FINALLY bought myself a Swedish magnet!

As many of you know, I collect magnets - from which every country, state, and even sometimes, city I visit. For some reason, which still escapes me today, I forgot to buy one last year when I was in Stockholm, Sweden. I've been on a mission to return to Sweden since, to buy myself a magnet if for nothing else, and this weekend, I FINALLY got back and promptly purchased several magnets (for myself as well as other magnet collecting friends)! Had a FABULOUS time for such an impromptu trip!

The weekend didn't start off so great, by Thursday night I still didn't know what to do with myself for the weekend. I was thinking about taking the train to Trondheim, but I wouldn't have had enough time to trek out to Fosnes, so I started brainstorming again. I went to bed Thursday night frustrated because I couldn't figure out where to go. On Friday, a friend (Katja- from Finland) called to see if I wanted to go for a picnic in Frogner Park; of course! So we took the t-bane to Majorstuen to meet two other friends (Christoffer - Finland, Karin- Switzerland). On our walk to the park, Katja asked me if I'd figured out what I wanted to do yet, and randomly I blurted out- Gøteburg (Gothenberg), Sweden. Asking if anyone wanted to join me- Christoffer said yes and after our quick picnic lunch, we headed to the train station to check out ticket prices. Because we're students (thank you student id card!) we got a great deal and Christoffer and I were set to go to Sweden when Katja and Karin showed up at the train station, and we were able to convince Katja to come along too.

The three of us left early Saturday morning, and the train took 4 hours. Not a bad ride- Scandinavia is VERY scenic and picturesque. Best part of the train ride? I learned that Finland has a 50+% Swedish speaking population- and both my travel companions are FLUENT - Katja's second language, Christoffer's native language. HORRAY! Unfortunately when we got there, it was raining, but with two Swedish speakers by my side, we found our hostel and the System Bolaget (liquor store) (which was strange cause it was in the MALL!). We purchased some wine and cider and then went for a walk down Kungsportsavenyn (the main avenue), and found the Hard Rock Cafe (for a t-shirt for Nicole) and while I was off buying the shirt, Katja and Christoffer decided this was someplace they wanted to eat. After lunch (which was a really early dinner) we wandered around town and did some shopping. Soon it was dark so we went back to the hostel to get ready to go out for the night. We made it back downtown and as soon as we stepped off the tram, the rain REALLY started to come down. We ran to an overhang (where about 10 other people were) and attempted to figure out where to go next - being the "bold-American" I asked the group of guys under the overhang with us where to go. The bar we ended up at was straight out the 80', but I don't think it was a theme, it just happened by accident. Oh well- we had a blast- hung out with some native Gotheburg-ers(?) and had a great time! Sunday morning Katja and I left a hung-over Christoffer at the hostel, and we went shopping. One of the points I used to convince Katja to come with us was how cheap Sweden is in comparison to Oslo- she'd save money by shopping in Sweden! After a long day in the malls, we returned back to the hostel and met up with Christoffer and went out for dinner and then to a coffee shop and spent the whole evening talking and I learned all sorts of interesting facts about Finland (Finland has a woman president, something about Easter witches, and the true home of Santa Claus; Lapland Finland).

Monday morning we started out early since I had a train to catch at noon - Christoffer and Katja were taking a train at 17, but I had to be back in Oslo by 18 for my first Norwegian Language course. One last stop at a "cheaper" H&M and then back to System Bolaget to grab some supplies for next weekend's fjord trip. :-) It was a fabulous trip with wonderful travel companions - we didn't really see much in Gothenburg- for being Sweden's second largest city, there wasn't much there touristy to see.

Tomorrow its back to school for me. This week I have class on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. LONG week for me, but we're planning on leaving early Friday. Hopefully the week passes quickly and I can get back to traveling! I'll post pictures (link from my website: wheresjill.com) from our trip this last weekend- I'll see if I can get Katja and Christoffer's pictures too!