Rome, Italy - Incredible City & Culture

Ahh Roma, how great you were to me! Last week I hopped on a plane at Gothenburg Landvetter airport and made my way to Rome. I had a layover in Brussels, Belgium along the way so I fulfilled a bucket list item by eating Belgian chocolate in Belgium. :) I bought an entire kilogram of chocolate so I am still eating it! Anyways, Rome was bound to be incredible with all the historic sites and all the delicious food to eat.

Upon arrival, I met up with Tyler, one of my friends from Platteville, since he ended up being in Rome the same time I was. It was great to catch up and hear his stories of studying in Scotland. We checked out all the sites that he wanted to see for the last time since he was leaving on the next day. We ended up walking around and seeing everything from the Trevi Fountain to the Vatican City to the Colosseum. I visited all of these sites several times while in Rome. All of the sites are just breath taking when you finally see them in real life instead of seeing photos or videos.

My next three full days in Rome were going to be very busy with all the sites I wanted to cram into a small period. In order to see it all, I did a lot of walking but it was worth it. In Rome, you can get lost and stumble upon a beautiful fountain or a cute family restaurant. That is the wonder of this beautiful city. My first day I made the long walk from my hostel over to the Vatican. It was about an hour walk, but like I said Rome is beautiful. After seeing the long line for St. Peter's Basilica, I decided to check out the line for the Vatican Museums since I had heard horror stories about 2-4 hour long lines. After waiting just a half an hour I was in to one of the best museums in the world. I had only planned to be there for a couple of hours but there was so much to see that I ended up being there for 4 hours! I even decided that my favorite painting in the world is Raphael's last painting. The Sistine Chapel was breath taking as well. The rest of the museum was very cool and you could spend days looking at everything. Later in the afternoon I had a surprise when I walked into St. Peter's Basilica. I saw Pope Francis!! There was the celebrazione della penitenza which was essentially a mass that involved confession on the sides. It was interesting since I did not understand a single word that was said. It was amazing to see him and hear him speak. So many people in the world dream of that opportunity. When he left I was within a few feet of him! Afterwards I found a restaurant to eat some delicious pasta and rest my feet and then called it a day after a stop at the beautiful Trevi Fountain.

 

Day two was very exciting as well. I saw all the big historic sites. The Roman Forum was really sweet and it was easy to imagine what Rome was like all of those years ago. Palatine hill was interesting also. But it was the Colosseum that really wowed me. It it so incredible that they were able to build such a huge structure almost 2000 years ago. I cannot even imagine how many people visited the site in the past couple thousand years. A few other stops on my way were Circus Maximus (where the chariot races were), the church where the Mouth of Truth is, Vatican City (again), and a nice walk up the Tiber river. You can see all my adventures in the photos below.

Day three was spent filling in the gaps that I missed and relaxing after all the miles that I walked the previous days. I went and saw the Villa Borghese which is a beautiful park, the Pantheon, Piazza del Popolo, and The Vatican (again, I really wanted to get to the top of St. Peters Basilica but it was either too late or closed by the time I got there. I still didn't get to see it on this last day.) I also spent some time just wandering around watching street performers and walking into random beautiful churches. Rome is just really beautiful everywhere and you can just wander around and enjoy your time.

I really could write an entire novel about my time in Rome but then nobody would want to read it. While in Rome I ate a ton of delicious food and wine including spaghetti carbonara, pasta with swordfish, pizza margarita, pizza napoli, abbacchio (a roman lamb dish), and vino della casa (wine of the house). I also started off every morning with a cappuccino and a croissant. I can't forget about the delicious gelato that I ate every day too! Yum! I really felt like an Italian there since I ate all of their delicious food! For me, traveling is just as much about the food as it is about the sites.

To anyone debating whether they should go to Rome or not. I will tell you GO! Rome is amazing and one of those places you always here about in school or in the movies and when you are finally there it feels so unreal. Thanks Rome for the incredible time! Hopefully I can return some day!

Exam Week - A New Experience

It's exam week here in Jönköping and I have been spending plenty of time studying already. The pressure is on considering 100% of my grade in my Mathematical Statistics course is based off of this one exam. This type of pressure is very different for me, considering that we do not have this style in the USA. Usually by finals time I have a majority of my grade determined from other exams and assignments so the final is just a way to "separate the men from the boys" grade wise.

The University system in Sweden has taken a little getting used to. I can definitely tell I'm not in Platteville anymore. No more 30 person math courses, nope here there are 120 students in my class. The professor doesn't know me by name and I'm not so sure about his office hours. Also, the semester (termin in Swedish, semester in Swedish means Holiday. Confusing right?) is broken up into two halves. For these first few months I have had two courses; Mathematical Statistics and Swedish Language, Culture, and Society I. After my math exam on Friday and my Swedish exam on Monday, I will begin a new set of courses for the second half. Those courses will be Swedish II and Applied Finite Element Analysis. This split system may be beneficial since you can really focus on a subject and not have so many other things on your brain.

Anyways, I feel that I have more pressure on my upcoming exams that most other exchange students since my grades transfer back. I am trying to keep my GPA as high as possible so A's and B's are my target. Most exchange students have a "pass-fail" system where as long as they pass, they get the credit and the grades do not show up on their transcripts. I do not mind having my grades transfer back because it enforces that I am still responsible for my studies and this isn't a semester to slack off. I have been keeping up to date on everything so now I just need to refine my statistics and Swedish skills and I will be all good.

So wish me luck on my exams! I'll be rewarding myself for completing my exams by traveling to Rome from March 27-31. Can't wait for my next adventure!

Lone Traveler goes to Oslo, Norway

Last weekend, I hopped on a bus for six hours over to Oslo, Norway. I wanted to get some traveling in before I became busy studying for my exams and Oslo is close and Norway is very interesting for me considering I am 3/8 Norwegian. I will start off by saying that I had an incredible adventure and one that will probably never happen again in my life. After finding no one interested in traveling with me, I took it upon myself to still go and try solo traveling.

Upon arrival in Oslo, I started to explore the city. The first stop was the famous Oslo Opera House where you can actually go on top of the roof! The view overlooks the city and also the fjord so it was neat. Since I was unable to find a tourist station where I could pick up a map, I began to explore the city on my own and also find my hostel. The hostel was not the nicest place but it was a warm place to sleep and the cheapest in town. (~$50... This is Oslo so that is reasonable). Oslo is always in the top five for the most expensive cities in the world so I really had to watch how I spent my money. I visited many free sites while in Oslo including the Royal Palace and a few churches.

With my exploring, I stumbled upon a grocery store and went inside to pick up some of Norway's Lefse. Lefse is a Norwegian specialty and a variant of it is made in my hometown back in the USA. Basically it is a potato flat bread that you put butter and sugar on. It's absolutely delicious. While in the store I also picked up Norwegian chocolate which is also delicious. (I've decided that European chocolate blows American chocolate out of the water). After exploring for a while, I decided it was time to find a place to eat dinner. I ended up in the harbor are which was filled with nice restaurants. In Europe, almost all restaurants have menus outside the door so that was very convenient for me. I discovered a TGI Fridays where a burger was about 200 NOK ($33). So this was going to be an expensive evening. I'm pretty sure I went around to all of the restaurants in the Aker Brygge area before picking Rorbua. Little did I know that this choice would affect the rest of my time in Oslo.

After entering this nice restaurant with fishing items around the entire place and wooden benches and tables, I took a seat by myself since I was traveling alone. Shortly after, a Norwegian man approached and asked if he could sit with me (he first spoke in Norwegian of course). I said sure and this was the best thing that happened to me in Norway. The man was Bjørn, a local ship captain who had just finished with work for the day. He was one of the nicest people I have ever met. After he recommended I try the whale steak, we spent much of the night talking. The whale was not fishy tasting as you would expect, it was like beef but more "gamey". While in Norway, why not try something new that I may never get a chance to eat again in my entire lifetime. Anyways, he grew up in the very north of Norway in a small fishing village. It was incredible to hear his story about how he has been fishing his entire life and has earned all of his own money since he was 12. He raised enough money to buy his own little boat and continued fishing and selling his catch to continually upgrade to a bigger and better boat. Learning about his story of independence and all of the lessons he learned along the way, I realized that I had a very similar experience growing up on the farm. We discussed how "city kids" are much different than those raised in rural areas. It was such a great conversation and along the way I learned so much about ships and fishing. 

He told me about how he spent many years out on the fishing boats in which he was gone for weeks at a time. He enjoyed his time doing that but wanted to try something new, so he began driving a ferry in Oslo that connects the center of the city to one of the peninsulas. It is a short 20 minute ride, while if you were to drive by car, it would be an hour and a half drive. He invited me to come check out the ferry the next day and go for a ride. I wasn't sure what this consisted of but I accepted since he told me it would be free since I would be with the Captain. After we said our see you laters, I returned to the hostel where I found a guy in my hostel from Canada who explained to me that he was there on business and the company bought him a vegetarian dinner which costed $100! Insane! After a short discussion with this man, it was time for bed. 

I woke up the next morning rejuvenated and ready to spend my last day in Oslo seeing as much as possible. First I checked out the Nobel Peace Center Museum which was very interesting. I learned about the OPCW (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) and their work on eliminating chemical weapons in the world. They are still finding chemical weapons from WWI and this organization has the means to disable them and dispose of them. The one room consisted of an interactive book that told about Alfred Nobel and his life. Even though he invented dynamite, he really wanted a world without war. The was also tribute to all of those who have received the Nobel Peace Prize and then interactive monitors where you could learn more about the Nobel Peace Prize and the recipients. I easily could have spent another hour here learning. 

Next, I went to Bjørn's ship and found him. He took me up to the captain's chambers and I got to talk with him and his crew while seeing all the beautiful sites of the fjord. There is a marine engineer on board that makes sure everything works smoothly and he offered to take me under the deck to show me all of the mechanical components. This boat has four engines; two natural gas and two diesel. The diesels were Scania and the natural gas engines Mitsubishi. It was great to see these power generation units since they were just a scaled down version of what I worked on last summer at my internship. The engineer described to me how after the ship is made, there are a ton of changes that need to be done since they never do it right the first time. The ship building companies try to do it for as cheap as possible so they often cut corners where they shouldn't. Also this was a prototype ship so it has many extra safety features for the natural gas engines that make it quite a hassle for the engineer. There are always sensors that break or something along those lines. The day I was there the natural gas system was throwing an error, so that is why the diesel engines were running instead. Basically every system on the boat had a back up, with the natural gas engines being the main engines and the diesels being the back up. The experience under the deck was unexpected and really great professional development for me. It is always interesting to learn about possible engineering careers. Lastly, when I returned back to the captain's chamber, Bjørn asked if I would like to drive the ship. I was completely surprised and excited. I can officially say that I drove a 600 passenger boat in Oslo, Norway! It was really cool and I was surprised at how agile this large vessel was. Driving was very simple, with Bjørn just telling me what number to change the computer to which then changed the direction of the boat. It was simply a little knob, not a big steering wheel as one would expect because of the movies. I have to admit that I had an incredible time! 

Next, I made the mistake of walking instead of taking the bus. Although I made it to the Viking Ship museum, it was roughly an hour walk in the rain. Worth it though! I was able to see Viking ships from around 1000 AD. Vikings were buried in ships with animals, food, things they loved, etc. These burial ships were looted before they were found but the find is still incredible. The craftsmanship of the Vikings was amazing and I cannot believe that they were able to build such things without modern technology. 

Lastly, I made the walk over to Vigeland Park where there are a ton of statues. Oslo is very interesting in the aspect that you can be in the middle of a busy city one moment and the next moment you can be in a quiet and huge park. It gives you the feeling that you are never far from the wilderness, and I like that. I will let the pictures tell the story of this park. 

There are no words to describe my experience in Oslo. The things that happened to me are truly once in a lifetime. How many people can say they drove a large passenger boat or eaten a whale steak. I will never forget my time in Oslo, Norway. Sometimes traveling alone can be scary, but you are given opportunities that you would not otherwise be given. Here's the lesson I learned, if you want to do something, just go do it! Don't wait for others to go with you or support you in it. Jump headfirst into something new and something incredible is bound to happen. :)

Kiruna, Sweden - An Adventure to the North

Kiruna, the northernmost city in Sweden, where snow is everywhere and average temperatures are extremely low. The city has only 23,000 people and the main industry is iron ore mining, so why would anyone want to visit this place? I visited Kiruna and the north of Sweden recently and I will tell you why it is an incredible place. The adventurous location is north of the arctic circle, where snowmobiles and dog sleds are normal transport for many, the incredible Ice Hotel is within a reasonable distance, moose and reindeer roam the forests, and the hope of seeing the mysterious Northern Lights is very present.

Seeking an adventure, I traveled to with Jonathan and Emilia to the very north via train. The trip was 20+ hours and over 1500 kilometers! We met some great and interesting people on the various trains we were on. First was Charlie, a British guy on his travels through Scandinavia towards Russia. He reminded me exactly of my friend Isaac back in the states! Charlie was hilarious and helped me make fun of Jonathan when he misspoke and said that Omaha was a state in the US. On the next train we met Joel and Sofia who were both Swedish. Joel was headed to work at a ski resort in the north and when we asked Sofia what she did, she said "I'm just living". A great moment was when Sofia was talking to us in Swedish and we all looked at her as though she was crazy, it was only then that she realized that she was speaking Swedish. Do Swedes have a switch on the back of their heads that has two modes, English and Swedish? Overall we had some interesting people to chat with while traveling. 

Upon arrival in Kiruna, we noticed that they actually had snow, unlike Jönköping. It finally felt like winter again and the north is truly a winter wonderland. Snow covered evergreen trees and snowmobile trails cutting through the woods. The north of Sweden felt a lot like home for me. We took a few hours to explore Kiruna before we headed to our cabin at Camp Alta, where we would spend two nights. The top attraction in Kiruna was the wooden church, and it did not disappoint! Pictures tell a thousand words! While in the city we picked up some moose sausage and smoked reindeer meat. Can you say delicious?

 Next, we jumped in a Camp Alta van and headed to our cabin. Our little cabin had everything we needed, a kitchen, beds, shower, sauna, and a view over the frozen lake. One odd thing was the toilet which was in a separate building and was called an "ecological toilet". I would just call it a toilet seat with a garbage bag under it, but what do I know.

Our first evening was filled with dogsledding in search for the Northern Lights. There was one issue, when there are clouds it is not possible to see them, and it was cloudy! All in all, dogsledding was great. It is crazy that this 11 little dogs could carry us three and our guide, Luke. Luke was from France and brings his dogs all the way up north every winter to let people experience dogsledding. It was interesting that he gave commands in French and the Swedish guide gave commands in Swedish. I guess we can say that dogs can learn any language just like humans. The dogs got a break and we ate a small sandwich and some delicious mushroom soup inside a traditional Sami lavvu. The Sami people are the native people to the region similar to the Native Americans in the USA. Afterwards, we headed back through the woods to the camp. Dogsledding was a cool experience that everyone should do at least once. I had hoped that the dogs would run faster, but Luke told us that the dogs prefer a much colder temperature that it was on that evening.

Since the could hindered our view of the clear sky, we spent most of the night inside relaxing. We tried out the wood fired sauna and I was the only one that used it for more that five minutes. It was crazy how much you sweat in those things and how much just adding water to the rocks increases the heat in the room. I think it would be more fun with a group of people versus by yourself. 

The agenda for the next day was snowmobiling to the Ice Hotel! I got lucky and ended up getting my own snowmobile instead of having to share one with another person. So I was able to drive to the Ice Hotel and back. It was great to get back on a snowmobile again. We spent a lot of the time driving over the frozen lakes that are over one meter deep with ice. After 18 km of driving, we arrived to the Ice Hotel.

The Ice Hotel was breathtaking! After paying the 200 SEK ($30) entrance fee we had full access to explore all the rooms and even the Ice Church. Again, it is easier to explain the Ice Hotel with this awesome photos. It is absolutely incredible that all of this melts in the summer and is rebuilt every winter by sculptures from across the world.

After returning from the Ice Hotel, I enjoyed a reindeer kebab in a pita and it was so good. Reindeer meat is fairly chewy but delicious nonetheless. The only adventure we had left was to experience the Northern Lights. We prayed for clear skies, but came up unsuccessful. It is a reminder that things do not always go the way you plan. You just need to take a step back, take a breath, and think "maybe next time!" I will return to the north again some day to search for the Northern Lights, it may not be in Sweden but I must see them at some point. 

We took a plane out of the tiniest airport I have ever been in. There were just two gates in the Kiruna airport so you quite literally could not get lost. We arrived in Stockholm a short hour and a half later and spent the rest of the evening exploring beautiful Stockholm before we caught our bus home to Jönköping. Viktor promised to take me on a tour of Stockholm when it gets warmer but just my short visit there proves why so many people have told me how amazing it is and how much they love it. 

All in all, my trip to Kiruna was incredible. I was able to experience many new things and have a lot of fun along the way. I learned that I prefer adventurous outdoor traveling. Everything doesn't always go as planned but that is part of the adventure, you just have to make the most out of the hand you have been dealt. The only thing to say now is, Northern Lights you may have escaped me this time, but I will find you next time!