Hey peeps,
I'm writing another post about my thoughts and what I've learned on this exchange so far because writing both in one would just be too much.Also, I can't post the awesome pictures I've taken now because the battery to my phone/camera fried. I'm ordering a new one so it shouldn't take more than a month. I'll upload the pics when I can.
I guess my phone couldn't handle Scandinavia's awesomeness.
Anyways, about Stockholm.
Prior to this exchange, I have never really traveled anywhere outside of Canada. (There's the States, but they don't count. They just don't). Yes, I have taken a plane to go to some places like Banff, Alberta and Whitehorse, Yukon. Though, it was always with the Army Cadets so it was always super well organised. We always had adults directing us and telling us what to do. We were basically robots.
This trip to Stockholm was with the school, so there was some organisation, but not that much. Although we're all adults-ish don't need that much direction, I still think it's important to give people instructions. It gives them security and shows that you know what you're doing. Unfortunately, my team leader didn't think like I did so he kinda improvised everything on the spot. He gave us very unclear instructions and never really knew what to do. It was really frustrating because we couldn't really trust him. Maybe it's my cadet-teacher. I even had to take some matters into my own hands in order to make sure everyone was there and that we would catch the boat back to Turku on time...
In other words, the trip could have been much better had we had a better team leader.
Anyways, back to the trip itself.
In total I guess it cost around 100 Euros ( +/- 150 CAD), everything included like meals, accommodation and entertainment. It's really inexpensive considering we had.
In order to get there, we had to take a boat from Turku to Stockholm, which was pretty awesome. My first time on a boat and it was absolutely amazing. We went with Viking Line, it was a really nice cruise. There was a tax-free shop, a gaming room, restaurants, a sundeck, etc. Really nice (The TV in my cabin even said "Welcome Dalena!"!!!!). We left in the evening and the trip from Turku-Stockholm lasted about 12 hours. The ride itself was quite smooth, it wasn't rocky at all.
When we arrived to Stockholm, we walked to our hostel. It's in the old part of Stockholm and it was at a harbour. Again, it was super nice.
Afterwards, while everyone was sleeping in their respective cabins, my friends and I decided to venture out and discover Stockholm. A friend of mine has been there a few times, so it was really nice of her to show us around. We took really good pictures and the weather couldn't be more perfect. I mean, it was super sunny, it was snowing- even the show was pretty!- and it was only -3°C. PER-FECT!
After that, we went back to join the rest of the group and we had a pretty extensive and lengthy guided tour, provided by a Stockholm exchange student. It lasted about 4 hours, and we were always walking. I didn't mind that much, though. Learned a bit about the city's history.
After that, we had a nice little party at Göta Källare, a club. It was a masquerade bal, so we all had masks, which was really cool. There was an option of going to drink somewhere else after the meal but some of us decided to stay at the club. The party also included exchange students at Stockholm so after an hour or two the club was pretty full. I didn't stay till the end, but I assure you, it was FANTASTIC!! The music was just awesome (I don't know why, but I really like the clubs here in Scandinavia, they have pretty awesome music. Or maybe I've just been to the crappy ones in Montreal?), the atmosphere was great and I felt so alive. There are no words to describe this experience except maybe out-of-this-world. Even then, it's an understatement.
The following day was just alright, we went to Vaxholm, a small city north of Stockholm. It was a cute city, but nothing more. It's just a shame that there was absolutely nothing planned once we got there so we just walked around town by ourselves for a few hours. Meh. We spent a pretty quiet evening eating shish-kebabs because it was the cheapest option.
We just went back to Turku the following day, on that awesome boat.
And then my phone/camera fried :-(.
Despite the little fuckeries, I really had a blast on this trip.
I've already been here for over a month already and I feel like I still have so much more to do, so many more places to travel, so many foods to taste and so many things to experience...
Learn more about it in my next post. ;-)
Till then,
Kippis
