When coming from Macedonia, Sweden may seem like an entirely different planet. Buses function through systems of credit cards and payment via cellphone. Transportation is organized. People use the parking space as they are designed. While many of things may seem different, the biggest change that confused me the most were the tickets. Like the title of this post, everything you do revolves around taking a ticket from an automated machine, receiving a number, and waiting to see your number on the display board. My first encounter with this ended in a near disaster... as I stood helplessly near the counters hoping to be helped or at least pointed in the direction of someone who could. Nope. When I finally found the ticket machine, the whole system seemed so flawless and well engineered. No crammed lines of people waiting to be helped, no angry babas hitting you in the shins with their cane or pushing past you with giant burlap sacks of vegetables. Clean. Efficient. Organized. Sweden.
If I had to describe the country in three words, that would be it. Clean. Efficient. Organized. Sure there is the standard European display of garbage on the sidewalks and alleys, as well as urban artistry scrawled across each and every surface, but in general. The whole place just feels so sterile. Like some hospital full of free healthcare and government funded medical equipment. However, the people are very clean, and extremely well dressed! Interestingly enough, Sweden is experiencing a huge boom in immigration, particularly from Balkan and East Europe countries. Likewise, there are also countless migrants from Africa, Southern Asia, and the Middle East as well, filling the streets of in the cities, selling interesting things.
When I first arrived in Stockholm and was frantically trying to find a bus to Uppsala (where the University is located), I met an interesting guy who had been living in Sweden for 10 years, despite being half Polish and half Greek. We were even fortunate to find that the bus driver did not care if we had tickets or not (there were only 3 people on the bus), and we rode for free since the website to buy tickets online was malfunctioning. On our journey, I told my new Greek/Polish friend about my life as a volunteer:
- "Yeah, I am an American volunteer living in Macedonia,but I am actually half German."
- He frowned, "Hmm..I see. You should probably never go to Greece then. Make up a new story if you do."
Lesson learned. Never be German and go to Greece on holiday because they will blame you for every problem in their country. Likewise, don't tell them you're Macedonian unless you want a long lecture about how 'you know nothing about history' and that Greece is the cradle of civilization in Europe... Clearly my new friend was misinformed, and that the only country that truly matters is the good ol' US of A. However, he helped me greatly and even took me around the city of Uppsala on a bike when we arrived.
Uppsala itself is a great town, it has a beautiful cathedral in the center and an amazingly vibrant student life. The academic programs there are some of the best in Europe (and definitely the best in Scandinavia). I visited the university, toured the campus and the faculty, and learned a little bit more about the program. As appealing as it may be, I worry that during the winter I will literally freeze to death since I was there for 6 days in September and it never got above 50 degrees F.
Here is the lovely cathedral in the center of the city. It was built in the 13th and is still the tallest cathedral in Scandinavia. What a cool fact! I just learned that from Wikipedia.
Here is one of the buildings to the university. Daunting, and with such fantastic architecture. I realize that almost 100% of my photographs were of buildings on this trip.
Here is going towards the main part of the town. This was an old bridge, and really really beautiful! Also you may notice the bicycles everywhere. I have never seen more bicycles in my entire life than in Sweden. The whole country is like a big Portland stereotype.
Following my brief stay in Uppsala, I was also able to hang out a bit in Stockholm, Malmo, and I spent an afternoon in Copenhagen just across the channel. It was an amazing experience overall. To get to the south, I took what amounted to 5.5 hours of Scandinavian trains, to transverse a huge span of the country. I had a break in Stockholm to check out some sites and speak Serbian with a local Turkish man who was selling doner kebabs. He was very proud of the fact that he spoke Swedish, Turkish, Bulgarian, Serbian, Croatian, English (not at all well), and German. But when you can speak that many different languages, I don't think English even matters anymore.
Interestingly, while I was on the train to Malmo, I met a family who were speaking in a language dangerously similar to Macedonian, so after an hour of arguing with myself for being anti-social, I said hello and asked them where they were from. They were so excited to talk! As it turned out, they were a family from Serbia (near Novi Sad) and they were living in Sweden for work and to give their children more opportunities. They were confused why I, an American, was speaking Serbo/Macedonian (yes, that is my new dialect I made up after spending too much time with my girlfriend in her Serbian-speaking village of Rankovce), and what I was doing visiting Sweden alone. Sometimes I don't think Balkan people can understand the concept of being alone. To them, it is the same as being lonely.. which is very negative. As an American, the personal time alone is crucial, and traveling alone is the most relaxing. Throughout our talk, I found myself saying, quite often, "Ја не разумем много.. " or "I really don't understand very much..." It was humbling.
Here is a clock in Stockholm... and some poor fellow whose job it is to support it.
Swedish flags! These were near a traditional Swedish restaurant, which I could never, ever afford, even if my monthly paycheck wasn't in Macedonian Denars.
Near the river! This was another really cool old church that I got a chance to photograph. I have this thing for architecture and I miss teaching it at Oklahoma State.
The final leg of my trip took me to Malmo and Copenhagen, which for me was the best part of the entire adventure. I had heard stories about Malmo, and how it was dirty, crime-ridden and crowded with foreigners. Never have I ever been so wrong. The city is incredibly clean and very modern, yet it maintains its old town medieval charm. While there are many foreign born people in the city, it doesn't feel at all dangerous or unclean. Every type of restaurant, except Korean unfortunately, can be found there, and while it is all still very expensive, its not criminally overpriced like most of Sweden.
Here is Malmo's famous building by Santiago Calatrava, the 'Turning Torso'. I told my host that he should move to an apartment inside and he just laughed and asked if that was more important than eating for the entire month. Yes. Yes it is.
...and here we are again at dusk. I really loved this building, and I took about 40 pictures of it.
Hello Copenhagen! I was unaware that a city could be more expensive than Sweden, thank you for proving me wrong. This is the famous port in the city with all the cafes and old style buildings. Its quite pretty.
Apparently you are not supposed to go within 2 meters of the guards, or they can rightfully take your ass out. Nobody told me that... and this gentleman with the fuzzy cap looks quite unhappy on my encroachment into his personal space.
So. Much. Beautiful. Architecture.
Here is a nice view of Copenhagan from atop on of the towers.I was outraged that I had to pay 2 Euro to climb to the top, but the view may or may not have been worth it.. I will let you decide.
The coolest part of my trip, aside seeing my good friend Rune in Denmark for the whole afternoon, was that I finally had a chance to couch surf while in Malmo. I stayed with a total stranger, based on reviews from two friends and the website, couchsurfing.org, and had the time of my life. My new friend took me around the city, showed me all sorts of cool (and cheap) places to eat, and even cooked pasta one night. I think from now on it will be the only way I stay in foreign cities... You save money and learn about everything from an entirely local perspective - it is really cool.
I think the second best part of the trip though, was visiting Christiana, which is the hardcore hippy commune in Copenhagen. This place is a Libertarian's wet dream. The government doesn't come in to regulate it, so drugs are sold openly in the streets. While there is the general rule of 'no hard drugs', there are still a wide array of different types of marijuana, hash and mushrooms. While the whole community is controlled by drug cartels; the overall mood is reminiscent of Haight-Ashbury in the late 1960's and people are just happy to hang out. The zero tolerance for cameras however is the only reason I don't have any nice pictures to share with you.
Please enjoy this fountain of a small, silly looking man instead as a consolation prize. Welcome to Scandinavia!
