There is more to Sweden than Swedish Fish…

By Jessica Bohince

After spending a weekend in Stockholm, Sweden, I can officially say that is doesn’t “suck” to the dismay of my Finnish friends.  A group of around 14 students left Jyväskylä at around 2:30pm.  We took a 4 hour bus ride to Turku which was Finland’s first capital.  Once we arrived in Turku, we boarded the “ferry” that would take us to Stockholm.  The ship was bigger than the one who took to Tallinn and it had great amenities.  There was a casino, dance club, shows, shopping, and a lot of restaurants.  About have the group decided to get something to eat and just play cards for the night.  We played the game “Spoons” which I hadn’t played since elementary school! I had such a great time! I think a lot of people tend to go crazy on cruise ships with partying and drinking.  It was so nice just to relax, talk, and play cards. 

The next morning we arrived in Stockholm and had to disembark the ship by 6:30am!  I can honestly say that all of us dragged ourselves to the bus.  Our trip coordinator, Mina, arranged to have a bus travel with us and our driver was named Ollie.  Ollie picked us up and we headed directly to eat breakfast.  One difference I noticed about breakfast in Finland, Sweden, and Estonia, is they have the “normal” breakfast foods like eggs, bacon, sausage, fruit, cereal, etc., but they also serve lunch meat, cheese, and vegetables.  I don’t think most Americans think of lunch meat, cheese, and vegetables as breakfast, that’s more like lunch to us.

After scarfing down breakfast, we then went on a bus tour of the city.  Mina, who used to be a tour guide, gave us a lot of information about Stockholm as well as Sweden in general.  Along the way, Ollie pulled over so we could get out a take pictures.  I can see why Stockholm is often called “the Venice of the North.”  Once the bus tour was over, Ollie dropped us off by the Opera house.  We had 4 hours to explore the city on our own.  The group of 14 split in smaller groups because we all didn’t want to do the same things.  My group wanted to do some souvenir shopping.  We browsed the different shops and I found a lot of nice things for my family. 

Once we all “shopped till we dropped”, it was time to eat a late lunch.  We made our way to the bazaar.  I don’t know if that’s what they call it in Stockholm, but that’s what it looked like to me.  There were food and shopping vendors.  Brenda and I decided on BBQ, which was really delicious.  I was shocked at how good it was.  I didn’t think the Swedish would be good at BBQ.  It seems to be such an American thing.  Other people in the group got Italian, Thai, and Greek food. We decided to sit outside and enjoy the beautiful weather.  As we were sitting there, I noticed there were a lot of different ethnic groups. I don’t know if they live in Sweden or were just visiting for the weekend like I was.

When lunch was over, we continued to explore the city until it was 4pm.  Ollie and Mina picked us up from the Opera House then we made our way to the hotel.  The hotel was located outside of Stockholm to what felt like to me the suburbs.  The hotel was very nice and our view was amazing.  Most of the group decided to head back to the city for the evening. Brenda, JQ, and I decided to stay around the hotel for the night.  Little did we know we had an unplanned adventure!

Brenda, JQ, and I decided we wanted to get some dinner.  We checked the hotel menu and there wasn’t anything too appealing, plus it was a little pricey.  We first walked to the local grocery store named Willy’s.  They didn’t have any hot food and we didn’t have a microwave so we left there empty handed.  As we were leaving, we spotted a McDonald’s across the street. We figured we could walk down a little further and cut across the street. Boy, were we wrong!  We walked down the street and went passed a football field where there was a game being played. We continued to walk until we were right across from the McDonald’s.  There were was one major problem; there was a free way with cars speeding past between us and dinner.  We asked a man who was walking on the path how to get McDonald’s  he told us we would have to walk all the back until we reached the hotel and then walk over the designated walking bridge to the other side of the street.  At this point, the hotel looked like the size of my fist, so that’s what I didn’t want to hear.  We thanked him and then decided if we wanted McDonald’s or just go back to the hotel and eat.  I said I was going to McDonald’s with or without them.  I wasn’t going to let McDonald’s beat me!

We slowly made our way back to the walking bridge which I might add was 20 steps from our hotel!  After about an hour and a half, we FINALLY made it to McDonald’s and let me tell you that was the best Big Mac I ever ate.  I don’t think I have ever worked that hard for McDonald’s in my life and definitely made my trip to Stockholm memorable!

After dinner we made our way back to the hotel, which only took like 20 minutes, we hung out in our room until we went to bed.  Saturday morning we woke up, had breakfast, and then headed back to Stockholm.  The group I was with stayed together and we decided to go to the Aquarium.  It wasn’t very big compared to other Aquariums I have been to, but it was a great way to spend a few hours.  There was one area that looked like a rainforest.  At one point, a thunderstorm came through with rain.  I have never been to an exhibit where that has happened before and it was pretty cool! I also got to see a Swedish catfish and it was HUGE! Probably the biggest catfish I have seen in person.  Once we were done exploring, we rode around on a boat that takes you to the different islands. It was a great way to get some pictures.  We still had some time left, but not enough to tour anything so he hung out in the park that was next to the Opera House until it was time to meet Mina and Ollie.  The park was beautiful and the weather was again perfect.  At 6pm, the bus picked us up and we headed to the harbor so we could board the ship that would bring us back to Turku.  We stayed on the ship overnight and at 7:35am it was time to disembark and get on the bus for a 4 hour trip back to Jyväskylä.  We arrived back at our flats at around noon and had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves.  It was so nice to be able to relax and have a lazy afternoon!    

The weekend flew by so fast! There is so much to do in Stockholm and a day and half is not enough time to visit everything. I would definitely consider going back to Stockholm in the future, but just don’t tell my Finnish friends!