Sweden--Day 1

4 April 2010
Uppsala, Sweden
Vandrarhem Uppsala
1809 (Sweden...Central...Time...?)

Well, today has definitely been an interesting day. Firstly, we took a plane from Memphis to Amsterdam. I've got some pictures to post of us waiting for the plane. And true to the name of my blog, I'll be posting photos of all of the food we consume on the trip! The plane ride wasn't too bad. It was 8 hours and 17 minutes according to the Delta people. My personal recommendations are to NOT sit in the Exit row unless you have hot flashes regularly or at least a high tolerance for cold. And if you need the extra space, avoid the window seat. And if you DO wind up in the window seat, make sure that you've packed your big winter coat and that you strategically place it between yourself and said Exit.



Even after that, the flight was still not too bad. I wish I'd discovered that coat thing about six hours earlier, but other than that, things were good. We were very near to the bathrooms which was nice. The food was pretty good too--some veggie pasta, a roll, a teeny salad, crackers and cheese (you know my love of cheese ;), and a baby brownie. There were also about 4 movies that played. I didn't watch any of them because the tv monitor on our side was out, and the one farther up wasn't visible to me when I was slumped in my seat attempting sleep. The flight was smooth, though, so that was good. Sadly, neither of us really got any sleep secondary to cold and the light from the bathroom...

From there, we arrived at the Amsterdam airport which is very nice and rumored to have a casino inside, although I didn't see this myself. It was a really clean, quiet airport and gigantic really. We went through customs there. I got right through. Josh got patted down--southerners are very suspicious, you know? There were lots of fancy shops in airport. I'm planning on picking myself out some wooden shoe souvenirs on the way home, as we fly through there on our way back to Memphis from Rome in May. Let me know if you want me to pick you up one too ;)

The flight to Amsterdam was fairly uneventful. Josh and I weren't seated together on that one. I was next to a sort-of prissy girl who kept applying makeup...the food on that flight was super interesting. We got two sandwich halves--one was chicken curry, the other was Edam cheese (not sure yet about this "Edam" part). The curry one was ok, the cheese one was better. They also brought us cookies and little chocolates in the shape of some animal that was somewhat like an elephant, but not, I think...They also had Heineken in airplane size--something similar to those V8 cans. It was odd because we were having a mini-beer in the afternoon, and yet it felt more like 6:00 in the morning. **shrug**

THEN we finally made it to Stockholm! Yay! We were at the Arlanda airport. We picked up our luggage and made it to the Arlanda Central Station (conveniently located in the airport...well, at one far end of it, that is). We got ourselves some tickets and waited in the subway station for our train to Uppsala C (that C stands for Central). I'd have to say that at this point, I feel like I've packed far too much, even though my luggage is really, really small. I'd say lay off on the electronics--for example, if you can leave behind a computer, that's really for the best. Otherwise, I think I'd be set. And while snacks are useful when you're hungry and don't have time to figure out what you want or are too tired to comprehend what is on the menu, they're pretty darned heavy too. I'm hoping to be a bit lighter by the end of the week!


Once in Uppsala (about 20ish minutes on the train--which was a very nice, clean, quiet train), we made our way from the station to our hostel which is called Vandrarhem Uppsala. It's teeny--photo to be posted soon. For anyone reading my blog who's been in Strong Hall and knows the rooms, think of those on 3 or 4 crosswalk. And Josh and I are sharing this, but only for five days. Consult the photo to the left for the full effect...There is also a community bathroom in the hallway. It's a shower and a toilet, but only one of each, and you can lock the door for privacy, which is actually pretty sweet considering that it could be one of those gym-shower type deals. And it's clean and looks new as well. I'll take a picture of that tomorrow for you.



We don't officially begin our rotation until Tuesday, so tomorrow we're going to find our way around Uppsala.

I shall try to stay updated everyday. We do have free wifi--well, included with our room, that is--so I can update regularly from here as long as we have time, which I think we will. That's all there is for now! Off to catch up on some much needed sleep =)

Oh, and PS. It's my birthday! I'm 26, just past the discount age for Europe stuff...dang. =/