Euro Adventure!

Hey guys! I hope all of you are doing well! It has been too long since I last updated due
to the heavy work load and busy class schedule so apologies for not updating
sooner. I am currently on a train that
just left Gothenburg and is headed for Oslo, the capital of Norway. This will be my first time in Norway, and I
am greatly looking forward to the adventure ahead of me. As of right now, I plan to stop in Oslo for
about five hours and then take the night train going to Bergen along the coast-
and I am hoping that I get the opportunity to hope on a boat and go see the
fjords up close. While I am sitting here
and writing, I would like to talk about the amazing trip I took about a month
ago that took me deep into mainland Europe.
It basically started right when my exams were completed.
After
completing my exam for “Basics in Supply Chain Management,” I would have a
little over a week off to go and do whatever I wanted. Around this time, I received a check from my
school, refunding me some of the money I got in loans from Wells Fargo. This would allow me to be able to afford a
trip that would take me down into mainland Europe. With my exam being completed on a Saturday, I
would be leaving early Monday morning to go on this trip. On Sunday, I had a bit of an adventure going
and seeing the famous Swedish moose on a “moose safari.”
While the bus ride was two hours
one way (four hours total, of course) and we were only at the site for about an
hour to an hour and a half, it was a great time. We were loaded onto surplus Swedish Army
wagons that were towed by a farm tractor, and we were led out into a large
pasture that had steams and trees strewn about.
From the wagons; two bulls, two cows, and two calves would come up to
the wagon and eat pieces of apple that we were given to feed them with. They were even trained to eat apples sticking
out of our mouths- which I had to try.
It was certainly different from my pet beagle doing that back home. After hundreds of pictures being taken, we
hopped back on the bus for the trip home.
The time spent after the moose
safari was time that was split- from hanging out with friends to packing for
this epic adventure. The plan was rather
simple: prepare for the trip, get on the bus going to Copenhagen, and at the
train station there I would buy a Eurail Pass.
Sense my bus left at 3:30 in the morning, I didn’t bother going to
sleep, due to the fact I would be able to sleep for four and a half hours on
the bus ride down there. With my
backpack packed and a massive number of snakes in my stomach, I said my
goodbyes to some friends and started my walk down to the bus station in
downtown Jonkoping. With the bus service
ending at 23:00 that evening, I would have to walk down to the bus station,
which was a 45 minute walk away. With a
35 lbs backpack on and being rather tired from the long day, that walk ended up
being an hour. Showing up at the bus
stop, I only had to wait ten minutes for the bus to show. Putting my bag in the luggage compartment and
settling into my seat, I quickly drifted off to sleep and woke up five minutes
outside of Copenhagen.
Waking up and looking outside into
the city, excitement welled up within me and I began to think about all of the
possibilities in front of me. To be
honest, the last time I was this excited was waking up on the couch in my
apartment back in Chicago (my bed was in storage) realizing that I would be
leaving for Sweden that day. Walking off
of the bus, I made my way to the massive train station in downtown
Copenhagen. The last time I was there as
you guys might remember was when my friend Laura and I ended up spending the
night there after we missed our bus going back to Jonkoping. Going into the station, I quietly waited for
the counter that sold the Eurail Passes to open. With the counter opening an hour later, I
bought my pass, asked which trains I needed to take to get to Amsterdam, and
made my way to the train platform. After
hopping on the train, I settled in for a trip that would take around fourteen
hours, along with five separate transfers in three different countries.
The trains in Europe are absolutely
amazing. The ride is so smooth and quiet,
the seats are comfortable, and the coaches are very clean. Sitting next to the window, I got fantastic
views of Denmark and the surrounding waterways.
One of the things that I got a huge kick out of was when we would go
over massive bridges that spanned a couple of kilometers in length. The bridge was very thin so you were not able
to see any part of the bridge, so it appeared that you were flying 50 meters or
so above the water. Sitting across the
table in front of my seat was a gentleman from the United Kingdom, from the
suburbs of Newcastle. We had a great
conversation about Europe, life in his and my countries and hometowns, the
capitals of Sweden and Denmark, and where we were going on this trip. This is when he informed me that we were
going to take a ferry to get down to Germany.
When I say “we,” I meant he, myself, the passengers on the train, and
the train itself.
The ferry is nothing short of
amazing- a massive floating platform that is able to move quickly across large
bodies of water while carrying arguably the heaviest form of human
transportation in present day. Not only
did this thing carry a train, but semi-trucks, and well over a hundred personal
vehicles as well. Sporting a small
section for slot machines, a duty-free shop, four restaurants, and multiple
gift shops, this was a ship to behold.
The trip across to Germany lasted around 45 minutes, which was followed
by another two hours to Hamburg. Hamburg
was a very short visit, lasting only an hour and a half or so. The train arriving to Hamburg was late,
causing me to miss my connection heading towards Amsterdam. After visiting the ticket office, I was able
to get a new list of connecting trains which would actually get me to Amsterdam
an hour earlier than my original itinerary- go figure. I ended up walking around Hamburg for a short
while and taking a few pictures while enjoying my first taste of Germany, a
country I wanted to visit for an incredibly long time.
After hopping back on the train, we
made our way to Amsterdam. After three
more train rides and a bus ride as well, I arrived in Amsterdam eager to
explore the city. I went and checked my
backpack in a storage locker and set out to see the city known for its canals,
beautiful townhomes, and of course: the legal use of soft recreational drugs
and prostitution. But just like many
places, the well-known city doesn’t really represent the surrounding areas;
just like Paris in France and Chicago in Illinois. Never the less, I enjoyed my time looking
around the old city and its beautiful buildings. One of the areas I checked out was the famous
Red Light District.
This district is filled to the brim
of glass plated doors lined with pink/red lights where a scantily clad woman
would be waiting behind, trying to essentially perform the “elevator speech of
seduction acts” in order to entice men to spend time with them in the room
behind where they stood. They would open
the door and call out to you, and try to pull you into conversation, which
would always lead to the question: “So
would you like to come on back with me?”
My answer was always the same, I don’t have any cash on me but I would
be in the area later. According to what
I have heard and what I have seen, I am willing to bet almost none of the
working ladies were actually Dutch. The
vast majority of them had Eastern European accents, my guess being mainly
Russian and Ukrainian. To be honest, I
have great pity on them. I know it is
their own choice to do this line of work, but let’s face it: no young girl in
grade school aspires to be a hooker.
One other thing about the Red Light
District you should know though: it has some of the most beautiful streets,
canals, and buildings around. I was
absolutely fascinated how this Red Light District was beautiful, while any
other red light district area in the world is usually the dumpiest section of
the nearby major city. Much to my dismay
in terms of being outside, the weather turned against me. Not having internet on the train and not
knowing if I could even buy a Eurail Pass in Copenhagen, I didn’t reserve a
place to stay for the night- but no matter, I will just walk around the city
till 3 or so, and then catch some sleep on a bench in the “warm” train station.
That was the plan until I found out
that they closed the station to keep people from going in there to sleep
(perfect) and it began to pour rain outside with wind blowing at least 40 miles
per hour. I tried to find somewhere to
rest, first next to the building, but I kept on getting wet from the rain, so I
moved to a bus stop- but I began to realize I would be an easy target for a
mugger so I began to pace up and down the side of the train station to stay
awake and keep warm. After 5:30 rolled
around, they reopened the train station and I made my way up to the train
platform to find a bench up there sense there will little traffic that early in
the morning. After resting for ten
minutes or so, two guys approached me and asked if I was tired. Confirming their suspicions, one of the guys
said he had an idea that I should try which was sure to wake me up. With my senses being hyped up to make sure
they weren’t going to try anything (we were also in a police guarded facility)
I imagined that they would give me directions to a nearby coffee shop, which of
course sells more than pastries in their cases.
The guy then proceeded to pull out a bag with a white powder (meth) and
a bag of pills (ecstasy). “This should
wake you up!” he exclaimed, “interested!?”
Thanking him but declining, I bid the duo goodbye and went off to try
and find another place to rest.
Sitting down for a minute, I closed my eyes and
thought I would be able to be left alone for at least 20 minutes. I was wrong.
I felt a foot kick the bottom of my foot and a Dutch “Hello!?” be stated
directly in front of me. I immediately
snapped to attention and came face to face with two of Amsterdam’s finest
(police officers). I quickly responded
with a hello back, and he stated that sleeping was not allowed in the
station. I explained to the officers
that I was just waiting for my train and that I wouldn’t be a bother to them
again. With that being said, they turned
around and left. With it still being
pitch black outside at 8:00 AM and the weather was worse if anything, I decided
it would be a good idea to go and move onto Brussels.

Copenhagen!

Hey guys!
I am so sorry that I haven’t updated for so long. I haven’t been keeping my promise of updating
often- my bad. One of the reasons why I
haven’t updated recently was due to the fact that I have been studying for my
final exams for the past two weeks so I haven’t done much of anything during
that period of time. However, as of
10/15/11 I completed my Basics in Supply Chain Management exam and free for the
next week or so. Going back three weeks,
I got to take a major trip to Denmark and other areas with my friend Laura, who
is from Germany. The trip came into
being from the simple task I was given to go and get my student visa card from
any permit office in Sweden. I was given
a list of all government facilities regarding visas and immigration by
university staff (including the locations of all detention facilities if I was
caught not having this card after 3 months) and I had to choose which office I
wanted to go to.
Going down the list, I noticed that there was an immigration
office in Malmo, which is located in the South Western corner of Sweden. With the other two close locations being
Stockholm (which I had toured a couple weeks earlier) and Gothenburg (smaller
city, where I flew into to go to Jonkoping), I decided that I would take a trip
down to Malmo for the day and check out the city. During class, I mentioned that I need to go
to Malmo to Laura, and she told me that she was interested in going with me to
Malmo, and that we should go see Lund and Copenhagen as well. I agreed within a matter of seconds after the
idea was brought up. After buying our
tickets, we had it all planned out- leave for Malmo at 330 in the morning on
Friday, go to Malmo and visit the immigration office, look around the city, go
to Lund, look around there, then go to Copenhagen. In Copenhagen, we would stay at a hostel
close to the town hall and along the river for the night, then meet with my
buddy David and look around the city.
From there, we would catch the bus from Copenhagen to Jonkoping and be
back in Jonkoping by 130 Sunday morning.
Our adventure started at the Jonkoping bus station at 315,
where I met Laura and we waited for the bus to arrive. After boarding the bus, I was asleep within 5
minutes after the bus left the station, and woke up 10 minutes prior to our
arrival in Malmo. Getting off the bus,
we found ourselves in an industrial area, with the “Turning Torso” building off
in the distance. Pulling out our maps,
we went off in search of coffee, and the immigration permit building. I am proud to report that we were successful
in finding both. With coffee in hand, we
strolled along the water and found ourselves on neighborhood streets on the far
North side of the city, surrounded by little houses, shops, and the occasional
apartment complex. After arriving in the
permit office, standing in line took longer than getting the permit
itself. All I had to do was go into an
office, give my name, show the papers, give a shipping address and I was good
to go.
From there, Laura and I went on a sightseeing spree- and
covered everything from windmills, to parks, to gardens, to castles, to the
waterfront. On a particularly
interesting note, I was walking with Laura in front of an old castle that was
built by the Danes when they occupied Malmo, and I happened to see a guy
wearing a North Park University sweat shirt.
After asking him about it, it turns out that I went to school with his
younger brother when I was an undergrad.
After our conversation, I had to reflect on what were the chances of
running into a guy in a foreign country wearing a sweatshirt from a university
that makes up around 3,500 students.
Exploring the waterfront, we had a great view of the sea, the turning
torso, and if you looked way off into the distance, you can see the bridge that
connects Sweden and Denmark.
Shortly there afterwards, we hopped on a bus and went to
Lund, where one of the top two universities in all of Sweden is located. Lund is a beautiful city with a wonderful
campus, a gorgeous cathedral, and great shopping district. I did notice however that it is a college
town, and if you don’t know anyone there, it is hard to “get the most” out of
Lund. I do recommend visiting though,
and it happens to be the alma mater of my Swedish professor on an unrelated
side note. Laura and I ended up having
dinner at an Asian restaurant that was offering an “after work” special. Swedish restaurants often offer a special on
early Friday evenings that usually consists of a small buffet and a cheap
drink. This was a particularly weird
restaurant- the hostess was incredibly rude, but hey- can’t let the small
things get you down. From there, we
prepped for our trip to Copenhagen and waited for the bus back at the bus
station.
Boarding the bus, we ran into fellow Jonkoping University
students on the bus. One was headed to
Berlin, while the others were headed to Copenhagen as well. One of the most amazing things about going
over from Sweden to Denmark is the massive bridge that spans across the channel
between the two countries. From the
massive bridge, you go into an underwater tunnel, which then ends into
Denmark. Arriving in Copenhagen, we
walked to our hostel and were assigned rooms.
The hostel we stayed in was called Dan Hostel, located literally right
next to the river and right down the street from the famous Town Hall. This being the first time I stayed in a “professional”
hostel, I was amazed at how nice it was.
It had a student pub, a nice lobby, a clean cafeteria, and comfortable
rooms. I stayed on the ninth floor-
which resulted in an awesome surprise come sunrise.
After meeting back up with Laura about a half an hour later,
we decided to go on a walk around Copenhagen.
It amazed me on how beautiful the city was- from the tall cathedrals, to
the beautiful homes that lined the streets, to the canals running through the
city. After a half an hour walk, we met
up with my friend David Roby from back home in Seattle. After introductions, Laura retired for the
night and I went with David for a beer.
Hanging out on a dock with beer in hand, it was great to catch up and
share the experiences we’ve had living abroad.
Calling it a night, we decided to meet up again the next day.
Waking up at 9 in the morning, I got to look outside and was
awe-struck on how beautiful our view was.
Our window looked out onto town hall, multiple cathedrals, and a huge
part of the city. Walking outside, we
decided to make our way to the town hall, and then explore the rest of the city
from there. The town hall is
incredible. Not only was it massive and
beautiful, it was a symbol of the power held by the Danish empire during the time
it was built. On an interesting note, a
large part of Sweden was part of the Danish Empire for an extensive period of
time. Hanging out in the plaza next to the
town hall, Laura ran into one of her roommates that stayed with her for the
night. We asked if she would be
interested in joining us in touring the city, and she was more than happy to
accept. From there, we headed north to
look at the famous gardens and palace that was a short walk away.
I was extremely impressed with the gardens and the
castle. The castle is impressive, with
massive windows, tall towers, and an overall beautiful layout. Much to my dismay though, part of it was
under renovation. This has plagued me
for a huge part of my time here in Sweden- visiting famous monuments that were
under repairs. Never the less, this is a
must visit for any visitor here in Copenhagen.
From there, we decided to find something to eat and get a coffee- the
drink of choice for many Scandinavians, and myself. This errand led us to a coffee shop that was
located right next to the water and the docks.
After getting a coffee and a Danish pastry (yes- this was on purpose) we
relaxed and people watched right next to the docks.
Copenhagen was an incredible time! We travelled and visited multiple cathedrals (my
favorite being the Marble Cathedral), multiple palaces, a massive
fortification, and the famous Mermaid statue in the Copenhagen harbor. In the early evening, we were able to meet
with David where we decided to check out the more “unseen” areas of Copenhagen
by tourists. I speak specifically of
Christiana- the “Green Light” district of Copenhagen. This is the pot selling area of the city,
where you are not allowed to take pictures because cannabis is still illegal,
but it is sold in stalls in this area. It
was basically a little San Francisco in Copenhagen- filled with pot smoking
hippies. After spending some time
looking around there, we walked along the canals and then headed towards the
train station.
After hanging out for a while there, we walked up to the bus
stop and started saying our goodbyes- when I heard a massive “OH NO!” come out
from Laura. As it turns out, we had
mixed up departure times for our bus, and the bus left 20 minutes earlier- and
it was the last one of the night. Going
from a relaxed setting to being in full panic mode, we scrambled back to the
train station to found out how we can get back home. With the only options being a train ticket
that cost around $300 or waiting till morning for the next bus, we waited for
the next bus. Sense we had accidently
expanded our trip by a good 8 hours; we decided to go out again- to a kebab
shop not far from the train station. As
it turns out, it also happened to be in the Red Light district as well- so I
got to be in the Red and Green Light districts in Copenhagen within a matter of
hours. After hanging out for another
hour or so, we split up and went back to the Dan Hostel to drop off Laura’s
former roommate. After saying goodbye,
we began our wait in the train station.
Our night at the train station was filled with announcements
over the intercom, people walking by who were staring at our bags, and
drunks. After telling a drunk to leave
us alone, who really wanted to have3 a drunken conversation with us, another
one decided to pass out directly in front of us. It took security a good 1.5 hours to figure
out that he was there. Finally, 5.30 AM
came and we went to the bus station to catch our 6 AM bus. We took this bus to Gothenburg, where we
caught a transfer bus that would take us to Jonkoping. We arrived a mere 11 hours late. Despite the turbulent ending of our journey,
we had a great time and I highly recommend visiting Southern Sweden and
Copenhagen. My following posts will talk
about my trip to mainland Europe. Thank you
for reading guys and I will talk to you again soon!
Later!

Lets catchup!

Hey guys!

I am sorry for the long delay between posts. It has been a busy week and I've had little free time on my hands since the last post. During the last couple of posts, I have been talking about the crazy events of kick off week and what we did during that time. Well, let me wrap up that story today. On Friday, the day started off with more lectures and hanging out with Army group. We also went to the hocky arena to hear a lecture on Swedish culture and social standards within the area. The last speaker was excellent and it was great hearing him speak about the Swedes from a Englishman's perspective. That night was suppose to be the party at the local swimming pool- I decided to skip this party just because I was so exhausted from all of the other events that occured during that week and I ended up going to bed early- which was one of the best decisions I had made that week. After random fun and events during the weekend, Monday arrived and we got ready to take part in the "Night Mission."

Classes began on Monday and I had only one class that day: Swedish 1. Despite being an undergrad class, I decided that I would take this class for a few reasons. For starters, I would like to say that I am tri-lingual on my professional resume- despite very few people speak Swedish outside of Sweden. Secondly, sense I am living in Sweden for a decent amount of time (4 months) I believe that it is my responsibility to at least attempt to learn the language while I am here (and I believe this applies to all study abroad/relocating individuals). That night, I met up with Army group in the JIBS courtyard and recieved a briefing on what we were going to do that evening. The night mission is essentially a massive scavanger hunt that involved getting a bunch of random its and performing random tasks. Much to my dismay- one of these tasks was to have all of the guys' legs shaved. As of today, that was the last night I wore shorts- the hair is still growing back. We all split up to gather random things; from an umbrella to fishnet stockings, from counting the windows on the Engineering building (I stopped counting at 500 and I took a guess of around 2,500 windows on the building) to having a one of the guys pose naked on a parkbench, to having one of the fadders give one of the sexkreators a lap dance. Oh- I also had to send a "sexy text message" to some random number- from what I wrote on there I sure hope the individual who received it was a female....... Anyways.....

So the next day was the end of kick off week and Army met up at Klubb Centrium after an award ceremony (I didn't go- I chose a cheaper party package at the beginning of the week). Turns out, our group received two awards (and the only group to recieve two awards!) with one for earning the most points during the night mission (and destroying the previous record that was set) and for having the best fadder: Fredrik, which he clearly deserved. After having a round of shots in celebration, the rest of the night was spent dancing away.

The rest of the week was spent learning Swedish and starting "Basics to Supply Chain Management" but the tradition of going to Akademein on Wednesday nights began this week as well. I find it to be a fun thing to do, since this is usually the only time I get to see the majority of Army group in one spot at one time. This one of the events that I look forward to each week- hanging out with friends and having a good time. I've met multiple people through Wednesday nights and continue to look forward to going to "AKA" and seeing friends. One of the best things that we like to do as an activity is pre-partying, something that Swedes love to do. This also a great way to meet people; and I have met many friends from pre-partying also.

Changing the tone of the story here, I want to tell you about my trip to Stockholm that I just came back from. Sitting at my computer last Thursday evening, I made a split second decision to go to Stockholm over the course of a day trip. Going to the bus website, I bought a ticket to Stockholm that left Jonkoping at 1.30 the following evening and a return ticket for that evening. Going to class on Friday, I got invited to hangout with a group of my German friends and have dinner with them. Being in Sweden, I have met some many Germans and learned so much about them as a people and their culture. I must say it is such a blessing to know them and hold friendships with them.

After hangout with them, I went back to the apartment and started packing- and then received a phone call from another friend asking if I wanted to hangout that night. Lets see, be responsible and stay and pack, or go have fun? Fun it is. I got to hangout with my friends Alfredo, Karin, Simone, and Liuli at a celtic bar for a couple hours and then I was responsible, and went back and finished packing. Ready to go, I went to the bus station and hopped on the bus that would show up in Stockholm at 6.30 in the morning. Much to my surprise, I was able to sleep during some of the ride. Waking up, I found us pulling into the bus station in downtown Stockholm. I must say, I had the weirdest experience in the bus station: I watched three seperate people get hauled away by security with a matter of 3 minutes- needless to say: I was impressed.

Going outside, I began my journey in the capital of Sweden with the first stop being the Palace.

Making my way to the palace, I quickly took notice of all of the canals and old buildings that made up this city. I stumbled upon a large building that quickly caught my interest: the Swedish Parlament building. I was absolutely amazed; you could literally walk right up to the doors of the building and knock on them if you wanted to. Try doing that in the US to a major government building. The building was beautiful, from the stone columns, to the decorated walls, to the manicured gardens outside on the NW corner of the building. Across another bridge from Paralment is the massive Royal Palace- home of "His Majesty the King" and "Her Majesty the Queen." Oh and on a side note to all American friends; the Princess Victoria (the daughter who will inherit the throne) was recently married and is now expecting and she'll eventually move there when the old man passes on. And on another note, I have yet to meet a Swede who likes the Royal family and thinks that they should remain a part of Swedish society. Yeah.

So, after looking around the outside of the palace I went to the shopping area right outside of the palace where the oldest square in Stockholm (oh- the square is older than the US). Looking around, I stopped at a cafe for a "kupp kaffe och bakelse." At noon, I went to the palace again and watched the "Changing of the Guard." It was a very cool event to watch. From there, I went to get a couple presents for my family then I began my journey to the other side of Stockholm to go visit the Vasa Museum. The walk there was beautiful- waterfront walk with many beautiful buildings and sites to see. Stockholm is a beautiful city- a sight that everyone should see. The Vasa Museum is amazing- you should go see it if ever given an opportunity. The Vasa was a warship that sank 15 minutes after being launched due to being under ballasted- not enough weight to hold her steady and it wasn't wide enough. She was built to help the Swedes maintain control over the Baltic Sea and help ferry troops to battle against the Polish Empire. After being underwater for 333 years, she was raised up again in the 70s and got it's own place in the early 80s.

After the Vasa, I walked all over Stockholm and just took in the sights. After stopping by Hard Rock Cafe Stockholm (yeah yeah yeah, I know- I just wanted to take a picture is all) I was taking some pictures when my camera battery died. My solution: go to a kaffehus and recharge my camera battery over a kupp kaffe. It was a fun time- I got to talk to the barista and had a nice conversation with her and then I read my book (1775) with a kaffe and waited for my battery to charge. After getting it charged, I walked over to the Stockholm Ice Bar and took my picture outside of it (I wasn't going to pay 200 SEK for entry) then I continued to look around Stockholm. Then I got to see something amazing after the sun went down: the Northern Lights.

Walking on the bridge between the palace and parlament building, I looked over the city and noticed an amazing brilliant green light stretching over the city. After making sure it wasn't the moon, I stood there in amazement, the Northen Lights. I wasn't the only one enjoying them, many people ended up stopping and taking pictures of it as well- enjoying the beauty of the North. Shortly thereafter, I went back to the bus station and caught the last bus back to Jonkoping- and stumbled back into my apartment at 4.30 in the morning. Needless to say, I was tired. Anyways, I should go. But until next time. Later!

Jonesy