Here comes the sun..and I say...It's alright :)

Well hello there!!
Just like that I've done it again....let time get away and here its been 11 days since my last post.  But I know you are not worried my fearless followers I am back!   I hope you have twenty minutes to read this...its a long one!! Okay lets not waste anymore time and get you updated.  Last time I left you it was Friday April 8th and I was leaving for Stockholm on Saturday.  Friday night I had the brilliant idea of going out to Stallarna when I had to be up at 7am the next morning.  To say waking up that next morning was hard is certainly and understatement.  You see the night before I had a drink that contained Red Bull.  I have never really drank a Red Bull but let me tell you caffeine DOES effect me.  I was awake in my Bed all NIGHT!  I was going mad.  So the next day for my journey I was a little under the weather.  However I made it up at 7am to get ready and get on my way.  Pardo, Melodie and I headed to Stockholm.  We left Vaxjo by bus and rode 20 minutes to Alvesta a nearby town and then got on the train in Alvesta and rode to Stockholm that way.  We arrived in Stockholm around 1:30pm and headed to our Hostel.  We took a 35 minute stroll through town with our luggage (mind you I am not feeling good).  Finallay we arrived at our hostel which was on a boat.  Pardo booked it and thought it would be "fun".  See for yourself...

The Red Boat Hostel

Our tiny room!

In case you are wondering there were two beds on the other side of the and I am not sure if you are all familiar with how hostels work but there were 3 of us and one extra bed so we had an "neighbor" as Melodie liked to say.  He was a geologist from Austria who had just moved to Sweden for work and was working on a bridge right beside this hostel.  He was looking for apartments...and also not showering or changing clothes in the meantime.  He also slept without a shirt on and lets just say he is no model but anyway he was nice enough, let us come in really late, take over the closet..I mean room, and best of all he didn't rob us!  As you can tell I have not gotten used to the hostel living! So back to my story...we got our room and went exploring.  We walked all around Stockholm taking pictures, shopping, eating etc.  Stockholm was a nice city but HUGE!! I appreciate my car so much!! Here are some pics of Stockholm! Don't ask me what they are...I  don't really know.

I believe this is called Old Town or Gamla Stan and this is  "original" Stockholm.

After we walked around for the day we headed back to the hostel to get ready to go out.  We had a little trouble deciding where to go but finally stopped at a Jazz Club in the city.  Now Jazz was not our first choice and after paying and entering we realized maybe this wasn't our cup of tea.  Now I'll tell you who would have enjoyed this place...my parents.  The music was jazz and soul from their era.  Fortunately they raised me to appreciate all types of music so I could handle it, I had no problem actually.  However Melodie and Pardo wanted to keep searching...so off we went.  After taking 3 cabs driving around, walking around and finding nothing up to par...guess where we ended up...back at the jazz club.  I was slightly irritated, we all were so we had a few strong drinks and got over it.  The interesting thing about this club was the crowd that was there...they were ALL in their 20-30's.  And when we got back it was PACKED! I can tell you we ended up having a great night.  I belted all the oldies and made quite a few Swedish friends.  We were the last to leave.

Fasching Jazz Club

After the crazy night we headed back to the ol' red boat to sleep.  The next day we woke up and went into town... On our way into town we ran across this..

Melodie was so excited! In fact I was on my way to meet a friend in town and she was so wrapped up in the marching band that I headed into town without Pardo & her and met up with my friend.  I spetnt the day walking around Stockholm, talking and having coffee with a friend who went to Vaxjo but is finishing his masters from Stockholm.  That evening we went to dinner, at McDonlads (yuck) by this point we had eaten a lot of fast food.  Then we walked around a little before heading home because the next day, Monday we left for our CRUISE!!! We woke up at 9:45 and had to be out of the hostel by 10am...we got breakfast and got on a bus to the terminal for our cruise.  After waiting two hours all of the Vaxjo students arrived.  We then got into a line with all of the other international students to board the boat.  After boading we got ready in a hurry because our dinner was at 5:30 and it was 4:00pm.  Dinner was very interesting because it was the only meal included in the cruise and it included free beer and wine...needless to say it was NUTS!

Kaitlyn (Georgia), Me, Signija (Latvia), Melodie (France)

Our first few glasses of wine...

Dinner ended and we headed on to continue the party.  There were two clubs and we spent the evening bouncing between the two.  One of my favorite parts of the night was at the karaoke bar. I was belting the songs but unfortunately I was not able to have a star performance...perhaps that was for the best... :)  I think Melodie & I's night ended around 3:00am which is a little embarrassing.  The next day, Tuesday, we woke up by 10 am to go explore the small but pretty Tallinn, Estonia.  Eastern Europe was nice (what I saw of it) but I would never need to go back.  Here are some pics though...

Eating some chips in the street...

Old Church

Inside the church.

Tallinn, Estonia

Notice our Cruise ship was in ICE ha

After a short but plenty long viewing of Estonia we headed back to our boat for a much needed nap.  After napping we got ready for a long night!! Melodie and I had a romantic dinner on the boat together then we began the party in out cabin 1575!

Cloe (France), Me, Kaitlyn

Gonzalo (Spain), Signija, Pardo(Spain)

It was amazing the amount of people we fit into that small room.  We pre partied in our room until the club Ibiza opened at 11 and I didn't leave the club until 7am.  Well if you have been on a cruise you know how you run all over the boat...so technically I was around the ship but for the most part I danced the night away (literally).  We saw the sun come up from the club...

Vaxjo International Students, aka my Study Abroad family!

Sad the sun means we are back in Stockholm...still in party attire.

We headed back to the room around 7am to find it empty so we decided to go get food.  Finally returning to sleep at 8:45am giving us approximately one hour of sleep.  Let me tell you Wednesday was a hard day.  We woke up, shoved our stuff into the bags and got off the boat.   We took a bus home which took 6 hours and it was miserable.  After arriving home I hit the bed and did nothing the rest of the night.  Thursday I woke up with a cold.  This may come as a shock to you but I had a horrible cold.  I am thinking this may have been a result of partying for 6 straight days.  Anyway I am still paying for it now.  Friday I also did nothing but sleep and watch movies until it was Stallarna time.  I had been in my bed for 3 days and it was time to see the moonlight and my friends despite my cold.  It was a regular night at Stallarna...I think we were all worn out form Seabattle so nothing crazy happened.  Saturday was the Real Madrid vs. Barcelona match and let me tell you EVERYONE was watching it.  It was a draw but still fun to watch it with my crazy passionate Spanish friends.  Sunday was the most beautiful day yet in Vaxjo and I had to spend it in the library...luckily I wasn't alone.  A group of my friends and I went there to study...however we did take a break to "take the sun".  This is a funny story.  Melodie is French as I have told you and the expression they use it to "take the sun" so she wrote on my facebook wall that we should take the sun after we study...so another friend commented on it yes go take the sun and put it in your pocket.  This caused a huge discussion because my Spanish and French friends saw nothing wrong with this expression and it is my duty as the "English expert" to correct them when they are wrong and I didn't.  The thing is sometimes they say things that are so cute I don't correct them...anyhow we have been laughing about this since.  That was my Sunday, studying and spending time with friends in the green grass under the sun.  Monday I had class at one and after class I spent more time with classmates under the sun.  You might notice this is a very common thing to "take the sun" well one thing I have realized here...since it is so cold for so long when you FINALLY see the sun you are so happy.  The sun is so welcomed and not at all taken for granted.  I love that...at home I never care about the weather but I love how happy the sun makes me now.  It makes my day if the sun is out and we spend time laying and talking outside under the sun or having barbecues.  Today I had class at 9:45am which I might have thought about skipping if it wasn't the last class before our 2 week break...(cha chinggggg).  We had class with a Swedish class and discussed preschool in Sweden verse our home countries.  We broke into groups and I was with 6 Swedish students and I talked for the complete hour.  I am not sure if the Sweds know how to take me...its funny for me to watch them listen to me..haha  After class I was officially on break!!  No school until May 2 what to do with all this time? Perhaps take a trip or read, lay in the sun, who knows but I'm sure I'm going to enjoy it! Right now it is time to get ready for a bbq before Stallarna.  Basically every night there is bbq somewhere because we love the sun!! Now is goes down at about 8:30pm and rises at 5am.  We have the sun for a long time in now in Sweden and I love it! So much in fact that yesterday it was inspiring me to listen to songs about the sun..such as Here Comes the Sun and after listening to the lyrics I am confident when I say the Beatles had spent time in Sweden when they wrote this number one hit...listen to these lyics...

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun, 
and I say it's all right 

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter 
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here 
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun 
and I say it's all right 

Especially this portion...

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces 
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here 
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun 
and I say it's all right 

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes... 
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes... 
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes... 
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes... 
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes... 

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting 
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear 
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun, 
and I say it's all right 
It's all right 

Another great song about the sun that I have been enjoying..Soak up the Sun by Sheryl Crow.  I told you I'm excited about Spring and the sun...so I leave you with this...go outside and sit in the sun...soak up some Vitamin D..its good for you! 

Until Next Time,

Allie