At the beginning of the semester, the Student Buddies at GU told us about a student cruise that the school organized to Estonia. We would spend two nights on a ferry/cruise ship and approximately 8 hours in Tallinn. It was a very whirlwind trip, but I must say I was extremely impressed by Tallinn. I had extremely low expectations of this former Soviet bloc country.
When we arrived in Tallinn, the weather was the perfect backdrop for the gloomy atmosphere you would expect. It was rainy, gloomy and all together not pleasant. But the weather definitely enhanced the experience. We were dropped off at the port which is very close to the Old Town. My three friends and I were starving, so our first mission was food. We had no idea what Estonian cuisine was, but I hoped that it would involve some kind of warm stew on such a dreary day. The girls and I stumbled across what seemed to be an authentic Estonian restaurant. As we walked in, we discovered that we were correct. We spent four hours in this restaurant and it was by far one of the greatest and cheapest meals that I have ever had. We each had three courses. I had a giant plate of warm beans, carrot soup, and I was brave and tried wild boar stew, which was AMAZING!!!
So after we worked up the energy to leave this amazing restaurant, we wandered around Old Town Tallinn for an hour or so. After our hour of walking we were clearly hungry again, and stopped at a chocolate cafe for a hot chocolate. So because of amazing food including wild boar, beautiful architecture, and a chocolate cafe, Tallinn really impressed me.
After we came back from Tallinn, I had about two days before I was expecting my first wave of visitors since my dad. Khine and Stephanie were coming in from France and Italy to spend Halloween with me in Sweden. In my two days before Khine arrived, I did laundry, cleaned my room, went grocery shopping, and wrote my first real paper of the semester. It was a crazy two days! Khine arrived on Thursday and explored Gothenburg a bit and then had an amazing dinner. The next day we headed out to Haga and the Fish Market. As many people know Khine and I love food! We love a good meal and love to explore and try new foods, so that was our main mission of the two days before Stephanie arrived. Khine and I also did a lot of shopping and Fika. I recently learned this term "fika." This term embodies the reason why Sweden was the perfect country for me to study in. Fika is what the Swedes call going to cafes, lounging around and eating pastries. Exactly my kind of people!
So a few short hours after Steph arrived, we were off to the big Halloween party at the other university in Gothenburg, Chalmers. Khine, Steph and I were Barbies. Khine was sporty Barbie. Steph was regular Barbie and I was retro Barbie. Our outfits could have also been the Spice Girls, but people most commonly thought I was Wilma from the Flinstones.
The next day was Halloween, and we found out Swedes do nothing for Halloween. We did our own trick or treating at the giant candy store in Gothenburg. Benefit: we got to pick the candy we wanted. Downside: we had to pay. That evening we watched some scary movies and got dressed up for Rocky Horror Picture Show. The next day we went to the islands where literally everything was closed. We got back went and saw another scary movie at a Swedish movie theater. And after we went to a Mexican restaurant, which was not a great substitute for Guapos.
Tuesday morning, Khine left and Steph and I went shopping and Fika. Story of the Swedes life: shopping and Fika. It is literally all they do! After I said good bye to Steph, I started some intense work on my second paper of the semester. I spent the next three days re-cleaning my room, grocery shopping, doing laundry, and working on my second paper before the arrival of my next guest, my cousin Michael from London.
Michael arrived on Saturday morning. We went dropped off his stuff and grabbed lunch in Haga. We then made the decision to go out to the islands. After we went all Tom Sawyer exploration all over the island, we went back to the dock to take the ferry back. We then discovered that it was a holiday, which meant that we were going to have to wait 30 minutes for a ferry that would take double as long as normal to get back to Gothenburg. That was pretty horrible, but the ferry ride was nice.
When we arrived back in Gothenburg, we were starving! We went the "restaurant row" of Gothenburg and we literally tried to go to a dozen restaurants. Apparently because it was a holiday and a Saturday, there were literally no tables open at 5:50 pm. Michael then had the ingenious idea to try a hotel. So we walked over to a hotel by the Scandinavium and got the LAST table. We had a great meal where we even tried reindeer. Obviously, Michael made hundreds of jokes about us eating Rudolph and his red noses (the lingonberries served with the reindeer). After dinner we went out with my friends to another student party hosted by the city.
The next morning, we headed out to Fika, shop and see a bit of the city center. Another very Swedish day! Michael left mid afternoon, and the Lardner cousins completed another whirlwind trip together.
So now it is Wednesday, and I am again completing my cycle of catching up on laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning my room, and writing another paper. My two education classes have ended and now I am in Global Studies. The class is three days a week for three weeks. We already have a paper due on Monday, so I have been spending my time reading and researching for this paper. Yesterday, we saw our first "real" snow in Gothenburg. It was fantastic! Wish it would have stuck, but hopefully there will be more.
Next week I am getting excited for my final scheduled trip, where I will be going to Rome to visit Steph. I am beyond excited and we might even head to Naples to try the "Eat, Pray, Love" pizza! I get back from Rome on Saturday; the same day my mom and Alli come to visit. It's unbelievable that my time in Sweden is now more than half way over :(
And as for pictures. I just tried to upload them, but for some reason the uploader isn't working. I will try again later to upload pictures from my trip to Tallinn and my visits with Steph & Khine and Michael.
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