Beginning of Post-Abroad Travels

Hello my loyal blog readers!

Since we last spoke on this blog (it has almost been a year), I bid you all farewell and went on with my life back in DC.

After conversations with my two greatest and most loyal fans (largely due to that whole unconditional love thing), I was informed that there was a small audience who would still read and enjoy my sassy travel blog.  My mother said, "Oh, just post your pictures and we will be happy."  I was content and happily agreed to fulfill my mother's wish, even though I made the argument that it was a study abroad blog for when I was in Sweden only.  When all of a sudden my father piped in via iPhone speaker phone stating "It was called Tori's European Travels, not Tori's Swedish Travels."  In true Phil Lardner fashion, it was a logical argument and I had to concede.

So here we are again, a year after I started my original blog, embarking on a new adventure of post-abroad travels in my senior year of college.  In the time span of 5 months, between June and December, 201, I will have had the great fortune of going on three trips to Europe.  This re-vamped blog will focus on these travels and those in my future.  And hopefully by this time next year I will be writing this blog while living and working in Europe post-graduation!

Trip #1 brief synopsis:
In June, I accompanied my family on a fantastic Mediterranean cruise.  After a few hours of me wandering around Venice searching for my family like a true lost American tourist, Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Dad, Alli and I boarded the Nieuw Amsterdam to travel around the Mediterranean.  We traveled through the Greek Islands, different parts of Italy and eventually to Barcelona.  Some of the highlights were our wonderful waiters, DJ Jazzy and Gene, Grandpa trying every food under the sun including escargot, a multitude of family photos, the wonderful wine packages (Grandpa and I enjoyed a few bottles of Pinot Noir), the numerous celebrations (Grandma and Grandpa's 65th wedding anniversary and Alli's 18th birthday) and of course, Grandma and Grandpa ordering drinks from the waiter that was in love with me and called me Miss Victoria.  For the full story, please see Cheryl Lardner's fantastic scrapbook!

After we docked in Barcelona, we stayed a few extra days at the Hilton.  After our 13 hour tour day, I spent the rest of the time working on papers for my online summer classes.  The day after I bid my family good bye and went to my friend Marta's apartment, who I met while in Sweden.  My other friend Xavi picked me up from my hotel and we wandered around the city after lugging my heavy bags all throughout Barcelona.  And when I say we lugged my bags, I mean Xavi.  We had lunch in true Spanish fashion with great food and even better wine.  We met up with Marta and her boyfriend Sergi and we went to a great Catalan dinner.  The next few days were spent going to the beach and hanging out with my wonderful Spanish friends from Sweden!  Guillermo even came in from Zaragoza to visit!  We had a wonderful time and it was extremely difficult to leave the gorgeous Barcelona and my amazing friends!

Trip #2 synopsis:

Back in March, as I prepared to go on my spring break trip to Jamaica, I found this amazing deal on Travel Zoo for a weekend in Iceland.  I was desperate to go and posted on my Facebook status asking for any willing travelers to go with me.  My awesome cousin Molly eagerly responded and agreed to accompany me, and so we booked our trip for Labor Day weekend.  As September got closer, I realized how absolutely absurd it was that we were going to Iceland for a long weekend, but I was so psyched for our crazy little adventure!

Molly arrived in DC on the Friday morning of Labor Day.  I picked her up from the airport and we quickly discovered that neither of us had done any research on activities to do in Iceland.  The lack of research that we did before the trip would definitely be made up for by the abundance of literature we received and read while we were in the country.  I think we read every brochure and travel guide that exists about Iceland.  We were under the impression that we would be going on a city vacation: full of dinners out, bars and the notorious Reykjavik nightlife.

Once we checked into our hotel, we realized no one else seemed to have the same impression of Iceland that we did.  We arrived at our hotel after stupidly taking a cab from the airport.  Due to the fact we took an overnight flight, we were sleep deprived and confused and paid an outrageous cab fare.  We accepted our fare, cursed ourselves for not being smarter travelers and proceeded to try and check in.  In the span of the hour we waited for our room, we chilled in the lobby and ate breakfast.  Every person we saw was head to toe in full out hiking gear.  It felt like we were at the Grand Canyon Lodge, and we definitely had not received the outdoor adventure memo.

After we had filled our bellies with coffee, bread and cheese, we regained our senses and looked to book some activities for the weekend.  We settled on going to the infamous Blue Lagoon and getting in water massages and then the next day going horseback riding through lava fields.  After a kick much-needed cat nap, we headed into town and wandered around Reykjavik.  Reykjavik is a small little city, very gorgeous and very Nordic.  We spent a few hours wandering, got a few blisters and saw pretty much all of Reykjavik in a few hours.  Molly also was kind enough to help me try and conquer my one goal of finding and H&M.  After we walked 3,000 miles to the nearest mall, we discovered there was no H&M.  Needless to say I was heartbroken, but not as heartbroken as we both were later when we discovered our hotel had a free shuttle to the mall.  After our exhausting day of walking around, we decided to be super lame and eat dinner at the hotel and go to bed at 8:30 pm.

The next day we were super excited for our trip to the Blue Lagoon.  The Blue Lagoon is a mineral enriched hot spring in the middle of the Icelandic lava fields.  It is pretty much the most perfect place in the world.  Envision hanging out in a hot tub that is filled with minerals that are good for your skin while sipping on a drink from the in-water bar and people-watching people from all over the world put white mineral goop all over their skin.  Oh, and I forgot to mention the in-water massages.  Molly and I are quite the massage experts and this was definitely something that neither of us had experienced before.  We received massages while laying on a yoga mat type thing and the masseuse would hold you up while massaging you.  We had to put complete trust in Oskar and Ava, as we could easily fall into the water, and embarrass ourselves in front of hundreds of goop faced tourists.  The stakes were high!  After our day in heaven, we decided that in the future every layover we would ever make would be in Iceland due to Icelandair's Blue Lagoon layover package.

After we got back to the hotel, we showered and got ready to go out for dinner in Reykjavik.  We were becoming smarter travelers and got on the free shuttle into town.  We were wandering around looking for a restaurant when all of a sudden we discovered this cool Danish bar.  We went in were looking at the selections when all of a sudden I saw something that almost brought tears of happiness to my eyes  This something was Somersby cider, my all-time favorite drink that I hadn't had since Sweden.  Molly tried one and instantly understood my love affair with Somersby.  We had one and vowed to come back the before dinner the next day.

The next day was our last full day in Iceland and we were doing our one adventurous activity for the trip: horse back riding!  I adore horse back riding and was thrilled to be going.  Molly was a bit more apprehensive.  She was putting on a brave, excited face, but I know she was really questioning our choice of activity.  We got to the stables to find these cute, little Icelandic horses.  Molly was paired with this cute teddy-bear like horse, who was allegedly named after an Icelandic beer, but we never found out his name.  My horse was the complete opposite of Teddy beer horse.  Her name was Lisa and she pretty much hated her life.  She was not enthused to be working and was even less enthused when I forced her to go in the advanced group and made her trot and gallop.  After our eventful horse back ride, we went back to the hotel and went into the amazing pool/hot tub in the hotel.

Once we had finished our few hours of lounging, we decided to head into town early to hit up the Danish bar before our dinner reservations. We got to the bar, sat down and ordered 2 ciders.  We received our ciders from the bartender and I almost cried for the second time in this bar when I heard the price.  It was happy hour and ciders were two for one.  We spent the next hour happy as clams drinking cider and loving life.   At the end of happy hour, we bid the Danish bar a fond farewell and proceeded to the Lobster House for dinner.  Our dinner at the Lobster House was absolutely delicious, however, the atmosphere was very romantic.  We were the only non-couple in the place. The romantic music, candlelight and dim lighting was definitely a perfect place to get engaged at, not for two cousins who just came from cider happy hour.

The next morning we decided to go back to Reykjavik to kill some time before our flight and try the infamous Icelandic hot dog.  In all of our guide books and brochures it said we had to try a hot dog from this one stand by the harbor.  We tried our "interesting" hot dog at exactly 10:30 am, when the stand opened. We don't know why the hot dog was so famous or what was even on it, but we can both say that we tried it. We headed back to the hotel and printed our boarding passes.  This time it was Molly who was crying the tears of joy when we discovered that we would be sitting in the exit row on the flight home.

For my next European Travel, check back to my blog in January after Zoe and I come back from our 20+ days backpacking through Europe!

View from our hotel 

Streets of Reykjavik

Hallgrímskirkja Church

Inside of the church

Hallgrímskirkja Church and Leif Erickson statue

Street of Reykjavik

Reykjavik

Square in Reykjavik

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Pond in Reykjavik

Lava fields on the way to the Blue Lagoon 

Village in the lava fields

Molly and Tori at the Blue Lagoon (picture taken by Japanese tourists that also snapped a picture of us on THEIR camera)

More pictures to come once my internet/AU's internet stops hating me!

Goodbye Goteborg!

Well here it goes my last blog post.  I am currently on the plane back to Chicago trying to write a take home exam and all I can think about is the amazing 4 months that I have had.  Memories of trips, friends and activities in Gothenburg are fluttering around my mind.  I am truly grateful and blessed to have had this experience.  Not only did Gothenburg become my home, but I created friendships with people from all over the world that will last a lifetime.  My friends from Canada, Spain, Germany, Australia and Japan (just to name a few) really made the experience truly amazing.  I will miss them terribly, but know that we will all see each other soon.  These just add to my long list of places that I want to visit in my life.  First stop, Barcelona in June! (My family is going on a cruise where we end in Barcelona and I just conveniently have a few friends who live in Spain J).

Alright enough with the mushy stuff or else I will start crying all over my computer.  These amazing friends that I have been telling you all about and I have been EXTREMELY busy these past few weeks.  We wanted to really utilize our time together in Gothenburg.  This means we did countless fikas, dinners out together, dinners in together (always with a Spanish omelet or chicken).  We also did some Swedish “cultural activities”.  We went to a hockey game where the Frolunda Indians (Gothenburg team and formal team of Blackhawks player Viktor Stahlberg) beat their rival Linkoping in a really exciting game!  The girls and I went to the Gothenburg Opera.  Although it was a bit modern and not an opera, it was still a really amazing experience.  In addition to all of our outings we took advantage of the Christmas season in Sweden.  We went to multiple Christmas markets, saw a Santa Lucia concert, and watched a really wacky Christmas film on the side of the art museum.  My last few weeks were consumed with doing some last minute shopping, spending every precious moment with my friends, and trying to figure out how on Earth I would get all of my stuff home.  I also did some schoolwork in there! 

No other experience in the world will compare to my months in Sweden.  I am a truly lucky girl to have been in such an amazing city in an amazing country with amazing friends.  I know that we will all be together soon enough (reunion in the US or Canada!!!)

So with this my faithful blog readers I say goodbye to my months of blogging.  Thank you all for reading!  I hope that I gave you a vivid picture of my life, but I don’t think my words could ever fully describe how much fun I had or how much I loved Gothenburg and my friends.  

The Lardner Girls Take Gothenburg

I arrived back in Gothenburg at about 7:30 pm and my sister and Mom had arrived a few hours earlier.  I went straight from the airport to their hotel.  I opened the door of the hotel room to find my mom and sister in layers of clothes in bed watching Free Willy 4 with Bindi Irwin.  They clearly had a productive first day in Sweden :)  No, to their defense, jet lag is the worst!  We chatted for a while and discussed the plans for the week.  


The next day we planned to go to a Christmas market at the Tjolöholm Castle in Kungsbacka.  We got up early and took the train to Kungsbacka.  We were under the impression that there would be a shuttle to take us to the castle.  Apparently the shuttle did end up coming at one point, but it was too cold to stand around and wait to see, so we took a cab.  After arriving at the castle, we walked around tried delicious types of meat, cheeses, glogg, chocolate, marsipan, and tons of different things.  We also looked at Swedish Christmas crafts and decorations.  I made a large purchase of a Swedish santa who you put in your house and then name and he will protect you.  If you change the name then you will have bad luck.  I clearly had to write the name on the bottom because with my goldfish memory I will never be able to remember.  And with my clumsiness I can only imagine what would happen if I had eternal bad luck.  We then a delicious Swedish hot lunch and then headed back via taxi to Kungsbacka to take the train home.  We had our first of many fikas on the trip and then had dinner at a delicious fish restaurant in Haga.


On Monday we had lunch at Le Petit Cafe in Haga.  They have absolutely amazing lunch buffets with to die for soup and salads.  We then walked around Haga a bit and I sent the girls on the tram to Nordstan (the biggest mall in Gothenburg) while I went to class.  We later met to go to dinner at the best rated restaurant in Gothenburg, 28+.  We enjoyed five courses where we were served everything from crayfish to scallops to Alli's favorite raw elk.  I had to take one for the team and eat the raw elk.  After our delicious and unique meal, Alli and I went to meet some of my friends who were playing ping pong.  


Alli and I met up with our mom in the morning to do some more shopping.  We explored the shops and boutiques of Kungsportsplatsan.  They had adorable little stores with so much Christmas stuff.  We shopped for hours much to the dismay of Alli.  For those of you that know Alli well you are probably thinking... "Hmm this is strange. Alli is obsessed with shopping."  Well my mom and I were equally as shocked when Alli kept complaining are we almost done.  The reason for Alli doing this is because she was cold.  Literally the entire trip Alli was complaining about how cold it was.  If you see my mom's pictures she has quite a few of Alli sulking in the cold.  After our Christmas shopping, we headed off to the grocery store to get food for my mom to cook for my friends and I.  That night she was preparing Mexican Shells.  Three of my friends came over and had dinner with my mom and sister and I.  It was great food with great conversation.  And everyone was excited to have a home cooked meal.


On Wednesday we went to the fish market and had a great shrimp salad.  We then decided to venture out to the islands.  Like always on my trips to the islands, we just missed the boat, so we had to wait in the port for an hour.  We decided to take the high speed ferry around and we just stayed on like a boat ride.  It was too cold to get off and walk around the islands.  The ferry ride was really nice though.  After that we went back to their hotel and got ready for our dinner on the Viking.  If you have seen a picture of the harbor then the Viking is that big huge ship.  It is now a restaurant and hotel, owned by the amusement park Liseberg.  The food was fantastic and the atmosphere was really cool.  


Thursday we had lunch at this great restaurant in Berzeiligatan.  It was another lunch buffet and delicious!  We then ventured over to the Universeum (the science and industry museum).  We went all through the different Scandinavian climates, saw many different animals (was also part zoo and part aquarium).  The highlight though was this hands on section.  There was a part that was hands on like space and astronaut stuff.  One of the things was to stand on these spinning platforms and try to close drawers and things like astronauts in space.  Alli and I spun on those things for a solid 15 minutes.  After that was a like hands on crime section.  They had fingerprinting, witness recognition, DNA stuff, and even a Mission Impossible type room where you climb over the lazers and if you touch one a siren goes off. While my mom and I were playing around with all of this stuff, Alli ventured over to room where there was a sign that said "Sit in the chair, if you dare."  So clearly she sat in the chair.  I walk over just as the magic happens.  This chair is facing a dresser.  All of a sudden a scary face pops up on the dresser and shrieks like bloody murder.  Alli screams and like curls up in a ball.  The best part is they video tape your reaction, so we got to relive Alli freaking out.  It was absolutely hilarious!  Later that night, my mom again cooked for my friends and I.  Four of my friends came over and we all enjoyed delicious American chili, cornbread, and brownies.  


Friday was my mom and Alli's final day in Gothenburg.  I had class in the morning, so Alli and my mom went to the sports museum.  We went to a great lunch in Brunnsparken and then went for fika to get cocoballs.  Alli also discovered kladdkaka on her final day, which is a combination between a brownie and chocolate cake.  After our fika, we headed over to Liseberg to go to the Christmas market.  It was absolutely frigid.  Like unbearable.  We walked around Liseberg, stopped at the Christmas stands, but more importantly stopped at the heating stations.  Alli and I also dared to go on a few rides.  The swings were a huge mistake in the bitter cold, wind and snow.  Carrie met up with us later and the four of us went to an authentic Christmas buffet at Liseberg.  When they said authentic, we got authentic.  From our waitress who did not speak on word of English to the 50 types of herring. However, there was a lot of really great food and amazing desserts.  It was a cool experience if nothing else.  That night I bid goodbye to Alli and my mom and realized I would be home in three short weeks.  


Some of my pictures from their trip:

Mom and Alli at the castle in Kungsbacka

Swedish Santa

The tree in the castle

Santa throwing candy at the children

Map on the way to the islands

Mom and Alli on the way to the ferry

Snow covered islands

Alli pouting because she is cold

Final trip outside of Sweden :(

Two weeks after Stephanie visited Sweden, I was off to visit her in Rome.  It really has been amazing to have friends abroad with me because it gave me the chance to travel to really cool places and have free accommodations.  And to see all of my fantastic friends in their new European homes.  Khine in Nice, Cierra in London and Steph in Rome.

I arrived in Rome late Tuesday night.  For those who don't know Stephanie, she is a planner.  Before I arrived she gave me every detail of how to get to her apartment including step by step directions to give the cab driver.  However, she forgot one huge detail, the name on the call button of her apartment.  So I am standing outside her building at 11 pm unable to get in.  Just as I'm contemplating pressing every button to get in the building, this gorgeous Italian man opens the door and lets me in.  Thankfully, his stunning good looks didn't leave me speechless because I was able to ask him if he knew where the American girls lived.  He surprisingly knew and it proved to be a great start to the trip.

The next day I woke up early and went with Steph to get coffee because I had quite the adventure planned to the Vatican.  Steph had class, so I planned on going to the Vatican Museum.  I walked up to Saint Peter's square and saw hundreds of people.  I was a bit confused because I have been there before and there is never that many people there.  There were chairs set up and no line to get into the Basilica.  So I asked a French couple what was going on and they had no idea.  I decided to linger around because something important looked like it was going to happen.  There were people with tickets that were going to sit in the chairs and then there was a barricade set up behind it.  I decided to stand at the barricade with the French couple at about 9:05 am.  At around 9:20 the French couple were reading their guide book when they discovered that on Wednesdays at 10:30 am that the Pope speaks.  So unknowingly I stumbled upon a papal audience.  I decided to wait the hour and see the Pope speak.

At about 10:15 all of the ticket holders turned from facing the Basilica towards me.  The Swiss guard began barricading the ticket holders in and they created a street.  Then the Pope began driving around the crowd in his Pope-mobile.  I was literally three feet away from the Pope when he drove past me because I was at the front of the barricade.  He then drove up to the front of the Basilica and began to speak.  He gave a introduction speech, which he gave in 7 languages.  Italian, French, German, English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Polish.  In the speech he discussed a Saint that was focused on for that day.  When I went it was Saint Juliana.  After that 7 Cardinals introduced the ticketed guests from their native languages.  There were many groups from the US.  One was from Bolingbrook and another from Baltimore.  After the introduction of all the ticket holders in 7 languages.  The Pope blessed the crowd and told us that the Papal blessing was extended from all of us present to our friends, family and children.  It was a truly amazing once in a lifetime experience that I really just stumbled upon.  After the Pope finished speaking, I went into the Vatican Museum for three hours and then went back to Steph's.  We had a delicious meal at this restaurant near Steph's apartment where I had this amazing pasta with pecorino cheese and pepper.

On Thursday, we went with Steph's roomate's Italian class to go get the most famous tiramusu in Rome. It was delicious!!! I got a nutella and banana flavored one.  We ventured around the city a bit and then went back to the apartment for a much needed nap.  Later that night we made dinner at Steph's apartment with delicious fresh Italian ingredients.  Nothing can beat wine, cheese and bread.  The next day we got up super early to travel to Naples.  For those of you who have heard about Naples, it fully lives to the grungy dirty reputation.  Piles upon piles of garbage line the streets.  But we had one mission going to Naples to get Eat, Pray, Love (Julia Roberts) pizza.  In the book Eat, Pray, Love the author travels to Naples with her friend and they eat at this famous pizzeria.  The movie was also shot in location at this pizzeria.  The pizza was amazing and totally worth the trip to Naples.  Another added bonus on the trip was a shop that sold boots for 15 euros.  I got two pairs!  We wandered around Naples a bit and then came home with three pairs of boots (2 mine and 1 Stephs) and three pizzas (for Steph's roomates).  When we got home we had our last meal together in Rome and went back to our yummy restaurant we were at two nights before.

The next day Steph was off to the south of Italy to visit her family.  I slept in a bit and then braved the Roman rain to meet up with my Swedish friend Ingrid.  She is now living in Rome and after a bit of confusion with directions we finally met up in the Jewish ghetto.  We walked around a bit in the pouring rain making us think we were in Gothenburg.  She came back with me to the train station where I was catching a bus to the airport.

I arrived three hours later in Gothenburg to find snow, the freezing cold, and visitors from the States...

Saint Peter's (you can see all the people in chairs at the bottom)

Ticket holders behind the barricade

Pope mobile coming towards me

Super close to the Pope!

and there he is...

During the Papal speech

Me during the Papal audience

Steph and I in a piazza with a carton of Italian wine

Nutella and banana tiramusu

Eat, Pray,  Love pizza in Naples

Best pizza in the world?!?!

Dirty, dirty Naples

Every street had this much garbage

Steph the delivery girl

Synagogue in the Jewish ghetto in Rome

Baltic Cruise and Visitors

So it's been almost three weeks since my last blog post, but these have been the busiest three weeks since I have been abroad.  It all started with my trip to Tallinn, Estonia.

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.

Journey to the Land of Tasmanian Devils and Leprechauns with Pirate Accents

Last Wednesday I left to go on my third trip of the semester.  I headed to the airport after my class (yes I had class, I have learned that some of you are under the impression that I never attend class).  This was my first time flying RyanAir which is a discount airline here in Europe.  I flew out of Gothenburg City Airport, which is the much, much smaller airport here in Gothenburg.  And by much smaller I mean there are two gates and only RyanAir flies out of the airport.  All of this information I did not know, so I was at the airport outrageously early.

After waiting two hours in the airport with one restaurant(I seriously think Palwaukee airport was bigger), I got on the plane.  I had a relatively pleasant flight to London, with one exception.  Because RyanAir is so cheap, and by cheap I mean I paid 10 euros to fly to London, they have to compensate in some way.  They jam pack flights and try to sell you products during the flight.  Throughout the entire two hour flight to London there were constant announcements trying to sell everything under the sun.  From RyanAir lottery tickets, to smokeless cigarettes that you can smoke on the plane, to dozens of food options, the announcements never end.  This is pretty annoying when it is 11:00 pm when all I want to do is sleep.

So we arrive in London totally fine and I start to walk to the exit.  Usually I am an exceptionally smart and prepared traveller, but for some reason I totally forgot that the UK was not a part of the Schengen Visa program.  This means I had to go through immigration and fill out a customs card.  Of course I had to go through the non-EU line which was incredibly, incredibly long.  So I grab a customs card and see one really alarming thing: exact address of where you are staying.  During this trip I was planning on staying with my friend Cierra for two nights and with my cousin Michael for the other night.  I frantically grabbed my phone and tried to call both Cierra and Michael to get their addresses.  However, in good 30 euro phone form, my phone didn't work.  I later figured out my phone would take calls, and send and receive texts.  At this point I'm panicking outside customs.  I was two seconds away from writing the London Hilton as my address, when I saw these two 20 something American girls.  I ran up to them and I was like do you have a phone that worked?  Now what they did next is completely against everything they tell 20 something American girls traveling in Europe (reference to the movie Taken), they let me borrow their phone.  So I called Michael and got his address and everything was good.  But I have no clue what I wouldn't have done without those two American girls, so thank you wherever you are :)

So I made the trek from the airport and met up with Cierra.  Cierra lives in a house in London with about a dozen other students from AU.  I got to her house around 2 am.  We talked a little.  I met some of her housemates and then went to sleep.  The next morning we woke up and I went with Cierra to the Museum of Brands for an assignment for her school.  The museum was actually pretty cool.  It had products and packaging from the 1800's to present day.  The funniest thing that I saw was some old Barbie dolls Alli and I used to have.  They were either my Aunt Karen or Aunt Chris' dolls, but these dolls in the museum had the exact same clothing and everything.  It was pretty cool.

After the museum we went shopping on Portobello Road, which had really cool old vintage and antique shops.  It was more of a market with dozens of cheap shoe and clothing stores.  Cierra went on a crazy shopping spree in true Tasmanian Devil form.  I would have joined in if not for the strict 10kg limit on luggage for RyanAir.  The purchase that I did make was an adorable bag that I got for 5 pounds.  Later Cierra and I had dinner and then went out to a pub in Piccadilly Circus.  Cierra had a major interview the next morning, so we only stayed out for a little.

The next day I slept in and when Cierra came back for her interview we hit up the gym.  After the gym, we got ready and went on our pub crawl of London.  We went to a bunch of different pubs before we met up with my cousin Michael and his girlfriend Jennie.  I said goodbye to Cierra and then went to dinner with Michael and Jennie.  By the time we all got to bed, we were going to have to be up in 3 hours to go to the airport for our flight to Dublin.

We got up super early and headed to King's Cross to catch our train to the airport.  This was the beginning of one of the funniest days ever.  On any other day the event probably wouldn't have been as funny, but we were all running on less than three hours of sleep.  We barely made our flight to Dublin because security at 5 am was ridiculous.  While we were on the plane Michael almost accidentally killed a flight attendant with a water bottle and we had to listen to the annoying RyanAir announcements.  We were so delirious Michael and I were contemplating buying a lottery ticket.

Soo delicious and it fills you up all day.  After breakfast we went on a walk through the park in Dublin.  We decided to go visit the old Kilmainham jail in Dublin.  The jail was pretty cool, but the best part was our crazily enthusiastic tour guide Rosemary and Michael plotting how to make a haunted house in the jail.

After the jail tour we headed to the Jameson factory.  Michael and Uncle Bill did a special whiskey tasting and sat at their own part of the bar.  Jennie and I got Jameson hot chocolates and Aunt Debbie got an Irish coffee.  The drinks were delicious and got us well prepared for our much needed nap.

We all went back to our hotel, took a nap and were ready to go for dinner. We met up with Brendan O'Reilly for dinner and we all went to this cute Irish pub.  I had a delicious Irish stew, which was the greatest thing ever because I had been freezing since I woke up and it warmed me down to my bones.  After dinner, we made our own little pub crawl through Dublin.  Brendan stayed with us at the first pub where one of the strangest experiences of my life occurred. After a series of pubs we went home for the night and I prepared for my early flight home.

I got up said goodbye to Michael and Jennie and then started my journey home.  I flew RyanAir again this time to Stockholm.  I then took a 7 hour bus from Stockholm to Gothenburg, which was surprisingly not bad because I just got some much needed sleep after my crazy weekend.

Update on life in Gothenburg: first snow fall today in Gothenburg.  It didn't stick, but still a bit crazy!  This weekend I am going on a student cruise from Stockholm to Tallinn, Estonia.  The weekend after my best friends Khine (studying in Nice, France) and Stephanie (studying in Rome) are coming to visit me in Gothenburg.  The following weekend my cousin Michael is coming to visit me.  Busy weekends coming up, but I am excited to show everyone the now freezing land of Sweden.

Here are some pictures of the weekend:

Store in Portobello Road with hundreds of antique sewing machines

Portobello Road/Notting Hill

Barbies at the Museum of Brands

More Barbies

Cierra!

Saint Stephen's Park in Dublin

Gorgeous fountain in St. Stephen's Park

Trinity College

Where's Waldo? 

Kilmainham Jail

Jennie, Michael and Aunt Debbie at the jail

Me in a jail cell

Jameson Factory

The bar at Jameson

The ladies at Jameson

The whole gang after our amazing dinner