#72 One Year Later

So, it has now been just over a year since I first set out on my travels. Writing this, I'm now at home back in Ireland and I've started my final year in college.

It's been an interesting 12 months.

Previously, I had been away from my family for one month at most, and that was within Ireland when I was away at college, surrounded by my friends. Taking the leap to living by myself almost 6,000 miles away for four months is, looking back, utter madness.

No one tried to talk me out of it, and now that I think about it, my mother must have been sick with worry! My sister had previously spent a few months in Finland so she wasn't completely alien to the concept of us living abroad, but she had travelled over there with her when she first moved, and we visited her again while she was there.

I don't think I was really nervous about the whole thing. Well I was nervous, but in an itchy-feet excited way, not an anxious way. I couldn't wait to get to Japan and see all these famous locations and meet lots of new friends. It was an adventure - one I had been looking forward to for nearly four years.

My time in Japan, while amazing, wasn't all a barrel of laughs. Work was terribly annoying sometimes and the severely early mornings are a lot to take every day. For the most part, I was lonely. During the week I went to work by myself and came home by myself, and I spent most weekends exploring Tokyo by myself. That was the worst part - when you see something extraordinary, and turn around to comment on it, but there's no one there to tell.

My time in Sweden was different from what I expected. I was really looking forward to making friends with all these other nationalities, as well as finally having house mates again! When I arrived it was a little different, and I think I expected too much. I had little to no contact with my five house mates, and of the 50 or so people I went to class with and lived beside, I became close with only a handful.

Now I'm home, and I can't wait to go somewhere again. I'm flat broke and surrounded by people who have money saved - but whenever I feel jealous or have to cut back my spending, I just think about the amazing year I've had.

#70 Hultsfred Music Festival

So Hultsfred Music Festival 2013 was a very last minute decision, as my friend and I applied only a week before, and amazingly got accepted to volunteer there!

We were working in shifts for parts of the festival, so it was impossible for us to see everyone play. However, we saw almost all the acts we wanted to, which was great! The festival was very small, less than 5,000 people I'd guess. It had recently moved from Hultsfred in Southern Sweden to an hour outside Stockholm to try encourage more sales (which I didn't think worked...).

The main headliners were Fatboy Slim, Two Door Cinema Club, Arctic Monkeys, Imagine Dragons, Bastille, Adrian Lux and Portishead. For me this was a mediocre lineup, but since the ticket was free I decided to go anyway!

Arctic Monkeys were just boring and Fatboy Slim just DJ'd instead of playing any known songs, so for me the real stars were Imagine Dragons. I hadn't heard much of them before the festival, but they were fantastic live, and I'd recommend you see them if you have the chance! We also by chance met the drummer and bass player wandering around the festival, which was cool. (Super nice guys, we were chatting to them for ages too!) We also sat in on someone called Miriam Bryant, just to fill in some time. We had no idea who she was or what type of music she sang, but we were pleasantly surprised when she came onstage. I'm sure she hates this - but the easiest way to describe her is like a cool, Swedish Adele (she sings in English though!). And she was amazing live, even better than recordings. So I'd advise you to look her up too!

The campsites were quite small, and there was no other entertainment available - so if you weren't listening to  a band there was nothing really to do. Also, there were very few artists - there were at most two artists playing at the same time, and at some points there was just one! This could be good as you don't have the problem of two or more people you like overlapping, but it also meant if you didn't like either you didn't have much choice.

There were (overpriced) food stands, hot showers and the toilets were cleaned quite regularly so that was good at least! We didn't sleep there as we had no tent, but there were free buses running to Stockholm so it was easy to get there.

The most surprising thing I found at this festival, (and also at the Grona Lund concerts) was that I could walk up to the stage, while the band was playing, and get a spot at the front! It seems the Swedes prefer to be at the centre front, or even just at the centre. This leaves ample room to the right and left of the stage so I can just walk up and snap a few great pictures! This would never ever happen in Ireland - if you want to get to the front you have to camp out all day! There are some exceptions, but generally you can get very near the front quite easily.

So anyway, that was Hultsfred, probably not the most exciting music festival, but not terrible either!

 Fatboy Slim

 Guess who?

 Festival Area

 Big crowd for Adrian Lux

 Miriam Bryant

 Two Door Cinema Club

 View of the festival

View of the second stage

#69 Swedish Midsummer

June 21st is the highlight of the Swedish calendar! Why? Midsummer!

This is basically the day when everyone eats strawberries and dances around the Maypole.

#68 Stockholm - The Gateway to Scandinavia

Today marks my last week in Sweden. This got me thinking - not only am I leaving Stockholm - I'm leaving behind a great gateway to Europe, or Scandinavia at the very least.

For the 5 months I was in Sweden, I visited six other countries - Finland, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and Poland. And not only did I visit these countries, I visited their capital cities and saw the famous landmarks of Helsinki, Oslo, Copenhagen, Tallin, Riga and Warsaw. And I visited Gothenburg and Malmo here in Sweden too.

I'm from Ireland, so these countries aren't very far away. But Ireland is an island to the far West of Europe, and it's not as cheap or easy to get to these places as some of you (especially Americans!) might think.

It cost me only €10 (or €40 for a cabin of 4 people) to get to Finland, Estonia and Latvia using the amazing cruise services from Stockholm. €45 for train tickets to Gothenburg, Oslo and Malmo/Copenhagen. €10 flights to Poland. Now if that isn't cheap, I can't tell you what is.

Some people were visiting places like Spain or Italy, but for me, I could go another time from Ireland and it wouldn't be so much in price difference. But there are plenty of countries you can get to from Sweden so cheaply!

So if you come to Stockholm, you're also getting the opportunity to travel to some great places. They say Stockholm is the Capital of Scandinavia, and although I'm still not sure if I agree, it is definitely the gateway to Scandinavia, and a stepping stone to Europe.

Happy travels my friends!

#66 Swedish Royal Wedding

Just two days after seeing the Royal Family at the Swedish National Day, June 8th was the wedding day of Princess Madeleine.

Because of our poor understanding of Swedish, we actually got there two hours early - but this was beneficial, as we got space at the barrier in front of the Royal Palace, and we got to watch the army drills and listen to the army bands while we waited.

In general I thought there was a poor turnout, I have never been to a Royal Wedding, but I thought there would have been a much larger crowd, although there were more than enough people around. After celebrating the National Day, I really felt Swedish and patriotic, although it seems the Swedes themselves weren't much bothered about any of this, which is a pity!

The bride was preceded by hundreds, possibly thousands, of members of the armed forces, army, navy, air force, pretty much everyone was there! Then came some public transport buses with "Royal Wedding" as the destination, and these buses contained distinguished guests, as well as members of the Royal Family (it was amazing to see someone wearing a crown wave to you from a bus)! Then came lots of pretty horses, and finally the bride and her groom in a horse drawn carriage, looking beautiful!

Awwww!

#65 Swedens National Day (or hanging out with the Swedish Royal Family)

The Swedish National Day, June 6th, isn't a very popular holiday in Sweden. For most it seems to be just a day off work, instead of a celebration to actively partake in. While researching a few days before, I found it difficult to find information on events or activities in Stockholm, except for Skansen. Skansen is the large outdoor museum, featuring a mini zoo and buildings from Sweden's history. It is also the place that holds traditional Swedish celebrations and places special events, and it was where we decided to go.

What was extra special about the National Day in Skansen, was the appearance of the entire Swedish Royal Family, and a speech from King Carl Gustav! There were events during the day such as traditional Swedish dances and Swedish games activities, and then at 6pm was a special concert, which was broadcast live on Swedish television.

I had previously visited Skansen in March, when it was still covered in snow. It was nice to visit again in the sunshine, and to see it so busy too! 

 Traditional Swedish Dancers

 Speech by the Swedish King

The Swedish Royal Family

#64 Vasa Museum

The best in Sweden? Maybe not. . .

There are two big attractions you are told you must visit when you come to Stockholm: one is the outdoor museum, Skansen, and the other is the Vasa museum. The Vasa museum is a museum about a warship which  sank on its first voyage in Stockholm bay in 1628. The ship remained largely intact and was dug up from the ocean in 1961, and is today on display at this museum.


After visiting a lot of Stockholm's other museums, I had left Vasa for almost last, and I was a little disappointed. It's just a big piece of wood in the middle of a big room. There is lots of information about details of the ship and the lives of the sailors, as well as information about the salvage process and possible reasons why it sank, but I just didn't see why it is a must-see for Stockholm. I've spoken to other people and it seemed to be a split divide - either they thought it was really cool, or nothing special!

#63 Oslo, Norway

And this concludes my visit to the 4 big cities of Scandinavia - Copenhagen, Helsinki, Stockholm and Oslo (sorry for ignoring Iceland - it's too far!).

Oslo was the most expensive out of all of them - food is ridiculously priced! Although the museum prices were okay (about 50nok for students anyway) and a one day travel card only cost 80nok, and there are lots of free things to do too. In general, there isn't a huge amount to do and because it's so expensive I would probably recommend only staying a day or two.


I think the first thing that you notice in Oslo are the skyscrapers. There none in central Stockholm or Copenhagen, and it made a change - it feels like a modern city. Also, it's almost surrounded by wooded hills with houses, which is again different to the other cities.

Shiny!

Ooooh!

The main attractions include the Opera House, which is very close to the central station. I heard there was a great view from the roof, but I didn't realise that you actually walk on the roof. . .it's a great building, although the view isn't that great.

Look!

Casually walking on the roof!

Other attractions include the National gallery which houses the famous Scream painting by Munch (but this was closed for a week from the day we arrived - so unfortunate!), the Nobel Peace Museum (the other Nobel prizes are in Stockholm though) and the Ice Bar.

Then there is Carl Johans Gate which is the main shopping and restaurant street, and that leads up to the Royal Palace. The street is nice, it has a mix of high end stores like Chanel as well as everyday favourites like H&M. The Palace isn't very pretty, but it's worth seeing.

 Carl Johans Gate

The Royal Palace

We managed to see the changing of the guard!

One of the main highlights of Oslo is the Vigeland Sculpture park. It's about 20mins walk from the city centre, but it is really worth it. I am not interested in art, but this was very pretty and really interesting (and some of them were funny).

On closer inspection, the pillar is a mass of bodies. . .

 And here are just some pictures of around the city:

Nice street

Nice fountain

Norwegian Parliament

National Gallery

So Olso was nice, it wasn't fantastic but it was a nice city and I had an enjoyable time there, and would recommend a visit. If I had to pick a favourite out of the four cities, I would probably say Copenhagen, then Stockholm, then Oslo, then Helsinki (although I only spent a few hours in Helsinki, so maybe I didn't see enough to like it!).

#62 Abba The Museum

The facts: I went on a Saturday afternoon, and I was told to come back at an allotted time about 2 hours later - which is pretty good since it has only opened.
It costs 200kr, which is pretty expensive.
It's not very big- the rooms are packed with different things to see and take in - and unfortunately they are packed with people too. So I think they could have spread it out a lot more.
The Swedish Hall of Fame is small and disappointing.

 The phone didn't ring :(

 Nice costumes

 The recording studio

 The "Become a 5th member" hologram

 This quote on a wall near the end of the museum made me sad

 A wall of their releases

And a wall of all their awards

So, the "Become the 5th Member of Abba" hologram thing was pretty disappointing. The holograms are very cartoon-y, I had really expected it to be more realistic. Nevertheless your video is recorded online, so you can go back and download it and keep it forever! There is also the karaoke booths, a quiz with different difficulty levels, a music mixer thing, a video that puts you in the video for dancing queen (although it doesn't look quite right), a thing that takes a picture of your face and then puts it on a cartoon Abba member - and then you can dance as them. There is also a disco room blaring Dancing Queen for those who feel they want to dance (no one did). They had lots of pictures and quotes from songs and tvs playing their songs and stuff all over the museum, and basically anything about Abba you ever wanted to know.

Swedish Music Hall Of Fame

This was pretty much the room

The Swedish hall of fame was disappointing - there are so many famous songs that have been written or produced by Swedes and they barely got a mention in a list on a wall. . .They really could have done a lot with this museum, and I feel it was just shoved onto the side of the Abba Museum to fill in space. They have different rooms with some information and samples of songs that were popular from the 1920s to today. It was nice but it could have been a lot better.

Just to point out that I am not a big Abba fan, I just know the singles like Dancing Queen etc etc. The museum provides a lot of background about each member, how the band started, the stories behind some of their songs, their recording equipment, outfits, albums, awards etc. There is also the interactive things like the karaoke, quiz, dancing, music mixer etc which are fun. There is really a lot, but it is all very close together, and I think they could have made it bigger and easier to see at a more comfortable pace.

If you're an Abba fan you simply have to go, but if you're not it's still interesting and I would recommend it!