Day 10: Farvel (Goodbye) Denmark & Hallå (Hello) Sweden
Sweden bound!
June 25, 2022
Preparing for Sweden
With checkout at 12 pm from our hotel in Copenhagen, I wanted to make sure all my bags were ready and good to go before heading down to breakfast, so turning on the tv, I put on some Danish shows in the background. At the same time, I set my bags up - I don’t know why I didn’t think sooner to check out the TV in Denmark!
Once I was happy with where everything was, I joined the group to enjoy our final breakfast in Copenhagen. When we were done, we checked out of the hotel early since we had to attend a professional panel hosted by the University of Oregon and stored our luggage at the hotel while we were at our meeting. Making our way to Ørstedparken, a public park in central Copenhagen near Israels Plads, we met with the University of Oregon group, who had also brought some working professionals with them, who talked to us about their career paths so far, as well as shared some of their insights and advice to recent, or soon-to-be graduates.
Since we had a train to catch a little after noon, we had to leave the park a bit early - especially since we still had to return our bikes. We quickly had one last ride through the city as we headed back to Rosenborg Cykler, and I found it a little bittersweet to return my bike, which had taken me on so many adventures over the last week. Walking back through Copenhagen to our hotel to get our luggage before we could make our way to Central Station, we passed by some amazing-looking pop-up markets in plazas - if we had more time I would’ve definitely wanted to stop for a bit and check them out! Returning to the hotel, we all grabbed our luggage and headed out to Central Station, which was a 5-minute walk from our hotel, and upon arriving at the train station, I found myself surprised to see just how much bike parking there was (Not only was there the typical parking we had seen during our time in the city but there were even stacked parking racks that were absolutely packed)!
Right on Track
Inside, Central Station was alive with people getting to their trains, restaurants, and pop-up events/businesses (they were even handing out free beer), however, we soon found that our scheduled train to Stockholm had been canceled. Through our DIS program, they were able to reschedule us onto a different train, however, it required us to first travel to Malmö, Sweden, before transferring to a train that would ultimately take us to Stockholm. Since we had a bit of time before our new train was scheduled to depart, it gave me a chance to get a coffee from one of the shops, before we were Malmö-bound at 1 pm.
Once in Malmö however, we faced another slight detour, when the train we were scheduled to take departed early, meaning we would have to find a new way to Stockholm. Thankfully, there was another train headed to Stockholm an hour later, that we were able to transfer on, and finally, by 3 pm, we were on our way to Sweden’s capital, or as some call it the “Venice of the North”. Reflecting on the ride, it was a little bittersweet to leave Copenhagen, with the city now seeming much more familiar. Still, I found myself extremely excited to arrive in Sweden, since it would be the first time I could use the Swedish I knew since I had started learning the previous August. Taking advantage of the 5-hour train ride, I was able to catch up on my blog assignments for the program (& a few Duolingo lessons), while enjoying the Swedish countryside as it passed us by.
Hej Hej Stockholm
Arriving in Stockholm a little after 7:30 pm, we were greeted at the train station by one of our DIS contacts, who had traveled to Stockholm to quickly orient us to the metro via one of the maps, as well as direct us to our hotel and give us our transportation passes for the week, which would work on all of Stockholm’s public transportation (how lucky were we?!).
Our hotel, Clarion Hotel Stockholm, was located on Södermalm, one of the central islands in Stockholm (the city is situated on a total of 14 islands), and was conveniently located only about 200 feet from one of the metro stops. After checking in and getting our rooms, it was safe to say everyone was starting to get hungry (we hadn’t eaten since early that afternoon, with breakfast being our only “real” meal), so we decided to get out and walk around a bit, looking for somewhere to grab dinner.
Wandering around Södermalm, we walked up and down a few hills and flights of stairs, quickly realizing Stockholm had many more elevation changes compared to Copenhagen. We also noticed that the building facades were a bit simpler than those in Denmark, and while there weren’t as many bicycles, there certainly were a large number of e-scooters found on almost every street (most likely due to how many hills there were). Since it was a holiday week, there wasn’t much still open after 9 pm, and we were happy to find Dionysos, a Greek restaurant that offered vegetarian options for some of the members in our group. Together, we enjoyed a great dinner (myself getting some calamari and mussels, which came with a side of sliced potatoes) and discussed what our plans would be for the following day, since technically on our schedule it was listed as a free day to orient ourselves to Stockholm.
Since I had previously done some research on Stockholm, I knew there were a few museums and locations I wanted to check out, so seeing how the group decided on an afternoon trip to the newly opened transportation museum, I knew my morning and evening were free to explore. After dinner, most of the group went back to the hotel, however, one of my peers and I decided to stay out a bit later, enjoying the (nearly) midnight sun and trying to gain our bearings in a new city.
Reaching the edge of Södermalm, we found ourselves on top of a cliff overlooking the water and different islands, with towers and domes standing against the hazy sunset. Continuing on along the coastline, we reached the bridge that connected Södermalm and Gamla Stan (Old Town) and wandered over, however instead of venturing into the densely packed buildings of the old town, we stayed by the harborfront where there were restaurants and seating areas.
For a bit, we sat by the water, soaking in the sights, however, we eventually continued onto Norrmalm, one of the busy commercial areas of Stockholm, where we were able to walk through parks and shopping districts. By then (around 12 am), the sun had completely set and we figured it would be best to head back and make use of our transportation passes to take the metro since it was dark, so we returned back to the hotel, set our breakfast time for the following day, and called it a night.
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