The Flights and Frist Hours in Sweden!

Seems like today was the longest day ever.  We arrived at the airport about 6:30pm for our flight that did not leave until after 10pm.  Checking the luggage was surprisingly a very quick process; no one's bags were over 50 lbs.

Going through security was pretty interesting since the lines were fairly long and no one was moving very quickly to get through the security checks.  Sabrina ended up pretty much working for TSA by separating the containers.  One line would run out and the other would have plenty and then the opposite would happen.  It was all very interesting.

After making it to the gate we all hung around and broke off into groups to go and get some dinner to eat.  Of course before we boarded the plane we all took a group photo in front of the destination sign to Copenhagen.  We were all pretty nervous about the flight being so long and flying over seas. 
Especially, for some of us that have never flown over seas.  On the flight I went straight to sleep.  The day had already been so long and I knew that once we landed it was only going to get longer.

The Copenhagen airport was amazing.  As most of us kept repeating, "Is this an airport or a mall?"  In this mall I found H&M and Victoria Secrets along with many other small shops.  It did feel good to land in Denmark with the sun still being up.  Helped me to wake up and get ready for the next flight.  I was really surprised on how warm it was.  I really did not need my jacket when we had to go outside to get on the plane.  The flight from Copenhagen to Goteborg was only about 35 minutes.  Which I did fall asleep on as well.  Waking up in Goteborg was difficult.  I was so tired and just wanted to go back to sleep.

I was nervous to go through customs since I have never gone through that process before.  When we arrived at customs it was not really customs.  The walk way was pretty much guarded by an officer and it's K9.  As we all wanted to pet the dog we did not think that was the best idea.  The dog looked so happy sniffing all of the bags.  One dog that was very proud of it's job.  We started joking around that if the dog could talk he would be saying, "You may go through."

Getting our luggage was not a difficult process.  The airport was very good at getting the luggage to us.  We did not wait long.  We arrived at the carousel at the same time as the first bag started peaking through the wall.  Once we got all our luggage is where all the complications started happening.

While many of us were exchanging our USD's to SEK's J.J. was buying our unlimited transportation passes. In the process of buying the passes we found out that J.J.'s credit card was not going through.  The total for the passes was 7800 SEK.  Which converts to nearly 1000 USD.  USD is the code for American Dollars and SEK is the code for Swedish Krona.  At the same time that J.J. was figuring out his credit card problem the taxi gentleman showed up and were trying to figure out why we were not outside yet.  Unfortunately, because we took so long to get outside the total for the taxi's went up.  On top of that, the taxi drivers had to paid right away before they could take us anywhere.  So when J.J. finally could get a hold of his credit card company and get the passes paid for he had to come outside and pay the taxi drivers.  Much too long of a process.  J.J. had even called the credit card company a week ahead of time to let them know that he was going to be out of the country.  They mentioned that they saw that in their records, but that they are so worried about fraud that they did not allow the international payments until he called back.  I truly hope that my credit card company did not do this to me as well.

Coming to the youth hostel was amazing.  The place is so fun and is so relaxing.  The only problem that I kind of ran into is how small the rooms are for two people.  I thought that the dorms on campus were small, but now I am living in a room that is nearly half the size.  In the hostel though we have kitchens, common rooms, a pool table, TV's, computers, and even a sauna. This place is amazing and the colors are great.  I like having fun colors rather than the plain colors that I feel most hotels and motels have.

First thing that we all did was start to unpack and take showers.  There is a very small area to hang up clothing so my roommate and I ended up putting multiple outfits on each hanger to make it work.  The only things that I hung up were my business clothes and the rest I left in my suitcase to make sure we still had some room to move around.

At 6:30pm we all met in the lobby to leave and have dinner.  We went to this cute little restaurant called Pasta Haus.   For dinner majority at my table ordered the same dish, Tagliatelle Salmon.  It was delicious.  We were all worried about eating it too fast and savoring the flavor since we were all so hungry.  The dish was Tagliatelle with salmon, shrimp, white wine, spinach, garlic, cream, and tomato sauce.  As well as loving the meal we all agreed on the fact that none of us found any shrimp in the dish.  Either way the meal was amazing and completely filled us up.  We all were pretty much done with eating and could not find any room for more food.  Yet, J.J. took us all for a little walk around the city and took us to a dessert place.

While walking around we saw so many shops and restaurants that we all want to go see on our free days.  There was one place called the PinkBar that looks really good.  The cross walks are very confusing.  The one that we went across had the green light that was apparently not for our side to walk for, but the other.  yet, it was facing straight toward us.  Then while we were walking across to go to a dessert place there was this older Volvo at the stop light that kept reeving up the engine.  We all started laughing at the driver.  There was a wedding dress shop that we saw and started joking around about going in and trying some on.  Then it turned into having Kiley try on some dresses and getting her another dress for her wedding in June. 

TinTin was great!  The desserts that were in the displays were so tempting to order every single one. 
A lot of us settled for the Kladdkaka.  The Kladdkaka sort of tasted just like a brownie, but was so much sweeter.  We ordered it with some whipped cream on the side and the whipped cream was sprinkled with some cinnamon.  I was not too thrilled with having the whipped cream with the Kladdkaka.  It tasted so much better with out the whipped cream and I could taste the Kladdkaka so much better.  It seemed as if the whipped cream masked the savory taste of the Kladdkaka.






Daily Reflections:

• I do not like the red eye flights.  
• Sweden makes me feel like home.
• It still has not sunk in that I am in another country.
• The food is amazing.
• Michael was right, I do not think there is one bad looking person.