Midnight Sunset

Tonight is our last night in Borlänge. We fly to Venice, Italy tomorrow morning! Now the real adventure begins. Who knows where I'll end up! Luckily going to Stockholm allowed me to practice traveling by train. Now it'll be no sweat because I know what to expect. The last couple of days have been very low-key. I've been trying to take it easy to let my ankle heal. It's getting ever-so-slightly better each day (I'm getting extremely impatient!).

I took this picture last night at about 11:45pm. It doesn't ever get completely dark this time of year. I'm glad I've never had problems falling asleep! The prolonged sunset is beautiful...then the sun comes back up. I love it.

Stockholm, Sweden

Yesterday was an adventurous day! Ika and I woke up in the morning after a mediocre night's sleep and raced to the train station (we walk everywhere). My train was scheduled to leave at 9:52 and I got on at 9:48. We cut it close, but I made it nonetheless! The train to Stockholm look a bit over 2 hours. When I arrived I ate breakfast at a small coffe shop at the central station. The woman working at the coffee shop gave me a map to the tourist information center. I made my way to the tourist center, got another map of the city and ventured out. I didn't actually end up doing all that much. I wanted to walk around old town and go to city hall and look over the city, but...time didn't permit. I spent too much time getting oriented. I walked around and looked in some stores and ate lunch/dinner at a somewhat fancy restaurant (which sucked up alot of time, it was veeery slow service). I had my first "weird" food. I ordered an appetizer that was described as salmon and shrimp on rye bread. It ended up being raw salmon wrapped around a mayo-filled salady type thing with caviar on top. It tasted good but it was very rich. I had a fantastic time, however I'm going to go back again after backpacking. I've been told it's an easy trip from Finland.

After making it safely back to the apartment, where Ika was waiting and worrying, we went to a barbeque with some friends. We all sat around and drank wine and laughed so hard everyone's face hurt, then went out to a bar called Bolanche here in Borlänge. We danced and drank and had a splendid time. After the bar closed we walked to none other than McDonalds. Then we walked home and were in bed by 3 =).

The best part of yesterday was hanging out with a bunch of great new people. They are all international students (like Ika). There was a person from South Africa, from Mexico, from Finland (other than Ika), from France, from Holland, from Sweden, and the list goes on and on. I felt as if I fit in, in that I am from a different country as well! I was the only person there from the US. I've never experienced that before, it was amazingly cool.

Falun, Sweden

I participated in many new and exciting things and I met really great people. First Ika and I walked to the city center and went to the liquor store. The liquor store was gigantic and busy. Then we went to the trains station so I could buy my ticket to Stockholm for tomorrow (well, later today). We walked back to the apartment, and got ready to go the the neighboring town, Falun. We met another friend, Cristina, and took the bus over. When we got there we walked around the streets for a while. It's a great place, somewhat like Borlänge, but a bit bigger and a bit busier (due to the festival that was there, which was the reason for our visit). Eventually we found a spot in the park and drank some beer, which isn't exactly legal =) We talked about traveling (hence the map across our legs) and heritage and laughed (alot). We then walked over to the concert that was going on, which was sponsored by a teenybopper-typre radio station, and listened to some music and met up with more people. After the music was over Ika and I went to a funny little sports bar for some more beer =) It ended up being a great place where a British band was playing covers of older American rock music. It was a blast!

Cold and rainy in a tiny town

Ika took me to her school and showed me around today, then I took off on my own and went to Kupolen (the dome-like building). I walked around for a while then walked back to meet her. After lunch we hung out for a while before going to meet her friend Johanna. We met her at a different grocery store (where Ika put her plastic bottle into a machine and got paid for it!) before walking back to her apartment. It's actually a student living space. She shares a kitchen and living room with 7 other students and they each have their own dorm-type room. We hung out with Johanna for quite some time. We had SUCH a good time talking and laughing. After we left her place we walked back to Ika's and changed so she could go to practice and I could go run. Today I went to a gym and ran on a treadmill (door with the red sign). It's sooo cold and wet right now. Unfortunately I pulled my Achilles heel! Who knows what caused it (riding a bike, running in the cold, the plane, the list goes on). So I'll be icing and resting for a few days before we take off on our road trip (which we are soooooo looking forward to). Luckily it is supposed to be sunny tomorrow afternoon. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed.

Grand opening and the store.

Yesterday we decided to go to the local mall to eat lunch before grocery shopping. The mall is called Kupolen. It's the one big thing in this town. So obviously one may infer that Borlänge is a very small town. After lunch we didn't get to grocery shop because we had to race back to her apartment so she could change and make it to a "grand opening" of something called the Banana Field. It's a new outside multisport field which accomodates Basketball, Handball, Football (Soccer), and Floorball (a game played with a hockey-type stick and a pickle-type ball, very popular in Skandinavia). Ika and one other girl from her team were the representatives for handball.

After that, we got to go grocery shopping. We went to a place called Willys. Ya know, a grocery store is pretty much a grocery store. BUT we came across the coolest thing. The largest section of Wasa bread I've ever seen!! The wierdest things entertain me, who knows what will strike my fancy next=). I was also involved in my third Swedish tranaction yesterday. The groceries that I bought were 149.00 Kroner, or about 15 Euro, or about 18 or 19 US dollars. I'm very below my budget by the way!

Today Ika has to go study for her Math exam she has on Monday so I'll be on my own for a bit. I think I'll go for a long run today, and then who knows. I'll probably go explore that mall a bit (don't worry those of you who are concerned -you know who you are-I'm not going to buy anything!) I'll keep you posted on what I do!

Much better

I slept from 11pm to 10am! Hopefully that kicked the jetleg. Yesterday evening I went to Marika's handball practice. That's a pretty intense game! They use what look like little soccer balls and they put glue on their hands so they can grip the ball. It's actually alot like soccer, however you carry and throw the ball instead of dribble and kick.

This morning I finally woke up and Ika made us oatmeal. I went for a run, which was cold rainy. It's been a very long time since I've run in Washingtonesque conditions! Now we're going to go to the grocery store. Wahoo!

Borlänge, Sweden

Well, I got here safe and sound! I'm a little delerious right now, due to lack of sleep=) My flight was great, however long. The food was decent, the people I sat next to were pleasant, and there were a few movies. The slight nervousness I had subsided the moment I spotted Marika at the exit. We sat at the airport for a few hours and chatted over coffee while we waited for our train. Then we chatted for another couple of hours while on the train. This place is vast, and green, and beautiful and I can't wait to explore it. Marika made me a fantastic dinner of salmon, potatos, and salad after we got a ride home from the train station from her friend Kajsa (in her Saab). Now I've got to keep busy so I stay awake! I need to kick this jetleg!