September 3rd - Class Field Trip
On our second day of class in my Swedish Landscape course, we took a bus around the local Kronoberg county to look firsthand on the neolithic remains of the agrarian landscape as well as some associated burial mounds, farmland, and the house of the university's namesake, Carl Linnaeus.
Instead of posting all the pictures in this one blog post, I will forward those reading to an Imgur album for each paragraph. Please read the captions, as I will be telling my story that way.
Tour of Kronoberg County
September 10th-12th - Vaxjo to Stockholm to Uppsala and Back
After nursing a pretty bad flu for a week, I decided to buy a train ticket and book a hostel in the city of Uppsala, just shy of Stockholm. My goal was to see Gamla Uppsala, the old burial mounds as well as the parish church. There I met some pretty interesting folks. On the train ride from Alvesta to Stockholm, I encountered a woman name Josephine who had actually just recently came back from the United States (she was a native Swede) and was going to Stockholm to work for an exchange program. Another interesting mention was that a few stops away from Stockholm, a group of Syrian refugees boarded the train and were directed to the Swedish Migration Agency when we stopped at Stockholm Central Station. It was odd to me, being an American, as usually that sort of news is very distant. To see this world problem up close was very humbling. Without a very appropriate segue, as this was the closest I would get to a Starbucks, I ordered a pumpkin spice latte and boarded the train to Uppsala. Like everything in Sweden, it was sickly sweet. After settling into the hostel, I went out across the street to a local American-style sports pub and spent way too much money on food. I went to sleep early and prepared for my trip to Old Uppsala.
Travel to Stockholm and Uppsala
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Old Uppsala
I woke up early to catch the bus to Gamla Uppsala. Once there, I took probably 100 pictures of the burial mounds, the church, the museum, and the local Odinsborg Cafe and Restaurant. Whilst there, I hiked around and read on top of the mounds. I took a trip to the museum as well as bought an iron-wrought troll's cross as well as a Thor's hammer pendant. Afterwards, I ate at the local Odinsborg Cafe and had my first taste of authentic Swedish food. It was a hash called pyttipanna which contained potatoes and meat in a cream sauce, as well as egg and beets. I washed this down with some of their home-brewed mead and shared stories with some backpackers I met, one German and one American. After my adventures, I went back to the hostel for a well-deserved nap. I woke up a few hours later and talked with a man named Simon who was staying in the hostel due to a disagreement with his fiance. He discussed his whole life and his different perspectives on things and took me to a local bar. We had some very engaging debates about politics, pop culture, and history. He seemed to enjoy having someone to talk to, and it seemed he was going through a tough time. It was one of those few interactions you wouldn't normally encounter on your day to day in the United States. Apologies if the captions aren't working, hopefully the pictures speak for themselves.
Old Uppsala
That's it for now! I will be sure to update the next time some interesting events transpire. I plan on going to Octoberfest in Munich next weekend, so hopefully I will be able to get plenty of pictures. Thanks everyone for reading!
I woke up early to catch the bus to Gamla Uppsala. Once there, I took probably 100 pictures of the burial mounds, the church, the museum, and the local Odinsborg Cafe and Restaurant. Whilst there, I hiked around and read on top of the mounds. I took a trip to the museum as well as bought an iron-wrought troll's cross as well as a Thor's hammer pendant. Afterwards, I ate at the local Odinsborg Cafe and had my first taste of authentic Swedish food. It was a hash called pyttipanna which contained potatoes and meat in a cream sauce, as well as egg and beets. I washed this down with some of their home-brewed mead and shared stories with some backpackers I met, one German and one American. After my adventures, I went back to the hostel for a well-deserved nap. I woke up a few hours later and talked with a man named Simon who was staying in the hostel due to a disagreement with his fiance. He discussed his whole life and his different perspectives on things and took me to a local bar. We had some very engaging debates about politics, pop culture, and history. He seemed to enjoy having someone to talk to, and it seemed he was going through a tough time. It was one of those few interactions you wouldn't normally encounter on your day to day in the United States. Apologies if the captions aren't working, hopefully the pictures speak for themselves.
Old Uppsala
That's it for now! I will be sure to update the next time some interesting events transpire. I plan on going to Octoberfest in Munich next weekend, so hopefully I will be able to get plenty of pictures. Thanks everyone for reading!
Those grave goods! I'm so jealous! Also, my main take-away from this whole post is that you should take care to ensure no Swedish women think you are a mercenary.
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