Uppsala

For some it was a bit too early since we had a corridor party the night before, but at 11 ‘o clock Saturday morning we were sitting all together in the train. Direction: a small student city north of Stockholm - Uppsala.

The city was a bit like Leiden or Leuven. Not that big, but perfect if you want to walk around for just one day. Our walk that day probably looked like one big zig-zag, since we were walking from one warm place to the other. Weather had changed a bit and we found out that -6 degrees (BBC weather website: 'feels like’ -8 degrees) is pretty cold!

At night, after a nice dinner in a Greek restaurant, we went to the train station where we met a friend-of a friend-of a friend of Marieke. She was giving a Christmas/Birthday party and… that was actually all we knew! We had no idea where we were going, who was going to be there and what the actual plan was. The girl gave us direction of how to get to her place in one of Uppsala’s suburbs, and after walking 30 min we arrived at her apartment where we ended up having a real fun evening. We found out that, when a Swede was talking really slowly in Swedish, and we were answering really slowly in Dutch, you could actually understand each other and have a conversation!

Plus... that night I also tried out a Swedish drug =)

When you’re walking around in Stockholm, you notice that everyone is constantly spitting on the ground and putting something under their lip. This is snus. Prepackaged tobacco and caffeine powder, which is supposed to give you some kind of extra ‘rush’ when you’re drinking alcohol. I felt it a bit as well, but most of all I felt my lip going crazy. I had some kind of local saliva overproduction and my lip started to feel really hot. In other words: Two minutes of this Swedish tradition was more than enough for me!

Anyway, at 11:30 we left the place to catch the night-bus. Luckily, after running a bit, we arrived there on time and started waiting. And waiting. And waiting. And waiting… One hour later the bus was still not there. And trust me, you’re not happy when you’re standing in -8 degrees (BBC weather website: “feels like” way too cold).

When we almost decided to go back to the apartment of the friend-of a friend-of a friend of Marieke, suddenly two big lights were shining our direction. The bus arrived and we jumped in without actually asking where the bus was going. But it was warm, we were leaving Uppsala and the bus was driving on a highway going to Stockholm so we figured we were ok. Except that 10 minutes later we felt the bus slowing down and saw it taking an exit. Via some small roads we drove to a tiny train station in the middle of nowhere. We had no idea where we were but since everyone started running towards a train that was waiting for us, we simply did the same.

It turned out to be the right choice, cause one hour later we were finally in Stockholm! We jumped out and walked towards the first exit. But because it was quiet late, they had already closed the doors. We tried the second exit. Closed again. When we arrived at the third, and last, exit we found all the other passengers there and also the trainticket lady and the guy driving the train - all waiting behind a closed door. We were trapped inside the station! But a few phonecalls later, and again too many minutes waiting in the cold, two cranky police guys came to rescue us, so at 3 am I was finally home, after a long long journey.

It was a really nice day, but unfortunately the next morning I found out that my body wasn’t ready yet for the -8 degrees. I woke up being sick…

But I guess my body better gets used to the cold, cause I just looked at the weather forcast and the next 10 days it will be around -7 degrees. So it looks like Christmas is gonna be cold. Maybe cold enough to encourage the snow to start falling out of the sky?

Kram, Yoline