I realize it has been two weeks since my last post but I have had a crazy past 14 days. I was originally going to be in India for a week, but to my surprise I was refused onto the flight because of missing the required visa documentation. I hastily rushed around and secured a hotel for another week in Manila. I will create another post on my Philippine trip in the next day or two.
For now, I’m going to talk about my initial week in Sweden!!
I arrived in Stockholm and stayed for the previous weekend. I was able to see a friend I haven’t seen in such a looong time. I had a lot of fun. He showed me around town a little and then went to his place and met some of his friends. We drank warmed glögg, mulled wine, and just relaxed. He also introduced me to grilling Halloumi cheese and it has changed my life. If i’m not mistaken, there is nothing Swedish about it, but who cares because it was addictive.
Here are some photos of Stockholm. Not much because I really didn’t have much time there, but I definitely plan on returning.
On Monday, I went to Linköping and had to walk to my hotel. I say this because technically it wasn’t that far from the central station, but lugging all my stuff through sanded/pebbled road and freezing winds… it felt like 10 miles.
The city overall is not that large. The downtown area is definitely larger than Greenville but the overall city is not nearly as big. I wanted to walk around today (Christmas Eve) and take pictures while the sun was out. And right when I started to head downtown, here comes the clouds again. So much for that. But in Sweden, everyone celebrates the christmas holiday on Christmas Eve. The city was nice and quiet.
I did read somewhere that it is the oldest or one of the oldest establishments in Sweden. I also read somewhere that Swedes, in general, keep to themselves. It isn’t like in the south where everyone will just strike conversation with strangers at random. I don’t know why everyone keeps saying that, because EVERYWHERE I go EVERYONE is talking to me. And in Swedish. Every time this happens, a wave of guilt just crashes over me because I know I get a look on my face like i’m special.
When I was taking photos of the christmas lights, this older lady walks up to me and starts saying something in Swedish. I froze for some reason and I couldn’t even get out the words in Swedish that I only spoke English. She then says “Will you take it in English then?!” hahahaha absolutely. She proceeds to explain how pretty the tree was and how much she like it’s big balls. I have the maturity of an 8 year old boy and was fighting tooth and nail not to giggle. As she walks away, she meets up with her family, I’m assuming at least, and excitedly tells them that she was held up because she was talking to an English fellow. Doing what I can for locals to practice their language skills.
Well that is all I have for this post. God Jul!
Expat Life in Sweden 
Miss you! Great pictures! It is fun to let foriegners practice their English skills! Love you! Dad
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Hope they don’t get to practice too much on you! Here comes that language learning curve…. Merry Christmas Mike!
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