All Good Things

Well folks, it is finally official. I am a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. I (figuratively) hold a degree from a major university. I finally did it. Wow.

Of course, graduation was emotional. The culmination of years of hard work always will always tug at the heart strings, no matter who you are. And the goodbyes are always hard and never fun.

But, rather than dwell on the sad stuff, it's time to look forward. Not too far forward, of course, since I will still be in Norman for the spring, after all. But still. I find that I spend too much time admiring the past. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The past has made me who I am and it was full of amazing times. But the future is more important.

Well crap, here I go getting all sappy and cheezy. No more of that.

So anyway, Christmas is basically here. How it got here so fast, I'll never know. But since finals ended so close to the Christmas season, I haven't really had time to sit down and make out a proper wish list. So folks, in no particular order, here are the things that hold the top 10 spots on my 2008 wish list (and we'll see how many of these things get crossed off by Christmas 2009):

10. I wish I knew how to play the piano. For real ya'll. I've always wanted to know how to play and I was this close (imagine me pinching my fingers together in the air) to taking a piano class while at OU. Dang. But you're never too old to learn, right?
9. I wish I had a plan for my life starting around August/September 2009. Oh that would be just dandy. Because the idea of being a bum for the rest of my life surprisingly isn't all that appealing.
8. I wish I had a new computer, cause this old '03 laptop just isn't cutting the mustard anymore.
7. I wish I had a puppy. Specifically one of these puppies. No lie, I would pee my pants if one of these showed up on my doorstep for Christmas.
6. I wish I could speak a crazy language. Like Russian. Or Croatian. For real. As soon as I finish up perfecting my Spanish skills (which, by the rate of how good I am now, is going to take a looooooooong time) I'm moving on to one of the more rando Euro languages.
5. I wish I could cook. Like, more than just pasta and hamburger helper. I wish I could just toss in a dash of this and add a splash of that and come up with my own delicious creations. Someone teach me.
4. I wish I had someone to kiss at midnight on New Year's Eve. I don't think this one really requires that much explanation.
3. I wish I had the ability to own a camera for more than 5 months without destroying it. Sadly, the camera that made it all the way through Europe with me met her end at the Chickasha Christmas lights due to me dropping her on a frozen sidewalk. It was a sad day.
2. I wish I could see the West Coast. It's really the only region of the USA that I haven't yet been to and I'm ready to go ahead and cross that one off the list.
1. I wish I was better looking. That would definitely help me out with #4 on the list. However, I doubt this one is going to magically happen.

And there you have it! So if you're looking for a last minute Christmas gift, you can try and get me something from my list. Some of it might be tough, but you can be creative. Offer cooking lessons. Offer to give me plastic surgery. Offer to kiss me on New Years.

Or you could always just buy me the puppy. :)

A Sigh of Relief

Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh...........

Aaaaaand finals are done. Finally. And I can finally rest easy. I don't know why, but this semester has stressed me out more than any other semester before. Sure classes were harder, and I had about a billion group meetings per week, but I would get so stressed out at times that I couldn't sleep at night. Ugh.

But it's all over now. Kind of. I guess the hard part starts now, with grad school applications, job searches, and generally trying to figure out what the hell I'm doing with my life.

But screw all that for now. I'm relishing the moment. I am a college graduate. And no one can take that away from me.

And let's not forget that Christmas is in a week. That's a pretty big deal, too.

The Year in Review

Today I found out that I'm getting a new laptop for Christmas, which has definitely been needed for a couple of years now. How nice that I get one now that I'm done with college. :) JK JK, I'm happy to get it in any case.

Anyway, the computer is not the important part of the story. I've started to organize all my files, music, photos, etc. from this old laptop so that I can transfer everything over quickly and easily, and in the process of organizing, I started going through all of my many, many photos that I have take over the years and, more specifically, over the course of this year. What caught my attention is that my life from January 1st until today has changed so drastically that it's almost like I'm living a completely different life.

So I decided that it would be really cool to put a picture up here, one for every month of this past year. Each picture represents a great memory or event from that month that I really feel like represent the month well. So, without further ado, here is my year in review:

January - This photo is actually from day numero uno, January 1st, 2008. I had gone on a nice, long road trip with a pretty good group of friends to Phoenix, Arizona to see the Sooners play in the Fiesta Bowl. And of course we couldn't pass up a trip to the Grand Canyon in the process. So here I am, perched on a ledge of the Grand Canyon. Not a bad way to start the year.

February - Of course my representation of February is of my amazing High School Leadership Conference exec. So many hours, days, weeks, months of preparation went into making this conference happen and I couldn't have possibly had a better exec with me to make it all happen. I miss HSLC a lot and looking at my exec makes me miss it all that much more.

March - This is a picture from the trip to NYC that Katie and I took together on Spring Break. It was a great trip in a lot of ways. We got to see a lot of things, we got to spend a lot of time together, and we got to realize a lot about the two of us. It was a great trip with a great girl and it's something that I will always look back on with fondness.

April - Looking back on my pictures from April, it was basically the month of Elizabeth and the Plastics. Which kinda sounds like a cool music group name. Anyway, plastics got May, so Elizabeth got April. She and I went to what seemed like 100 date parties that month, but really we just took each other to our final Phi Delt and Tri Delt date parties. Elizabeth always has been and always will be one of my very best friends on the face of the planet and we've had some of the absolute craziest times together. Never a dull moment.

May - My so-called "Plastics Month." haha How could any of us forget the oh-so-famous 8 (9, 10, 11, 12....) in '08? It is literally one of my favorite nights of college and life in general. This group of people (picture is minus Bebb, Eks Wye, Kelly, etc., but I had to pick and choose. And they don't read this anyway, so no harm, no foul.) also represents some of the best friends I've ever had and a time with all of us together, such as when this picture was taken, is guaranteed to be full of all kinds of debauchery. And also sorry to Ryan who joined us later in the night, but picture number 1 was the best one of the night. For various reasons.

June - My first picture at my University in Spain. Those first few days were so full of excitement, awkwardness, thrills, nervousness, and so much more. I can't even really explain it in perfect detail. But I had been waiting my entire life for this opportunity and it really changed me a lot.

July - This picture represents so well my life in Spain. I love love love it. For many reasons. First of all, I'm posing with a ton of friends who I had never met before going to Spain, yet I was having a blast with. We were taking part in one of the famous festivals of Spain, the Running of the Bulls, and taking in the culture as much as possible. Basically it represents the amazing times and the amazing friends that came from studying abroad.

August - This is a picture from Anne's house in Norway. Ever since I met Anne all those years ago in Calvin, we have met each other in various cities around the US. Yet I have always wanted to see Anne in her natural environment and meet her friends and family who I had heard about for years. So this picture represents a culmination of a friendship (that will still be going for years to come, of course). What a great time this was.

September - Honestly, I couldn't remember if this was end of August or beginning of September, but either way, it's close enough. But this was the first football game back at good old University of Oklahoma. I love this picture because it represents the fact that even though I had been gone so long, I still had a home and friends to come back to. Even though we had to evacuate the stadium in the process.

October - Of all my pictures from this month, this one is my favorite. Like I said, my life here changed a lot, and that included a whole new cast of friends. Here we have me, Nellie, William from France, and Jorge and Dini from Spain all dressed up for a Halloween party. I've loved getting to know these new people and I love the fact that we all feel like we've been friends forever. This was a particularly fun night as we all had fun partying in Norman.

November - I love this picture because it's from one of the last home games and these are all people that I have known forever. It's so great knowing that these people will always be in my life no matter how far apart we get and how long we're away from OU. And we will all always have a lot of love for our school.

December - Now as my college career is drawing to a close, and the holiday seasons are approaching, nothing in my life is more apparent than the importance of my family. So this is a picture of me and my almost-two-year-old nephew Colt that was actually just taken today. We both kinda look a little chubbier than we really are, but hey, we're not looking to impress anyone. But I love this picture because it shows that no matter how much change happens in my life or how crazy things get, my family will always be there.

So there you have it. A year in the life of Jordan. A lot has changed. A lot has stayed the same. And there is still so much to look forward to in the year to come.

I'm Done!

I'm done I'm done I'm done I'm done I'm done I'm done!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, I'm not really done.

BUT, I did officially finish my Capstone class tonight! I studied for what seemed like a countless amount of hours for a final that was 3 essay questions over 5 months of material. And I can't lie when I say that I've been dreading it for quite some time.

But it's all over. And I'm done. And it feels goooooooooooood.

Not to mention that my Capstone professor went out and had drinks with a few of us after class. Which is pretty dang cool.

And now it's time for a break. Until my final presentation on Friday morning, of course. And my three finals after that. But you know, now that Capstone is done I feel like I can handle anything.

Hooray for graduating!

Starting Again

My oh my how time flies.

I find it hard to believe that it has been months since I wrote in this thing. Yet the proof lies in the fact that it took me several tries to log in seeing as how I had forgotten my password.

But the last time I wrote, I debated on whether or not I was going to keep up with this thing. I decided not to with the justification that nothing that exciting was going to happen in my life. Yet I failed to see that life isn't just exciting when you're jetting around the globe or seeing famous things. Life can be pretty dang amazing when it comes down to the daily and the ordinary. And in this transition stage of my life right now, I think things are amazing enough to get down on paper. Or screen. Whatever.

So in response to your gracious thank you's for returning to my blog (no worries, I can sense the gratitude from here) I can say......you're welcome.

Aaaaaaahhhhhh...........it's like slipping back into my favorite, most comfortable pair of shoes. Or a warm bath. Or something more manly. :/

So anyway, as I kinda already eluded to, things are crazy right now. And not just because of those dreaded finals (which just so happen to coincide with my first blog post in 4 months. Coincidence? Nope, definitely not.) but also because life is so absurdly ambiguous right now. Up until this point in my life I have always have the definite and the known to look forward to.

I'm done with middle school, next is high school.
I'm done with high school, next is college.
I'm done with this semester, now time to tackle next semester.

But now what's next?

Not to say that this is that unusual or unique, seeing as how every single person in the world gets the thrill of this stage of life. But it's so scary. Terrifying, actually. Yet it is also so wildly exciting. Where will I be in a year's time? Will I be joining my new friends in Spain to celebrate a Madrid Christmas? Will I be going to a co-workers Christmas party in Boston? Chicago? Dallas? Will I be sitting on my butt in Calvin, Oklahoma?

Hmm. I went a little too far with that one.

But the point is that I have NO clue what my next stage will be.

Am I scared? Oh yeah.
Am I uncertain? Undoubtedly so.
Am I ready? Definitely.

But now onto some definitely less serious stuff. My dear, sweet, amazing, beautiful friend Katie (who I miss very much, btw) was gracious enough to give my blog an award. And here it is.....

So apparently I'm fabulous. Or at least my blog is. Okay, sure. I'll give it a shot. So now I have to list my 5 addictions. Which now that I think about it, is kinda tough. But here goes nothing....

1. World of Warcraft!!!!!!!1!!!1!!!1!

Pwning n00bs.

Totally rad.

2. An organization I feel very strongly about....

Pistols for Pandas. It's only a matter of time before they take over anyway, people. We might as well arm them now.

3. The great American pastime

NASCAR.

Mobile homes.
Car fumes.
All the snuff a guy could want.

What more could you ask for?

4. The OTHER great American pastime...

Of course I'm talking about noodling!

There's nothing quite like sticking your arm in a dark river hole and waiting for a huge catfish to take a nibble.

5. And last but not least, and probably the most obvious....

BOOBIES!!!!!

Minds out of the gutter people.

PSYCHE!!!!!

Wow, all this lack of sleep from finals must REALLY be getting to me. Hmm.

So anyway, here are my REAL (current) 5 addictions, in no particular order:

1. Finding new music - no lie guys, I could pass an entire Saturday just browsing through iTunes or Pandora or some other music website and finding new stuff. Of course, I always have my backups that will never, ever get old, but man I love finding new, great music.

2. Travelling - If I could just pack up and live travelling from country to country for my entire life, I probably would. There is nothing I love more than seeing new places and meeting new people. Each and every place has so many amazing things, and finding those things have given me a ton of pleasure in my day.

3. Hanging out with friends - this is definitely not new. It's really not all that shocking to see me choose hanging out with friends rather than studying for a test the next day or working on important projects. The way I see it, my friends are going to be there forever, but that class will be over in a month or two. Sure, grades last forever, but I've really started to care about those little letters less and less.

4. Twilight - I know, I know. I should not be reading romance novels written for 13 year old girls. BUT, at least I have a story for how I got hooked. It all started when I was backpacking through Denmark and Sweden all alone. I was starting to get lonely and I really, really wanted to see something in English, so I made my way to a bookstore in Copenhagen. And the only, and I repeat the only book they had in English was Twilight. So I bought it, read it, and the addiction was on. It's serious too, ya'll. I even went to see the midnight premier.

5. Spain - I hate being one of those weirdos who lives in a foreign country for just a short period of time and then can't stop talking about it. But wow. I freaking love Spain. The culture, the music, the food, the people, EVERYTHING. I am dying to go back, and hopefully I'll get that chance over the next year. All in due time.

So there you have it, folks. My first blog post in several months. And possibly my most random post ever. But hey, no one ever said I had to stick to a certain method of writing, right?

For those of you who read this, I really do hope all is well and I hope to hear from/see/hug each and every one of you soon!

Starting Over.....Kind Of

So here I sit in my apartment in Norman and I have finally found the time to sit down and get one last (maybe) update in on this thing. It has been nearly a month since I've been home and every day I move more and more rapidly away from my time in Spain. It's weird, actually. My whole time abroad has this weird dream-like state in mind. Like maybe I made it all up. Very surreal and it almost seems like I was never really there. If it wasn't for me missing it so much, I probably wouldn't even believe that I ever went. :)

It's also kind of funny. I always said that I would never be one of those weirdos who goes over to Europe and then comes back to the US all changed and different. And I would definitely say that I lived up to that....to an extent. There are definitely a lot of things that are different about me now, but deep down, I'm still the same ole' me.

Basically I just learned a lot. Of course, there are those cliches about how study abroad isn't about what you learn in the classroom but what you learn about the world. I know, I know. Cheesy, right? But it's so true! I learned so much about life, and about the world, and about myself. I learned how to live outside of my comfort zone. (about as far out of my comfort zone as I could ever imagine, actually) I learned how to appreciate, and I mean truly and fully appreciate, other cultures. Not to just look at them like an animal in a zoo, but to really put some effort into understanding them. I learned that I can stand a lot of things that I would have never thought possible. Most of all I learned that the world is an incredible, amazing, wonderful place that has SO much goodness in it. Sometimes we have to take off our blinders to see it, but it's there.

And I can honestly say that I accomplished everything I wanted to.

I met incredible people. In abundance.
I made new friendships.
I travelled. A lot.
I tried new things. With both good and bad outcomes.
I kept trying.
I overcame fears.
I loved.

Looking back on it all still gives me those old pangs in the chest that are a mixture of sadness, happiness, and unbelieving-ness. (I never said I wouldn't make up new words to tell my story) But I would never, ever, ever trade anything in the world for the experience I had. What an incredible adventure.

And now re-adjusting to life back in Norman has been different. Not in a bad way at all. Just different. It's been great for me in a lot of ways. I've reignited some old friendships that needed reigniting and I've cut off some old friendships that needed to be trimmed away. (I promise it's not as harsh as it sounds) I'm no longer involved in anything at all on campus, which in all honesty hasn't been nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Basically I've had a new beginning here at OU, which is interesting since this is my last semester here. But it's been therapeutic and I've had a great time so far.

Most of my time has been spent in a mixture of hanging out with old friends, like the guys from my pledge class, Erin, etc., but also hanging out with new friends, which primarily consist of foreign kids. Honestly I can't get enough of them. haha I just know how much I loved hanging out with Spanish people while I was abroad and how I wish someone would have done this for me.

Anyway, in closing, because in true Jordan fashion this is getting WAY too long, just know that I'm back to life as usual with a few tweaks and twists here and there. Different but not bad. And I'm loving it.

As to this blog, I still haven't decided if I'm going to keep it up. I mean, it's main purpose was for study abroad and nothing more, and really I don't think my life is all that interesting to keep up with it. I guess we'll just see what happens. But as for me, for now, I'm off to hang out with my favorite group of foreigners tonight. Life is good. :)

Back In The Land Of English

Finally finally finally, after hours and hours and hours (can you sense a slight over exaggeration?) I have arrived back in good old America. And as much as I wish I could say it was a blissfully uneventful journey home, it sadly was not. Lots of sleeping in airports, unexpected train rides, and delayed flights. In fact, I am currently sitting in my hotel room in New Jersey (conveniently paid for by Continental Airlines) because my flight was so delayed from Madrid to Newark that there weren't anymore flights out when I got here. So boo to that.

Of course, one cool thing is that I have a great view of downtown NYC from my hotel room window. So as far as first views of the US go, this is a pretty good one.

I have a few more last pictures I took of Norway and Europe in general, and I would love to go much more in depth about the LONG journey home, but right now I'm just too exhausted and I have to be up at 4:30 in the morning to catch my flight to Cleveland, so I'm going to call it a night. But just know that I am back in the homeland where I actually understand everyone that talks to me! Woo Hoo!

As for me now, I'm going to sit back, relax, and watch some Olympics. Which is nice to finally see them in English. Simple pleasures. :)

Life in the Land of the Vikings

Well I have to say that my time in Norway has been absolutely 100% incredible. The country is beautiful and Anne has done a great job of playing host. So, in honor of my newfound love for the country....

I have become a Viking. Minus the raping and pillaging. But a Viking nonetheless.

As ridiculous as this picture is, I really can say that Norway is great. I'm glad that I got to stay here for an entire week, because every day has brought something new and interesting and exciting. You can also notice that in this picture I'm wearing both a sweatshirt and a jacket. Even though it's the middle of summer, for me, it's pretty chilly here. Woo hoo for returning to 110 degree weather in just a couple of days! haha

But another thing that Anne has done a great job of is introducing me to all of her friends and really making me feel welcome among them all. I definitely like all of them and, as far as I know, they seem to like me too.


This picture is from one of my first nights in Norway where a big group of us hung out together for the evening. From the left to right it's me, Anne, Marit, Sigren, and Astrid (very Norwegian names, no?). But they're a really fun group and I've had a blast hanging out with them. And it's been awesome to FINALLY meet all these friends of Anne's who I've heard about for all these years.

Here is just another quick shot of me, Anne, and Astrid in Anne's family's apartment.

Another thing that Anne and her friends have done is try to show me what life is like for a typical Bergen local. So I've been able to see and go to places that I otherwise might have never known about. This place was called "Cave" and it lived up to it's name. It was basically a concert venue and bar that was in a cave. And it was really cool.

And here are Marit, Anne, and Sigren while we were at Cave.

I had already mentioned the tall ship races that were in Bergen for the weekend, but I didn't mention how beautiful they were all lit up at night. And since they left yesterday morning, I had to snap a few last pictures so that I would remember it all, and this is one of those.

And then Anne and I decided to hit up some nature so that I could see some of Norway's natural beauty. So yesterday we did this tour of the countryside called "Norway in a Nutshell" that was so named because I really got to see a little of everything. The mountains, the valleys, the fjords. It was all incredible.


The first part of the trip was a train ride from Bergen to Voss, a really small city just a couple of hours east of Bergen. The great thing about the train ride is that it is one of the most scenic routes in the world and it winds through a lot of different mountain passes. The end result is that you get some great scenic shots like this one.

The next round of the trip was a bus ride down to the foot of the fjords, but as you can see, the bus ride was kind of a scary one. It goes through this winding, zig-zagging road down the face of this mountain. Once again a great opportunity for some great scenery, but a very scary ride! haha

And then we got to my personal favorite part of the journey, the fjords. Basically they are these huge lake areas in huge valleys surrounded by high mountains. They were carved out from travelling glaciers over millions of years, and they are beautiful. We took a two hour boat ride through the fjords, so I was able to take a ton of pictures, but I'm exercising some restraint in not putting up a ton of pictures. Because I know it's more of one of those things that you just have to be there for. But trust me, the fjords are incredible.

The last leg of the journey was a couple more sets of trains to get back to Bergen, which once again provided some incredible scenery. One of my favorite pictures was of this HUGE waterfall, which may not seem that big. But if you look on the bottom rock at the bast of the waterfall, there is a little tiny person standing on there. Which makes the picture have a bit more perspective.

One last thing to mention about Norway that I sadly do not have any pictures of is the food. Incredibly delicious. Anne's mom is a master chef. One of the first dinners I had was reindeer cooked in a cream sauce and it was incredible. Easily one of my favorite meals I've had the entire time I've been in Europe. And of course, the food has flowed since then and they have all been equally good. It has definitely been extremely welcome after living on sandwiches and water all through Denmark and Sweden. haha

But that's it for now! Tonight we are going to end my Scandinavian Adventure in true European style by going to a football match (soccer for you non-euro folks) between Bergen's team and a French team from Marsailles. It's supposed to be a great match, and I'm excited because it's a great way to end my time in Norway, Scandinavia, and Europe in general.

Sadly, this will probably be my last post from Europe because tomorrow I start the looooooooonnnnnnnggg journey home, which includes an 8 hour train ride from Bergen to Oslo, a 4 hour plane ride from Oslo to Madrid, a 12 hour layover in Spain, a 9 hour plane ride from Madrid to Newark, a 4 hour plane ride from Newark to Dallas, and the last 1 hour plane ride into OKC. What a fun trip, huh? So I doubt I'll have any time to give any last updates from the European front, but no worries. Expect a final report on the experience from me when I return to the states.

But for now I'm going to enjoy my last Norwegian day and my last days in Europe. And I'm getting crazy excited because I'll be home in a little over 2 days! Woo Hoo!

Beautiful Norway

Well after a 7 hour train ride from Stockholm to Oslo and another 8 hour train ride from Oslo to Bergen, I have FINALLY made it to my final destination of the Scandinavian Adventure. It was so incredibly exciting to finally make it here and see the welcome sign in the train station.

Anne picked me up as soon as I got to the train station, I went to the apartment to meet her mom, and then I promptly went and laid down and went to sleep. Because 15 hours of train travel isn't exactly the most comfortable way to go from place to place.

And I can honestly say that Bergen (and Norway in general) is absolutely beautiful. So natural and with so much terrain. All around the city are mountains covered in evergreen trees and houses situated all throughout them. I don't have many pictures of the city itself, but I'm sure some will come.

Anne has been a great host/tour guide. Yesterday we walked around the city to see a few of the main sights. One of those was the fish and farmers market right down by the dock.

And let me tell you, the fish here is about as fresh as you can get. It was really cool to see it all and people were EVERYWHERE. Bergen is a pretty popular place and there are cruise ships coming in and out of here all the time. According to Anne, it's because Bergen is the connection to the fjords. But there are tourists all over the place.

Another cool thing going on in Bergen right now is the tall ship race. Basically these huge ships come from all over the world to hit up a few different ports along the European coastline, and I was lucky enough to be in Bergen for the weekend that they're here. The ships really are incredible, and they each have cannons that they fire off pretty constantly. It's kind of cool, because this picture is taken from the view from my bedroom here, so I have a perfect bird's eye view of it all. And even better, there is a ship from Uruguay that has been playing a lot of spanish music, so it gives me a little bit of a spanish fix. haha

I bet you didn't know that Vikings were still around, eh? haha Last night Anne and I heard some chanting and yelling and so we walked out on the balcony and this is what we saw. These guys came walking off of a ship from Finland and proceeded to walk around the city dressed as vikings. Funny stuff.

And last, but not least, here is the picture of the INCREDIBLE dinner that Anne and I made for ourselves last night. She did the fish and bread and I did the pasta and salad and it turned out to be delicious, if I do say so myself. :) For real though, it was my first time to get to cook since I've been over in Europe and it was nice.

So that's all I have for now. There will be much more to come because Anne has a TON of stuff planned, like mountain hikes, boat rides through the fjords, and so much more. So it's hard to imagine Norway getting much better than it already is because I'm loving it so far. But it's looking to be a really cool few days.

A Brighter Day

So Sweden continues to brighten up in several ways. First and foremost, it FINALLY stopped raining and at a few (VERY few) points during the day, I was actually able to see blue sky.

Secondly, things brightened up because I finally have got to see Anne! And I met her sister Eva, who I have heard about for all these years. And seeing Stockholm with those two has been a lot of fun.

First off, the three of us met at the Royal Palace last night to go find a place to get some dinner. We picked this one restaurant that had some great Swedish food, which consisted mostly of fish. But I got some great swordfish and fried potatoes, so it was great.


Here is a picture of Anne and I from dinner. We were definitely those people who took tons of pictures and bothered everyone with the flash. But I didn't care, because I was so excited to see her.
And here is Eva, who is three years younger than Anne. She's really cool, too, and we get along great. It's like we've been old friends for years.

So today the three of us decided to hop on a boat and see some of the other islands in this little archipelago around Stockholm. It was a lot of fun, and luckily, I didn't get seasick! Thank God for small blessings, right?


So here is a view from the back of the boat as we left the harbor.

And here is a shot of Old Town Stockholm, where the oldest buildings are and where a lot of the original architecture is still there. I am being completely honest when I say that Stockholm is a really beautiful city, and I honestly wish I had a little more time here to explore things.

So the island that we went to was probably the most stereotypical Swedish looking place I have ever seen. It was covered in these little red wooden buildings that each had some different type of artisan in it, like glass blowers, silversmiths, etc. It was really cool.

It also had some incredible natural scenery all around the island. Sweden is a pretty untouched place, and it really shows in the great landscape.

So the three of us decided to go sit down and take the scenery in for awhile, just to grab a breather.

Anyway, I really don't have any time to describe anymore, but I can honestly say that, other than the horrible weather in the beginning, Sweden has been great! I love it!

And tomorrow, it's off to Norway!

A Profile of Stockholm

Stockholm. Absolutely beautiful city. Without a doubt, hands down, one of the most incredibly gorgeous cities I have yet been in.

The Swedish people are great. Very, very friendly and don't look down on you at all when you can't speak Swedish. Which doesn't sound like much, but compared to the French, the Swedish are saints.

The sights are really, really cool. So much ancient history scattered all throughout the city, which is spread across a whole set of islands. The ancient architecture is everywhere and makes everything photo worthy.

However, so far Stockholm has had one major flaw: the weather. First of all, it hasn't stopped raining since I got here, which is never a good thing. But it's even worse when the weather is hovering right around 50 degrees. Which isn't really all that cold, but when I'm used to the 115 degree weather of dry Madrid, I feel like I'm constantly freezing and wet. Yuck.

And to make it worse, stupid me, I didn't bring a single jacket or long-sleeved shirt. So today I had to break down and go buy some cover from the weather. And me, being the tight, money-saving budgeter I am, decided to only buy a jacket or an umbrella. So I went with the umbrella. Because I figured, "Hey, I can take the cold as long as I'm dry." Yet what I didn't factor in was that the wind in Stockholm whips the umbrellas around like pieces of tissue paper. And this is a common sight all throughout the city:

Umbrellas that have been trashed by the wind and discarded by their owners. So the umbrella helped a bit, but it really didn't provide all that much cover from the rain. Jordan was still freezing. So I broke down and went to an H&M, which are everywhere here, and got a jacket. The cool thing, though, is that since H&M is based out of Sweden, most of them still say Hennes & Mauritz, which is Swedish for His & Hers.

Anyway, after I finally got some cover from both my new jacket AND umbrella, I figured I could brave the weather to go do some sight-seeing. I didn't get to take too many pictures because of the rain, but here is one of them:

You can kind of tell the really cool architecture of the buildings from this, and you can definitely see that basically everything in the city is on the waterfront. Stockholm really is a city of islands and everything is fairly easily accessible.

You can also see that the weather is gray and gross. haha

So after a couple of hours of continuing to get soaked, I decided to make a beeline back for my hostel. Which, although I have nothing to do here but play on the Internet and read, it offers warmth and dryness, which is great. I can at least take a break every once in awhile to get some warmth back in me.

Yet if there is one thing I've learned while in Scandinavia, it's that the young Scandinavians LOVE their coffee houses. They are really everywhere, and if you really keep an eye out, you can see where the locals go and really find some cool places. So that is exactly what I did on my way home. Because what better way to warm yourself up than to start from the inside?

So I found this great place that had huge, delicious coffees (which coffee is something I really gained appreciation for while in Spain) and some great baked goods. So I got a mocha and big slice of Swedish apple pie. Mmmmmmmmmm........

Afterwards I finished my trek back to the hostel and now all my clothes are hanging to get the wetness out.

However, I am super-pumped, because it turns out that Anne is in Stockholm right now with her sister, so I get to see her TONIGHT! Woo! I'm meeting them for dinner and then the three of us are going to go sight-seeing tomorrow (weather permitting. which means it's doubtful. haha). So now I don't have to wait until Norway to see my favorite European girl!

Addition to the Denmark post

Okay, well, in my earlier post, I assured myself that it couldn't possibly be raining all through Sweden.

But like pretty much everything else that I ever assure myself on, I was horribly incorrect. I arrived into Stockholm with the open arms of a huge, soaking rain storm. So yay for getting completely soaked walking to the hostel. :)

The good news is that this hostel is incredible. Easily the nicest hostel I have stayed in yet. And they have free food for all of the people staying here, which is a HUGE plus in my book.

So anyway, just a bit more on my experience so far.

I really, really liked Copenhagen a lot. It was one of the most chill, laid-back places I have ever been. Of course, it's not quite as touristy as, say, Barcelona or Paris. But the atmosphere there was incredible. Everyone was so warm and welcoming and it was impossible to not feel at home.

Like I had previously mentioned, I've met some really incredible people along the way. My favorites in Copenhagen were Katarina the German, Joe the Canadian, and Karla the Australian. Each one of them was really cool and so much fun to hang out with. I've always been one to really enjoy meeting new people, and getting to meet them from all over the world and share this experience with them all has been great.

Another great thing about Copenhagen is that everything is so easily accessible. I never had to take a metro or bus and was easily able to walk everywhere from my hostel. Granted, I nearly wore myself out walking the entire city, but I figured I had such a short time there that I had to see it all.

So finally, I had to leave to go to Malmö (pronounced MAL-moo) in the south of Sweden. I actually got there pretty late and didn't have time to go out and see anything, but I wasn't too worried about it as one of my Swedish friends that I had just met told me that "Malmö is a.....hmmmm....how do you say? Oh yes, it's a shithole." Now imagine that with the most stereotypical Swedish accent you can think of and you've got it.

The good thing is that I met this really cool guy who was crazy similar to myself. He was from San Antonio, he studied in Alcala for a year during undergrad, and he had just finished spending a year in Madrid getting his MBA. So he and I had a ton to talk about, which was awesome. It was so cool to finally talk with someone from my part of the world. haha But he and I exchanged emails and will definitely be staying in touch.

So anyway, here I am now in Stockholm (after a nice, long 6 hour train ride from Malmö), but without much to do since it's still pouring outside. And I don't really have a ton of desire to go out in that mess. Especially since it's only around 16 degrees Celsius (60 fahrenheit). And after living in Spain where everyday it's around 42 degrees Celsius, well, it feels like it's freezing.

The only bad thing about Stockholm is that now that I'm so close to seeing Anne, it's all I want to do! Don't get me wrong, from what I've seen of the city, it looks incredible. So beautiful. But I'm so excited to see Anne that I don't want to wait anymore. All in due time I guess.

Even more exciting, only 11 days before I get home and see some of my favorite people in the world! (and I can honestly say that without exaggerating now, haha)

Well hey there Sweden

So the Denmark phase of Scandinavian Adventure 08 has come and gone. And now I've moved on to Sweden. However, I must say that the weather in Sweden has been much more uncooperative than in Denmark. And not necessarily meaning it's much colder, but much, much more rainy. Oh well, I'm about to head 6 hours to the north, so surely the weather can't be bad ALL over Sweden, right?

So anyway, I'm going to have to run fairly soon so that I can walk to the train station and catch my train for Stockholm, so I don't really have time for my usual commentary on each picture. But here are a few from Copenhagen, and I'll try to say a little about each.

Well, I would say this one is fairly self-explanatory. Lovely little welcome sign bringing me in to Denmark. This would also be the last english I would be seeing for a long, long time.

This is Nyhavn, Copenhagen's famous harbor area. It's really touristy these days, but it's still where all the fishing boats come dock when they come in from the Baltic.

This was the Changing of the Guard at the Danish Royal Palace. Pretty interesting, but Palaccio Real in Madrid is WAY better. :)

Oddly enough, one of the main places I was told to go was to this huge cemetary that people actually go sunbathe and hang out in. And hey, I ran into old Hans Christian Andersen (he wrote The Little Mermaid). And naturally, to fit in with the rest of Europe, his gravestone had grafitti on it. Of course.

This was a really cool looking old church in one of Copenhagen's many many parks. This is possibly the greenest city I have ever seen.

Denmark is awfully proud of The Little Mermaid, so there are little things about her or HC Andersen everywhere. This statue is one of their most famous monuments, though. It's the Little Mermaid waiting to be turned into a human.

Copenhagen has a really, really long pedestrian shopping area called Stroget which is kind of like Las Ramblas in Barcelona. It was a really cool area that I was able to pick up a couple of new books at for pretty cheap, which is surprising because NOTHING in Scandinavia is cheap.

Probably my favorite place to go pass some time was in King's Garden, where all the Danish go on summer days to lay in the grass and picnic, read, and sleep. I felt like a local everytime I took a book or my iPod there to hang out.

And here is a picture of the park.

And finally, I rode over by train from Copenhagen to Malmo, Sweden, where I still am currently. It was pretty cool because the bridge connecting the two is the longest bridge in the entire world. So that in and of itself was a cool experience.

But yeah, I have SO much more that I could say about Denmark, but no time to say it. Hopefully I'll have some time tonight in Stockholm (and an Internet connection) to maybe go a little more in depth.

For now, I'm heading to the train station with my new friend, who is from Texas oddly enough, to head up to Stockholm.