The harbor at Farjestaden on the day of the annual market in the village. I just had to stop and snap a short here. Harbors, and water in general, are one of my favorite spectacles to photograph.
Yes, this is yet another picture of the sunset from the Station overlooking the water between Öland and the mainland. Every sunset it different, and every sunset is magically captivating.
The pollination biology class for our last dinner together at Heidi's house. It was the last supper before we all parted ways to experience new adventures. Theme of the picture? Be your favorite insect or plants!
Thanks to Katie R., I can describe who each person is. (left to right) Nate is just Nate and is too busy laughing at Heidi to pretend to be an insect or flower, Katie is Calliphoridae showing her scandalous hypopleural bristles, Brendan is Eumenidae, Arielle is Rosaceae, Ethan is just drinking from his teapot, Carly is a dinosaur?, Kathryn is Lepidoptera, Shelley is Asteraceae protecting itself from the rain, and Heidi is a busy bee flapping its wings!
Of course, we had to make a kite, representing the KAΘs in Sweden.
After a...
4 hour wait in the airport
2 hour flight to London
9 hour layover in the London airport overnight
1 1/2 hour flight to Dublin
+ several mishaps
It has been quite a long and bumpy journey to get here, but I am finally back in Dublin.
And I finally have internet where I don't have to pay money for it. Soon, I will be home sweet home; I cannot be more excited.
1. I really miss my Swedish classmates already. If you are reading this, I hope you are all having great adventures and good luck with your theses. I hope to see you soon at Whitman!
2. While traveling, I got really really homesick to the point that I wanted to change my flight to today rather than on Monday. Unfortunately, it was more than 600 euros to change flights, so I am here in the city. Now that I am here though, surrounded by many travelers, I am enjoying myself much more. There's something about being alone in airports/buses/etc. for long periods of time that makes me really want to just go home or be with a friend. Anyhow, I'll be home soon and adding these extra days until I go home makes me even more appreciative to be back with my family.
and now for my adventures...
3. On my way to Copenhagen on the train from Kalmar, I had to make a transfer at one of the stations. At the transfer stop, the train I was supposed to get on was running 30 minutes late, but since all the announcements were in Swedish I had no idea. So I unknowingly took the wrong train with my travel buddies that was also going to Copenhagen. I bought my train ticket a while back, but they had train passes. So, while I was not legally allowed on the train because I purchased my ticket from another company, it did not matter for them. I got kicked off the train at the next stop and had to wait for the right one. I was a little nervous, but it all worked out alright and the staff was really friendly about it. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to let my buddies know, so when they got to Copenhagen and I was no where to be found, they started freaking out. Luckily, the trains infront of both of our separate trains was having mechanical difficulties, which allowed my delayed train to catch up to theirs. Anyhow, I found them in 7-11 and all was well.
4. I completely forgot that my peanut butter and lingonberry jam was in my carry-on baggage and that it wasn't allowed on the plane. When I went through security, it was just those two things that had to be taken out my baggage. I was sad to part with my almost full lingonberry jam and peanut butter, two of my favorite things. Thankfully, the security guard felt bad for me and let me spread it on the rest of my bread. I felt really silly, but hey it was worth it.
5. Last night was the long haul of my journey with a 9 hour layover in the London airport overnight. What was there to do? Not much but sleep, read, eat, sleep some more... as much sleep you can get in an airport. At one point in the night, security gathered all the stragglers like sheep into a single gate to spend the night. It was quite an interesting experience. So far, I haven't washed my face, cleaned, or anything since I was back in Copenhagen. I feel pretty gross, but I still have another 4 hours until check in at my hostel.
6. In the lounge, I woke up after zoning out at 5:58 AM. My gate for my 6:45 AM flight just opened up and so I walked over to the gate. The gate security checked my ticket, however, and said that I had apparently skipped over immigration security. He said I had 5 minutes to go through it and get back before the gate closes. I didn't know that I had to go through immigration; I don't remember going through it before when I was going to London before. Anyhow, I ran like a crazy woman back to immigrations, got my picture taken, ran through security screening again, and ran back to the gate. Overall it took about 10 minutes, and the whole time I was freaking out. Luckily, the gate was still open and I arrived just as everyone was finishing boarding the plane. By the time I got to the gate, I was sweating profusely and breathing hard. From playing soccer the previous few days in Sweden, my legs felt like they were starting to develop shin splints. Fantastic. What a relief it was to board to plane.
It's amazing what a journey traveling can be. I had no troubles traveling through Europe getting to Sweden, so I guess I am getting my fair share of troubles on my way back.
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