip to a local pub for a beer (and a quick nap for Morgy), and then said bye to Laura (who was leaving early Sunday) and Emily (who was still tired from her Friday travels). Kelly, Morgan and I went in search of a club, which took awhile. Some clubs have strict dress codes (apparently our winter wear wasn't cutting it), other are 23 and up, and others had super exclusive guest lists (which was bull, as there wasn't anybody inside). We finally ended up in this incredible place called Hell's Kitchen - it was absolutely massive, three floors, tons of people, and the music was great. We danced, flirted with Swedes, and had a blast until around 2:30am, when the impending closing of the metro beckoned. After ANOTHER meal of McDonald's (dammit dammit dammit what is my life why is that ALL I eat) and a subtle raping of the Stockholm Metro, we were back on our boat and fast asleep.
Sunday, as is becoming the trend, was a bit slower. The 4 of us (minus Laura - miss you boo!) got brunch(no meatballs, alas), and then walked down some new streets and areas towards the Globen, a large hockey and concert arena. They had a new attraction that was a gondola that goes around the globe to give you a nice view, but unfortunately we didn't make a reservation, and they were booked solid for the day. We headed back to City Center, and, tired of being cold and not sure what do, stopped at the local movie theater to watch a special premiere of a new Jim Carrey movie, I Love You Phillip Morris. Yes, I know, a bit weird to go see a movie in a foreign country, but we were pretty much exhausted, and this was a nice warm break from the cold. The movie was hilarious but weird - it's a dark comedy in which Carrey plays a con man who falls in love with his cellmate (Ewan McGregor), and it hasn't opened anywhere else. It just previewed at Sundance, and I don't see many Red States liking the film, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially once I realized it was based on a ridiculous true story (the guy broke out of jail and faked his death from AIDS - truly insane). Go see it if you like something offbeat and a bit twisted.
We finally ended our Stockholm vacation much as we started - tired, on several modes of transportation (bus, plane, bus, taxi), but glad to have had another great weekend. Stockholm was so different from Barcelona - colder, more distinctly European, and more centralized. The people were different, the atmosphere was different, and the McDonald's was ... well, McDonald's. I think that traveling so much in such a condensed time period creates an odd picture of where we live. Imagine if in a week, you saw New York City, Mount Rushmore, the Grand Canyon, the Midwest, and San Diego. You'd get snapshots of buildings, places, beaches, sights, but never really sure of the full picture. That's what I have right now - snapshots, brief windows into another culture, but no conclusions yet on Europe. I know what 3 days in Sweden are, but I have no idea what life there is truly like, and it's hard to get the full taste in such a short period of time. This is not a regret of mine - I know infinitely more about Sweden than I ever did before this weekend, and the same goes for Barcelona, Paris, and London. I just think it's incredible how many questions can be answered while still raising so many more. I've truly only lived two places in my life, very distinct places at that - the quiet American suburbia of Little Rock, Arkansas, and New York City, arguably the center of the world. Traveling has shown me that no two places lie on the same place on the spectrum - there are huge cities with rich cultures, small towns with humble traditions, and everything in between. It's exciting and utterly mystifying - how similar cultures can be, and simultaneously how distinct. We encountered few spoken language barriers in Sweden - they thankfully are very fluent in English - yet it was quickly apparent how distinct Swedish and American culture is, and Barcelona culture, and Parisian culture, etc. This whole semester is providing a great deal of perspective on my life and my regular environment - I'm learning so much about where I'm visiting, and also learning a lot more about where I come from. I have so much more to see and do, and I can't wait - thanks for sticking with me!
Coming soon: Elizabeth (from home and Georgetown) and Joe (from NYU) are visiting! Prauge in ten days! And why I have a love/hate relationship with gift shops!
Keep reading kids.
