Stockholm igen

These past few weeks have brought both a bit more busyness and a few changes. My class time last week was about 6 hours a day for toxicology and 2 hours two days a week for Swedish, so I've been keeping myself busy. Here's an overview of my recent adventures:
Last weekend, my CIEE program took all 8 of us to Stockholm for an archipelago tour paying for our train tickets roundtrip, our boat tickets, and our lunch. It's not often that one can say they only spent 7 dollars for a day in Stockholm, but I did just that! We left in the morning and it was a bit chilly and overcast when we left Uppsala, but the train ride was a lovely time to chat with Avery and Amy (our assistant program coordinator, getting her Master's at Uppsala). Upon arriving in Stockholm, autumn tried to be on its best behaviour. We had about an hour or so to spare before our train left, so we grabbed a most delicious cup of coffee (Arvid Norquist.....for you Swedes) and enjoyed the narrow cobblestoned streets screaming with color. The colors of the buildings make even the greyest days seem a little bit brighter. The coffee was perhaps my best cup in Sweden thus far and the cafe was even better. The aroma of fresh coffee and bullar was overwhelming right as you passed through the doorway. It was like a warm bakery hug that makes you want to stay there all day to be cradled in its arms. And oh the pies...they looked delicious, hallon, blåbär (my favorite) och äpple, freshly morning made and just waiting to fill your mouth with their warm, explosive flavor. I restrained myself and just stuck to the coffee (keeping costs down). However, I didn't have much time to enjoy my coffee because we quickly realized it was later than we thought and we had to make it back around the harbor before our boat left. Coffee was gulped down and speed walking turned into running to make it just in time before the boat pulled out of the dock. This left us in a small predicament....no more seats. It had just started to drizzle outside, and the wind was picking up as we headed out on the water, so standing outside was both undesirable , and unphotogenic. We sat inside for a bit while the rain passed, and headed for the stern and enjoyed crisp autumn breezes as we snaked between island after island. The air was just chilly enough to make your nose cold and runny and your cheeks a tad bit rosy, the leaves were beginning to turn, and scarves fluttered in the wind while coats kept us warm. The houses out on the islands were again, so swedish and so gorgeous, Avery and I found our future homes :) After our boat tour, we were given open-ended train tickets to go back to Uppsala, so Avery and I decided to head back to Gamla stad to stroll through the shops with the intention of ending our day with none other than a scoop of ice cream! Here are some photo re-caps.

Em-J, saw this and thought of you :)

part of my groupie

screaming with color, right?

Here's that cafe!

Oh did the clouds put on a good show!

Can I live here?? (It's yellow in real life which makes it 10x better)

Island after island....

Amy snaps a foto of the group!

Our boat

I love these fotos!

Haha! :)

4 out of the 7 girls in our group of 8. Remy, Kelsey, and Avery

Stockholm delivered

We walked down the street and found this lovely tune....it was enchanting as it echoed through the street and passerby's leisurely walked or pedaled by

Let your mouth water because it was even BETTER in real life! The entire store was chocolate treats as beautiful and yummy as these (yes, this is where I spent my 7 dollars for the day). Oh, and the aroma was even better, so deceiving, yet so alluring, you can't walk by without stopping, it pulls you right in and there is nothing you can do to fight it.

Have you read "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" There is Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter! I was standing from the island on which Mikael Bloomquist and Lisbeth Salander live.