The Arrival, the excitement, the struggles

As most of you know we have finally concluded our travels and have arrived in Stuttgart, Germany. This has been probably one of the most bitter sweet things of my life. The journey took us almost 26 hours, with the amount of luggage that we decided to bring with us it was just short of hell. We did get a bit luck on the train though. On night train (14 hour trip) we happen to get our own cabin. This was probably the best possible thing that could have happened to us. Since we had so much luggage we took up almost the entire cabin but it also allowed us the chance to each lay down on three seats and get a little bit of shut eye.

  When we arrived in Stuttgart we thought things would be a bit less stressful but that was just an illusion. As soon as we arrived the apartment searching began. It turns out that we got to Germany at the same time as the college students are attempting to get all settled in before there semester begins. So every apartment we go look at it seems that 20 other people are looking at it before we do. The language issue is becoming more and more of an issue each day but Stina and I are doing our best to get it and it is a very slow process.

Couch surfing has turned out to be quite a blessing. We have not had to pay for a place to stay yet since we have gotten here. Also the people that we are staying with have help answer a lot of questions that we have been having. When we first decided to do couch surfing I was very skeptical but it has really helped a lot and the people are so incredibly nice.



Since Stina and I would go completely crazy if we just searched for apartments all day everyday we do a little bit of sight seeing in between. It allows us to get out walk a bit and see the town that we are going to be living in. It is an incredibly beautiful town that includes many very large parks, forest all around, and amazing architecture. I think once I am completely settled in here I will really like this town. When my stress level has the chance to decrease I feel like I may really enjoy this town and be able to call it home for a while. As always I really hope all is going well in the states and I miss you all. Comment on the like if you have any questions, I hope to hear from you all soon.

Culture night and the next step in our travels

I know it has been quite a while since I have written in my blog, sorry about that. The past week hasn’t really been all that eventful before the last weekend. Last week involved, Stina’s driving test (which she passed) and did a large dinner for Stina’s mother's birthday. All of our other time has been on the internet searching for apartments, jobs, and places to stay till we have an apartment. I knew this was going to be difficult but we seem to be making a bit of progress.

                Last weekend, it was the culture night in Uppsala. This was a long day of interesting things. We started our day with a Swedish massage and a tea tasting. After we completed our massages it was off to acupuncture. It was an experience that was both painful and boring, especially when I forgot that I had a needle in my ear and rolled my head over on the pillow. (Didn't help my sleeping at all either btw) So once we completed that we headed over to the a couple of art exhibits and the house of the famous writer about the cat. Then we ate some tofu, saw a cactus garden, and the garden of linnaeus the father of

grouping and classification of animals. Off to the dungeons, This was really cool to see and it was also the last time it will be open for a couple of years so we were really glad to catch it. The night ended after a couple of fire shows and some beer. It was 12 hours of walking and planning but turned out to be a lot of fun. 

                Since then it has all been packing and traveling. All our luggage made the it a long difficult ride but now that we are down here all is much better. The ocean to the west, crisp smell of salt, and small houses all around. It is almost like being back in San Diego, other then it is much colder here and more wind. It reminds me a lot of the east coast shores but it is nice to be getting back to our journey. 

                 Comment if you like, it would be nice to see that people are actually reading this. 

                 

Finland, Gamla Uppsala and starting to pack again

         As the past couple of days have not been as eventful as the past couple of weeks they have been fun of some gorgeous sites and great memories.

     Late last week Stina took her driving theory test for her driving license and passed! Congrats. While she was taking the exam I got one of my first chances  to wonder the city alone. This turned out to be much more of a task then I anticipated. Turns out that the place I chose to order food no one spoke any English at all. This is a problem because I have been working on my Swedish but its definitely not anywhere close to full sentences yet. So I eventually got what I wanted after quite a bit of pointing and hand gestures. I made my way down to the river and ate lunch on a park bench. Not exactly the cleanest river in the world but it was a nice spot. Once I finished lunch it was time to get lost in town for a couple of hours and see some interesting sites.

        When I arrived home I got the chance to take a little drive with Stina's father to the Old Uppsala. This was the location that the vikings had originally settled back in the 1st century. They moved Uppsala when Christianity took over in about 1500. It was amazing to walk through the small abandoned village. It was a great evening that gave me a ton of history of the area and an idea of actually how old this area really is. Also the viking burial grounds all over were an overwhelming site to see. The viking kings are buried under huge mounds of dirt when they die and the bigger the mound the more important the king.

          On Saturday our adventure began to a new country. To Finland we started but like always with a couple of set backs. We made our reservations incorrectly for the ferry that almost had us left in Uppsala and even worse then that I completely forgot my passport. This kinda put a damper on the trip because we were not going to temp me going on the island because i may not be able to reboard the boat. It was still a really fun trip and had some amazing sites of the archipelago. Its a beautiful trip and a must see if you come to Sweden.



       The last couple of days have been sent purchasing our train tickets to Germany, packing up to move again, and organizing where we are going to stay for out first week in Stuttgart. It has been a bit stressful but now that the tickets have been bought and sunday night we ate at an amazing Thai food place the stress is much reduced and we are now just relaxing as the move south comes closer. We will be leaving to the south of Sweden on monday the 12th and then we will be heading over the canal to Copenhagen, Denmark on the 19th to head down to Stuttgart. We are leaving to Germany a bit later then we wanted to but it saved us a ton of money just to wait a couple more days.

-If you want comment on the post I would love to hear from everyone.

beautiful sights and great company

Swedish Adventures

         So I have changed my mind and just decided to to post all my pictures on facebook which it looks like most of you have already checked them out. I also have a few more from today I will post shortly.

        As most of you have seen from the pictures the last week has been a lot of sight seeing. My feet have been having a great time adapting to the all the walking but it is a must if I am going to be living a life without a car. We have seen almost all there is to see in Uppsala in the past week. Actually I think we saw all there was to see in the first two days. Uppsala is a very small university town that most of the population is made up of students which means bikes everywhere a huge problem with bike theft. I lock my bike up like crazy and just hope for the best. Speaking of bikes mine has turned out to be quit a headache and nothing but problems so far. The derailers are completely out of alignment and I have gone through two flat tires already, fun time half way to Ikea (delicious meat balls btw).
 
         Downtown Uppsala has one of the most gorgeous cathedrals based on gothic architecture and most of the kings of Sweden have been buried inside. Another part of Uppsala that I got to see today was Gamla Uppsala (old Uppsala) which is where the viking graves are located in these huge mounds. I went with Stina's father while Stina was in class. I had a great time and got a huge lesson on the history of Uppsala and the vikings.

            Stina and I also had an adventure to Stockholm this week. Wonderful time in a viking museum, picnic in front of the castle and I road a lion. In the old town of Stockholm we wondered around in some small shops and a few little art galleries. Very calm and relaxing day of site seeing but we will have to make a return trip because we were unable to see everything. 

            The other stuff that has been going on a crawfish party, cheap beer with some friends at the student organization, Stina's driving school, and some family dinners. All in all it has been a great week and I have been trying to work my way into the Swedish culture and trying to pick up a little of the Swedish language while I am at it.