Hey Door*

It's over and done. Exams and presentations are finished. Christmas has come and gone, and I am now on my way back to Lund after spending some time with my svensk familj and tomorrow I leave for the US.

This picture is my favorite. OG for lyfe

Honestly, I never thought this day would come. In August it seemed so far away, as if I had a lifetime between leaving and coming back. And in a way, I did. It may have only been four and a half months but the things I did span experiences that altered my point of view and will stay with me forever. Another post on some of my favorite memories to come.

Great moments coming from altered plans

I'm returning to the US a different person than when I left. Yes, that's an awful cliche and I hate saying it and yes, I was living pretty much the same quality of life here in Sweden as I would in the US, but it wasn't without alterations and complications that made me more self-aware. They may have been smaller things like slicing my own cheese or bigger ones like being able to legally buy alcohol. Having the freedom to choose exactly how I wanted to spend my time and money gave me the ability to really understand myself. Living a life without a real schedule made me realize how much I like having a day to day routine that never changes and how much I really hate last minute changes that alter my plans. Even though things don't always go as planned, I realized you just have to accept them and move on because there's nothing that you can do. If you live your life constantly unhappy about what didn't happen, you won't be able to enjoy the smaller moments.

Meeting people from Australia to Guatemala and everywhere in between opened my eyes to the sheer number of people and cultures that we are part of. An individual is nothing special. As awful as that may sound, I think it's the truth. You can do nothing by yourself. Independence is really great and being able to do things by yourself makes you stronger, but in the end I don't think that you can live a wholesome life alone. We're all drops and together we all form one larger community that evolves and helps the members become more self-actualized.

Maslow said that to become a self-actualized person we must first fulfill basic needs like food and housing but I disagree. In order to know how we want to fulfill our basic needs or whether we want them fulfilled at all, we must first know ourselves. Living abroad helped me gain a deeper understanding of who I am underneath the Bean Boots and leggings and a deeper confusion of what I want to do. Is the path I'm on really the right one? Am I doing things right? Is my behavior in line with my goals? But in the end, I just need to trust that everything will work out eventually.

After four months, I'm ready to go back to the land of drive thrus and Thursday Night Football. Where I can not feel like a jerk for speaking English and where I have a schedule for every day of the week. I am extremely fortunate to live the life I have for the past few months and will always be grateful for the people I've met and things I've experienced. I never thought that southern Sweden would be home, but Lund will always have a special place in my heart.

While I am ready to go, I don't want to leave the person I am here behind. We become different people when we move and must trust that the best versions of ourselves are still to come. Every experience alters us in a new way and the best ones we take with us forever. With that being said, I can only trust that I bring the good aspects of my character in Lund back with me to Denver and not pack the bad ones in my suitcase.


So Lund and Sweden, this isn't a goodbye but a "see you soon." I'll be back. I'll be a different person when I return but I'll come back for your fresh sil, fika, schnapps, lake skating, and some 3pm sunsets.

Vi ses snart,

Em

*Hej då på svenska means goodbye. A little play on words because who doesn't enjoy a good pun?

Goteborg and Stockholm

Stortorget, Stockholm

It’s now the middle of December. It’s cold, rainy, and gray and slightly miserable. My coffee consumption has increased tenfold and I now resemble Lorelai Gilmore the majority of time. However, the short days and long nights and cold weather haven’t stopped me from finishing up my travels. I’ve spent the past two weekends travelling to Sweden’s two largest cities that together are about the size of the metro Denver area. Goteborg I did alone for a day or so and Stockholm I did with a couple of friends for a long weekend. The Christmas markets were open in both cities and everything was decorated and it was beautiful. 

Goteborg was a ton of fun. It was cold, rainy, and windy but it didn’t stop me from walking literally

everywhere and wondering around the city. It was the first trip that I’ve taken where I was alone and not planning on meeting anyone which was a little odd at first but ended up being extremely refreshing. There was no pressure on doing things and nobody made fun of me for wearing my Bean Boots or liking the smell of the fish market. It smelled like low tide and fresh fish and it was beautiful, very ocean like.

I came in with few plans as what I wanted to do or see and I believe it worked out for the best. although I’m still disappointed that I didn’t make it to Liseberg, the amusement park/ Christmas market, or the archipelago outside of town, I enjoyed the city and it’s probably one of my favorite places I’ve been. As nice as it was in winter, I’d love to go back in summer and actually enjoy myself a little more. Walking around and actually seeing the city move fluidly around me was such a change of pace from Lund where there’s so few people and cars and things going on and it takes 30 minutes to see the entire town. 

Goteborg

The week between was filled with class and work until Thursday when I went to a workers’ sittning at my nation. They held it for everyone who had worked at least three times and even though I was the only non-Swede there it was super fun, and free which made it better. I skipped the club after since I was exhausted and had a 5:30 train the next morning to go to Stockholm.

I got into Stockholm at 11 the next morning after the train ride from hell. I woke up that morning still recovering from the night before and the train was freezing and got stuck so I could only doze and not sleep. My exhaustion was alright though since Stockholm was beautiful and the sun was shining, which I didn’t know was possible for Sweden in December. I met up with a friend from DU and Lund and we went over to Vasamuseet and walked around Stockholm to some Christmas markets and other random things, just wandering until we decided to go back to our hostel. 

The new members of ABBA

Saturday we set out early to go watch the changing of the guard and to see the ABBA museum. The changing of the guard was absolutely freezing and we left early since we couldn’t see a lot. It took a while to walk to the museum but it was sunny again so we took our time. The ABBA museum was fantastic, they had all of their costumes, a piano from one of their houses, and it was so interactive. 10/10 would recommend and I’ve had Dancing Queen stuck in my head for three days. I could go on for days about how great it was but I'll save everyone the misery.

When we got back, we decided to go on a Tinder date. The night began with us sitting at a bar in Gamla Stan and ended over by the university. It was completely random and so much fun since there were two of us and three of them. We just talked forever and except for the fact that they wanted to talk politics it was so nice since there were no strings attached and I didn’t have to worry about impressing them since I won’t see them ever again. I would definitely do something like that again since I got to see a new part of the city and talk to people that were curious about the US.

Smiling because life is magical

Sunday morning we woke up late and went to walk around Sodermalm, a neighborhood in the southern part of Stockholm. It’s an up and coming area with all of these interesting shops and things so it was fun to walk around even though it was absolutely freezing. We got a little lost walking around but it was a great way to see yet another part of Stockholm since it’s so diverse. After walking back through Gamla Stan and stopping at the Christmas market, we went skating! I think it ranks in my top 5 favorite memories from study abroad so far, right after hiking Trolltunga and right before the ball. They had Christmas music playing, it was snowing, and it was right in the middle of Stockholm, needless to say it was pretty magical. Skating again, even just going around in circles was super fun, since there was no pressure and I could just enjoy myself again. It’s like the NHL Winter Classic, doing something the way it was meant to be done outdoors adds another element and reminds you why you started skating, because you love the simplicity.

Casual Stockholm sunset

After skating, I got on a train and headed home. I got back to Lund really late and promptly fell asleep. It was a great way to spend one of my final weekends in Sweden and now I’m faced with packing. I don’t want to leave and would willingly stay longer but I know that this is necessary. It’s time for me to get back to real life soon and I’m going to enjoy my last two weeks in Sweden.

-Em