A Scandinavian Adventure (and more!) : December 2015

For my Christmas vacation in 2015, I wanted to spend it in Spain and Portugal. That was the plan. But it changed a couple of times. After a week of vacation in October with E at Pontarlier, I thought of going back there and eventually to nearby Switzerland on December. Tickets were rocket high expensive. So when I was offered to join four other Filipino scholars to a trip to Denmark, Sweden and Germany, I said: why not.

My skin is most accustomed to temperatures between 20-30’C (yep, Asian race represent!). During my stay in Normandy, my body got used to lower temperatures. Going up to the Scandinavia meant that I have to get used to another kind of colder weather. Thanks to E who equipped me with clothes I needed to wear for the cold and harsh winter, I was covered.

So, after a week at the Mediterranean, I rode a seven hour night bus to Paris to then catch my plane to Copenhagen……where, upon arrival, I just slept. I arrived at 3pm and it was already dark. By 5pm, I found myself in the couch of the apartment of Filipino scholar C, already sound asleep. I woke up an hour later, believing it was already midnight basing from the looks of the outside but oh boy was I mistaken. A quick glance at my watch and oh, look at that. It’s just 6pm. I fell back asleep and woke up the following morning, at 6am. Guess what, still dark outside!

Stockholm, Sweden

We were leaving for Stockholm that same day (don’t ask why I didn’t just fly direct to Stockholm, long story) after three other Filipino scholars joined us from their bus trip from Hamburg, Germany. And oh, don’t even get me started with the struggle to catch the plane to Stockholm! Long story short, we made it. Thank God the plane was an hour delayed (no, this is not Cebu Pacific but it sure sounds like it)!We arrived in Stockholm at about 2:45pm and guess what, it was already (maybe I should say still) dark! A shuttle and a metro away from the airport, we made it to the apartment we rented for the entire week via AirBnB

!It was five days in Stockholm visiting the old town, royal palace, the city center, museum, different islands and for me, I spent a day in the nearby (student city) of Uppsala.

Uppsala, Sweden

Uppsala University was where my mom used to do research. In the past years, I tried applying for this school. I got wait listed and accepted in another school in another country instead. Still, it was nice to see what my mom had to see and what it could have been like for me had the circumstances been different.

Stockholm is a lovely city. A very clean city, too! Because it was winter, there were shorter days (4-5 hours) which is why I wasn’t able to visit much. The weather was almost unbearable, too (though they said that this has been the hottest winter yet, -6’C, are you kidding me). Lastly, since it was during the Christmas holidays, most establishments were closed.

Copenhagen, Denmark

We headed back to Copenhagen after five days. Again, just like how I spent it the first night, I just slept the day away. The following day, however, I went around the city center, to see the less known district of Cristiana where we can find the “green light district”, the famous Danish canals, and of course, would I miss the little mermaid?

Denmark is twice as expensive as Sweden, thrice as expensive as France. I swear, I could not wait to get to Germany where I can buy things three times cheaper that it was in Denmark! My wallet was bleeding every time I had to buy something.

Berlin, Germany

It was a really short time spent in Denmark but it was nice getting to know this bike-friendly (filled!) city. After two days, we hopped into the bus that would take us to Berlin. Denmark and Germany are separated by a body of water. At one point, our bus got into a huge ship which transported us to the German side. For two hours, we loitered around the chic ship (I felt like I was in a first class cruise ship!). It was so awesome I still had signal (with internet access) even if I was in the middle of the sea! Back in France, in expressways, IN LAND, I would lose my signal. But abroad, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEA, I had signal. What irony.

Berlin was where we were going to welcome the New Year. We left quite late from our hotel to catch the fireworks display at Brandenburg gate.

Strasbourg, France

At this point, I was feeling a bit sick of getting around. Plus, I was also worrying about the upcoming exams I had to take a week later when I go back to Rouen. But the planned trip must go on and we weren’t going back to Rouen just yet. We still had one stop. At least, it was already in French soil – the bordering city of Strasbourg. I can’t believe I spent the first day of 2016 in a bus. We didn’t even have the right to go down and buy food to eat. I can’t believe I spent the first day of 2016 STARVING. Eventually, we arrived in Strasbourg and luckily, some fast food chains were open despite (of it being France where normally everywhere would be closed) the holiday. We grabbed a bite in a fast food called Speedy Burger before heading to the hotel I booked near the last stop of the tramway.

I spent my birthday with two Filipino scholars in a local resto. I drank half of the white wine (apparently, wine here is stronger than I am used to) that I found myself babbling on our way out of the resto. I could not control my mouth and I just kept babbling words. Soon, we would find a café where I calmed down and wrote on the postcards I wanted to send to family and friends.

Finally, on the third of January, we headed back to Rouen via Paris. We had a connecting bus from Paris but it was for another two hours. I just could not wait to go back to my 10m2 room in the humble city of Mont Saint Aignan. I convinced my friends that we take the next train. An hour later, I was finally able to reunite with my bed and fell deep and peacefully asleep.

Although the trip might seem to be a draggy one, I did enjoy (some parts of) it, believe it or not. I did learn these: I cannot travel for an extended period of time, I would rather pay more for an hour plane ride than a cheaper but a whole day of bus trip, and that, this has been proven and tested, I am really not meant to travel with a large group.