Hej, From Sweden!

Good morning all you beautiful people!

Well yesterday was a whirlwind. First of all, I finally fell asleep at midnight after having a slight fever and a stomach bug BUT THEN a woman’s worst fear happened. Joking, I’m being dramatic. Only kinda. But back to it hahaha at 2am I woke up to the sound of my hostel door opening. I was in my room alone so I was super confused. Of course, I sit right up and am pretty much ready for attack. This man walks in and literally jumps when he sees me and apologizes profusely. He was assigned room next door but had just got his room changed (now in mine) during the middle of the night because all his bunk mates snored like crazy. So he made his bed, i apologized that my alarm would be going off at 5:00 am and we went back to bed. Thinking about it now im kinda like “cogan this isnt a normal experience” but hey, its the hostel lifestyle ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and i was safe so

But then rise and shine at 5am I went to the train station to catch my bus and of course the bus terminal is in a completely different building thats attached to the train station. Not only did I get there at 6:20 for a 6:22 bus but the bus left early :) so kinda my own fault but also what the heck mister bus driver. Made the most of it though - got a croissant. I talked to the reception people and apparently there were no trains there for another 2-3 days soooo I sat down, took a deep breath and realized there are so so so many worse situations I could be in. I ended up finding a flight from Oslo to Stockholm at 11:20am so quick ate that expense that wasn’t planned and headed to the airport.

Not going to lie I felt special when the flight attendant didnt give me the exit row instructions in English. Does that mean I look Norewgian 🧐 was happy about that but also reakized I have 0 clue what he told me i needed to do. pulled the good ole smile and nod. Once we landed (50 min flight) I took the Arlanda Express Train to the great city of Stockholm.

My hostel is INSANE. It has a lil cafe, a restaurant/bar, pool table, foosball, ping pong, full kitchen, LAUNDRY MACHINES, and just the best atmosphere Ive had yet. You can tell im excited about the laundry machines - i desperately need to do laundry. AND IT WAS $26 / NIGHT

I decided to walk around a little bit. I was exhausted from a long stressful day of traveling but knew stretching my legs would help. Plus I haven’t worked out since I left the states and it’s definitely catching up to me. I just went out and walked around the Norrmalm District and saw some beautiful architecture and small little shops. I ended up going to grab a late lunch/dinner at a local cafe (of course I can’t remember the name of it) and got an amazing sandwich and cup of earl grey tea. Then I came back to the hostel and relaxed for a little before I decided it was time I try to make friends. Its so much fun meeting new people but can be kind of exhausting when you’re doing it every few days or everyday.

I ended up grabbing a beer at the bar and just relaxing but noticed everyone was extremely cliquish :/ also i got carded. The drinking age is 18 here - sir what do you mean you think im underage. After no success, I got in my bag and went back up to my room planning to relax for the night.

~ Oh how the tables turned ~

Back in my room two new girls were there and we immediately hit it off. Sanne is 30 and from the Netherlands but has been living and working in London for PWC for the past three years. Kate is a 44 year old woman that works as a nurse and part time paramedic in NYC. We decided to head back down to the bar to grab some drinks and ended up having a blast of a night!

Strategically placed, there is a small tattoo parlor attached to the bar and hostel so before you know it Kate was getting a tattoo. It actually turned out amazing and not going to lie I’m debating it (sorry mom and dad). We had a few pints in order to survive the sound of karaoke night and before you know it we were singing right along. There was a big group traveling together from all over the place and we befriended two Aussies. They were hilarious and duo that would definitely lead to trouble. The one actually looked identical to Zelenskyy and he was getting free beers all night because of it lol

Around 1am the Aussie man bought me the nastiest shot ever as a little birthday celebration :)