Hejsan! So today is meant to be the start of my third class, Swedish Social Policy, but there has been some confusion about when it starts. As far as I know it begins in 45 minutes at 2:15...gotta run, guess its starting now!
***
Last Friday I begun a post about my classes as you can see above...I ended up going to the Swedish Social Policy class which was very interesting. We went over the idea of a welfare state and broke off into small discussion groups to classify what type of welfare state our various countries were. I'm very much looking forward to the next class sessions though it will end up being my shortest class, with only about a week straight full of classes. The teacher was nice and seemed very passionate about the Swedish model of the welfare state so we probably won't be getting any "fair and balanced" teaching of the other systems, but that can be expected, and it will be good to hear something vastly different than what I'm used to! There are aspects of the Swedish system I like though we also learned the Swedes will pay the highest taxes in the world come next year! Yikes!
I've also currently been taking two other classes. The first one that began back on Sept. 1 is a Glbal Environmental Justice course. This is my one class that spans the whole semester and meets only 1 time per week. Our material so far as been focused on the concept of "ecologically unequal exchange" which has explored the idea of how the "core" countries (USA, Britain, etc.) feed off of the "periphery" (poorer) countries. A key idea has been that the poorer countries perform the work for the benefit of the richer, core countries, while unequally destroying the poorer' countries environments in the process. It's been interesting. Last Tuesday we watched a movie called "Mammoth" which detailed the very different lives of a wealthy New York couple who had employed a mom from the Philippines who was in America trying to make a living for her children back home. We saw the desire for status and wealth among those more successful and the desperate desire by those less fortunate to live even a decent life. It was an eye-opening movie and I learned a lot...one of our assignments is to write a page worth of reflections on it.
My third class I'm in right now is called Democratization. It is a class in the political science department which also meets once a week and goes till the beginning of November (I think). So far we've learned about the various ways to classify states that are democracies and those that aren't. We've looked at the various forces that work to create a democracy or even return a democratic state to an authoritarian one. On Friday we had to turn in our paper topic we would like to write on. Most of us choose a case study, mine being that of Czechoslovakia. I learned in class that Czechoslovakia was an exception to the generally acknowledged principle that countries without national unity normally don't democratize. Yet Czechoslovakia did so I'm interested in exploring the forces that allowed for its democratization. Last week and for the next 4 meetings we have a guest lecturer from South Africa. His first lecture was very insightful so hopefully the next 3 will be too!
I have 2 more classes later on...Scandinavian Models of Equality and an Intro to Human Rights. I might drop the human rights course to take a Conflict in the Middle East class that a few friends are in and really liked. It just started so I would be able to catch up and it would allow me to drop a class that ends at the very end of the term which would be nice!
Friday, September 25, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Helsingborg Pictures!
Took awhile to get these up...it was hard to pick which ones to use here since so many were good, so I just put up a bunch! These are all pictures from Helsingborg, Sweden, which is about a 30 minute train ride north of Lund. Cassandra, Ming, and I went there last Monday, Sept. 14. I wrote more about what we did in the blog entry below this one. I hope you enjoy =)
Me standing in front of an organ inside a historic church in Helsingborg.
Ming & I in front of the Helsingborg Castle!
Ming & I in front of an awesome fountain in Helsingborg Castle.
Ming, Cassandra, & I on the top of Helsingborg Castle with a view of the city behind!
Cassandra & I on the top of the castle with an even better view of the city.
After walking around the main part of Helsingborg, we went to the Sofiero Castle...this was the entrance to the grounds.
Upon entry into Sofiero, we saw this...it couldn't have been a better day! In the distance you can see the castle.
Was just trying to be artsy with this one...behind me is Sofiero Castle, one of the former summer homes of the Swedish Royal Family...awesome place!
A nice scenic shot of a little creek.
Having some fun in the woods outside Sofiero Castle.
Ming & I inside the gardens at Sofiero.
Sitting on the steps behind Sofiero Castle. Down this path aways we came to the Baltic Sea where we could look across and see Hamlet's Castle in Helsingor, Denmark.
The three of us in front of Sofiero Castle. The entrance to the place can be seen towards the back right between the trees.
Cassandra & I having some fun with little kids' hats...
We found a cat and played with it for quite awhile!
Thought this was a pretty cool picture of the cat!!
Amongst the MANY stunning dahlias in the gardens next to Sofiero Castle.
Thought this would be a cool shot...the three of us looking through the "windows" of the garden.
We had a little too much fun...
Ming took this one...a cool B&W shot of the dock and sea.
The three of us in front of the City Hall building in Helsingborg, Sweden.
A final shot of the harbor just before dusk.
Me standing in front of an organ inside a historic church in Helsingborg.
Ming & I in front of the Helsingborg Castle!
Ming & I in front of an awesome fountain in Helsingborg Castle.
Ming, Cassandra, & I on the top of Helsingborg Castle with a view of the city behind!
Cassandra & I on the top of the castle with an even better view of the city.
After walking around the main part of Helsingborg, we went to the Sofiero Castle...this was the entrance to the grounds.
Upon entry into Sofiero, we saw this...it couldn't have been a better day! In the distance you can see the castle.
Was just trying to be artsy with this one...behind me is Sofiero Castle, one of the former summer homes of the Swedish Royal Family...awesome place!
A nice scenic shot of a little creek.
Having some fun in the woods outside Sofiero Castle.
Ming & I inside the gardens at Sofiero.
Sitting on the steps behind Sofiero Castle. Down this path aways we came to the Baltic Sea where we could look across and see Hamlet's Castle in Helsingor, Denmark.
The three of us in front of Sofiero Castle. The entrance to the place can be seen towards the back right between the trees.
Cassandra & I having some fun with little kids' hats...
We found a cat and played with it for quite awhile!
Thought this was a pretty cool picture of the cat!!
Amongst the MANY stunning dahlias in the gardens next to Sofiero Castle.
Thought this would be a cool shot...the three of us looking through the "windows" of the garden.
We had a little too much fun...
Ming took this one...a cool B&W shot of the dock and sea.
The three of us in front of the City Hall building in Helsingborg, Sweden.
A final shot of the harbor just before dusk.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Helsingborg & This Past Week
Today Cassandra, Ming, & I went to Helsingborg and had an awesome time! We took the train from Lund around 10:30AM and arrived in Helsingborg around 11:10 or so and began walking around the town. We first checked out this cool castle-like building within the city and walked up to the top of it where we had a nice view of Helsingborg, the Baltic Sea, and Helsingor, Denmark. After we went to a bakery nearby and had some fresh baked desserts...my first "meal" of the day!
We then took the bus to the former summer home of the current Swedish Royal Family. First we toured the home, which was very ordinary compared to the palace in Stockholm. We then took a path down through some trees, along a creek, and to the edge of the sea. This little walk down had some of the best photo opps yet, but there were many more to come! Around 3PM we grabbed a quick lunch at the cafe on the premises and then went to check out the rose garden, where we spent around 2 hours! Here we found some of the best landscaping thus far...all kinds of plants, flowers, roses, dahlias, etc. You name it...and, a cat that we played with for a bit! After we took about 100 pictures amongst the scenery on the three of our cameras we took the bus back to town, visited the city hall building, grabbed dinner at a Korean restaurant, and then took the train back to Lund. Definitely a fun, fun day...pictures to come.
**
This past week since the football game on the 5th has been pretty low key...with a few exceptions. Oh, and its gone incredibly fast! In fact, the first half of this month has just flown by. I've somewhat forgotten what I did this past week, but remember a few things.
At one point Ghazal, Alex, and I took a walk around the whole part of Lund we hadn't seen yet. We went under the bridge near the train station, over to Vildanden (a far away housing complex), and around the train station and back to Sparta. Quite a walk and the first time we had seen that side of Lund since arriving! On the way back, a few Middle Eastern guys pulled over, rolled down their window, and started screaming at us in Swedish...Luckily, I didn't know what they were saying so I felt a bit innocent. Turns out, as Alex later told us, they were telling him to "nicely" take of his shirt which merely showed an Israeli Red Star...no controversial remarks or anything. He said they added some name calling, too. That was a bit scary.
Wednesday afternoon I went over to visit Luise & Ming in Delphi...then went to Willy's (a local grocery store I've been hearing good things about) for the first time! Afterwards, Cassandra and I hit up Krischansta Nation and had dinner with Nora, Anita, Tim, & Alex. Thursday we all met up with Jess and a few others and went to Sydskanska Nation for dinner, a live band, and more music. Pretty fun night, good food, and met some cool Danish girls.
Friday was the crazy one...we had planned for a big party in Parentsen but started off in my corridor once I found out we were having a party the same night. A couple glasses of wine & a cocktail later we headed over to Parentsen. It was quite a raging party! Lots of people, great music, and many new friends. Downside of the night came when we found out some drunk idiot had thrown a glass bottle at Vishnu's face. He had to get a couple of stitches but he's all good now. We all had quite a night, so we just crashed at his place. We woke up the next morning and hit up the flea market outside of his building...cool stuff but you'd mostly only buy the type of things they had if you were living here. Before going back to Sparta we all went to Kalmar Nation and had their brunch which was great for 40 crowns!
Sunday was pretty low key too...met Cassandra and her corridor mate's mentor group for brunch at Hallands Nation....definitely love this place! Low key day after that...came back, took a nap, and then went to the gym later with Melanie. Thought about going to Helsingborg Sunday too but held off, which was a good thing since it began to rain later. At night Ghazal and I visited Jasmine's place in Vildanden to make dinner...had these vegetarian patties that we're pretty darn good and a first for me. Also discussed the travel plans Ghazal's been lookin' into for Poland, Prague, Budapest, Barcelona, and Morocco...so excited! Ohh, then we watched this movie called Prime w/ Meryl Streep...its the one where her son turns out to be dating her patient...after her patient has told her all this stuff about their dating...yeahh, pretty funny. That's it for now...
We then took the bus to the former summer home of the current Swedish Royal Family. First we toured the home, which was very ordinary compared to the palace in Stockholm. We then took a path down through some trees, along a creek, and to the edge of the sea. This little walk down had some of the best photo opps yet, but there were many more to come! Around 3PM we grabbed a quick lunch at the cafe on the premises and then went to check out the rose garden, where we spent around 2 hours! Here we found some of the best landscaping thus far...all kinds of plants, flowers, roses, dahlias, etc. You name it...and, a cat that we played with for a bit! After we took about 100 pictures amongst the scenery on the three of our cameras we took the bus back to town, visited the city hall building, grabbed dinner at a Korean restaurant, and then took the train back to Lund. Definitely a fun, fun day...pictures to come.
**
This past week since the football game on the 5th has been pretty low key...with a few exceptions. Oh, and its gone incredibly fast! In fact, the first half of this month has just flown by. I've somewhat forgotten what I did this past week, but remember a few things.
At one point Ghazal, Alex, and I took a walk around the whole part of Lund we hadn't seen yet. We went under the bridge near the train station, over to Vildanden (a far away housing complex), and around the train station and back to Sparta. Quite a walk and the first time we had seen that side of Lund since arriving! On the way back, a few Middle Eastern guys pulled over, rolled down their window, and started screaming at us in Swedish...Luckily, I didn't know what they were saying so I felt a bit innocent. Turns out, as Alex later told us, they were telling him to "nicely" take of his shirt which merely showed an Israeli Red Star...no controversial remarks or anything. He said they added some name calling, too. That was a bit scary.
Wednesday afternoon I went over to visit Luise & Ming in Delphi...then went to Willy's (a local grocery store I've been hearing good things about) for the first time! Afterwards, Cassandra and I hit up Krischansta Nation and had dinner with Nora, Anita, Tim, & Alex. Thursday we all met up with Jess and a few others and went to Sydskanska Nation for dinner, a live band, and more music. Pretty fun night, good food, and met some cool Danish girls.
Friday was the crazy one...we had planned for a big party in Parentsen but started off in my corridor once I found out we were having a party the same night. A couple glasses of wine & a cocktail later we headed over to Parentsen. It was quite a raging party! Lots of people, great music, and many new friends. Downside of the night came when we found out some drunk idiot had thrown a glass bottle at Vishnu's face. He had to get a couple of stitches but he's all good now. We all had quite a night, so we just crashed at his place. We woke up the next morning and hit up the flea market outside of his building...cool stuff but you'd mostly only buy the type of things they had if you were living here. Before going back to Sparta we all went to Kalmar Nation and had their brunch which was great for 40 crowns!
Sunday was pretty low key too...met Cassandra and her corridor mate's mentor group for brunch at Hallands Nation....definitely love this place! Low key day after that...came back, took a nap, and then went to the gym later with Melanie. Thought about going to Helsingborg Sunday too but held off, which was a good thing since it began to rain later. At night Ghazal and I visited Jasmine's place in Vildanden to make dinner...had these vegetarian patties that we're pretty darn good and a first for me. Also discussed the travel plans Ghazal's been lookin' into for Poland, Prague, Budapest, Barcelona, and Morocco...so excited! Ohh, then we watched this movie called Prime w/ Meryl Streep...its the one where her son turns out to be dating her patient...after her patient has told her all this stuff about their dating...yeahh, pretty funny. That's it for now...
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Denmark v. Portugal
Last night I met up in Copenhagen with a Danish family that I know to go to the Denmark v. Portugal World Cup Qualifying Match at Parken Stadium. Train ride over went nice and then the weather went bad! It was raining, cold, and very windy in Copenhagen. We had plans to go to a restaurant but everything in town was packed so we hit up this chicken sandwich join that was actually pretty good. I got a pesto-flavored chicken sandwich and warm mashed up potatoes. From here we headed over to the stadium for the game beginning at 8PM. We stopped by the gift store first and I got a couple scarves that say "Danmark" on them =]
The atmosphere and intensity was at a HIGH! Fans outside we're going nuts. At one point the team bus with the players drove by us and people just erupted. The Danes (and I'm sure all other country's fans) take their football seriously! Once we got inside we found our seats which were pretty good ones. The National Anthem was definitely a big site of nationalism. People we're singing it everywhere while waving Danish flags in the air. The first half had a LOT of incredible saves by the Danish goalie, who was supposedly their 2nd backup behind their starter, but for various reasons the starter and first back up couldn't play. Turns out 62% of the fans or so thought he was the player of the game in the end. The Danes scored with about 5 minutes left in the first half...the fans went pretty crazy. The second half remained 1-0 Denmark until about 6 minutes left, when Portugal scored...it ended in a 1-1 draw. I'm definitely not used to seeing sporting games ending in a tie...but it was a very fun and eventful night nonetheless.
I took a few pictures of this Cristiano Ronaldo player (#7) who plays for Portugal and is among the few top players in the world...
Coming back from the game was just disastrous. I tried buying a ticket in Copenhagen but the only machine that would let me buy a ticket for Lund wouldn't accept my card and would only take coins, which I didn't have. All the shops and booths were closed and the family I was with had left. I had a Eurail Pass but really did not want to waste a whole day for such a short trip. I got on the train anyways, told the guy I had tried buying one and that I didn't want to waste my pass, so he said he'd come back to me but he never did =] I ended up getting to Malmo for free and bought a short train ticket back to Lund. 3 + hours after the game ended I was finally back in my room!
All the "Danmark" memorabilia in the gift shop!
Danmark v. Portugal!
Parken Stadium in Copenhagen.
The teams taking the field!
All the crazy Portuguese fans.
Danmark and Portugal lining up before the game for the National Anthems.
The crowd went crazzzzyyyy after Danmark scored!
Ronaldo (#7) getting a free kick.
Danmark celebrating after the 1-1 draw. Portugal had really needed this game. Their chances or slim (or 0, I'm not sure). Danmark is leading their group.
RONALDO!
Ronaldo walking off the field after the game.
The atmosphere and intensity was at a HIGH! Fans outside we're going nuts. At one point the team bus with the players drove by us and people just erupted. The Danes (and I'm sure all other country's fans) take their football seriously! Once we got inside we found our seats which were pretty good ones. The National Anthem was definitely a big site of nationalism. People we're singing it everywhere while waving Danish flags in the air. The first half had a LOT of incredible saves by the Danish goalie, who was supposedly their 2nd backup behind their starter, but for various reasons the starter and first back up couldn't play. Turns out 62% of the fans or so thought he was the player of the game in the end. The Danes scored with about 5 minutes left in the first half...the fans went pretty crazy. The second half remained 1-0 Denmark until about 6 minutes left, when Portugal scored...it ended in a 1-1 draw. I'm definitely not used to seeing sporting games ending in a tie...but it was a very fun and eventful night nonetheless.
I took a few pictures of this Cristiano Ronaldo player (#7) who plays for Portugal and is among the few top players in the world...
Coming back from the game was just disastrous. I tried buying a ticket in Copenhagen but the only machine that would let me buy a ticket for Lund wouldn't accept my card and would only take coins, which I didn't have. All the shops and booths were closed and the family I was with had left. I had a Eurail Pass but really did not want to waste a whole day for such a short trip. I got on the train anyways, told the guy I had tried buying one and that I didn't want to waste my pass, so he said he'd come back to me but he never did =] I ended up getting to Malmo for free and bought a short train ticket back to Lund. 3 + hours after the game ended I was finally back in my room!
All the "Danmark" memorabilia in the gift shop!
Danmark v. Portugal!
Parken Stadium in Copenhagen.
The teams taking the field!
All the crazy Portuguese fans.
Danmark and Portugal lining up before the game for the National Anthems.
The crowd went crazzzzyyyy after Danmark scored!
Ronaldo (#7) getting a free kick.
Danmark celebrating after the 1-1 draw. Portugal had really needed this game. Their chances or slim (or 0, I'm not sure). Danmark is leading their group.
RONALDO!
Ronaldo walking off the field after the game.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
My First Month In Pictures...
So far I haven't been including pics with my previous posts (except for 1 of my birthday cake!) and so here I have decided to summarize my first month here in Europe through the 48 pictures below! I left ONE month ago today (Aug. 4)...time is flying by! If I can figure out how to put captions, I will...pics start with the most recent below and oldest towards the bottom. Hope you like!
They have these trolls everywhere! This one was in Voss, Norway.
Here is the crying baby statue at Vigelandsparken in Oslo, Norway. Definitely one of my favorites!
Another statue from this awesome place...this one of a man and his children. There are many other statues here (and will post other pics on my Facebook). They are all meant to represent the different stages and relationships of life.
With my mom at Vigelandsparken in Oslo, Norway.
This is a shot of the roses and fountain of Vigelandsparken which is located within Frogner Park in Oslo, Norway. The park was filled with awesome landscaping.
I took this picture from the opposite side of the one above. A view looking back through Vigelandsparken.
This was a shot taken while leaving Flam, Norway and heading towards Voss, Norway.
Mom mom and I on the ferry exploring the Fjords of Norway. It was part of our "Norway in a Nutshell" tour.
Me on deck during our Fjord tour.
The famous Fjords of Norway...definitely the most scenic and beautiful part of this trip yet!
This is a picture of Flam, Norway at night. You can see the nice coloring in the sky, the mountains in the background, and a lit up Cafe in the front.
Here I am in front of a waterfall that we encountered while on our train ride into Flam, Norway. The train stopped for 5 minutes so we could get out and see it up close. Quite a site!
This is a shot of the famous "Sweater Wall" in Tallinn, Estonia. That's my mom walking in the foreground! They had lots of awesome clothing at prices cheaper than the rest of Scandinavia.
With my mom and her friend Kathy in Tallinn, Estonia. You can see part of the city in the distance.
Here I am standing in front of an ancient and historic castle in Tallinn, Estonia.
My mom and I standing in one of the town squares in Tallinn Estonia. This picture and the couple above are all from the more historic and medieval part of Estonia's capital city.
This is a memorial to people who died on a ferry from Stockholm to Tallinn on Sept. 28, 1994...kinda creepy since that is exactly what we did!
One of the many plates I had during our buffet on the Victoria, our ferry ship that went overnight from Stockholm to Estonia. Here I had vanilla ice cream, chocolate moose, and an assortment of berries, including lingonberries!
Me on the deck of the Victoria ferry ship heading towards Tallinn, Estonia.
Above is a shot of the world famous Vasa which was a ship that sank in the harbor off Stockholm in the 1600s. It wasn't recovered until over 300 years later and has been kept in good shape because the water it was in lacked salt and hard currents that could have destroyed it. The museum was pretty awesome!
I thought this was a great picture...we noticed a bunch of hot air balloons in the sky over Stockholm and so I took this shot as they flew over the Vasa Museum (where the ship above is located).
Picture of the capital city of Stockholm, Sweden. I took this from a viewing tower a few hundred feet up.
Here I am outside the Royal Palace in Stockholm with a Swedish guard behind me.
I took this during the Changing of the Guard at the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Sweden. They had an awesome ceremony that lasted over 30 minutes and featured a marching band. I'll post a video of part of the ceremony later.
I took this picture before getting on a cruise ship in Nyhavn, a 17th century waterfront entertainment district in Copenhagen, Denmark. The main walk has many restaurants, bars, and pubs. I think its such a neat shot because of all the different colors.
The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen, Denmark. We happened to be there on her 100th birthday and the celebration including 100 women swimming up to the statue.
Tired to be artsy here...it is a shot of one of the main churches in Copenhagen in the background and a fountain in the foreground. The Danish Royal Palace is located between the two.
We stopped for a bit to watch the Changing of the Guard at the Royal Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark. The ceremony wasn't as elaborate as it would have been had the Queen been in residence.
Tivoli Garden and Theme Park at night. Great place in Copenhagen but definitely THE MOST EXPENSIVE place so far. Luckily, Sweden is the cheapest when compared to Denmark and Norway.
On one of the rides at Tivoli with my mom's friend Kathy. This was the first (and will be the last) time I go on one of those "Supreme Scream" drop-type rides. It was @&*#%$ scary!
This is a picture of me, my mom, her friend Kathy, and our Danish family friends. We went to Tivoli for the day with them after staying at their home for the night and having an authentic Danish dinner! They also invited me to the World Cup Qualifying Match between Denmark and Portugal this Saturday in Copenhagen. I'm super stoked because I've seen how crazy and intense those games look on TV!
With Ghazal and Jasmine at The Sounds concert during the Malmö Festival in Malmö, Sweden. This is the 3rd largest city in Sweden with about 250,000 people and is only a 10-15 minute train ride from where I am in Lund.
The Sounds performing. They were awesome!
A few of us went on the opening day of the Malmö Festival. Pictured here are Ghazal, Melissa, Jasmine, Alise, and Rochelle. Behind us they were doing live tatoos!
With my mom the second time I went to the Malmö Festival, or in Swedish, MalmöFestivalen!
With my mom on the steet where I live. You can see the name of it above...Tunavagen (with the two dots over the "a")!
Me inside the Botanical Gardens in Lund, Sweden.
Having dinner with my mom and Kathy the first night they arrived. Just took them to the airport yesterday...it was great having them visit!
Out clubbin' with the Swedes at Hallands Nation!
Ghazal and I partying w/ one crazzzzzy Swede! Definitely one of the best nights yet! See my first blog entry for details on this crazy night at Lunds Nation...
A few of us having dinner rooftop at Lunds Nation. You can see the city of Lund behind us. Pictured here are Alex, Anita, Sarina, Melissa, Ghazal, me, and Nora.
Me riding a bike behind the Lund Cathedral!
In front of the Lund Cathedral which work began on around 1200!
Sitting in front of the main building at Lund University. Its the one you see on their flyers.
At Lomma Beach back in the beginning of our trip! Lomma is about 15 minutes away. The beach was awesome but the influx of lady bugs were definitely not. Here I'm with Sara, Ming, Anita, Cassandra, Nora, Sarina, and Virginia.
Ming, myself, Luise, and Anita eating some of the best ice cream in Lund!
A view of Lund, Sweden that I took from the top of Lunds Nation at sunset.
One of the first days in Lund a few of us went to the Museum of Sketches which was awesome. We had a great guided tour and saw work by Henri Matisse, Diego Rivera, and Pablo Picasso. Here I'm with Melissa, Cassandra, Anita, Ming, Alex, Joyce, and Vishnu.
They have these trolls everywhere! This one was in Voss, Norway.
Here is the crying baby statue at Vigelandsparken in Oslo, Norway. Definitely one of my favorites!
Another statue from this awesome place...this one of a man and his children. There are many other statues here (and will post other pics on my Facebook). They are all meant to represent the different stages and relationships of life.
With my mom at Vigelandsparken in Oslo, Norway.
This is a shot of the roses and fountain of Vigelandsparken which is located within Frogner Park in Oslo, Norway. The park was filled with awesome landscaping.
I took this picture from the opposite side of the one above. A view looking back through Vigelandsparken.
This was a shot taken while leaving Flam, Norway and heading towards Voss, Norway.
Mom mom and I on the ferry exploring the Fjords of Norway. It was part of our "Norway in a Nutshell" tour.
Me on deck during our Fjord tour.
The famous Fjords of Norway...definitely the most scenic and beautiful part of this trip yet!
This is a picture of Flam, Norway at night. You can see the nice coloring in the sky, the mountains in the background, and a lit up Cafe in the front.
Here I am in front of a waterfall that we encountered while on our train ride into Flam, Norway. The train stopped for 5 minutes so we could get out and see it up close. Quite a site!
This is a shot of the famous "Sweater Wall" in Tallinn, Estonia. That's my mom walking in the foreground! They had lots of awesome clothing at prices cheaper than the rest of Scandinavia.
With my mom and her friend Kathy in Tallinn, Estonia. You can see part of the city in the distance.
Here I am standing in front of an ancient and historic castle in Tallinn, Estonia.
My mom and I standing in one of the town squares in Tallinn Estonia. This picture and the couple above are all from the more historic and medieval part of Estonia's capital city.
This is a memorial to people who died on a ferry from Stockholm to Tallinn on Sept. 28, 1994...kinda creepy since that is exactly what we did!
One of the many plates I had during our buffet on the Victoria, our ferry ship that went overnight from Stockholm to Estonia. Here I had vanilla ice cream, chocolate moose, and an assortment of berries, including lingonberries!
Me on the deck of the Victoria ferry ship heading towards Tallinn, Estonia.
Above is a shot of the world famous Vasa which was a ship that sank in the harbor off Stockholm in the 1600s. It wasn't recovered until over 300 years later and has been kept in good shape because the water it was in lacked salt and hard currents that could have destroyed it. The museum was pretty awesome!
I thought this was a great picture...we noticed a bunch of hot air balloons in the sky over Stockholm and so I took this shot as they flew over the Vasa Museum (where the ship above is located).
Picture of the capital city of Stockholm, Sweden. I took this from a viewing tower a few hundred feet up.
Here I am outside the Royal Palace in Stockholm with a Swedish guard behind me.
I took this during the Changing of the Guard at the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Sweden. They had an awesome ceremony that lasted over 30 minutes and featured a marching band. I'll post a video of part of the ceremony later.
I took this picture before getting on a cruise ship in Nyhavn, a 17th century waterfront entertainment district in Copenhagen, Denmark. The main walk has many restaurants, bars, and pubs. I think its such a neat shot because of all the different colors.
The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen, Denmark. We happened to be there on her 100th birthday and the celebration including 100 women swimming up to the statue.
Tired to be artsy here...it is a shot of one of the main churches in Copenhagen in the background and a fountain in the foreground. The Danish Royal Palace is located between the two.
We stopped for a bit to watch the Changing of the Guard at the Royal Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark. The ceremony wasn't as elaborate as it would have been had the Queen been in residence.
Tivoli Garden and Theme Park at night. Great place in Copenhagen but definitely THE MOST EXPENSIVE place so far. Luckily, Sweden is the cheapest when compared to Denmark and Norway.
On one of the rides at Tivoli with my mom's friend Kathy. This was the first (and will be the last) time I go on one of those "Supreme Scream" drop-type rides. It was @&*#%$ scary!
This is a picture of me, my mom, her friend Kathy, and our Danish family friends. We went to Tivoli for the day with them after staying at their home for the night and having an authentic Danish dinner! They also invited me to the World Cup Qualifying Match between Denmark and Portugal this Saturday in Copenhagen. I'm super stoked because I've seen how crazy and intense those games look on TV!
With Ghazal and Jasmine at The Sounds concert during the Malmö Festival in Malmö, Sweden. This is the 3rd largest city in Sweden with about 250,000 people and is only a 10-15 minute train ride from where I am in Lund.
The Sounds performing. They were awesome!
A few of us went on the opening day of the Malmö Festival. Pictured here are Ghazal, Melissa, Jasmine, Alise, and Rochelle. Behind us they were doing live tatoos!
With my mom the second time I went to the Malmö Festival, or in Swedish, MalmöFestivalen!
With my mom on the steet where I live. You can see the name of it above...Tunavagen (with the two dots over the "a")!
Me inside the Botanical Gardens in Lund, Sweden.
Having dinner with my mom and Kathy the first night they arrived. Just took them to the airport yesterday...it was great having them visit!
Out clubbin' with the Swedes at Hallands Nation!
Ghazal and I partying w/ one crazzzzzy Swede! Definitely one of the best nights yet! See my first blog entry for details on this crazy night at Lunds Nation...
A few of us having dinner rooftop at Lunds Nation. You can see the city of Lund behind us. Pictured here are Alex, Anita, Sarina, Melissa, Ghazal, me, and Nora.
Me riding a bike behind the Lund Cathedral!
In front of the Lund Cathedral which work began on around 1200!
Sitting in front of the main building at Lund University. Its the one you see on their flyers.
At Lomma Beach back in the beginning of our trip! Lomma is about 15 minutes away. The beach was awesome but the influx of lady bugs were definitely not. Here I'm with Sara, Ming, Anita, Cassandra, Nora, Sarina, and Virginia.
Ming, myself, Luise, and Anita eating some of the best ice cream in Lund!
A view of Lund, Sweden that I took from the top of Lunds Nation at sunset.
One of the first days in Lund a few of us went to the Museum of Sketches which was awesome. We had a great guided tour and saw work by Henri Matisse, Diego Rivera, and Pablo Picasso. Here I'm with Melissa, Cassandra, Anita, Ming, Alex, Joyce, and Vishnu.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
