The boys in Stockholm

wow, time has really been flying by. It is amazing that I have already spent almost 4 months here. So, dad and Blake just left. We had an amazing time exploring Stockholm, Poland, Denmark, and Berlin...In Poland we visited Auschwitz, which was absolutely unreal. To walk that place was one of the most spooky things I have ever done. On

a better note we ate some great hearty meals, some real Polish sausages and good beer. Then blake and I took a train down to Copenhagen, 

we rented bikes and jumped into the crazy bike scene there, almost died a few times. Copenhagen was great, besides the expensive everyhting

it was a beautiful place. Carlsberg brewery, canal trips, Christiania, the mermaid, and karaoke pretty much sums up Copenhagen Then we flew

to Berlin, we saw the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin wall, Checkpoint Charlie, the Eastside Gallery, and some very cool street art. If I spoke German, I

could definitely live there for a few years (maybe not). Before that I took a trip to Prague, Czech Republic for a few days. Prague was a very beutiful

town filled with very old castles, churches, and bridges. I was typical classic old eastern European country which was mostly preserved through WWII.

After that I went to Tallinn, Estonia on a student cruise. That place is old! its pretty much Russia, but not..If you catch my drift. Its a small town 

across the Baltic Sea and boarders Russia. The cruise ship was filled with all students so it was pretty cool. Tomorrow I am off to Amsterdam for

Queens day (Blake I will miss you) with a few friends. Then back to Stockholm to hang out with my friends for a month before people start going 

back home. So, I will speak to you soon! Love you all!

Time Flys

A few pictures of me and some good people..WOW, time has flown by since I have been here. I cant believe it has been a little over two months. The sun is finally coming out, it is still cold, but at least I can now see the actually sun. The city is awesome with a pair of sunglasses on my face! So ya where do I begin; I went on a little cruise to a small finnish Island, it was more of an excuse to go buy cheap alcohol, it was a very indigenous Island which was cool to see the true finnish people. I ate an entire fish with everything still intact which was very strange. I met some really nice Swedish people who were kind enough to invite me to there home to eat an authentic Swedish meal, drink Vodka and answer a million questions about the states and California. The past couple of weeks I have pretty much just been living the Stockholm life, or as we like to call it "Stocktown".  Ive been taking a lot of photos, meeting new people, partying, exploring, observing Swedish people, trying to learn the language (as well as french, german, and dutch), and submerging myself in some very strange/interesting/different situations. These next couple of weeks are pretty busy for me. This weekend I am going up north to go snowboarding, then I am off to Prague on monday, after that I have my final exam, then im going to Örebro  to visit the Swedish people I met at SDSU, then Im going on a cruise to Tallin, Estonia, and then Pops and Blake are coming to town!!! Dad I know you wanted to see my face so here are a few Pics. Hej då, Vi ses.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23286086@N06/

some photos for now, i will write again soon....

Back from the Arctic Circle

So its been a couple weeks since i last updated this, it kinda slipped my mind. Sorry people. So ya, Last weekend I went to Kiruna, which is in the Artic Circle of northern Sweden. I went with 10 other people (some crazy french people, australians, and some swiss) we had a cool little cabin and this camp site. We went dogsledding, which was amazing, 5 dogs to each sled going through the trees, over frozen lakes, and then to a teepee where we had a fire and ate some salmon soup. It was seriously out of a movie, i felt like i was in Fargo or something. Then the next day we took snowmobiles to the ice hotel, which was crazy, there were 30 different rooms each designed by an artist. As well as an ice bar with ice glasses we drank our crazily overpriced drinks out of, haaa. We ate reindeer! We didn't get to see the Northern Lights, which sucked, we tried to stand out in the freezing cold (-30c) at night to see them, but they never showed up. Went ice fishing, tried to go cross country skiing!! but my skis were circa 1967 so it was difficult. And ya, this week has been cool, went to a few museums, trying to learn Svenska, the language is pretty hard, and it doesn't help that everyone speaks english. Group stickers at parties are a hit!!. Im going on a cruise to either helsinki, Finland or Tallin, Estonia soon so i will tell you of my adventures when i get back i miss you all and love youu!!!! 

      Gamla Stan

Quick few days

Im doing laundry and i have a few minutes so i thought id write to you nice folks. Well, so i bought a tripod and took a few photos before my battery ran! so there are two you can look at haa! So now i wait until i get my charger, but there is a girl with the newer version of my camera so that might work and i can get some photos for you. Anyway, today i have my first Swedish class at 2, so now i will actually be going to school! So the past few days have been cool, sunday I went to a Jazz brunch, it was pretty sweet they had all you can eat food and a chill little jazz band playing...ate a lot of Köttbullar (Swedish meatballs) and drank bloody marys so that was a grand old time. Monday was Australian day, there are a few aussies who live across the street so they had a party  at their corridor, which is funny because everyone hangs out in the halls and kitchen, but ya it was fun. Yesterday i went out with some people, two french, a Polack, and a German and watched cricket at a pub which was really cool, because you had to walk like two stories down to get to the place, it was out of a movie because when we walked in everyone stopped what they were doing (the music scratched) and looked at us, it was funny. And today i start school yay!! well that was a quick run down of my past few days. Also, i met this rollerbladder haa, so we went to the skatepark and did some 540 front flips! hes a really cool guy and its nice to have someone to go with sooooo illl talk to you alll late.

Hej då 

These are two photos from the Tunnelbana at Stadion

This is a statue at Sergels Torg

              (More to come!)

1st Week

Hej Friends!

Well, i've explored more of Stockholm by now, not all because it is a pretty big city, a lot is packed into this place, and it is incredible. As I was walking around the city all I could say to my self was "holy s**t", I cant believe where I am, walking around Sweden in the snow by myself with a huge smile on my face. The architecture here has so much history. I went to the Royal Palace where the guards stand out front with no expression on their face. There is one of the oldest towns (island) in Stockholm called Gama Stan, the streets are all cobblestone and very small, cars cant drive on most of the streets. There are tons of shops and small places to eat (sooo many coffee/cafes). I haven't taken too many photos yet just because i've been in owe just walking all around and getting lost. Two days ago I skated at the Stockholm skatepark which is in Fryshuset, a cool, more hip town where the punk rock kids hang out, haha. I meet a really cool Swedish guy who works there and kills it at skating! Then we had our exchange student orientation, there is a student union which throws parties, plans events. and other cool stuff that I'm really excited about. Its snowing outside... Anyways, last night these two Swedes on my floor took us out to some bars around the city, it was cool to get to know the people I live with and spend a lot of money! Its cool because there hasn't been an American living on this floor for a long time and everyone is super cool and very interested in the California life. I've stayed up late at night just talking to some of the people about our lives and how different everything is... The past four days have opened my eyes up tremendously, just being in a foreign place having to step outside of my comfort zone has truly changed my life already. After meeting people from around the world just makes me want to see the entire world. The French guy (Adrian) and I are planning to go to Copenhagen soon, also the Student Union is planning a trip to Helsinki, Finland in the next few months so hopefully I can go. Its snowing outside... Anyways its crazy to buy alcohol, the beer they sell in the stores is only 3.5%, so to buy real beer and alcohol you have to go to stores called Systembolaget, and they are only open during the week so I have to plan to go buy beer..(Matt, you would have a hard time!). Blake, Group stickers are slowly appearing in random places, there is so much style here I think this is the place for Group, haha.. Everything is still pretty overwhelming for me, meeting all these foreigners then forgetting their names, going to school and not knowing what to do because everything is in Swedish, living in the cold, living in a dorm like atmosphere, taking the metro (Tunnelbana, its is just a complete 180 from living in Cali... Tonight we have a welcoming party at the pub on campus for the exchange students so thats going to be cool..Its snowing outside... and ya, ive already slipped on ice in front of some people and that was cool...Well, I gotta run to go to school for a little meeting...Dad i miss you, Mom is miss you, Blake, Kristin, Aaron, Kayden, all my friends and Amy I miss all of you, and don't worry Im being very safe,(not too safe!)  hahaha I will post some pictures soon. 

Hej då

First Day

Hej!

I don't even know where to start, well i guess its colder than a mother here and everybody is speaking a damn other language, but what is funny is every person i go up to speaks perfect english, so i feel better about the language barrier. So i got to my room this morning and met some of my neighbors, they all seem pretty cool and welcoming. Lappis, which is where I'm living is only about a 7 1/2 minute walk to campus so its very nice. I met german who is a juggler in circuses and a real down to earth person, we cruised around stockholm as well as the worlds biggest ikea! This town is amazing, well I've only seen a bit of it, but its very cool. The metro system is awesome, very easy to follow and very clean. And ya I cant believe I'm actually here, holy shit, I'm in Stockholm by myself! It really hasnt hit me yet how far away i am, im trippin, but im goin with it, saying yes to every opportunity that come my way. I miss all of you so very much, but i know this experience will change my life! 

Vi ses

Andy