Shout out to Welsh Liam for coming up with the name of this blog post. As expected the subject of this blog post is a veggie (me) and my friends in Stockholm. Since we arrived in Lapland, I've wanted to go to Sweden properly. As it was my first Erasmus destination I wanted to see what could have been. Also it's Milo and Kam's birthdays this week so we got to celebrate with them a little bit too.
I thought Saint Petersburg had stolen my heart, but Stockholm has swooped in and wooed me away. I'm not sure if it was the place or the people but this trip was simply wonderful. From not having to get a 5.40 flight from Rovaniemi to having the best halloumi burger I have ever consumed, Stockholm was the one.
Waking up on Thursday was so exciting, all our pals had arrived in Stockholm the previous night so we were the last to arrive, after a blip finding each other we had an incredibly happy reunion. I even hugged Danny I was so buzzed. But in all seriousness, something Erasmus has made me realise is that I have one of the most loving and supportive friendship groups ever. This is so gushy and so unlike me, but I couldn't have asked for better people to spend my degree with. I also haven't seen most of them since January which is weird considering last year I spent almost every day with them.
Immediately we did the very British thing of getting a cider and having it in the park. For my lowly Lapland self, it was roasting, I haven't soaked up that much vitamin D since August and I was loving it. We sat down and had a good chat, catching up on all of our news and experiences in our various countries. It was absolutely fab.
The next day we hopped on the tram to the Abba Museum because, when in Sweden? Walking around singing to our hearts content and looking at every piece of Abba memorabilia I could, it's safe to say we all had a crackin time. We went to get lunch and sat on the grass nearby having yet another gossip, what can I say we had a lot to catch up on. We went for a little walk and Anna and Bea decided to go paddling, Bea was the only one to paddle though because Anna spectacularly fell into the pond. I was speechless watching her fall in slow motion, but eventually I chuckled.
We took a trip to the botanical gardens too which was absolutely gorgeous. There was even a cactus room which I could have spent all day in but I'd paid to look at all the other cool plants too. As you can imagine, putting a group of photographers in a place like this has its pros and cons. Pros being many an aesthetic pic for the gram, cons being it takes a while to get anywhere and do anything. None the less it was beautiful and I got a good pic of me with a cactus to show that I am in fact a cactus queen. Something I didn't expect to enjoy was clubbing in Stockholm. Since I've been on Erasmus any club I've gone to has been alright but not special. It's not flares basically. But Stockholm was cracking, I cannot tell you the name of the club but I can tell you I had a wicked time and that's all that matters.
The ten of us spent a lot of time wondering around and exploring the city, the five days was just one big catch up. It went by far too quickly and when it came for Danni, the first of our number to leave I was sad. I'm ashamed to say I didn't get to say goodbye properly because it all got too much for me and I fell asleep (classic me). Monday was tainted with happiness and sadness. Happiness because I got to go to Seven Eleven and have my second cheese and pesto calzone of the week which was absolutely incredible. But all at once I was so sad to say goodbye to my friends. We said bye to Milo at the train station and decided to make the most of our last day by going to see a 360 view of Stockholm which was beautiful. We said bye to everyone at the coach station and began our trip back to Lapland.
I only wish we could have been joined by our other pals that are dotted at home and around Europe because it was almost perfect. Basically I had a cracking week, Stockholm you were an absolute dream.
