Sweden

Sweden was everything I pictured it to be, from houses with thatched roofs to fat milk cows grazing in the countryside. I even ate cake in a garden with a frolicking goat. I kid you not.

After a short ferry ride, we pulled up to our hostel where we were going to stay for the weekend. I have never stayed at a hostel before and I definitely wasn't expecting a big mansion with a large garden.







The garden of the hostel





That day we went canoeing on the Ronneå. Elizabeth and I took on our own canoe, and quickly discovered that we are possibly the worst canoe-ers ever. For whatever reason we were unable to go straight and had to settle for zigzagging down the canal. It didn't take long for everyone else to be way ahead of us. Not that it mattered. It was just us and the Swedish countryside and lots ducks. It was really peaceful.










before we were way behind everyone else.


That night we had a barbecue on the lawn in front of the hostel. We had marinated grilled chicken, grilled sausages, chips, and salad. We spent hours hanging out, talking and playing cards. At one point there was a mini bonfire but it was short lived. We stayed out until we it was too dark to see much.

The next day after a delicious hostel breakfast (very Scandinavian: bread, cheese, jam, muesli, yogurt, coffee) we headed out on bikes towards Nimis (for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimis_(artwork) ). The bike ride was much longer and more aerobic than I was expecting. But it felt so good to be outside and exercising. My favorite thing to bike by were the milk cows eating grass outside of cute Swedish houses. We took a break in the middle and wandered along the coast for a bit. I think living in one of the idyllic houses overlooking the Kattegat would be a very nice life.

The hike down to Nimis was pretty difficult but well worth it- Nimis was incredible. The driftwood structures were giant and had winding tunnels inside that you could climb in. They were like giant tree houses. At this point we were all sweaty and very tired from biking all day. On our way back to the hostel we stopped off at Flickorna Lundgren for cake in the garden (www.fl-lundgren.se/).

So it was a very good weekend! Tomorrow I don't have any classes or field studies. I'm looking forward to sleeping in and then hopefully seeing some museums tomorrow.