Stockholm

So I realize that it’s been forever since my last post. I was so proud of myself for keeping up with it! But then…  I just got back from Amsterdam this morning and will blog about that soon, but first! Stockholm, Sweden! A few weekends ago all of the girls on my floor and I, plus a few other friends, went to Stockholm for the weekend! One of my housemate’s families has an apartment there, so we just squeezed in (there were 12 of us in total, it was cozy haha). But it was beautiful. We flew in two Fridays ago after classes, and just walked from the center of the city out to her apartment at night and it was beautiful. Cold, but beautiful!  

The next day, we wandered around the city, just walking around. We wandered to the walking street at one point and there was literally an H&M on each corner. 4. Right there.  Also, there were people in all of them! I mean, it’s a fine store, but a little bit much haha…

The city was beautiful though! We really didn’t do much that day but see the city and wander in thrift ships. But it was a great day! Exhausting, but definitely worth it.

We had dinner at this trendy restaurant where I had one of my first difficulties not understanding the language! The menu was only in Swedish, and it is pretty different than English so we were just guessing what things were until the hostess came over and translated it for us haha. But, it does kind of blow my mind the extent that  english is understood. Students begin taking classes in elementary/junior high and finish actually understanding the language! It's just so different than our 2 years of a foreign language where we finishing basically understanding "Hola!" "Como Estas?" Yo no hablo espanol". I'm just always impressed by everyone's english and definitely feel inadequate with my rudimentary foreign language skills haha. (that goes for the adventurers learning French and German abroad as well haha, just so y'all know!)

 The next day (Sunday) was our last day, and we went to this amazing museum called the Vasa Museum! A ship sunk just 1000 m off the coast of Sweden in 1628(ish), and it was just left there! Because it sunk in an area that was more polluted (so had a high chemical content, which decreased salinity), the ship was really well preserved. So, they brought it all up in the 1990’s and put it back together. When you first walk in, it is breathtaking. The room is high and dark and you look up, there’s this huge wooden ship right in front of you! No big deal. It was really neat though, there was information about the time, how the town built up, the Reformation. Very neat! Also, they have excavated the bodies of the people who passed away on the boat, and they had reconstructed what the people could look like! It was so cool, seeing these wax heads, which is the picture above, that could be completely off, but still a very neat idea! 

There were also little things on plaques about the history of Stockholm, which was neat to compare to what I’ve learned in the History of Copenhagen class.  I decided to take that class completely on a whim, but I am so glad [more about that later haha]. But this is what the Stockholm port looking like circa 1500. 

I've always wondered how these giant boats were assembled, and even with these little diagrams, I can't imagine how people did it. All by hand! No huge manufacturing plant.

Blurry, but you can almost see how big the ship was! The exhibit with the history went on around it and that was something like 7 stories high, if that gives any indication of size. Also, the size actually had something to do with why it sunk. Basically, it was just an unbalanced structure! There was too much weight in the bottom that wasn't evenly distributed, so it just sort of tipped over! Yikes! 

One thing most people don't really know was that all these beautiful carvings on the ships were actually painted (same with classical Greek sculptures). It's funny to see, especially since it's just not what one would expect (or at least not what I expected.

And that's the group! We had a blast! A lot of walking and sightseeing in just one weekend, but definitely a fun trip! [sidenote: My bright red parka (which hopefully will be retired for the season soon!) makes me stick out like a sore thumb in Copenhagen against the sea of grey, green, and black, but there was a lot more red in  Sweden (as well as other bright colors). I'm not sure what that says but I thought it was interesting!]

PS: My mom mentioned that my Aunt asked about all the haha/ahaha I have in all my posts. I try to write these posts like I talk, and I do a little giggle (Mom called it  my "nervous laughter"), but that's just what that is! I sometimes just feel like a little laugh is needed, so I put it in, but I kind of forgot that that it doesn't necessarily transfer grammatically. But, oh well, I like it, I just thought there should be some sort of explanation haha (there it is again!)

I hope everything is splendid at home! Missing you all!