Over 2 years ago on a cold and saturated day in autumn, with a solemn overcast stretching past every horizon, my train pulled into Stockholm, Sweden. I hadn’t slept in days and my eating history looked about the same (we won’t even mention shaving habits here), and after traveling for 10 days through Europe with nothing but the clothes on my back I was entering the next level of exhaustion. Yet although spending only a day in the country something profound must have happened that led me to tell myself ‘one day I’ll be back here properly’. And here I am almost 3 years later looking into the face of 5 months in the coolest country in Europe. And just so you know what I mean by cool, on the day I arrived in the university town of Uppsala there was a skiing and snowboarding comp being held in the middle of town. They literally built a slope style / slalom course running down from the castle at the top of the hill to the main street at the bottom. Wicked.
So I don’t really know what caused me to come back here but the fact I didn’t really consider any other country for doing an exchange to must be saying something.
It’s now been 12 days since I had the pleasure of being able to use my own razor, wear a different set of clothes, or be subjected to any of the luxuries that await a traveler inside his luggage. So you can imagine the sheer joy when I found soap AND shower gel inside the bathroom of my new room on campus at SLU. (Just for the record I have used these items in the last 12 days. Once or twice). And so I’ve made it to Sweden after surviving multiple snow storms with minimal pairs of spare socks, the pain of snowboarding fresh powder in Canada, a steady indoctrination from weirdo’s that is the New York subway, and a car accident. And I’m looking forward to learning something new and meeting some wicked people which, after all, is what this is all about..
Photos:
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| Sweden |
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