November Update

Lots of people have been saying that November is the most depressing month here in Sweden. It's getting colder and colder, and there's hardly any sunlight because the sun starts to set at 3:30 every day. It's definitely affected me more than I thought it would! The early darkness at night makes me so tired that by the time dinner ends, I'm ready for bed. However, there's an upside! It started snowing!! Not a lot, but just a really lovely dusting that lightly covers the ground, trees, and rooftops, so you  feel like you're in a winter postcard or Bob Ross painting. I'm soooo excited for more snow!

Well, I haven't posted a blog in a long time, so there's a bit to catch up on, mostly with Fall Break- here we go!

We started off the break by going to the infamous Swedish store, Gekås, in Ullared, a town about two hours away from Mullsjö. When we talked to people about Gekås before we left, it seemed like some mysterious, evil, but amazing place, where huge herds of people go every day to shop for anything a person could possibly want- except shoes (the shoe store was nearby though). It's such a popular place that it's Sweden's #1 tourist attraction. It also has its own reality TV show. Needless to say, we were pretty anxious (and somewhat terrified) to see what all the fuss was about. When we arrived in the parking lot, it didn't seem like much, not too crowded, maybe like a Walmart on a Saturday. As we walked to the entrance, more and more people were coming together to form this huge mass that made it difficult to enter the store. When we got inside Gekås, it was even worse. Imagine the most crowded, awful Black Friday in a Walmart combined with Ikea, Sam's Club, Best Buy, and any other large department stores you can think of. It was a sea of humans any way you looked, which made it really overwhelming, but also awesome. They had everything, and everything was really cheap! Ridiculous amounts of people were buying what looked like numerous body bags worth of stuff, but I guess it makes sense to stock up on things once a year for super cheap . . . if you're brave enough to enter the store and encounter the 4.8 million people who go there every year.

After a day of recooperating from the craziness of Ullared, we left for Gothenburg! We didn't have much of a plan on what to do when we got there, so we searched around for thrift stores until we made it to our hostel. Later we walked to Slottsskogen Park to observe the beauty of Fall and see animals in the zoo! There were geese, seals, and deer, but the best part was getting to see a moose. It's been one of my goals to see a moose in Sweden, and even though it wasn't out in the wild, it was still awesome just to see one at all. We made our way to Gothenburg's Natural History Museum, where we saw amazing creatures, from hundreds of different insects to the world's only stuffed blue whale. The rest of the trip was spent in Gothenburg's shopping district, which included visiting an American candy shop. I was pretty happy to get some Mike & Ike's and the purple package Skittles. :)

MOOSE!

Gothenburg Natural History Museum

A couple days later, we headed to Stockholm. Immediately, you could see the differences between Sweden's two biggest cities. Gothenburg was spread out, with a more industrial look, and Stockholm was busy, dense, and filled with historic architecture with some modern buildings. As a person who loves bigger cities, I was ready to explore. The day we got there, we went on a city tour to see the sights. We saw Stockholm's narrowest street (35 inches wide!), the smallest sculpture in Sweden, the Royal Palace where the king and queen work, and a Ben and Jerry's shop that we stopped in later that night. After the tour, we hopped on a ferry to Stockholm's Modern Museum, and I was totally floored by their amazing collection. Things I had read about in books were right in front of me, like Andy Warhol's Brillo Soap Pads Box, Robert Rauschenberg's Monogram, Marcel Duchamp's Founatin, and my favorite, Salvador Dali's The Engima of Wilhelm Tell. I've never such famous pieces of artwork in person before. Pretty awesome experience.

Left to Right: Fountain, Brillo Soap Pads Box, Monogram. Bottom: The Enigma of Wilhelm Tell

Old Town Stockholm 

The next day was HALLOWEEN! My favorite holiday. It's definitely not as big a deal here in Sweden as it is in the US, but it was fun to see the decorations here and there. Luke and I started off the day by going to Comic Con, a weird Halloween activity, I know. But it seemed oddly fitting seeing as there were so many people dressed up! We mostly went out of curiosity since we had never been to a Comic Con, and it was an interesting experience to say the least. What struck me was people's dedication to their favorite tv shows, movies, comics, games, etc. It was weird/cool thinking that this whole huge convention was set up just because people love these things so much.

Comic Con

Later that evening, we went to our second art museum of the trip, Fotografiska. Their main exhibit, Up Close, featured photographer Martin Schoeller, whose work you've probably seen in magazines. He's got a very distinct photographic style of taking portraits of (mainly famous) people up close with a bright plain background. The exhibit also had his photos of more exciting celebrity portraits, female body builders, and twins. The next exhibit was of Magnus Wennman, who photographed sleeping places of Syrian refugee children. Really heartbreaking to see. The last exhibit consisted of 24 panel-chosen Swedish photographers, whose work was all very different. Two of my favorites were Julian Birbrajer and Elsa Gregersdotter. Check 'em out!

After the museum, we walked around the cobblestone streets of Old Town Stockholm, occasionally seeing someone in a Halloween costume. We ended up at Sweden's only traditional viking bar, Aifur, but unfortunately they were filled up. It was neat just to go in though! The whole place had a really amazing, old timey atmosphere. Once you walked under the large Nordic sign lit with torches, you had to go down stairs into an alley and open a large wooden door. Inside, the whole place was dimly lit with candles, and you could see the wooden interior with traditional Nordic symbols and stereotypical viking decorations. There was a burly, bearded viking man standing at the top of the stairs above the dining room, blowing some type of horn and calling out the names of everyone who entered, like "Ladies and gentleman, presenting (insert name here)!!" I didn't get any pictures or videos, but I found this video on YouTube that shows how cool this place is. Once we left Aifur, we went straight for ice cream at Ben & Jerry's. It was a really good Halloween. :)

Now there's only a month left til I'm back in Springfield! So crazy. Time has gone by so fast, and I know I say that in every blog, but it's true.

Thanks for reading!

Fall Break Recap

Hi, everyone! I've been slacking on these blog posts lately. It's been another month- halfway through the semester! Crazy. I've been trying to upload photos but Facebook destroys the quality and other websites haven't been cooperating (I'm the worst person with technology, ask anyone). So hopefully I'll get that issue sorted out during this break. :)

Things to catch up on . . .

Some short answers: awesome Singstar parties, making smores, giving our best guesses while playing the 1981 version of Trivial Pursuit (one of the only games we have), watching two seasons of American Horror Story, getting a Halloween care package from my parents, endless/terrifying/hilarious games of Slapjack, dying my hair, joining a tandem bike gang, and many other amazing moments.

A long answer: we got back from a trip to Slovakia and Budapest last week! Just like Copenhagen, it was incredible. So many cool things to see, and this time, we were learning more about the history, which made it even more interesting. In the US, we don't spend much time learning about European history, so a lot of this stuff was completely new for me.

Our group left early Monday, and after a bus ride to Gothenburg, a plane to Budapest, and a train ride, we were in Bratislava. And again, just like Copenhagen, we arrived on a cold, rainy, dreary night, and we were all pretty ready for bed. In spite of our tiredness, we roamed around the city for a bit with the help of our amazing friend/fellow student/Slovak-in-residence tour guide, Zuzana! She goes to university in Bratislava, but is spending the semester abroad at Mullsjö, so we were really lucky to have had her on this trip.

In the morning, we went on a guided tour around the city. This was our first look at everything in the daytime, and we were finally able to see all the cool, old buildings, full of character and history. The architecture was mostly faded pastels, with little decorative aspects here and there, on the windows or the roof.  Simple, but elegantly old. After some research (thanks, Wikipedia!), I learned that some buildings in the area we stayed in (Old Town) date back to the 14th or 15th century. There was definitely a cool architectural mix of eras in Bratislava, it was like you could see the progressing years through the buildings. You could see elements from the classical 14th-15th century, the Baroque period, then eventually a more communistic style took over (bleak, plain high rise buildings maybe with images of people working on them), and finally, the remodeling or the grafiti. So many places were under construction when we visited, it really seemed like a city undergoing some massive changes. However, a ton of the buildings were tagged wih grafiti, and it was a little sad to so many old, beautiful buildings with spray paint on them. (Warning: I believe that grafiti can be art, but it doesn't mean that all grafiti is good art. We actually saw some really awesome grafiti on our train ride back to Budapest, but when it looks so obviously like gangsters trying to rep their gang, I'm not that into it, though there are expections. End rant.)

 Being in Bratislava's Old Town, we were in the location of some hugely important historical events for Slovakia (formerly Czechoslovakia). We were in the the center where Napoleon's army tried to attack, the square where the Soviet Union invaded in 1968, and Hviezdoslav Square where there was a massive candle demonstration protesting communist rule in 1988, which is thought to have instigated the end of communism in Czechoslovakia. The funny thing about Napoleon is that he's become a silly tourist attraction now, and people can take pictures with his statue right in the place where he tried to invade.

Famous photo from day of Soviet invasion, showing Emil Gallo standing up to Soviet tanks. Taken by Ladislav Bielik

Other sights from the day include . . .

Famous "Blue Church"- Church of St. Elisabeth

Inside of the church

Bratislava Castle 

An amazing view of the city from the castle 

We spent the rest of the day shopping, and ate dinner at a classic Slovakian restaurant, where we tried popular Slovakian dishes, such as garlic soup in a bread bowl, and potato dumplings covered in sheep cheese (or bryndzové halušky), traditionally served with bacon on the top. As someone who doesn't like cheese . . . it was interesting. And so ended our stay in Bratislava. Back to Budapest!

I didn't get any good pictures of the Budapest train station, but is definitely worth mentioning. Old architecture and beautiful skylights in such a massive building, it was just jaw dropping. I constantly felt this way walking through Budapest. Landmark after landmark, the style of the city was just amazing. You could tell there was a crazy amount of history behind everything, and you were never too far away from something interesting. One of our professors pointed out to us the style of art nouveau, which showed itself in many buildings throughout the city. It's characterized by organic ornamentation and flourishes, detailing many aspects of the buildings. Like Bratislava, different eras could also be seen, like the gothic period, and even some almost classical oriental or Eastern influences. Walking around on first day, we were able to check out lots of examples of the different architecture. We went to the edge of the city where we could see across the Danube River, and I was completely floored by the view. Budapest automatically became my favorite place. Right in front of us were two bridges, between them was a huge beige castle with green roofs and a tall, green dome. Scattered around were fancy buildings and old church steeples. To the far left on a hill was a statue of a woman holding up a leaf, with her dress dramatically blown in the wind (we didn't visit her, but it's called the Liberty Statue). I was overwhelmed with everything, I could hardly believe I was there in that moment! Sort of like a dream.

Buda Castle- my pictures don't do this city justice at all!

 As we kept moving along, we saw the Parliament building, which was equally awesome (EVERYTHING about Budapest was awesome, just to clarify). A huge, incredibly detailed white and rusty red monster, covered in pointy spires, statues, ornaments, and all sort of little intricacies. The building is so large that it's hard to get a good photo of it when you're standing right in front of it, but from across the river, you can see it really well.

Hungarian Parliament Building

Parliament from across the Danube

Our next stop of the day was St. Stefan's Basilica, which was probably my favorite part of the entire trip. Though not as enormous as Parliament, it looked much heavier. Almost like it was a strong, sturdy place worthy to worship in. The outside was beige and green, with statues and decorative elements, but the inside was something special. Embellishments everywhere, with golds and reds, and biblical paintings across every surface. There was a service going on with a priest chanting, kneeling in front of the small audience of church members. Again, it felt like a dream. I've never seen anything so beautiful in my life!

The next day, we had a busy schedule across the river. In the morning, we paid a visit to the Swedish embassy, where we talked with the Swedish ambassador. He was a really nice, talkative guy, who was open to all our questions, especially those about the refugee crisis. Hungary was previously open to taking in some refugees until leadership began to strongly oppose it. Since then, Hungary has been more of a place for refugees to pass through, rather than to stay. Sweden, on the other hand, is taking in record numbers of refugees. It was interesting to discuss how different countries have responded to this crisis. (If you'd like to learn how to help those in need, click here, or make a direct donation to the UN Refugee Agency.)

The rest of the day was all sightseeing . . .

Matthias Church- unfortunately, we didn't get to go in this one. :( This church was right next to the Fisherman's Bastion, our next stop!

Fisherman's Bastion- photo credit is not mine! I wasn't able to get a good photo of this one because we had to leave. 

View from Fisherman's Bastion

Buda Castle- up close! Much bigger and more elaborate than my picture shows

Budapest Market Hall- huge building filled with tons of food and souvenir shops 

Our last day in Budapest, we visited the House of Terror, a museum detailing the history of Hungary under the Nazi and Communist regimes. The building itself is historic in that it housed both the Nazi headquarters and the Communist secret police at different times. I knew basically nothing about the effects Nazism and Communism had on Hungary, so it was really heartbreaking to see how such tragic things played out there. A summary of what happened: When Germany occupied Hungary in WWII, facist, Nazi supporters called the Arrow Cross Party took over the Hungarian government. At the end of the war, the country was overtaken by the Soviet army during the Seige of Budapest and the Arrow Cross Party dissolved. After the war, the Soviets slowly began introducing a Communist government in Hungary, even though Hungarians voted for a different party in a post-war election. Using the AVH (Soviet secret police), enemies of the government were executed, imprisoned, or deported. Many were sent to labor camps, where they died from starvation, overwork, and poor working conditions. It was really sad to read that some returning victims of the Holocaust were then sent to these camps. I'm not exactly sure how the Hungarians overthrew the Communist government, but there was a revolution, and it wasn't until 1989 that Hungary adopted a new political system.

It was fitting that our next stop was the Dohány Street synagogue in Budapest's Jewish district. It was a really beautiful building with an amazing history. Before the war broke out in Hungary, two older ladies took religious artifacts from the synagogue, like menorahs, Torah scrolls, and even large stained glass windows, and hid them. Everything was eventually returned safe and sound. During the war, the synagogue was part of the Budapest ghetto, where many people died. Around 2,000 are buried in the cemetery courtyard, even though there is apparently a historic rule about cemeteries being a certain distance away from a synagogue. Though Hungary gave over its Jewish population to the Nazis, I was really surprised that the building wasn't completely destroyed by anyone earlier. The only severe damage it suffered was from bombing raids by the Arrow Cross Party early in the war, and again during the Siege of Budapest at the end of the war. In Germany for example, Jewish homes and businesses were destroyed during Kristallnacht, but nothing similar happened in Hungary (thankfully!). The synagogue was restored in the 90s, and it's an absolutely amazing piece of architecture. Just look at it!

We left Budapest early Friday morning, and after being absolutely exhausted from the trip home, we were so happy to come back to friends who had thrown us a welcome home party! Complete with chips, ice cream, and cake. :) It was such a great surprise, and it was nice to see that they missed us as much as we missed them. I seriously love these beautiful weirdos so much. I couldn't be more thankful to have met such awesome people here.


Thank you for enduring these incredibly long blog posts. Hej då!

Left to right: Sabrina, Luke, Mariko, Isak, Alex, Marco, and Saki. Missing Zuzana and Pedro- but they celebrated with us later :) 

Long Post About Recent Stuff! Includes Circus and Denmark!

*WARNING: Long blog post. Beware.*

Wow! Has it been more than a month already?? Just realized that as I was starting this post. Crazy!!

We've been up to a lot of fun stuff lately, and doing a blog every couple of weeks makes it hard to recap all that stuff. Really thankful for pictures and little notes in my notebook to jog my memory, so here goes!

I got an amazing surprise from my parents this week- who knew getting a package in the mail could be so exciting?! In the box, there was Starburst jellybeans, mint tea, some much needed extra shirts (wearing the same few shirts gets really boring after a while!), and a sweet card. Shout out to Mom and Dad for being awesome.

Things are going pretty well in classes, and we just recently started Swedish lessons! Luke and I have been working on learning Swedish for a few months, so we have some beginner's knowledge (though I will be the first to tell you that Luke knows a lot more than I do), and our first lesson consisted of learning basic phrases and small-talk type stuff. Luke and I were previously using DuoLingo, which is a language learning app, so it was really nice to listen and interact with the teacher and other students. So now when people ask if I speak Swedish, I can say "Ja, lite grann (Yes, a little bit)!" It is definitely an ongoing process though. Can't wait to learn more in the coming weeks!

Like I said, classes have been going great. Last Monday, as an assignment, we were told to take photos at the circus! Every year the Cirkus Olympia comes into Mullsjö with camels, horses, acrobats, breakdancers, and . . . one weird clown. I hadn't been to the circus in forever; it was fun to experience it again in a different setting, in a different language, and as a (beginning/amateur) photographer with a project to do instead of just as a viewer. Getting a good angle with good lighting was a lot harder than I expected! In the end, we took away some cool photos and had a great time doing an assignment.

This past week was spent traveling through Denmark to Copenhagen! Hard to describe how cool it was. But here goes!

So Day 1. We leave the school around 8:30 and head to Denmark by bus. It's only about a 3.5 hour trip- not bad at all. Since Sweden and Denmark aren't connected by land, we had to ride a ferry across (from what I've researched is called) the Øresund, the body of water that separates the two countries. We went across at its narrowest point, and it only took maybe 15-20 minutes. You could literally see Denmark from Sweden! It was a beautiful ride, but so windy. We landed in Helsingør and were free to roam around for about an hour to get lunch. All of the photography students (including myself) were mainly interested in taking photos, so the quicker we got lunch, the more time we had to photograph the city. Unfortunately, the cafe we stopped at took a little too long with our food, so we only had a few minutes to take pictures on our walk back to the bus. Our next stop was the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, which is right along the shore of the Øresund. Though their art collection is amazing, I had a hard time tearing myself away from the beach. There were trails that went right along the coast, complete with a cool breeze, the sounds of the waves, and an amazing view. But back to the museum . . . We got a guided tour of their newest exhibit, which was about architecture, art, and culture in different regions of Africa. The tour was in Swedish, but thankfully some friends helped to translate most of it. Their next exhibit of Yayoi Kusama's work (look it up!!) seemed really cool but it opened the following day. The museum did however have an exhibition open of Lucian Freud's etchings- awesome! His etchings and paintings of people are fleshy and haunting, in a raw, real sort of way. You can't look away, you have to look at them.

Head of a Naked Girl
Lucian Freud 

After the museum, we finally were on the way to Copenhagen. It had been cloudy and misty all day, but it was POURING on our way into the city. Even though we couldn't see a lot through the bus windows with the heavy rain, all the lights reflecting on the wet streets and the dark grey sky in contrast to the colorful, brick buildings made for a really pretty drive. At around dinner time, we made it to our hostel, the Copenhagen Downtown Hostel. It's an old brick building among many brick buildings on the street, with an outside sitting area on the sidewalk. You can lounge on bean bags and bask in the heating lamps while looking out into the street. Can't say I've ever seen anything like it in the states. Really relaxed atmosphere, and super clean and well kept compared to what I though a hostel was going to be like. We were four to a room, and everyone in the room was someone from school, so we weren't sharing rooms with strangers like I assumed. After we got our stuff settled, we went out to look for food and explore the town! First impressions, I was amazed. Copenhagen is so full of life and character. Tons of people and fun things to see. The city is compact, and most of the buildings and streets are smushed together in a comfortably snug sort of way. The area we were in had lots of cafes and shops, but there were also many colorful, old townhouses and apartments inbetween. It was like being in a big city but in a cozy town at the same time. Everything was so bright and active, but parts were also old timey. The new and the old blend together in such an interesting, beautiful way. We found our way to a local vegetarian restaurant called Riz Raz, which was sooooo good. Definitely hit the spot after a long day of traveling. It was in the restaurant that I realzied just how diverse Copenhagen is. I was hearing so many accents and so many different languages all in one spot, and not gonna lie, it was cool to see some fellow Americans! All throughout the trip, we came across people from different backgrounds; it made the energy of the city feel so open and global.

After dinner, we walked around and explored some more until we were so exhausted that we had to sleep. And even then, it was hard to leave the street! I wanted to walk around and experience everything for as long as I could, but my body needed a rest.

Day 2, we were up bright and early for a quick breakfast at the hostel and then to Christiana, an infamous "freetown" that isn't a part of the European Union. I'm not exactly sure how it got to be that way, but from what I understand, it was a military base that became abandoned and then filled with squatters. The squatters somehow rebelled against the Danish government and announced their freedom to create a new society there. A professor from the school showed us around because he lived there for a year back in the 70s. He said there aren't many laws in Christiana, but the most important law is to take care of one another. I think people there have to rely on each other because the Danish government is constantly trying to regulate or control Christiana in one way or another (for obvious reasons). The town has a huge canabis trade, and they are extremely open about it. So open that they literally have a whole street dedicated to selling weed, called Pusher Street. The block is lined with booths that are half covered in camoflauge army mesh to hide the sellers inside the booth. But outside, there are big, bright ads showing prices for different types of weed. The dealers wear dark clothes with ski masks and sunglasses so as not to be identified. For some reason, people can still get arrested in Chrisiana, maybe for being involved with illegal things outside the town? I'm not sure. But there are a ton of large signs demanding that no photographs be taken on Pusher Street because the police sometimes raid the town.

 In comparison to its surroundings, Christiana looks dirty and run down. There's quite a bit of litter and randon junk everywhere, just piled into different corners of streets and near buildings. Lots of abandoned buildings, decaying and falling apart with so much grafiti on them that it just blends in to the landscape. We walked through parts of the residential neighborhoods, which were more like hosues scattered through trees and trails. Though not the best houses, they still had their charm, with funky knick-knacks cluttered around and a comfy (sometimes creepy) lived-in vibe.

After leaving Christiana, a few of us decided to walk back through town so we could work on some street photograhy (one of our assignments for photo class). One of the students actually got stopped by a cyclist she took a quick shot of and he firmly demanded her to delete the photos- he was from Christiana! They are seriously tough. Besides that, sreet photographing went okay. Surprisingly hard! But while we were walking back, it really hit me just how many people ride their bikes in Copenhagen. Herds and herds of people on bikes riding every which way. One herd would pass down a street, and then the next herd would come up right after it. This was the same wherever we were. People love to ride their bikes and it's a main form of transportation there. The city is really well built for it too. There are bike lanes everywhere and it seems like the cars really respect cyclists, instead of treating bikers like they don't have rights to the road (looking at you, Springfield/Joplin). Really wish I lived somewhere more like that!

In the afternoon, we went to the Ny Carlsberg Glypotek, our second art museum of the trip. This one had a vast range of art, from Greek and Roman sculptures to a special exhibit on Man Ray. The Man Ray exhibit was called "Human Equations," and it focused on his work relating to mathematics, which was something I hadn't even heard of. A lot of his paintings and sculptures symbolized Shakespearean characters and stories, or directly depicted complex mathematical figures. Definitely not the typical stuff you think of when you think Man Ray. Other galleries of the museum had quite a few paintings by Van Gogh, Cézanne, Gauguin, and Degas (the most notable names I could remember), which were really cool to see.

Landscape from Saint Rémy
Vincent Van Gogh

After a little bit of rest at the hostel, Lina, a fellow photography student, and I went to Tivoli, the local amusement park! The only bad thing was that we chose to go on a day where it basically never stopped raining. However, it did make for some nice pictures with the lights reflecting on the pavement (plus, we were mainly there to take photos anyway). The sign outside is so huge and bright, very reminiscent of an old 1920s carnival, but the inside is a mesh of classic styles from different cultures (think fancier, simpler Epcot). The path inside is lit with lanterns, and it leads you to this huge, white, Arabian-looking building. Nearby was a beautiful oriental outdoor theatre, and beyond that was a Chinese area of the park, all set up with classic Chinese architecture and decorations. There, we got to ride The Demon. This was the only ride we rode because you had to pay for each individual ride (so weird!). It was definitely worth the money though- SO FUN! And all the rain made it sort of like an awesome water ride.

After that, we walked around more of the park and took photos, trying not to get our cameras wet. As it got darker, more lights came on and it looked similar to Silver Dollar City at Christmas, all magical and beautiful. We found an awesome playground, ate AMAZING crepes, and left completely drenched with rain, but we got nice postcards and some pretty good pictures. End of Day 2!

Day 3 started at 5 AM. One of our assignments was to take photos of the city before 6 in the morning, so like good students, we walked around and tried to photograph while half asleep. We actually got some cool shots of the city even with it being so dark. And even though we had to get up early, it was nice to see Copenhagen so still and quiet, compared to the lively place we had been seeing. Hardly anyone was around and we barely saw any bikes (really, really strange).

In the afternoon, we went to Statens Museum for Kunst (the National Gallery of Denmark). It has a massive range of artwork, from 1300s Europeon art to international contemporary pieces. We all thought the glypotek was huge, but this one was even bigger. Endless rooms upon rooms. Straight from Wikipedia: "The museum's collections constitute almost 9,000 paintings and sculptures, approximately 240,000 works of art on paper as well as more than 2,600 plaster casts of figures from ancient times, the middle-ages and the Renaissance." I'm not sure about the amount of work that was actually on display, but a few hours wasn't enough to go through even half the place. With one hour left, I was rushing through galleries, and had to quickly scan their entire contemporary collection- such a shame, it's my favorite part!

The rest of the day was spent sightseeing through the city and visiting a more touristy location, Nyhavn. It's one of those places you see on a post card of Copenhagen, but in real life . . . it's just as beautiful as the post card. It's main area is centered around a canal between two streets, and the block is lined with tightly packed pastel colored buildings and outdoor cafes on cobblestone roads. The canal is low and filled with sailboats, as well as the tour boats, which we had the opportunity to ride! Thankfully, Lina and our other photography friend, Sandra, were cool with doing touristy things (after we got ice cream from one of the local shops, of course!). The tour went around the canals that connect the city, and it was interesting to see how close the city is. When you're walking, everything seems so big, but seeing it from the canals, everything was actually pretty close together. We sat in the back of the boat so we could take photos without a canopy over our heads, but we weren't able to hear the tour guide, so unfortunately,  I don't know anything about the history of Copenhagen or it's landmarks. My bad.

By this time, everyone was absolutely exhausted. Three days of walking doesn't sound like a lot but it sure felt like it. We were all complaining about how bad our feet hurt, and just to sit down at any point during the day was a relief. It's a tough feeling to deal with, being tired and not wanting to do anything, but then you're in the coolest city ever and you want to keep exploring.

Day 4, we left Denmark and crossed the Østrund again to see Malmö, Sweden, where we visited the Malmö Art Museum. It's on a hillside in a Scandanavian renaissance castle- not really the look of your typical art museum. They had an interesting exhibition about the museum in the 1940s, when it was used as a refugee site for concentration camp victims. Sadly, we didn't have much time to look around. We quickly got lunch and after a short walk around the town, we met up with our photo group to see some small photo exhibitions. It was an unexpectedly long walk to each exhibition (everyone was completely done with walking by this point), so we took a city bus back to our school bus. Then we were on the way home!

In short, Copenhagen was awesome.

Thanks for reading!

Start of the Semester

Well, it's already been two weeks into the semester! Time has really started to fly by in the past week as routines are being put into place and we're getting into the swing of things.

School is going great so far! Different, but still good. Compared to MSSU, where you take a few different classes over one semester, students here are only enrolled in one major class that they attend almost every day of the week for the whole schoolyear. Luke and I are both in the photography class so that will be our main focus! I'm not an experienced photographer whatsoever so I'm excited to learn more photography skills with the camera and all the equipment. On Tuesdays, we have no photo class, which means we can sit in with other classes; in my case- ceramics! So far, it's been learning the basics and starting on the wheel making cyllinders. Deja vu from last semester in MSSU ceramics, where it seemed like we spent half the semester making cyllinders! I'm glad this gives me some time to practice throwing since I haven't done it all summer. Plus, I would love to get a solid foundation on it so that I can start making things I'm really proud of. The only bad thing about ceramics is that transporting things back home may not be easy . . . or possible. But just getting the practice in will be good enough for me.

We've done so many fun, new things in the past couple weeks, it's hard to keep track of it all! A few things that stand out . . .

-Swimming in the lake. Luke and I were invited by some awesome students to come swim. This seemed ridiculous because to us, the weather is a little cold and the lake is freezing. To Swedes, the summer is the warmest part of their year and they take advantage of it. We were apprehensive but with a little peer pressure, we were in the water. It actually wasn't so bad once you got your whole body in. Sort of cold but refreshing. There's also a tall platform you can jump off of which I felt the need to attempt. Though not necessarily a thrill seeker, I couldn't just not try it. There are three heights from which you can jump, and I felt content at trying the lowest one at about 20 ft. Seeing the water from up on the platform is so much worse than seeing the platform from the water! After some hesitation (maybe a lot), I jumped into the lake. Though it took some convincing, I'm really glad we got to swim. I felt like it would've been a wasted opportunity not to, and I also knew that if it got any colder, I wouldn't be going in the water at all.

(Photo credit: not mine)

-Getting snacks at the nearby grocery store, ICA. Luke and I have been having fun trying different foods to satisfy our American junk food cravings (being away from all the delicious sugary food is surprisingly hard!). So far, we've tried lots of Swedish snacks, like chips, cakes, cookies, and candy (Swedish people LOVE candy- it's awesome). I've learned that dill potato chips and mini coconut cakes are amazing. Everything else is just as delicious but I definitely have my favorites. And just in case I need some special treat to feel like I'm back home, they sell Ben & Jerry's here too. :)

-Enjoying company . . . with food! It's been really nice to spend time with people and bake together. As fun as it is to try Swedish food, it's really fun sharing American food and seeing what people here think of it. We've made cookies, brownies, and pancakes (twice already!), and I'm sure that many more baking parties are to come.

-Enjoying the weather. It's similar to Missouri in that it can be pouring down rain one moment, and then the next moment, the sun will be out. But it usually goes back to raining. Or it rains when it's sunny. It rains. A LOT. But I love it. Rainy, dreary, cloudy days are one of my favorite things. Even if it's not pouring here, it's usually still misting, or the clouds look like they're about to unleash something. Though it's peaceful and beautiful now, I'm not sure how I'll feel about the constant rain once it turns to sleet and snow . . .

-Walking around in nature. So many trails and such beautiful scenery! It makes me feel bad if I don't take a walk around the lake or through the forest at least once every day. Walking through the forest is such a magical, relaxing experience. Especially right after it rains. All the greenery is so bright and everything smells like pure, fresh nature. 

(Photo from a walk on the trails during/after it rained)

-Exploring the nearby town. Jönköping is a big city with lots of cute streets and shops. Lots of pizza places too. It's a lovely 20 minute train ride away, and though we've mainly just walked around, it seems like there are a bunch of fun things to do and yummy places to eat, including this place that looked sort of familiar . . .

   

But the rest of the town is beautiful as well!

Well, that's what we've been up to! Hope that's enough of an update to last for the next couple weeks. Thanks for reading. :) 

Waiting For School to Start . . .

Hey, everyone! I figured I would do one more blog post before things picked up here in Mullsjö. School starts Monday and I AM SO EXCITED. Students won't be here until tomorrow, so I'm equally excited to meet all of them!! With all our extra time, Luke and I have been hiking through the local trails and walking into town almost every day, usually to pick up some groceries.

The trails are absolutely beautiful. Like I said in my last blog post, so many tall trees, bushes, and greenery everywhere. It's almost overwhelming at times! Yesterday, we walked a shorter trail (about 3.5 miles) that went around a couple lakes and had a lot of hills . . . almost too many hills . . . But we survived! And got to see some breathtaking views while we were at it. Today, we walked a longer trail (about 6 miles) that was more flat and very wild. The paths were overgrown in a lot of parts, but that's what made it exciting! We were sometimes up to our waists in overgrown fields, which meant that lots of ticks were hitching rides on us. Despite insects and a few wrong turns, we had some really fun and relaxing hiking adventures.

Another awesome thing about today was that we had pizza. PIZZA. My favorite food above all my other favorite foods. The cafeteria doesn't serve meals after Friday's lunch so we're on our own for the weekend, which gives us the opportunity to get food elsewhere- even though the cafeteria food here is actually pretty amazing. Well-balanced meals with fresh ingredients and lots of fruits and vegetables. There's also always a vegetarian option, which is great for this aspiring vegetarian! It's so different from meals in US schools, where hardly anything is prepared fresh and well-balanced meals can be hard to find. But here, it seems like people are more health conscious, and they understand that eating healthy is extremely important to a person's well-being. But anyway. Back to pizza.

Luke and I went to Pizzeria Viking, one of the two pizza places here in town. Luke has been here before, so he suggested we try a kebab pizza (also, the entire menu was in Swedish, so we went with what we knew). Kebab pizza is apparently a very popular pizza here in Sweden; it has lamb and kebab sauce on it, made out of a yogurt/sour cream type mixture with spices (source: Google). There was no cheese and very little tomato sauce, so it was pretty different from your typical American pizza. But it was definitely just as delicious.

Well, hopefully that's enough of an update to last til next weekend or so! I'm ready to spend time at school, in the studio, and meet lots of new people. Thanks for reading!

Off the Plane!

Though it took 15 hours in three separate planes and an hour car ride, I'm finally here at the Mullsjö Folhögskola! It's safe to say that my travel buddy, Luke, and I were ready for a looooong nap once we got to the school. It's so easy to underestimate how exhausting traveling can be. Sitting in a plane for so long takes a lot out of you, but I shouldn't complain because overall, our traveling went smoothly. Thankfully, we were able to manoeuver the airports easily (shout out to Tom Klein, a family friend, for being so gracious and helpful at the Atlanta airport!), and we didn't have to wait longer than an hour during any of our layovers. The worst part was an eight hour ride from Atlanta to Amsterdam. As someone who is terrified of flying, sitting for eight hours on a plane isn't my favorite thing to do, so I was glad there were some good in-flight movies to pass the time (I finally got to see Big Hero 6- it was amazing!!). After flying to Gothenburg, we were picked up at the airport by our professor, Örjan, and we had an easy hour and a half car ride, which I was mostly able to sleep through. :)

The parts of the drive I did see were BEAUTIFUL! So many tall trees and grass and wild flowers everywhere, unlike anything I've ever seen. Picturesque scenery all around you. Like nature in such a pure state that you just want to stare at it for a long, long time. A surprising part of that beauty was that there were no bilboards along the roads. There were no big, ugly signs distracting you from looking out the window at the landscape. Interesting comparison to Missouri highways, where it seems like bilboards are never out of sight.

We arrived at the school very tired, but very happy to be at our destination. The school is surrounded by tons of trees and on one side, a beautiful lake. The lake has a walking trail around it and I've been told that there are lots of trails in the forest, which I am very excited to explore! Campus is tiny and compact, with only about 150-200 students, I think. All classes and dorms are close to one another, which makes finding your way around the campus very easy. The town we are in, Mullsjö, is also tiny, but cute! Lots of little, adorable houses next to the lake, and trees and greenery everywhere. It's been 60s-70s and sunny here everyday so far, which feels amazing. Not too hot, and not too cold. Perfect weather!

Classes start next Monday, so there aren't many students here yet. Luke and I have been trying to fill up the time with walks around the lake, visits into town, and today, a visit to a bigger city nearby, Jönköping! We traveled to Ikea, ate Swedish Chinese food (different, but still delicious), and got lost trying to find the train back to Mullsjö (no worries, we are back safe and sound!). All in all, an awesome day, and a good start to our first week here. Thank you to everyone who has sent me nice messages or well-wishes; you all are awesome!

Will update in another week or so. Thanks for reading. :) Hej då! (Bye!)

First Post!

Hi, everyone! Thanks for checking out my blog. Every week or two, I'll be posting about my adventures from the Mullsjö Folkhogskola art school in Mullsjö, Sweden. Keep an eye out for my posts on Facebook and Instagram, too! More to come soon. :)