Playing Hookie

Rule #1: ALWAYS BRING YOUR PASSPORT

Ooppps.... that's one mistake I'll never make again.

After an extremely stressful week of trying to catch up, get ahead, and apply for jobs, I left on a 9 day trip to Stockholm and Helsinki. I was also supposed to go to Tallinn, Estonia as well, but that's impossible without a passport. My travel companion was Sören, a German exchange student studying in Trondheim as well.

After a day traveling by train to Stockholm, we arrived at Sebastian's, Sören's friend from Germany, room in time to attend a regular student party at the student village. The next morning we wandered the streets of Stockholm with all our stuff on our backs. We caught a ferry that evening to Helsinki. These are no ordinary ferries, in fact they're too good to be true. An overnight trip including a cabin can be arranged for $0-20. These boats make all their money selling alcohol and other products tax free and through gambling, but for a traveler on a budget they're perfect. Many people take these trips just to stock up and have an enjoyable evening at on board restaurants and clubs. By the way, the average age is about 55. The weather was perfect and we spent most of the evening out on the deck watching the islands float by.

We spent 4 days in Helsinki visiting a mutual friend, Meesi, who was an exchange student in Trondheim during the fall. As a group we took a little ferry out to an old fortress/current park and spent the afternoon outside hanging out and exploring the island. On Monday Sören went to Estonia since we already had tickets and I spent the day in Helsinki.



Aside from strolling through the different district, I went to a truly minimalist church that was dug out of the rock. It was the complete opposite from everything I've seen up to now, and I'm sure you could convince an unsuspecting person that this was a place of alien worship. It had no religious symbols. I also checked out the outside of an orthodox church, but unfortunately Monday is the day when most tourist attractions and museums close. I browsed a market housed in an old industrial building that sold everything from raw food to textiles, handmade crafts, soap, tea, and other random items. I was surprised to see Celestial Seasonings tea there, but I had to restrain myself from buying any because it was $4 for 10 bags. There was also plenty of time to hang out and drink some coffee watching everyone else walk in the rain.



On Tuesday we went on a tour of the Helsinki Waste Water Treatment plant, because Meesi was giving her students a tour of the facility since she used to work there. The unique thing about the plant is that it's built in caves. This helps minimize the impact that it has on the surrounding and helps make the whole process more efficient in the long run. Since coming to Europe, I also visited Trondheim's Drinking water treatment plant that's also built in a cave. Am I missing any other part of the process? :)

That night we went to the technical university to see the presentation of the semiannual "Magazine." I use the term magazine lightly because it's not what comes to mind. It changes from year to year and it's just something entirely student created that's creative and usually humorous. Traditionally there's a big event where this item is unveiled, and the whole purpose of the show is to pretty much build the suspense and draw it out. The students then sell these items to classmates and community members and can keep a share of the revenues. This year the item was a cloth case that contained several "tourist information" materials for Helsinki. These guides were comical and the whole thing was to sort of highlight Finnish Design in general. That night there was a student celebration at one of the downtown bars that had a live cover band that reminded me a little of No Doubt.

The next morning was spent strolling Helsinki before catching a bus to Turku, a city in the southwest. Turku is really pretty and has retained more of it's old charm than Helsinki. The river cuts right through town and is lined with old buildings and cafe-boats. Being there in the off season was nice because it was essentially tourist free. We had lunch in the only dry place we could find, which was in an alcove on the outside of the cathedral. Then we walked through a park area, crossed the river on a little ferry, and then got to where another overnight ferry would take us back to Stockholm for the last 4 days....


The weather was beautiful in Stockholm... 60-70 and SUNNY!! On our first day there ,the 3 of us went to the Arme museum and the Skansa open air museum. The Arme museum displayed the chronology of Sweden's military history as well as a temporary spy exhibit. It was really interesting to see the transition that Sweden has gone through from an aggresive to passive nation. The open air museum had old homes and farmsteds that have been relocated from around Sweden to this one park. There were shops open and functioning as they did 100-200 years ago. They also had a mini-zoo with native animals from the area. We ended the day hanging out in a cafe on the roof of the Kulturhuset then seeing the Inner Circle at the movie theater. Movies are much more expensive in Norway, so we had to take advantage of the cheaper prices.

On Friday Sebastian had class, so it was just the 2 of us again. In the morning I went to the Nobel Museum on my own. It's small but that made it all the more managable. It gave a brief description of the history of the prizes, but the museum mainly focused on some of the bigger issues surrounding it. I always thought the prize was always a positive award, but I had no idea of all the contraversies it has sparked over the past century. There were many creative, modern short videos that highlighted some of the bigger issues surrounding past awards. They discussed diverse issues such as: landmines, think tanks, women scientists, and struggling poets. The current temporary exhibition highlighted Winston Churchill's literary and artistic endeavors. We stopped by City Hall, but the interior was closed so we just enjoyed some sum by the water. Sören left that evening for an orienteering race outside of Stockholm, but before he left there was still time to go explore 2 more of the little islands in the city.

After Sebastian was finished with school work, we grabbed some dinner and then headed to the popular but slightly off-beat Södemalm district to hang out at the outdoor bars. Compared to back home, Scandinavia in general has tons of outdoor places that are cafes by day and more like bars at night. Many places don't even have an indoors. But they're such a chill place to hang out and just my style.

Saturday was my last full day in Stockholm but it was busier than all the others. In the morning, Sebastian and I went to the Vasa musem that houses a battle ship from the early 1600s that sunk 20 minutes into it's maiden voyage because it was too top heavy. It was fully retstored after laying under water for 333 years and is a phemonimal sight. Then we checked out the Royal Palace to see the state apartments and the Royal Treasury. The apartments themselves were a little more modest than those in France. I actually liked them better because every sqaure inch of wall space wasn't covered in paintings or busywall coverings. It was definitly elaborate and huge, but I think a little more tastefully decorated. Crown jewels are always fun to look at. I don't anything can compare to the jewels at the Tower of London, but nontheless interesting. The best part was the old-fashioned trunks with old locking mechanisms.

After grabbing a bit to eat (hint: "Kebabs" in scandinavia are really gyros... standard fast food), we decided rather spontaneously to take the train to Sigtuna about 1 hour outside of the city. Before Stockholm was Stockholm, the main viking city used to be located on the opposite side of the big lake that Stockholm is currently on. The land is rising though, and it became too high for them to stay there due to navigation difficulties. Around 1250, Stockholm was founded in its currenty location where this lakes meets the sea. The old Mideveal town of Sigtuna has possibly the oldest road in Sweden, the smallest town hall in Sweden and ruins of old stone churches. There are also many old Viking markers with their old ruinic language set-up around the town. The town is truely picturesque and has an ideal location, despite the fact that the land raised 15ft from its foundation until when they relocated to nowadays Stockholm.

I spent all day Sunday on the train. I had a couple hour break in Østersund where I stocked up on cheap cheese and some other random food products that are really expensive in Norway. My backpack was significantly heavier going home with cheese, wine, chocolate, cornmeal, and nuts. But, I wouldn't be a typical Norwegian if I didn't take advantage of it.

Well I've got 4 days in Trondheim to get caught up, then I'm off to Bergen for 3 days. I'm rowing in a regatta against some of the universities in Bergen. Time to practice my Norwegian since I'm the other exchange student.

Til neste gang,
Julie