Well Spring Break has officially begun. Friday morning we packed up and left our ship to go our various ways. Nearly all of us decided to stay in Stockholm through the weekend are situated at various hostels throughout the city. Anthony, Janella, Tyler and I are at Zinkingsdamm which is quite nice. Though it is not the beloved ship and I don't get to wake up with sunlight shining through a porthole, it's fun to explore another part of the city.
But for now, a little of what we did in the past week. On Monday, we went out to Vattenfall, one of Sweden's largest power companies, where we met more Gusties, Lena and Annika. As is becoming the usual, we got a private presentation on what the company does. Eric mentioned to Annika that we have seen Vattenfall at every juncture on our adventure. She mentioned that she was quite glad to hear that. I couldn't help but think if she would still be so glad if she knew the context we had heard about the company. When we were in the north, we discovered that the Sami have very clear ideas about the company as so many hydro plants have severely disrupted reindeer herding patterns. Though it is so admirable that Vattenfall is doing so much to improve the environmental impact of electricity, I can't help but wonder what we might have asked Lena and Annika were we here two months ago, fresh from our experiences in Jokkmokk.
We took a trip to the Karolinksa Institute. This is the facility which chooses who will be receive the Nobel Prize in medicine. We met Amy, yet another Gustie. While we got to learn a lot about the company, I think my favorite part of the visit was where Amy asked all of us what our dreams for the future were. My first thought was, "Does she think we're all Science kids and want a career here?" No, she just wanted to hear about us. I get pretty defensive when I'm asked what I want to do with my life. I mean, there is a lot I want to have happen. I thought that I would be judged when I told Amy, and the rest of the group for that matter, that I want to keep living and studying abroad and eventually be a theatre professor and an actor. There was no judgment, however, which leads me to believe I was maybe the one doing the judging all along.
We also went to the Riderholmen Church, which is the royal burial place. We saw so many gravestones and it's incredible how much history is present there. I caught myself thinking like my mother for a minute and imagined all the ghost lore and spirit activity which must take place once the doors have been closed for the night.
Cassandra also turned the big 20 right before we left for break. We had a lot of fun finding more places with live music in Old Town. Since being on break, I have visited several more museums and had a lot of fika time. Now that it is break I miss the rest of the group, and absolutely can not imagine what it will be like when we part for real on May 18th. I'm trying not to think about it. I am entering the fourth month that I've been gone and I'm realizing how much time that is. That's more than a summer vacation! Time has passed in such strange ways.
I am excited to go to London on Tuesday and do lots of theatre-y things, but I find that what I'm really excited for is to meet everyone in Jönköping on Sunday evening where we will all be together again and where we won't have to move our suitcases from place to place for 5 whole weeks. I have really missed the connections we get to have with places and people, like when we were in Jokkmokk and Mora- smaller towns with students to spend time with. This time in Uppsala and Stockholm has been great, but also strange. This is more time than we would have if we were merely tourists, but not enough time to really feel like it's ours. Here we go.
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