Sunny Inspirations

It amazes me how much the sun has an impact on how I spend my days. This past week has been blazing with rays (or sort of) and with that I have been spending as much time out in it as possible. I have found the perfect ‘schedule’ for my in-between work hours which before had me feeling like I was wasting time sitting around waiting inside or checking facebook, watching t.v., etc. I send the girls off to school, clean everything up, walk fox, then run to the gym, run back home, pack a lunch, grab fox and walk down the nature trails to the beach, spend some time lounging, then head up to pick up the girls and finish the rest of my day. I wish I could have started this system earlier but as I recall it was a bit too chilly and dark for that not so long ago… 

I headed to Malmo this Friday to turn in my work permit extension application, and to also ask some questions and such. It was a beautiful day of course and I woke up early to make sure I would have plenty of time to make it to the Migrationsverket and wait through potential lines so I could talk to someone. Once I reached the office I was relived to find that I would not have to wait in any lines, for I was one of the first people there. I had all of my paperwork in a folder and I walked up to a man who was behind the counter and I showed him my paperwork and began asking him my (very rehearsed) questions in Swedish about my permit but he just saw the application and wouldn’t hear anything that I had to say and he simply said ‘Put your permit in the box. Now you can go home.’ I was so angry, I didn’t know if I was supposed to write down certain numbers in boxes that I didn’t know what they meant, I didn’t know if I had to pay a fee or if I did how much… all he had to do was tell me! So I went back into the line and then as soon as it was my turn to talk to him again he just pointed at the box and told me again, ‘Put your permit in the box.’ So helpful! I’m glad I woke up early and went all the way to Malmo for the short time and no help from this man. But! On the brighter side of things I love traveling no matter what the cause is, and I saw some pretty amazing things on my walk to and from the Migration office such as a group of kayakers going along the canals of the city, and a beautiful church that was seemingly hidden through a cluster of magnificent trees.   

I believe I’ve mentioned before how I always meet the most interesting people on buses. Tonight I was coming home from hanging out with my friends, Caylie and Erik, and like almost every other night I get on the green bus that takes me almost straight home and plop myself in the front seat, making myself open for conversation with the driver. At this time of night I’m almost always the only person on the bus so it’s fun to be able to talk to the driver and find out their ‘story’. 

Tonight’s man was an older gentleman named Henrik. He is a Swede who has been to America several times and also to Chicago, (which is where I told him I was from). As we were talking along we spoke about several things, what I’m doing here, how I like it here, oh yes- Sweden is a great country… And when he was done grilling me with questions he changed back to his memories from the past. I couldn’t see his face when he was talking to me but I’m sure he was smiling and had a look of distant thought thrown upon his face when he told me about the time he took a greyhound bus all the way from New York City to Long Beach California in 1972 then bought a Mustang Bullitt and drove up the ocean highway then back across the country to New York. I can only imagine how great of a time he really had back in 1972… Sadly my stop came up so I had to bid Henrik adieu. I love learning people’s stories. Some of them really are an inspiration. 

Summer Is So Close, We Can Feel It!

This was a nice long weekend for me, since Swedes celebrate Ascension Day as a public holiday the weekend started on Wednesday! I spent this lovely break out in the country at Caylie's house. 

These beautiful golden fields behind us that you must be noticing are rapeseed flower fields. They are strewn across the countryside and are completely breathtaking! I keep thinking about the yellow-brick road from the Wizard of Oz, that is the color that shines from these plants. 

These past few days have been filled with time spent with friends. It's always great to be with everyone and it's even better now that it's warm and we can barbecue and sit outside and just relax.  

 We have had a few gorgeous days this past week. Today it was actually warm enough to go outside with just a t-shirt and shorts and not worry about bringing a jacket! It's funny how that thought even crosses my mind this time of year, but apparently this is almost record-breaking temperatures for May in Sweden.

Pretty soon I can start my twenty day countdown, the end of this stay seems to be speeding up to greet me. Twenty days will fly by in no time! I am very comforted in knowing that I am coming back next year, so this doesn't seem like such a final goodbye. That being said, I can't wait to go home!!

One Month

Here it is. One month exactly until I take my flight from Copenhagen and end up back home in America!

Honestly I didn't feel like it had been that long until now. Now that I know that I only have 31 days left I'm ready to just speed through them for my long-awaited reunion with my folks back home. But judging by the way that this year has flown by, I know that my wait won't be too long and I know that I should and will keep enjoying myself all the way up until the last day.

This weekend we all decided to take it relatively easy because the last few weeks have been filled with event after event. On our blustery Friday afternoon my friends and I decided that it had been too long since the last time we hopped the ferry over to Helsingor, Denmark so indeed that’s what we did. During the crossing over we climbed up to the top deck to get the best view of the approaching Danish shoreline, and were met by a fierce wind that nearly blew us over the edge of the deck!  We spent our 15 minutes laughing and trying to stand up against the wind, nearly freezing our faces off... it was a good time.

Today was an absolutely gorgeous sunny day. I brought my camera out and decided to go on a walk to Sofiero castle; but little did I know what I would run into:

 Yes, it was an amazing day full of surprises! As soon as I arrived to Sofiero, I was greeted by a car show that was being held right in front of the castle! It was really neat to see all of the cars in that atmosphere, either the old cars placed in front of the beautiful castle or the newer cars with the sparking water in the background... even for someone who isn't so interested in car models it was very fun to witness. Sofiero castle is also known for it's exquisite rhododendrons and intricate gardens, I was in heaven walking around them and viewing all of the beautiful plants and smelling the lovely floral fragrances. 

On the way back from this spectacle I decided to cut through a grassy field instead of taking the paved way home. I was walking through looking up at a few airplanes that were buzzing just above me and looked back down to see a deer laying in the grass only 20 meters away from me. At first it was just trying to hide and I didn't want to spook it but once I pulled out my camera it jumped up and started to walk away. I was really happy to see that! It looks a lot different than the deer back home.

All and all, it was a very nice weekend, and a gorgeous day. 

'Till next time

Sounds of Music

This week seemed incredibly short. This was probably due to the fact that my work week started on Wednesday but still, time really does fly.

This week also happened to be my finals week for the online classes that I’ve been taking so now I’m officially done with those, and that feels great!

The first half of this week was so beautiful, warm, and sunny that I was at a shock when the clouds rolled in on Friday and the temperature dropped at least 10 degrees Fahrenheit. But this of course didn’t stop my friends and I from having a good time! We have been waiting for this weekend for months now because on Saturday, we attended a Skrillex concert in Copenhagen.

But don’t let me get ahead of myself. On Friday we decided to go and do a little pre-Skrillex celebrating. The culture center of Helsingborg was having its own celebration for the 10 year anniversary and there were different local bands playing outside so we could walk around and listen to them. It is so wonderful how supportive Swedes are of the arts.

Dunkers Kulturhus

To my complete joy, Discoteka Yugostyle was playing at The Tivoli and we went in there to enjoy the very unique band and danced the night away. The different musicians on stage made me feel like it was a high-school band gone wild with their Eastern-European sound and their club beats, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. 

The next day I slept in pretty late so I had to hurry up and get myself ready to travel to Copenhagen. I packed my bag and rushed down to the train station to hop on the same train that Caylie was taking to Lund. Once we got to Lund, dropped off our stuff, and met up with her brother and his friend, we all headed to Copenhagen together!

The location of the Skrillex concert wasn’t too far away from the train station and we arrived with plenty of time to spare so we walked around the streets of Copenhagen and really just relaxed until it was time to get in line for the show! 

Once we got past the incredibly strict security guys I got my first glimpse inside the Forum of Copenhagen. It was an enormous room with a stage on the far left and already tons of people were squeezing their way closer and closer to where the artists would perform. We put our coats away and then headed over to the mob to get our starting spots, although later on I figured out that even if we started out seemingly on the outside of this crowd, eventually when the music would start our bodies would be pushed, shoved, and thrown about enough to get anywhere in that auditorium.

I have never been to anything like this before. There were some parts of the concert where I was completely trapped between people and I couldn’t move and then the whole crowd would push forward then backward, side to side, and there were mosh pits that you had to make sure to avoid if you didn’t want to get pushed around even more and really I was overwhelmed. It was the craziest crowd I have ever had the privilege to stand in. 

Two consecutive event-filled weekends, so fun! Recently my life has been filled with the sounds of music, and all different sorts for that matter! 

More next week, 

Cori

Valborg

Sun, music, dancing, drinking, friends, and huge student celebrations; that, my friends, is what Valborg is all about!

I started my day off at 7:00 a.m. packing things up and getting myself ready for the long day ahead of me. I had my gina tricot bag stuffed with a towel to sit on and some beers, put my cowgirl boots on, and then I was ready to go! I caught the bus down to the train station and was already amazed by all the students congregating to the platform that would take us to Lund. As I was waiting for the train to arrive, I bumped into Martin which was really nice and we waited together and combined our excitement for the events to come! Thankfully I had him there with me because apparently if you aren’t quick enough to get onto the train, there is the possibility that you may be shoved off by others who are very eager to get themselves to Lund as soon as possible.

We couldn’t have asked for a better day to spend outside. Even at nine in the morning it was warm enough for a t-shirt and shorts, the sun was out and there was a pleasantly cool breeze to keep fresh air on your face. It was truly the nicest day of the year so far! After Martin and I split our ways at the train station- I wandered my way around taking in every piece of the scene. There were an innumerable amount of students walking by…I have honestly never felt as much like a college student as I did during Valborg.

My next step after being flabbergasted by the sheer number of people funneling towards the main park where the celebration was being held was to find Caylie and our spot in the crowd that we could sort of deem as camp. I joined the wave of party animals and rode the current down cute little streets and through different gated areas and past booming music until I finally reached the park. There were so many people in one area trying to find their buddies that cell phone service was not being reliable but thankfully I found who I was looking for. Our next step was to pinpoint our camp-mark which was a doll’s head on a stick, (very disturbing but easy to spot in a crowd). We set our stuff down and grabbed some beers and the party was on! Loud music, thousands of students jumping up and down and having a great time, and the sun roasting our very deprived skin; here are some videos to try and allow you to fathom the aura of it all.

I figure we remained in the park for roughly six hours before we moseyed on to our next event. We joined some friends at a barbeque and after that we were basically fried from earlier so we took it easy for the rest of the day. 

Today we woke up with smiles on our faces to another gorgeous day. I was extremely happy to have received a text from my boss telling me that I had the day off, and quickly concluded that we should do something fun with my day of freedom. Not being able to put in my contacts- and wearing the same clothes as the day before, (fresh) I blindly made my way to the train station with my friends to spend a wonderful time in the awesome city of Malmo. Caylie and I decided that we should take the bus to Lund Centralen instead of making the 20 minute walk and of course that decision led us to something hilarious. As the first green bus to pass by pulled up to the stop, we saw that it was an old-styled short bus that was labeled “Not in traffic”. Thinking that there was something wrong with the sign we climbed on very naïvely believing that all busses would pass by the train station eventually. The first turn brought a look of concern and confusion to Caylie’s face. Obviously since I didn’t have my contacts in I was blind to the world and didn’t notice that anything was wrong but Caylie knew that we were going some strange way and she had no idea where this bus was taking us. We passed down some small random streets and suddenly we were traveling our way on a dirt road through a park… off-roading on a city bus; can it get any more random? After a few more odd streets and picking up old people at a nursing home, we finally decided to abort the crazy bus and eventually found the train station. 

Joining two more friends we took the short ride and found ourselves walking around the magnificent streets of Malmo. Caylie and I kept diving into cute little souvenir shops and giggled as we heard the gasps of annoyance from our fellow companions. We decided to grab a late lunch and an early dinner at one of our favorite restaurants there- T.G.I Fridays. Taking much advantage over the free refills and indulging in delectable food we thoroughly enjoyed our marvelous day.

Back in Helsingborg, we ran over to the area where they had set up a few carnival rides but unfortunately did not arrive in time to be able to ride them. We watched as the Carnie’s swiftly pack up their things, it amazes me how quickly they can tear everything down and be packed up to leave. It was about 8 o’clock pm and the sun was starting to set so we wandered down a pier and sat down to watch the beautiful show of lights.

All and all- I had the most amazing two days I’ve had in a long time. Gotta love Valborg!