Wandering through Scandinavia

Thanks to Gothenburg conveniently being located in between the 3 Scandinavian capitals it has been easy to get around and see other countries as well. Copenhagen was the first city I got around to visiting. From those I know who’ve been there and the group I went with, people seem to either love or hate the city.  For me it was kind of nice to be in a ‘real’ city again. I hadn’t realised how relaxed, almost sleepy, Gothenburg was until I got to Copenhagen.  One of the more odd places I’ve ever been to is Christiania, a self-declared ‘free city’ within Copenhagen that somehow escapes the country’s drug laws. In fact, there are only three rules here: No running, no photos and.... have fun! Back in Copenhagen itself, a visit to the Danish National Museum, seeing the famous statue of the Little Mermaid, and (conscious that I spoke about food a lot in my last blog), the best brunch I’ve ever had, were the main highlights. Below: Atop the Round Tower, the oldest functioning observatory in the world!

Next on the list was Oslo, for which my expectations were already very high thanks to Bex in Mississippi. It certainly exceeded them and by the end of the trip I was already imagining myself living there one day. It’s hard to explain more than just it’s a really nice city. Perhaps it was the fact that there was music playing wherever we went, the amazing views, or that the weather just happened to be good on our visit. Oslo did live up to its reputation as the world’s most expensive city, but that didn’t matter once we were there. The views from the Holmenkollen ski jump (something I didn’t even know was a sport) alone were worth it. 

If there’s anything to make your study abroad destination feel more like home it’s a trip somewhere else. Fun though they were, it was always good to be back in Gothenburg, where I don’t need to walk around with a map in my face. 

The reason I haven’t updated this in a while is, as you can probably guess, work. The Swedish system of a module per month means that (all the trips, dinners, parties etc.) aside, I always seem to have an impending deadline. Which means things get a bit hectic sometimes. Still, I have picked up some good habits here (I’ve never spent so much time in the library). And it’s nice to think that this time last year (and probably this time next year) I still had almost all of my semester’s work to do in the Christmas break, but this year I will have pretty much completed everything!

Below: Oslo's mesmerising sculpture park.