Uppsala a second try!

Well here we are again back in Uppsala. This time is seeming that we have made a few changes and will be staying a short time longer then we did last time.

This time I have arrived back here in the beautiful Swedish summer that the swedes are complaining that it is much too cold of a summer. For me, I couldn't be happier with the weather. It's amazing compared to the 120*F weather I left in Phoenix.

Another huge difference this time is the I am now a Swedish resident. In the last month I have found a job as a barista, signed up for a course in Swedish for Immigrants, and are on our way to completing all the needed paperwork for Stina's American residency. Starting to feel that we are finally moving in the right direction!

Back again!!

Looks like I am back at it again. I have finally arrived back in Sweden and have been connected back with Stina. I know that I should have written this post about a month ago but I really haven't felt inspired enough till now.

I may actually change up how I write in here and start making shorter posts but we will see how it goes.

Lets see, Since I have gotten back to Europe I have done a small amount of traveling. I originally flew into Copenhagen, Denmark. Spent a few days there, After that we traveled to Malmo, Sweden and vejbystrand, Sweden. I spent the better part of a week there enjoying being back by the coast with the crisp air and beautiful scenery.

A Year in Conclusion

Schloss Platz

Well, I know this is being written a couple of months after I should have written it but I’ll just go with the cliché and say “better late than never”. I figured tonight would be a good time to write this since I am on the verge of ending my European Tour and I started this one week before I left the states. So I guess it seems quite fitting that I am writing my final blog now. I don’t believe this will be my final blog on this site but it will be my final blog about this eurotrip.

I DID IT!!

Last year, I have had the opportunity to have so many experiences I don’t even really know where to start. First was my greatest accomplishment, I completed college at Arizona State Univ with my bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies. This took me much longer than I expected because of my inability to settle and make up my mind. In May, I got the chance to walk across that stage in a funny hat with all my friends and family there to watch. It was a great feeling.

My gorgeous girlfriend

I knew that when I finished college I was going to want a huge change in my life and it came in the form of my girlfriend. Very shortly after I completed my degree, I began to date Stina and for it to work I had to leave the country. So I did. I packed up all I own into a storage shed and a couple of bags and moved to Europe. I left my life behind along with all my friends and family. Trust me it was not an easy decision and I felt incredibly bad for actions but I had something I needed to do and wanted to experience.

Once I left my comfortable little bubble in the United States, it became time to see and experience a whole new world. I began in Sweden, traveled to Finland, through Denmark, and ended in the south of Germany. I must say once there not everything went to plan but it was still amazing. I got the chance to live in both the Swedish culture and German. As I started to feel comfortable in Stuttgart it soon came time for a new destination and world that I never knew existed.  To Africa I flew.

The best way that I can describe Africa was that it was a new world and without a doubt an eye opener. In hind sight, I should have never made the trip and it possibly was one of the fatal flaws in my stay in Germany. I didn’t have the finances to make such a journey and put an impact on how soon I could start working. All in all what is done is done and I saw something new. At the end of all my travels of 2011, I went to 8 countries, 3 continents, with 7 different spoken languages, and no regrets.

After this, I shall continue my blog for all those who are interested but it will no longer be about this trip to Europe and Africa. At this point, I am not sure where I will go with it but I will continue to write and I hope everyone continues to find it interesting. And for Europe I will miss but I will be back soon!

African Heat, Swedish Snow, and all in between

The last month of my life has been has taken me through two continents, seven countries and six different languages. I guess you can say that it has been an eventful month and even more then that it was exhausting. I am very sorry that this has taken me so long to put up a new post but while in Africa the internet wasn't very reliable and since then I have spent my time either traveling or trying to work out the details of my life.

Africa, I guess, would be a great place to start. The best way to describe it would be to say it was an experience. I saw a part of the world that lives a different lifestyle and mentality then we see in the western world. I am not saying that it is bad lifestyle but it definitely takes some getting used to. My flight into Accra, Ghana was delayed by 4.5 hours and i arrived at 1am and didn't have the opportunity to get accommodations for that evening. I ended up staying in an internet cafe for the night and figured I would  work everything out in the morning. By this time I had not slept in almost 3 days and making logical decisions was becoming difficult. It was not a good start to my adventure but I eventually figured out life and got some sleep. The next afternoon I got to meet up with Brian, Craig, and Heather. It was a relief to no longer be alone in this strange world and start my real adventure.

Once my rendezvous with the rest of my friends we found a place to sleep that night and did some wandering around Accra. This was the first chance I had received to actually take in what the town had to offer and I realized at that point that this was going to take some time to adapt to. Sleeping was definitely the worst that first night. I doubt that Brian and I got 3 hours of sleep between the two of us (heat and mosquitoes). The next day we headed west to a small town called Butre. It was a gorgeous little beach hideaway where we would spend the next two days before we headed back toward Accra to Cape Coast. In Cape Coast, we did a Canopy walk. Got to cross something else off of my bucket list and received an amazing experience at the same time.

Last night in Ghana was spent at a monkey sanctuary in Tafia Tome. This may have been one of the greatest experiences I have ever had. We entered the jungle bright and early in the morning at which time the guide called the monkeys out of the forest and one by one we fed them bananas directly out of our hands. The monkeys would climb up on your shoulders and arms while they would peel the banana and eat out of your hands. I can describe this at all and I didn't know it would ever be something I would get to do.

After Ghana, it was time to travel across the forests of Togo and start one of the worst bush taxi rides I would ever experience. We were riding in a van that should have been broken down on the side of the road long ago. As we traveled the 8 hours on a dirt road the window of our van would shift as we went through car sized pot holes and Brian's chair would fall to the ground. a total of 12 hours later we arrived in Benin. Time to experience the life of a Beninese local. Throughout Benin we traveled to Parakou and experienced a chuke crawl that was beer made in a bucket, Abomey and saw the old kingdoms, Cotonou and saw the large markets, and last we headed south to Grand popo in which we had another small vacation on the beach. Overall a great time in benin.

We headed back across Togo to Ghana so that Brian and I could catch our long flights home. Problem was that my flight home broke down on the tarmac and I had to spend another day in Africa, After arguing with the Turkish Airlines manager till 4am i got a change in airlines and a direct flight back up to the snowy forest of  Germany. Not completely true because the snow didn't actually happen till a week later but it was still a shock from the 100 degree weather of Africa. After 2 weeks in Stuttgart and some great trips to the Christmas market it was time to head up north to Sweden.

This was a great change of my lonely lifestyle in Stuttgart. I am now in Sweden with Stina's family and enjoying some great food and lots of home brewed Christmas ale. It was great to see the change of traditions of a Swedish Christmas and all the happiness that fills the house.

I am quite sad that i did not get the opportunity to be home for the holidays and get to be with my family but plans have changed and we should be heading back to the states at the end of the February. Stina no longer works as an Au Pair in Germany and I may have found in job in Sweden tending bar. A lot has changed in the past two weeks but I think for the best. The timing for Germany was not right and my trip to Africa was amazing but was also at the complete wrong time. Many things worked against me staying in Germany but maybe it can happen sometime again in the future.

Merry Christmas!

Burning colors of the forest

The last couple of weeks have definitely had some amazing times. After each long week of loneliness, I get the pleasure of Stina coming into town and visiting somewhere new. Stina and I have decided that each weekend we are going to have a new adventure and place to see. This started out two weekends ago when we went to Freiburg. Beautiful city! The whole city has what you would expect when you think about a German city. Surrounded by the schwartzwald (black forest) which all the trees are rapidly changing into there autumn colors. The town has lots of old buildings that are white with brown trim on slender cobble stone roads. This was an amazing city and a must see if you come to Germany.

This weekend Stina and I decided to stay in town and see our surrounding forest before the leaves have completely fallen. As it turns out just behind my house is a very large forest that goes for about 3 miles. We decided that this would be a good walk with a small picnic. The leaves have mostly turned color by this time but it still had a great feel to it. We wondered for over two hours through the trails and played on a playground. Turned out to be a very relaxing day in the wonderful company of my girlfriend. That evening Stina and I went up to the local pub that turned out to be mainly english speaking and gave me a small taste of home. Couldn't have asked for a better weekend.

Well the weekend has come to a close and it is now time for me to board a train to the airport. The next three weeks i will be on my African adventure with Brian, Craig, and Heather. I know I will miss somethings terribly but it will be a trip to remember. I will do my best to write as many blogs as possible and I will save most of the pictures to post on facebook when I get back. I hope all is well back stateside and i miss you all. Please comment its always nice to hear from you all. 

The next step in my adventure

I know that I have been horrible in keeping up my blog and I am very sorry for that. Things in my life has been a bit cray I guess its been a little harder to get the motivation to give an update.

Since I have last written on here, I have found a place to move into and get set up. It is an unfurnished room just outside of city center. It will be a small adjustment because I will be living with roommate. His name is Imad. He is a nice guy that doesn't speak a lot of english but I think that will be a good thing for me and will help me learn the language. It will be an experience but I will only be there for 2 weeks before my trip to Africa.

Africa has had a few snags recently, First was the amount of time it took for my passport to get to the States and now they have had my passport for a week at the embassy. This is not my only issue, the are continually changing my flight. It looks like I am now going to be leaving a day early and will be getting back a day later. I guess it is good that I will now get a couple more days in Ghana.

The final big change in my life would have to be the moving of Stina. She has moved in with her Au Pair family. Turns out that the she now lives just an hour outside of the city. We had both expected that she would be closer to town but we are trying to make the best of it. We are trying to set it up that she will come into town each weekend. On the other hand, it means that I will now be living completely alone for 5 days week.




Other then that Stina and I have had a couple adventures. We have attended the Wasen in Stuttgart, which is the schwabish Oktoberfest. It was a lot of fun. Not really what I had expected it to be. Turns out that Oktoberfest was a huge carnival that contains large beer tents. Some other things that we have been up to is having some beers with some new friends, a trip to the zoo, trip to Ikea, and some sight seeing.

Culture shock

Since my last blog, I have not really had many changes in my life. What I have had is a change in how I feel. You may call it culture shock, home sick, or just stress but what I do know is that the excitement of being outside of the states has now warn off and I think the true weight of what I am doing is set in. I knew this was going to happen, it was just a question of when. Since I spent time in Sweden before I came to Germany, I have now been outside of an English speaking country for almost 6 weeks now. As most of you know I love to talk,  my mom has always said "I love the sound of my own voice" so its a very strange feeling for me when I can no longer involve myself in a conversation or figure out how to order my meal correctly.
Last year, when I was in Ireland, I believe, that my culture shock was much less because there was no language barrier. I know that this situation will not last and that I will soon be able to focus my attention on learning the language but for the time being it is making life difficult and sometimes near impossible. Stina and I are doing are best and beginning to make progress in the right direction.
As for the couch surfing and apartment searching, today was a great day. We looked at a room right near where we are staying and it turned out that the guy liked us and I should be able to move in by the end of the month. The rent is rather cheap compared to what we have been looking at and I don't have to sign a contract. We will meet with him again tomorrow and work out the details. This did put us in another bind, we didn't know where we were going to stay for the next month. This is where we got extremely lucky. As we were staying at a couch surfers house he is leaving for a month to Indonesia, we talked to him for a bit and he offered us his place to stay at for the next month. I don't think we could have gotten luckier.
Things may be looking up for Stina and I, keep your fingers crossed for us. As always miss you all and I hope everything is going great stateside, and please leave a comment so I can hear from you.