capital city

I really need to be more on top of this blog, I apologize.

Let me rewind back to Sunday where I visited the capital of Sweden-Stockholm.
It was a spur of the moment decision that I made on Saturday night when a friend told me about a laid back tour/free-day that was put on by a group. I was hesitant at first but then on that Saturday night, I thought, "well, what the hell, why not go to Stockholm on Sunday", and so I went.
10AM and raining I arrived at the train station in Uppsala--known as CentralStation--and met up with some friends to tour Stockholm.
The distance from Uppsala to Stockholm is about 35 minutes, which is equivalent to the distance from Concord to San Francisco by BART plus the cost being 162 SEK round trip (24 US Dollars total) equals to many trips to Stockholm in the future.
And math wasn't my forte in high school.

Unfortunately the weather was a little gloomy, but it didn't take away from the beauty of the buildings in Stockholm.
Stepping out of the train station in Stockholm and construction and modern buildings surrounded the area. Gigantic buildings of malls and the hustle and bustle of people gave the feel of Union Square in San Francisco and long walks through the downtown area, small shops, and the wind gave the feel that I was actually in the city and not thousands of miles away.

But then time warp a few hundred years when I entered the palace and Old Town Stockholm.

The Palace:
I know what you are probably thinking....
Did I meet the gorgeous, heart stopping, handsome Swedish single prince of Sweden?
No, unfortunately I did not...he wasn't there sadly but I still got 7 more months of seeing/hopefully marrying him.

These are Swedish guards. Similar to the famous guards in London, England, these guards cannot smile and are super serious,  however, I did have a friend who made him smile so challenge was accepted and completed.

Old Town Stockholm:

One of the main reasons I chose to study abroad in Sweden was how beautiful and colorful the buildings were here. It's weird to say but it's totally true. Rarely do you see this many colors in a city that blend together and isn't an eyesore.

People always look at me weird when I say that Uppsala is colorful and that the colors of the buildings are beautiful, but maybe that is just a casual thought that they don't think about. But when you live in a city where buildings are tall, dark, and gray a little bit of color is kind of a big deal.

Which is why I loved Old Town Stockholm because of the colorful buildings and the literal "old time" look.

I mean who thought olive green, brick red, orange and mustard yellow would blend in so well together.
The Swedes have very nice sense of color coordination.
Surrounding Old Town Stockholm are modern looking coffee shops, which is normal in Sweden.
Everyone drinks coffee and there is at least 2-3 coffee shops per block (also another reason why I came here).

After this our tour was a free for all and we split up and got to walk around anywhere in Stockholm.
The group that I was with decided to find some second-hand stores in Stockholm, but it ended up being a long walk due to Apple Maps lack of good directions, but some good pictures and sunny weather made up for it.

I found a Ben & Jerry's here, I'm going to be okay guys.

The most narrowest street in Sweden: about 90 centimeters. Claustrophobia at its max right here.

And that concludes my day in Stockholm. As said above, many trips will be made here.

thursday morning

When I have my 8am Swedish class and ended up waking up late.
When I step out of my 8am Swedish class wearing my TOMS and it's pouring rain and end up ruining my TOMS and getting my feet wet.
When I'm stuck in a lecture with a professor who I have no interest in and makes us create posters every other day.
When I have a 10 page group paper to write on a rainy day.
When even 2 cups of coffee back to back still can't keep my awake.

But then I hear that there is all you can eat waffles and all you can drink coffee for 40 SEK (equivalent to $6 US Dollars.)

All of a sudden I can see clearly know the rain is gone.

Swedish waffles are a lot thinner than US waffles and instead of the Belgium looking squares or the frozen Eggo circles, these waffles are heart shaped. Representing my love for them. (Just kidding, I have no idea why they are heart shaped...)

Topped with cream, berries and chocolate chips, my stomach was satisfied and all my troubles of my wet feet, tired eyes and uninteresting professor went away. 

Waffles and Coffee make the world go round.

Happy Thursday/Friday and have yourself some unlimited waffles and coffee for me despite the weather conditions and how bad/good your day is.

It'll do you good.

cultural day

Let's talk about this weekend.
Fortunately, I wasn't sick and dying so I could actually go out and not feel miserable.
Luckily, it was Cultural Night in Uppsala.
What is cultural night?
Basically, it's a full day where people from different cultures come out in the downtown area and have food stands, concerts, perform dances, and clothes stands and just celebrate being cultural.
Except it's throughout the whole day, so I guess you can call it Cultural Day/Night?
But anyways, it was awesome.
Here is how my day started.
First, I ventured out to downtown at around 11ish to find a hair straightener because this whole three weeks without a hair straightener is not the biz. Poofy hair and messy buns were not coordinating with my outfits and my hair just looks better when it's straightened and pretty.
After that, I met up with a friend and her Swedish buddy and walked around Uppsala and looked at all the events.
Let me just tell you something first, Uppsala is a small city, kind of the feel of Walnut Creek, where there are people everywhere, in the downtown area but not too much where you can still walk around and have at least 5 feet of space between you and a stranger.
This was not like Walnut Creek, it was like San Francisco. There were people everywhere. I felt so claustrophobic.
But then my friend stated the most beautiful words that I was so glad to here....
"Look, there's donuts!"
Donuts. Real, legit American looking donuts.
This was the best 5 minutes of my life.
Strangely enough two days before cultural night, I was craving a donut, and thought "Sweden needs some donuts. It's got Pop Tarts, American candy, chocolate milk and Oreos...donuts, man, I need a donut."
Side note: I rarely have a donut and so when I crave one it's like a monumentous moment. It's a special moment, with that sugary, glazed, extremely diabetic, unhealthy, heart-burn-waiting to happen special moment. It's like those moments when it's just you and the donut together, happy and care-free.
My moment was there.

Disgustingly sugary, but yet so mouthwatering.

Ice Cream on a Donut?
Too far for me bro, too far.

I know what that says!
Banana Donut! 

Apple Donut!
(I'm getting really good at this Swedish thing, Ja?)

But these weren't the donuts that I got.

I got a special that brought me some nostalgia from my Portland days.

The M & M donut.

Even more sugary and glazed, it's been months since I had one of these. I had to go all out.

And it was delicious.

See how happy I am? 

Pure, child joy right there. 

But let's continue with the rest of the day ja?

After chowing down on the delicious donut and feeling content, we walked to the big cathedral that resides in Uppsala.

Outside of Cathedral.

Free drinks and snacks in a cathedral?
Yes, please

After the cathedral, we then ventured off to the castle where we found Indian Bazaars and a breathtaking view of the small city.

 I wasn't kidding about the gorgeous view.

Ok, let's get educational now.

In the middle of the castle quad area and in the middle of the Indian bazaars was a old white Volkswagen mini bus with the Swedish flag painted on both sides. 

This isn't some regular old random white Volkswagen mini-bus though.

This bus traveled all around Europe during World War II and was meant to pick up Swedes in different countries, but actually picked up Jews and brought them to Sweden

Pretty cool right?

I never really heard about Sweden during World War II as it was just a country that was just chillaxin' ( I learned this word from my new Swedish friend who coined it...yes she coined it).

Side note/story: "Sverige" means Sweden in Swedish. My sister's boyfriend read it as "Ceviches" and thought I stood next to a sign that read "Ceviches". My response, "Yes, it is ceviche and the people inside are the local ceviches."

Rest of the day was more laid back, walking around Uppsala listening to Bollywood music and pushing through the crowds, and eating a fresh Falafel wrap straight out of the food stand and then ended it with a view of a dress rehearsal of an apocalyptic Hamlet play.

Yes Apocalyptic Hamlet and yes it was entirely in Swedish.

I understood three words:

-Valkomnen: meaning, "Welcome" in Swedish

-Hamlet

-William Shakespeare

The rest of the play I stood there with a blank confused stare for the full 30 minutes.

I thought I knew Hamlet from the book/movie in high school and from watching The Lion King multiple times in my childhood, but this questioned my knowledge of the play.

With four glass walls on the stage, and the main character drawing hearts and equations, then connecting the four glass walls together and having two zombie maids come out and rotate the glass walls, then Hamlet shooting a guy, who I believe was a metaphor for Jesus because the guy was wearing all white, and then a beat up car appeared with demons and more zombies, Swedish cider and Hamlet getting choked with thunder and lightening and a dead angel twitching on the ground.

My face was still a blank and confused stare.....

And then concludes my entire Culture Day/Night, satisfying, confusing, entertaining and refreshing all in one, similar to a regular day in Sweden.