Paris, France.

So Paris. Freaking Paris.
There are no words, so I'll just give you a bunch and hope it works.

My friend and I stopped over in Frankfurt, before landing in Charles De Gaulle at around 6pm at night. We found our hostel and dropped off out luggage before walking around and exploring Montmatre. We looked at the Sacré-Cœur by night and glimpsed the Eiffel Tower before walking around some more. We experienced the Metro and saw the outside of Moulin Rouge.

Next day was crammed full of sightseeing: Tour Montparnasse, Notre Dame, The Panthéon, Place de la Concorde, Champs-Élysées and climbed up The Arc de Triomphe. We tried escargot and it was actually quite delicious!

The day after (Friday) was the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower, both in the day and night. We had baguettes for lunch under the Eiffel Tower and crepes that night. The Louvre was incredible; so many pieces of art and we didn't even see them all! We saw a few important pieces (Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo), and again dinner on the Champs-Élysées.

Saturday was a great day. We went to the Cafe de Deux Moulins (The Two Windmills Cafe) where a certain fictional eccentric character works. We went back to the Notre Dame for more pictures and found the underground crypt, which had some remains from the 12th century. At this point I realised I somehow lost my iPod touch.

We found Shakespeare and Co. before trying to backtrack.

It stayed lost, so I bought a new one at the Apple Store in the Carousel de Louvre! We went to the Museum d'Orsay and saw some authentic Van Gogh, Monet and Manet (not mayonnaise!). We had one last dinner down the Champs-Élysées (tried some red wine) before exploring the Place de la Concorde by night.

We left first thing Sunday morning. Stopped over in Munich, hung out at Stockholm Arlanda airport for a while before arriving back in Orebro at about 9:30-10pm.

The trip was a flurry of awesome memories; riding the Metro how many times, getting in to so many places for free (technically I'm an EU citizen, so free admission to a bunch of places!), the food, the people, the language, the city.

 

EUROPE List: Paris, France

Achieved 20/3/13-24/3/13

Trip highlights.

Souvenirs:

Clockwise from top: 

Black and red berets 

Channel Chance perfume from Champs-Élysées

My new iPod touch + cover

A t-shirt from the official Eiffel Tower Boutique (level 2).

Clockwise from top:
Prints of Moulin Rouge and the Eiffel Tower
Shakespeare and Co. tote bag
Shakespeare and Company: A Brief History of a Parisian Bookstore 
Starry Night Over the Rhone Van Gogh print from the Museum d'Orsay,
 La Liberté guidant le peuple Eugène Delacroix print from the Louvre,
Sweden and France espresso collectible cups from Starbucks

Complaining about complainers.

As of this moment, four days until Paris. Conflicting emotions, but mainly excitement on my end. I have a couple of exams and some classwork to do before I leave though, so looking forward to the other end.

So today I just seemed to notice something, so I've just come here to discuss with - or complain to - my computer screen. People that seem to live and thrive on drama like oxygen. People having to know other people's business. People not being up front with each other. And people who whine incessantly about things that can't be controlled.

I just don't understand how some people need drama to feel accomplished. Maybe it's because I've had my fair share of drama in the past couple of years - and I've hated it. I'm not one for too much attention - and I'm fed up with being questioned for being who I am and what I do. It's insipid. I know of one girl who strung two guys along and it was to the point where they were almost at each other's throats. Too many people were getting hurt and the girl insisted that she 'cared for them both'.

...if you truly cared, you wouldn't put anyone, anyone through that.

Some people just feel the need to poke into other people's business; and perhaps that's why I don't do the same myself. People can do what they like as far as I'm concerned; just as long as it doesn't affect me negatively.

People not being honest with each other because they're afraid of hurting them... I've been on the receiving end of that, and I can safely say: It hurts more afterwards. You're doing no favours by holding things back.

I also know of a person who constantly whines about every little shitty thing in their life on their Twitter feed. They're bitter and moody and it's unhealthy to read those tweets. It's like every little bad thought has to be tweeted to be purged from their system. To this person I say: think about every good thing you've come across for every negative thought you put out there. And think about what you tweet.

It's been a while since I really put mind to blog - since I've been so busy seeing the world! Perhaps next time I'll be able to treat you to some French scenery...

Dogsledding, reindeer, and scenery.

So this post will be about the few days I spent in Lapland, which is above the Artic Circle for those of you who don't know. It was a roughly 16 hour bus ride up from Örebro, which took up our Sunday and we arrived at 9am Monday morning to our hostel.

Monday was mainly settling into our rooms, as well as dog sledding and snowmobiling, two activities I had not done before and will most likely not get to do again any time soon. It was loads of fun, especially the dogs. After dinner we decided to take our chances, and we hiked to try and see the Northern Lights. We did indeed get lucky, we saw them. Unfortunately, they evaded my camera, so no pictures from me.

Tuesday involved visiting the Samí people, learning about the Samí culture and a little background. We also got up close and personal with a few reindeer and got to feed them. Afterwards we had a traditional Samí lunch, which turned out to be reindeer wraps. I like my wraps, and reindeer meat was really nice (reminded me of lamb a little bit). It's a lean meat, and it was explained that it has an estimated 28 minerals as opposed to meats like beef and pork. We finished our visit hanging out by the fire in their outdoor tent structure with tea and coffee before heading to our next destination.

We also got to tour the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi. The Ice Hotel, I don't think it's difficult to guess, is almost entirely made of ice. People can stay and there is a warmer building attached for day to day activities while the Hotel itself is open to the public during the day. There's a church there open for weddings (wow) and it's estimated about 100 weddings happen there during the season. We were free to look around at rooms. There were some great artistic rooms on display and it was astounding to comprehend the patience and detail behind the designs. We went to the Ice Bar for some drinks afterwards; these were served in frozen glasses!

Wednesday involved touring the mine from LKAB in Kiruna, which mines 90% of iron ore for Europe. We then headed up north to Abisko and we saw the Northern Lights again (no complaints from me).

We also got to do some hiking around and appreciate the nature Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning before we got back on the bus and arrived back in Örebro about 8am the next morning.

I got to do a few things this trip which I'm pretty grateful for, one of which was getting to know more people! We ended up playing Werewolves quite a bit and it's a fun little game involving cards, façade and theatricality.

Video summary

My bucket list has since been slightly modified, but I feel like I've achieved so much just by being here in Sweden and travelling around so much. I'm even doing things that I never even considered possible enough to even BE on the list, like dog sledding.

Paris is coming quite soon, and I can barely believe it.
...it doesn't stop me from being really excited, though.

Achieving in my lifetime.

So I've just been ice skating for the first time.

I know, before I went I thought it was a perfect recipe for a crazy catastrophe. I can barely walk on solid ground and the few times I've been on rollerblades have been labelled as 'traumatising'. The previously mentioned Swedish family asked me, so I thought, what the hell.

I borrowed some gear from this generous family. A few others tagged along, some who lived in Australia for a year as well. We went to this lake a little ways out of town (no walls to hang on to like a crutch!). It's a nice activity for Swedes on a nice day as it was, people skating, playing a little hockey, maybe some lunch.

The moment came and I wobbled out onto the ice. The girls each came and grabbed a hand and we glided out together. It was a touching little moment, and I know it's going to be a highlight of my time here in Sweden. They let go and they started teaching me how to skate, and before long I was gliding along on the ice. Gradually more confidence built and I was doing turns and stuff, watching the kids going along and wishing I'd grown up skating.

The dad caught some video of my skating. I'll get it soon for you to see.

We stopped for lunch, there was a fire pit there and everyone was cooking sausages and hamburgers. We had hotdogs and soft drink afterwards before heading back to the family home for fika (strawberry pie and ice cream).

I hope I get to go ice skating again.
...my first time ice skating was on a lake in Örebro, Sweden. How many people can say that?

I'm leaving for Lapland tomorrow for a few days. And I also booked a flight for PARIS for a few days in three weeks. I'm absolutely excited for it (it's on my bucket list) and I can't wait to finally achieve a dream of mine. It's freaking Paris.