Sweden! Day 1.

Blogging from the youth hostel in Sweden at the moment.

And the stupid keyboard Im using cant type collons, aprostophes and brackets. So please pardon me if this post appears void of punctuation.

Anyway, its the first time Im travelling between countries all by myself, no family, no army, no friends, ALONE. But went very very well, did not make a single wrong turn throughout the entire journey here! My journey started with me arriving at the bus station on the dot, with the bus waiting on the bay, ready to go off in 10 minutes. Met a guy called Christoper on the bus, a Singaporean doing his PhD in Engineering at Christ College, and the founder of the Temasek Society. He was travelling to Italy. Had a good chat with him on the way to the airport. And guided me around Stanstead airport when we arrived. Our gates and timings were very close, about 10 minutes apart, so I didnt have to wait alone at the airport for too long.

Me and Christopher

The plane ride was pleasent. Free seating, and I got up the plane quite early. So managed to get a seat by the emergency exit, with more leg room, and managed to sleep most of the journey.


Got off the plane, and just walked right through the counters and doors, collected my bag, and as I was walking out, saw a queue for a machine selling tickets. Joined the queue, bought the ticket with the credit card, paid 130.00 Krons for it. Realised later that I forgot to flash my student card, so didnt claim the roughly 60 kroners worth of discount. Then walked out of the airport, and straight into the bus! Not a single wrong turn!

Bus ride was nice too. The long mindless bus journey was quite theraputic on a stressed mind. Just absorbed the passing scenery and allowed my mind to wander, and revisit the events that happened throughout term.

Then arrived at the bus station. Walked through the bus and train station, to arrive at the macdonalds at the other side of the station. Sat down there to wait for Serene. Didnt have to wait long. Before I could settle down, recieved the sms from her that she was at the Forex booth, so made my way back to the entrance, and met her.

Visited infomation to get a map of the city, and Serene took out the directions for the hostel. We walked out of the entrance onto a road with the name corresponding to the first word given in the direction. Found our bearings immediately, hiked up the street as directed, found the restaurant that was mentioned in the direction, looked around pondering which building was the youth hostel, and after a couple of glances, spotted the youth hostel sign. Not a single wrong turn!!!

So we arrived at the youth hostel, paid for the accomodation using the card. Cost 1126.00 Krons for the 3 nights we will be staying. Put our bags down, had coffee with the biscuits I brought, was really shiok! They have a coffee machine which served cuppachino, perfect for dunking biscuits! They also have free internet access, and free pasta! Planned our itenary for the day over tea.

Then went out to explore the city. The buildings here are so beige and pink, and clean, and slightly taller than those in Cambridge. Also saw lots of ducks in the river, and snow! Met a few nice people while watching the ducks. One of them had two big bags of bread, and he offered us some to feed the birds.

The water level of the river was quite low, so we didnt have too close a contact with the avians.

Also spent a fair amount of time playing in the snow. Tried making a large snow ball to create a snowman, but the snow here doesnt stick properly. Did some shopping along the way also, went around looking for leather gloves, and groceries. Bought salmon and brocolli and milk, which we cooked for dinner when we returned to the hostel. Tasted quite nice! But cost us another 100 krons. Around 20 sing dollars! Sweden is really expensive.

Now planing for tomorrows itenary. Sould be visiting some museums, the city hall, going to catch the change of guards at the palace, and a Bach recital at a church we stumbled upon today. Also would make our way to an observatory at the Univerity of Stockholm at sunset, then make our way back to the hostel, dropping by a grocery store along the way. Its really nice and relaxing to just stroll around and explore the city casually. Realised that the expenditure in touring the place is quite evenly divided between transport, accomodation, and transport.

Ah, just randomly, or somewhat chronologically, jotting down whatever is coming to mind.