Jet lag, Ya know

(Thought that I had beat the jet lag until yesterday when I slept in till 3:00pm, and right now its 4:40am and I have been awake for a little over an hour)

Where to begin! So much has happened the last few days its hard to imagine writing it all down.

From the beginning though:

I left Minneapolis Tuesday morning and it was a nice 38/3 degrees out. Flew into Charlotte, NC and had a 6 hour lay over. Then the flight was delayed 2 and a half hours--we were now leaving at 9:00pm. No big deal.

We boarded at 9pm, and then sat. And sat. And sat some more. Our flight did not take off till 3:30 in the morning as we had one problem after another. First, our door would not close all the way. This problem took a good three hours, maybe a bit more. Then, a woman on the plane had a major panic/anxiety attack and had to be take off the plane (we had just started to taxi too!), so we turned around and did that, only to be told that our crew's time had expired and we needed to wait for a new one. This is around 1:30am, and we are all tired and cranky and quite hungry. The wait time for a new crew? 2 hours, if not more.

Everyone got fairly angry, but the captain said that we could leave the plane BUT we would have to reboard as a large group, and not individually get back on the plane. In addition, he made sure to add that all of the food places in the airport had closed, and that if we wanted food, we had better stay on board. I stayed, ate, and fell asleep. I woke up briefly to note the time we took off, but I was asleep again before we even got in the air. We were 9 hours late to London, and thank goodness that I had a 13 hour layover, though my plans to head into London proper were ruined.

The one main positive of that whole voyage is that I met the most wonderful woman. She made the whole experience tolerable. She was my seatmate, and we had lovely talks about just about everything. She told me all about southern cooking, laughed hard and called me a Yank when I said that I consider Indiana to be part of the South, and was just lovely company. She was on her way to visit her sick daughter in London, and was really not pleased about the delay in getting to see her.

Got to London safe and sound after that, and then just hung out at the airport for a few hours while I waited for my next flight. Flew RyanAir to Stockholm which was kind of a funny flight. Every ten minutes, flight attendants came down the aisle selling all sorts of things. They even sold smoke-less cigarettes on board! I was quite amused. Sat next to a Swedish girl who was quite funny, and we had a nice time.

Finally got to Stockholm at 11:30pm, and was met there by a friend from high school who did an exchange at South my senior year. I have been staying at her house since I arrived in Stockholm and have had a great time. Her family has been lovely, and my friend, Helle, has been doing a great job at showing me around.

The first day here (Thursday), I went to her high school. What I still find strange is that even though she is 6 months older then me, she is just graduating from high school, yet I have had 2 years of university already. They start school later here, and her year at my high school did not count for her, so she had to repeat a year.

Her high school is so different than mine was. People wandered the halls, came in late, had small class sizes, had WINDOWS!!! which was pretty awesome if you know my high school, and overall just had a much more relaxed feeling. Their cafeteria was really good too, better than that of my university even. Side note: I love bubbly water!!!!!!!

I have had a lot of fun just people watching, as people dress so different here, and hair styles are also not like those that I am used to. I have seen very few girls with hair that is shoulder length or shorter---it makes my short hair stand out quite a bit! Guys wear cardigans, big '70s style glasses, and a decent amount have long hair. Another note--Everyone is fairly thin. There are a few exceptions, but they are that, exceptions. Very strange for me.

On that first day, Helle and I also went into Stockholm, which is where the pictures from the last post are from. As you can see, it was cloudy and it was a bit chilly. Still, it was nice and we had a good time. That evening it was her school's talent show and that was quite fun to see. I had the house to myself afterward for a bit but went to bed fairly early.

Friday was another fun, busy day (though a bit stressful but I will get to that soon enough). Went to Helle's school again, but I had plans to meet up with a friend in Stockholm. We were to meet at the McDonalds inside of T-Centralen, the central station. I managed to train/subway to Stockholm with no problem, but could not find the McDonalds. After finally figuring it out that I had to follow the underground path there, and then go up a floor, I found it. However, I did not find my friend. The McDonalds was packed with a huge line coming out of it. Here is the part of the story that is my fault. I had understood that we were meeting outside of McDonalds but I found out much later that my friend was waiting inside for me. Well, I looked and looked and could not find him. Then I got the brilliant idea that he might be waiting at the entrance outside of the McDonalds. I head outside, but there is construction in the way. After this, I just get lost.

I go in search of a phone, but when I find one, I learn that I need a phone card. Lots more stumbling around random streets until I find a place that sells me a phone card. Then I cannot find another public phone (not sure how I found the first one) and I realize that I do not have his phone number on me. So then I search for an internet cafe, or somewhere with wifi so that I can get his number off facebook. About an hour later, I get to a 7-11 that doubles as an internet cafe. Get his number, but then am back at square one: Where can I call him from? By this time, its 1:30pm, an hour and a half after we were supposed to meet. I am stressing out and I feel bad that I made him wait around for me. Head to a post office and they let me use their phone. I call, but then.......he doesn't pick up.

I basically just gave up then and managed to find t-centralen again and subway-ed/train-ed my way back to Helle's school. I find out from her that he waited until 1:30 or a bit after for me---I feel so terrible!!! He and Helle were texting back and forth trying to figure out what had happened to me and what to do next. I made it there and back safe, but my plans completely failed. How did people live without cellphones??? This day made me appreciate mine so much more.

That night, it was one of Helle's friend's birthday. We had dinner at his house, and then we all headed to Stockholm and went to a bar which translated, is "The Farm". It was 80's pop and synth night so of course it was good. Had a nice time just sitting back and listening to all of the Swedish being spoken around me. It was really chill, and reminded me of a pub in Winnipeg, just much smaller.

Saturday was not much of a day. My jet lag caught up with me and I only woke up because Helle's mother came to make sure I was okay and not passed out unconscious on the floor or something. The time? 3:00pm. I slept for 13 hours, and as Helle was at work, no one woke me up to do stuff. Had a nice dinner though, and we went for a short historical drive where I saw some rune stones and an old church. Thats one thing about Minnesota and the US in general--We do not have much preserved history. The oldest building in Minnesota is Fort Snelling, which is from the mid 1800's. These rune stones that are all over are from the 1100's. I passed buildings which were originally built in the 1500's. I reflected about this when I was in Wales two summers ago, but I was reminded once more while I was here.

Last night I went with Helle to a sunset viewing slash picnic slash hangout slash I-don't-Know-what thingy. It was beautiful. We were on a big rock lookout where we could see the sun set over the water, and could see lots of Stockholm as we were pretty high up. It got cold pretty fast when the sun went down so we headed to a packed cafe for a bit. Came home, went to bed and woke up 3, maybe 4 hours later. Once again, jet lag you have gotten the better of me! Which is how this post has finally been written. Its 6 am here, but I have been awake since a bit after 3am and have been on and off writing this post. Heading to Russia this afternoon which is pretty dang exciting. Random embarrassing thing: tried to check in for my flight to Russia on Friday afternoon as you can check in up to 22 hours before. It did not work and said "Could not find passenger" which worried me. Called them, and they could not figure out the problem until the operator noted that I did not leave until Sunday, and not Saturday like I have been thinking for the last month. Oops. So had an extra day in Stockholm, even if I spent most of it sleeping.

Sorry for the ridiculously long post! The next one will probably be photos, and then the next will be coming from Russia.

Photo Post First---Stockholm

What Helle and her friends thought were important Swedish words to know. Haha

First ride on a subway system ever!!

Talk about advertising! There were H&M's on every street.

Most of the buildings looked like this.

Beautiful old shopping mall.

Row of cherry (I think?) trees that were still blooming.

Lion statue! Not quite sure where this was.

In front of the palace. The Guard did not seem too pleased when I took a photo of him.

I love, love, love these narrow roads. We spent a decent time wandering through them.

Cobble stone roads

Random ambulance, but I thought that this looked pretty.

More of these narrow roads!

Beautiful old church we stumbled upon.

Inside the church

More of the church

See above comment

I was lifting my camera high to take a picture of the buildings/streets and this guy raised his hand to wave his way into the picture. I smiled.



I will write about my trip later, but at the moment I am a bit jet lagged and tired after our lovely is busy day. But I am having a great time so far, and am so grateful that Helle and her family let me stay at her house. I leave on Saturday, so I still have some time here.

Late Nights Packing (Instead of Sleeping)

I am exhausted already, and I have not even stepped foot on a plane. I came home from University on Saturday (looooong story on why it was tiring), figured out what I needed to do Sunday, packed/bought last minute things today, Monday. And I will be on the lightrail headed to the airport in 7 and a half hours. Cannot imagine it.

Approximately 26 hours from now I will be in London, probably more tired than I am now, but yet I still cannot wait to be back on UK soil. Within 48 hours, I will be in Stockholm, and in 5 days I will be in St Petersburg. I have never been to any of these places, so I am really excited. The next three months will be interesting, and I have a feeling that it will be a lot more to deal with and adjust to than I expect.

What will I learn? (Other then Russian of course). What will I see that will blow my mind? Will I even? Who will I meet? What will I leave with?

Of course, this is all me just being tired and too excited/nervous to go to sleep. We will see what the future brings! And hopefully its includes long skype talks with Hollis, as otherwise, this is going to be a looooong summer.

Pre Departure

Last week of school! Classes end Thursday, and then it is finals time for the two weeks after. While I am very much looking forward to classes ending, my huge workload is making me wish I had a bit more time to finish all of my assignments that are due in the next 4 days. Hope everyone else is doing well!

I leave in exactly a month. May 3rd is coming closer and closer, but I am not sure if I am ready for it, even though I am very excited. Living in St Petersburg for 2 months will be hard. Being gone for three months in Europe, after spending 8 months in school away from home will be even harder. I will only have two and a half days at home to quickly pack/buy the last few things before I fly out to Europe. It will be stressful.

The internet question is what is currently worrying me the most. Anyone that knows me is very much aware that I am always connected to the computer (not exactly a good thing). What will I do if internet is expensive or unavailable? How will I skype my boyfriend? Or my family? How will the time difference play in to this? I am not sure and not exactly looking forward to finding out. Last minute worries are never fun, but I find myself thinking more about my trip then I am my assignments, things that I need to do NOW. Time is flying, and before I know it I will be on a plane, flying across the ocean.



p.s. I did get my exchange to Australia, at the university that I wanted. Now I need to figure out how the heck will I be able to make enough money in one semester to support me in a place that has such high living expenses. Keep in mind that my bank account will be empty by the time this Europe trip is over. And if I pay a lot for my flight there, I might as well travel the country. The Great Barrier Reef is my only must see, so at least I will be able to keep some costs down. So if you know of any jobs this fall that pay more then minimum wage, please let me know.

Everything and Nothing

Looking at my last update, I realize that so much has happened since then. July 2010 feels like a long, long time ago when the sun was warm, the grass was green and Minneapolis was home. Here in Winnipeg, I am very much feeling the cold. It has been terrible lately! I think that it is finally starting to warm up, thank goodness.

I am finishing up my second to last semester---that is my second to last semester at the University of Manitoba. I am lucky enough to be traveling again this summer! I leave May 3rd and return August 2nd. Expect many more posts this summer as I spend two months in St Petersburg, Russia and one month in Turkey, Wales, and Sweden. I get credits for the time spent in Russia, which is pretty awesome especially as they all go to my major.

More exciting news (hopefully): I just applied for exchange to Australia! I am trying to go to the University of Wollongong, which is an hour and a half south of Sydney. Picture a small coastal town...surrounded by beaches...everything in walking distance... So basically the exact opposite of the University of Manitoba. Change is good though, and college is the best time to travel as I can also work on a degree while sitting on a beach. This proposed exchange would take place in a year, February-July of 2012 so I have a bit of time before I start any planning for that.

Since I will be gone for so much of the summer, this leaves me with little time to work i.e. make money. So I will be taking fall semester off and living at home and attempting to make as much money as possible. I will also be rejoining community band, which is something that I have missed, as well as rugby. After my exchange to Australia, I will have one fall semester left and then I graduate!


After all of that, who knows what I will do!


Onto more current things:

I love being a Resident Advisor!! Its been such a great experience, a bit stressful at times, but overall amazing. Classes this year have been awesome, and really overall I have not had anything to complain about. EXCEPT that there are no buses between Manitoba and Minneapolis!! Silly bus companies and canceling stuff.

Other then that, my year has been fairly boring. My godfather recently died, so it has been hard for my family lately. Also, my cousin is in the hospital with a neurological sickness that mimics meningitis. But other then that, life is fairly uneventful.


Hope that y'all are doing well, and they next time that you will be hearing from me will be at the start of my travels!

Unique New York

I have fallen in love with upstate New York. Its helped that the temperatures have been hot enough that the lake feels refreshing rather then freezing. In case you are wondering why I am enjoying a vacation on the East Coast, its because I have traveled across the US with two children in tow. I am a traveling nanny, apparently. I am with a 5 year old girl and a 7 year old boy, whose parents are expecting another child in the next several weeks which made travel a little risky and uncomfortable to say the least. We landed in Burlington, Vermont where the kid's grandmother met us. We then drove three hours to the cabin, which included a 20 minute ferry ride. This was the super cool kind of ferry that mostly transports cars. I'll include a couple of pictures. The ride wasn't too bad, and the kids behaved themselves really well considering that their day had started around 6 a.m. and 12 hours later they had gone through two plane rides, a layover, a car ride, grocery stop, another car ride, a ferry ride, and then two and a half hours more of car travel. I was pretty tired and cranky myself, and I consider myself a well-seasoned traveler.

We arrived Saturday, and today, (Sunday) we went to a woodsmen festival. Out of the several hundreds of people, I saw FOUR (4!!!) that were not white, an Asian family. This was incredibly shocking to me. I know that I should have gotten used to small town America by now, but somehow my brain cannot comprehend the lack of diversity. Once again, this is why I love Minneapolis. And the schools that I have been too. I can walk down the street, bike to the lake, take the bus, or zoom down the light rail, and I will see people that look like me, and people that look far different. Thank you immigration!

Back to vacationing/nannying. The festival was filled with outdoor activities, like horse pulling, and grease pole climb, and lots and lots of machines that cut up logs. There was a chainsaw sculpting contest, and a kids watermelon eating competition where they were not allowed to use their hands. It was hot, hot, hot, and after only a few hours, we were all ready to head back to the cabin where a nice cool lake awaited us. We swam, played in the sand, and sat back on the beach or dock for most of the afternoon. Perfect afternoon. The sun is setting over the island on the lake, and behind the island I can see mountains that are reaching up into the sky. Its is beautiful here. I have until next Sunday here, so I am going to make the most of it, such as learning how to fly fish in the morning. Hope that everyones summer has been going well, and that hopefully y'all are not working as much as me (4 jobs) and are enjoying the summer to the fullest. I will write soon!

(By the way, its been a year since I have left for Wales. I miss it quite a bit)

The carving competition using chainsaws

The Lake


Flag on the ferry
Ferry Ride!

Ferry entrance

Home _____ Home

I was a bit worried about coming home and rejoining the life that I had before I traveled all over the place, and before I became accustomed to dorm life and independence. I have been home for a month now and surprisingly, its been almost too easy to meld myself back into the role of a daughter who has responsibilities that do not include writing a ten page paper two days before its due. I have chores that I am more then willing to do, and I feel rewarded to have access to a car (lazy mobility), even though it increases the responsibility that I have.

This past month has been wonderful and relaxing. I have just about a million part time jobs that are doing their best to keep me busy, and thankfully are also doing a decent job of refilling my almost empty bank account. I caught the tail end of the rugby season and had a wonderful time playing the game and getting to know my new companions. It was a definite change to be playing with a women's team vs. a high school team. In my opinion, it was much better. I even earned the nick-name of "Spanky". But how I earned that name can be left for another time..... Hee hee. Nothing too scandalous I assure you, and at the time I did not even realize that it was note-worthy.

Its been great getting to see my friends and family. I went to prom a second time. It was fun, but nothing spectacular. The best part might have been afterwards when some of my friends got together and hung out. While other people who attended prom were partying at hotels and such, me and my friends just sat and talked and shared how the past year has been.

I do miss the dorms and the people, but I will be back soon enough. Its hard to believe that it has already been a month since I came home. I want to appreciate every little bit of my break as much as I can, and then return to school rejuvenated and prepared to tackle my new classes and my role as an RA. Relaxing will come a bit easier if the weather was a bit better, I must say. At least the forecast for next week looks quite a bit better.

No promises, but I do want to write more frequently. I have been following a few blogs recently and it has given me an incentive to write more. Until then, have a great day in the rain!




P.S. I highly recommend making whipped cream out of coconut milk/cream. Its delicious, especially with pancakes and fresh fruit. Thanks Nora.