Bjerreds Saltsjöbad, Brunnsbo, and the last Cathedral time

This past week has gone WAY too quickly. There are now only six days until I am back in Denver. This week wasn't terribly eventful, besides that we all tried multiple nights to go out, and most of the time didn't end up leaving the house. It was Anubhav's birthday on Tuesday, so we had a small celebration and surprised him with cake and presents.

So happy :)

On Saturday we all went to Brunnsbo for a party, but again by the time we thought to head to a nation it was way too late. It was really nice to have some quality time with everyone though.

Sorry for stealing your cookies Regina

New best friends..

The most exciting thing this week was going to the sauna on Sunday. I wasn't especially excited to go - I knew it would be nice and relaxing, but I didn't think it would be anything special. 

We took the bus on Sunday morning to a little town called Bjarred, just outside of Lund. It was a very rainy day out, and when we got off the bus we realized we didn't actually know how to get to the sauna. We took a guess and followed a group of girls who had gotten off at the same stop. Luckily they were going to the sauna too, and it was only about a ten minute walk. 

As soon as we reached the coast the view was breathtaking. The sauna was located in a little building that could only be reached by a 500m long pier. 

The view of the pier from the sauna

By the time we reached the sauna, it felt like we were in the middle of the ocean. There was a restaurant with delicious looking brunch in the building as well, but it cost 290kr (almost $30) so we opted for only the sauna. We stripped down in the changing rooms, then ran outside from the changing room to the sauna in our towels. The sauna itself was the most relaxing place I have ever experienced. There were large windows looking out to the sea and all you could hear was the sound of the waves. 

If you didn't know how the building was situated, it looks like the room is level with the ocean. There were two other women in the sauna as well, but they didn't stay the whole time we were there. They were extremely friendly and one of them was a big enthusiast of running into the ocean, despite the protests of her friend.  

We stayed in the heat for a long time, then decided to take a dip in the ocean. This involved running outside, dropping our towels, and sprinting for the stairs. The water was 6ºC (42ºF). In other words, it was UNBELIEVABLY cold. The first time we ran in, we spent some time outside first, which was a mistake. The second time, we ran straight from the sauna to the stairs. I, of course, tripped at the bottom and ended up unintentionally neck deep in the freezing water. Each time we ran into the water, we would dash giddily back to the sauna. We all felt funny but great after the rush of adrenaline. 

I think this picture was supposed to be of Öresund Bridge, but it also shows the stairs down into the sea. This is the boy's side of the sauna so ours was a bit different.

Treacherous.

The funniest part of our time at the sauna was the little deck on top of the building that housed the sauna. There was a ladder that you could climb to reach the deck, which had a bench and an amazing view of the sea. I didn't take the picture below, but it will illustrate what I'm talking about. The deck is on top of the building on the very far left. When you got to the point on the ladder where you were above the barriers below (which served to block the view of naked people from the clothed families eating in the restaurant), you were basically climbing a ladder in a towel in front of these gigantic windows. We navigated the ladder with our towels blowing dangerously in the wind, then turned around to see numerous families watching as they ate brunch. I'm pretty sure I flashed them at least once thanks to the wind. It was hilariously awful.  

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The entire experience was unbelievably relaxing, hilarious, and exactly what I needed this last weekend here in Sweden. We left the sauna feeling refreshed and happy.  

Today Kate and I sat and talked in the cathedral for the last time. It's crazy to think that between the second day in Lund, when we first sat in the cathedral and talked, and now that we've become such good friends. I will miss cathedral time and so many other things about Lund, but I'm so grateful for it all and for the friends I've met here like Kate :)

I'll save the sad, sappy stuff for next week when I will be in the United States again! For now I'm going to go enjoy this last week with all of my amazing friends here in this beautiful country. 

Sinterklaas and Prague!

It's hard to believe that I only have 11 days left here in Lund. I will save all of the nostalgia for next week, because right now I really just want to focus on still being here. I will say that it is a very strange feeling to be leaving a place I now consider another home in a little over a week.

This past week was absolutely wonderful. I had my final exam for Evolutionary Psychology, which was not wonderful. It was essentially four hours straight of writing on topics that we have been learning about since September. My Swedish Film and Sustainable Eating classes are also over now too - on the last day of film we watched Tilsammans or "Together" which was a HILARIOUS movie set in the '70's. Probably my favorite film we watched the whole semester, so it was a nice way to end the course. I will actually miss my professor a bit - he had a very strange and unique sense of humor. For sustainable eating, I had to write an essay about a food or dish - I chose Wonder Bread. My presentation was yesterday and hopefully it went well!

On Thursday night, we had a Sinterklaas celebration on the top floor of Spoletorp. On December 5, children in the Netherlands put a shoe in front of their door. At night, Sinterklaas comes from Spain and puts candy and small presents in the shoes with the help of Zwarte Pieten. If you have been badyou will get sent to Spain. We celebrated Sinterklaas with Secret Santa - a small present, accompanied by a poem. The night was absolutely perfect - the entire Spoletorp family was gathered around TONS of sweets, including pepernoten and chocolate from Belgium. We sang traditional Sinterklaas songs and Peter appeared dressed as Sinterklaas, which was legendary. (I borrowed some pictures from Lucia and Alana :))

We all exchanged gifts and read our poems, some of which were hilarious. I received a candle holder, great smelling shower gel and a little globe-shaped pencil sharpener. As soon as I opened the gift I knew who it was from - one of the first weeks Kate had texted me asking me to get a sheet and a shower curtain from Ikea for a boy in her corridor (Simon). I somehow did not look at the packaging closely enough and ended up buying a curtain that you would use for a window - obviously useless for the shower. I didn't even realize until Lucia told me weeks later. Ever since, the "shower curtain" has been sitting in their corridor and I still feel vaguely embarrassed every time I see it. 

My gifts were, of course, wrapped in the curtain and since Simon was the person I had bought the curtain for I knew it was him. Coincidentally, I had drawn his name too and my present was a sketchbook with pictures from Spoletorp North on the front. Some of the other presents were a giant mug for Alice, a mini golf set for Kate, giant slippers for Anubhav, incense and a paper star for Lucia, a necklace for Linde, etc. 

Alice reading her poem from Linde :)

 The whole night was so happy :) it really did feel like Christmas and I'm so glad I got to celebrate with the Spoletorp Family!  

During the day on Friday, Lucia and I went for a 5k run. Normally this wouldn't have been a big deal, but the weather outside was CRAZY. 30-40mph winds and it was snowing! It was actually a great run though - we went to the hill and as we ran down it felt like we were flying :)

Afterwards, a couple of us went for fika, then Regina and I set off for the airport to head to Prague. Unfortunately, all trains in Skåne had been canceled due to the weather, so the trip was a bit disastrous. First, we got on a bus at Lund station to get to Malmö (so we could get the train to Copenhagen). Though we had asked the bus driver if it would go to Malmö C (and he said yes), we were supposed to transfer at some point during the ride. We ended up at a random bus station, and we had to navigate through the wind and very wet snow to find which bus actually went to Malmö C. We finally made it to Malmö Central which had taken 2 hours (normally 10 minutes). Luckily, our flight was delayed by 15 minutes, and we had left very early, so we didn't miss it!

We reached Prague's airport around 11pm and met up with Regina's friend Emily. We all took a bus (terrifying - it was going extremely fast and sliding all over the roads in the snow), then a metro to our hostel. When we got off the metro and walked up the stairs the sight was breathtaking. It was snowing and there was a HUGE Christmas tree in the middle of the street. 

We were so wonderstruck that we walked in the complete opposite direction of our hostel, dragging our suitcases through the snow for about 10 minutes before we realized and turned around. Finally we made it to our eighteen bed room where Katherine was waiting! After putting down our stuff, we decided to walk around a bit more and get some food (despite it being extremely late). The streets were still very lively and full of people. We got some french fries, then walked to the Old Town Square, which was even more beautiful than the street we initially saw. It was only about a 5 minute walk from the hostel. 

The most beautiful Christmas tree ever. 

I truly think it was one of the most beautiful places I've seen since being abroad. The next day we woke up and headed to a walking tour. It was UNBELIEVABLY cold and when our tour guide (an interesting girl from Manchester) gave us the "9.5 minute history of Prague" while standing in one spot I thought my feet were going to fall off. Nevertheless, the city was incredibly beautiful. 

Jewish Museum in Prague - part of the Jewish Quarter

I thought it was interesting that much of Prague is actually preserved from WWII and it wasn't bombed as much as places like Berlin. Hitler loved Prague and planned to live here when the war was over. The Jewish Quarter was meant to be a museum for an "extinct race." Such a horrific/fascinating thing to think about.

"Stumbling Stones"- Stones in the ground which have the name, DOB and date of death of a person who died in the Holocaust. They are placed where that person had lived or worked. One of these particular stones was for a five-year-old :(

Rudolfinum - a concert house in Prague near Charles' Bridge

Old-New Synagogue

Charles Bridge

Group picture - naturally my eyes are closed...

After the tour, Regina and Emily both left to meet friends and Katherine and I headed to the Prague Castle (Hrad). This involved crossing a bridge parallel to Charles Bridge and walking up a large hill.

Entrance to the Castle

SNOW

St Vitus Cathedral

Charles Bridge at night

After the castle, we headed back to meet Emily and Regina at the hostel, then we went to a little Italian place for dinner. We relaxed for a bit, then headed to a pub crawl! First we went to a pub, where there were unlimited drinks for 2 hours. We played some beer pong and Katherine and I made some Australian and German friends. It was a great time!

Next we went to a club that was nearby. Our friends tried to get us to dance which Katherine was happy about, but I wanted nothing to do with. Eventually we left and headed back to the hostel, because Kat had an early flight and we were tired. 

Selfies in front of the Christmas tree

Regina and Emily went to the castle the next morning, so I had the morning to wander around by myself. I got a bit lost and went to a wax museum on a whim, which was a mistake. There were realistic life noises playing and I was pretty much the only person in the museum. I basically walked through it as much as possible. 

We met at Charles Bridge at noon and walked to the John Lennon wall

It was amazing! Coincidentally, it was also the 33rd anniversary of John Lennon's death (thanks James :))

Next, we went to the top of the clock tower. The view was breathtaking :) The sky was so blue and the red rooftops stretched out so far. 

The chocolate museum was nearby and it wasn't terribly exciting, but we did get a free sample and we bought Belgian Waffles with melted chocolate on top - amazing.

We had a low key night with dinner at a Czech Restaurant. I had an amazing sandwich and it was incredibly cheap. I also tried the dark beer, which was amazing.

The next morning, Emily left early for her flight back to London. Regina and I got waffles for breakfast, then headed to the Jewish Quarter. We bought tickets to the Maisel Synagogue, the Pinkas Synagogue, the Spanish Synagogue, the Ceremonial Hall and the Old Jewish Cemetery. The Jewish Cemetery was breathtaking - the gravestones were all crooked and covered in moss. Since the Jewish people hadn't been given more space to bury their loved ones, bodies were buried on top of each other. There are 12,000 gravestones visible, but there might be as many as 100,000 bodies buried there. It was unbelievable to see. 

The Spanish Synagogue was incredibly beautiful as well. There were signs not to take pictures (though many people did), so I don't have very many. 

My favorite that we saw was the Pinkas Synagogue. The walls were covered with 70,000 names of Czech and Moravian victims of the Holocaust. 

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The names were tiny and handwritten so neatly. I didn't take any pictures so I got some off the internet. It was heartbreaking to see all of the names. Upstairs, there were pictures from the Terezin Camp that children had drawn secretly. They depicted the horrible conditions of the camp, as well as the places back home that they remembered. 

Prague was such a gorgeous city :) I'm so grateful to be able to travel, but I'm also grateful for the feeling of returning to Lund again. I'm so happy I've had the opportunity to live in this adorable town with such great people.