We arrived in Stockholm around 9 am in the morning at central station. From there we walked to the area of our hostel, checked it out, and then decided to head out on our first adventure to the Vasa museum. We started with a bit of Fika at Fabrique bakery where I got a blueberry pastry and a latte. We then found our way to Oden Plan (the nearest metro stop to our hostel which we would use a lot the next couple days), bought ourselves some transportation passes, and hopped on a bus toward Djurgården.

There we started at the Vasa museum, which was soooo cool! It was this giant warship (big boy boat) from the 16th century that was the largest of its time and sunk on its maiden voyage from not being balanced correctly, but it was in this brackish water that preserved the wood so about 100 years ago they pulled it out of the sea and it was breathtaking. So much detail still preserved in all of the wood!

Next we decided to walk along the harbor back to the main Island of Stockholm. The houses along the water were beautiful and so colorful with such ornate roofs and walls. By just walking around the water we found ourselves on the Island of Gamla Stan. We did not venture to the town square just yet, but we did walk through quite a few of the shop filled roads and alleyways. We also wandered past the Royal Palace, but at this point it was seriously pouring the rain so we decided to get some food and shelter from the rain.

We took a metro to our lunch spot: Meatballs for the People. We all got what was called the Swedish Classic, which contained Swedish meatballs, lingonberry sauce, and mashed potatoes. Delicious is an understatement. It was so good. Then we went to a local grocery store across the street to check out the local goods. We got some Swedish chocolate and a couple different kinds of Swedish cookies!

At this point it was around 3 PM, which was our check in time at the hostel, so we decided to head back there and drop our stuff off. We discussed what else we wanted to do on Saturday and then set out for Gamla Stan to see the town square! The buildings were very pretty and colorful! We all drank from the center fountain, which actually tasted very clean and pure. After taking a few touristy photos we headed toward the royal palace to see the royal chapel and armory. Those horses were decked out in armor and gold!

Once we left the royal palace we headed toward Kungsträgården where there was a big food truck festival and also the finish line of the Stockholm half marathon! We watched the runners for a little while and then headed into the festival to scope out our dinner options. It was a ton of fun and everyone around was in a good mood looking to have fun. I enjoyed a delicious pulled pork sandwich that had a Swedish spin to it. We walked around the festival area for a little bit and then decided it was time to head back to the hostel to freshen up a bit and charge our phones before heading out for the night.

Once Everyone’s phone was charged, we met up with the other Roskilde group there that same weekend in Gamla Stan and headed for a viking bar! It was soooo cool and fun: we drank mead, chanted, and enjoyed the viking age atmosphere. We then walked over to Sodermalm where we found another bar (Tiffany’s) and went in for a couple drinks. I had a whiskey sour. We stayed there for a little while before the other group decided to head back to the hostel and Victor, Karen, and I ventured deeper into Sodermalm to find Ugglan Boule and Bar. There none of us drank anything, but we enjoyed playing some arcade games and being surrounded by local Swedes. Exhausted after our long day we headed back to the hostel to get some rest before Sunday.

We awoke Sunday morning and all went separate paths (Karen had an early train and Victor an early flight). I went to another Samantha Scali recommendation and had Fika at Cafe Pascal. I got a latte and a delicious cinnamon bun! Soooo delicious. From there I hopped on the metro to central station where I took a tram to Djurgården.

Once there, I passed the Nordic Museum, the Vasa, and the biology museum to arrive at Skansen – the open air museum. Once inside I started by just wandering through all the old buildings and taking in the surrounding and all the locals around me with their kids. I started in the back where the Nordic animals were located. I saw an owl, wolverine, wolf, bison, Lynx and her cubs, adorable brown bear, and best of all…. 3 Meese!!! Such an amazing experience standing less that 5 feet from an adorable lil moose. They had such floppy ears : ) . I went in the old times church, which was beautiful of course. From there I set out to explore the Town square area where there was an amazing smelling bakery, apothecary, printer, saddle maker, and engineer! Right next to it was a very cool rose garden and lookout spot over all of Stockholm. Right below that was an aquarium and lots of lemurs oddly enough. I got a little moose cookie cutter in one of the gift shops. Then the very last thing I did in Skansen was head to the main Manor, where I roasted and caramelized my own apple on a stick over a fire – and it was delicious!

After exiting the park, I decided just to explore a bit across the bridge on the main Island. I walked through some neighbors, explored the alleyways, and even found myself wandering into a church, which of course was gorgeous on the inside, as all European churches are.

From there I took a bus to the Public Library. It was very cool and colorful inside. Then I walked around a park right behind it. At this point I was very tired, so I decided to check out this rooftop bar that Sam recommended called “Urban Deli”, which was very cool and relaxing to sit and drink a corona while eating my Swedish chocolate and cookies from the day before. After this I went to one more bar (Crazy horse bar and saloon) to have one more cider before heading to the airport after what felt like a crazy long, but wonderful weekend!

Sunday: Chill day – went into Cope and did some homework at DIS and then had a good workout (Cardio and core). Then cooked some chicken and rice when I got home.

Monday: Normal day of classes and then workout (leg day)

Tuesday: Econ from 8:30-9:50 and then the rest of the day off, so I went to Bakken!! The oldest theme park in the wooooorld! It was very cool, a lot smaller than Tivoli and definitely a lot less polished (you could see the wear and tear on it), but I thought it had a very respectable number of rides. A lot like carnival rides, like stuff you would see at a state fair with a couple bigger roller coasters. Actually reminded me a lotttt of Camden park, which I guess makes sense cause when I looked it up Camden park is the 36th oldest amusement park in the world, so makes sense they would have similar attractions and wear in tear. It is out in the middle of these forests that are filled with deer and people riding horses. There was a hunting blind out there, which I learned is because it was the location of one of the biggest deer hunts in Europe. But people would ride on horses and ish. Very pretty though! A little eery on the day that I was there since it was in between periods of rain and the sky was very gray. Made going through this haunted house alone legitimately terrifying!

Wednesday: Field study day!! I went to the national museum of Denmark with my Danish class. It was very interesting and they had a lot of artifacts and things that we could use to learn about the Danish of the stone age and the vikings. Kinda like a mini version of the National History Museum. Learned that there were big disputes between the farmers and the hunters of the stone age. Their main weapons were flint projectiles and daggers. They used boats made out of hollowed out tree trunks. Our Danish teacher is an interesting guy though. He led our tour through the museum and either that museum’s descriptions and stuff are dead wrong orrrrr our mans was just straight making things up for like 2 hours. Probably the latter.

Thursday: I had my first mini test today in Health Beyond Borders; it went well. Then I worked out and packed my bag for Stockholm

Friday: Just health econ this morning. Then I went and worked out (just some cardio and abs) and afterwards had coffee with Rachel and Zach! Went home next and finished packing for both Sweden and core course week. Left the house around 9:30 to get to the bus stop before 11. Departed from the bus around 11:15 and then we were off to Stockholm, Sweden.

So, the second week was good! Our host parents were gone this week and next, so we have to fend for ourselves.

Monday I cooked some baked spaghetti to last me a while on the cheap.

Tuesday I got a gym membership with fitness world and we had a house party with Zach, Rachel, Zainy, and Matt.

Wednesday I had a field study for health economics where we went around asking Danes what they thought of the danish healthcare system. Most people loved it. Said that they were happy to pay more taxes for it because healthcare is a human right and not just for the wealthy. Then we had the activities fair and I ate a lot of mini pizzas.

Thursday I went to the gym for the first time and it felt awesome!! Then came home and cooked some chickennnn.

Friday I had one class in the morning and then proceeded to run 8 miles with the goal that I would then be confident enough to sign up for the Copenhagen half marathon. But alas that was not the case. I did it in 1.5 hours, which I am pleased with, but my feet and knees hurt like a motherfucker because I did not bring running shoes with me to Copenhagen, so I was running in my trainers which I have deemed to be a bad idea. (I laid in bed for the rest of that day).

Today (saturday) Rachel, Zach, Zainy, Matt and I all went to tivoli and had a blast all day! Rode all the rides, ate ice-cream, walked around the gardens and the park so much. It was awesome. And now I have just burnt some bacon, setting off the fire alarms, sending Amanda and I into sheer panic for about 5 minutes because we couldn’t figure out how to turn it off and did not want a fire truck rolling up. So yeah, week two, pretty Good!

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On Tuesday I went on a boat tour of Copenhagen with the Roskilde network kids. Saw some very cool things including but not limited to, the queen’s yacht, the opera house, the queen’s castle, the little mermaid, and much more! On Thursday I went wandering around after classes and ended up at the Rosenborg castle which was quite beautiful. Friday night we went with the six to the DIS bonfire and had some good koombaya singing time and then went out to a few bars for our first night of fun. Saturday morning we applied for our residency permit and then went and explored Freetown Christiana. Sunday we had our Roskilde event where we toured the Roskilde cathedral, saw the vikings boats down by the harbor, and then had dinner with Josiah’s host parents.

Amanda and I met up with Rachel and Zainy in Copenhagen for the first time! Walked down the walking street with all of the shops. Found our DIS classrooms on Vestergade. Then we Ate a late lunch on the canal and I had delicious somersby cider.