Lund

*DISCLAIMER* We have hit the point in the trip where exhaustion beat taking photos of everything I saw and loved. While I do have more photos than I have posted here (and better photos), they are on my memory card, which is in my camera, which is in my suitcase, which is in the hold of an airplane. So they aren't being posted here. At least not right now.

DAY TWENTY-EIGHT: 7.14.18

Happy Saturday! Today was really cool because I had the chance to take over the BYU Life Science Department Instagram page. I basically spent my day trying to show how educational this study abroad is when in reality we just kind of play most of the time.

The day started with a group workout that was aimed at the arms and abs, and I felt it in my abs for a couple days after which is bad because I really hadn’t tried that hard. I should really work on my core more. After breakfast, we met up to have class. We walked in a group to a nearby park and started off with a country intro. The professor decided to do the country intro as a game of two truths and a lie, which mostly turned into bragging about Scandinavia while bagging on the US. It was cool to learn some things though, like how important biking is, but also that all the top safety features in cars are usually invented here in Sweden. We also learned that Swedes love black licorice, so we had it at 9:30 in the morning in class. I had forgotten how much I love good black licorice, so that’s going to be a struggle while I’m here.

I had MBH after that, and it was interesting. We talked about the health benefits of marriage. It was interesting to take the religion out of it and talk purely about the public health benefits of marriage, and what it does for communities and for the individual health of a person. It was also interesting to think of public health initiatives that could help promote marriage, such as free premarital classes or parenting classes. Overall, just a really thought-provoking class.

Then we walked to the bike shop to pick up our bikes! My bike was way too big for me, and I couldn’t really reach the pedals even though the seat was all the way down. The employee didn’t really believe me, so he made me show him before he’d fix it, and I pulled a muscle trying to get onto it to start biking, which really hurt. But then he believed me and did what he could to fix it, which involved removing the seat entirely and replacing it with one that would go further down. It really didn’t help much and I still can barely reach the pedals, but it’s just a rental for the week so oh well.

We grabbed lunch from the nearby grocery store. They have an amazing salad bar that is priced by the kilogram, so I built a great southwest chicken salad. It made me so happy and full. After lunch, we all met up for a ride to the nearby beach. The professors had warned that it might be cold, so everyone was kinda bundled up, but I’m used to cold beaches so I was wearing my suit under my shorts and t-shirt, and had my beach blanket ready to go. The ride kinda sucked. My bike isn’t the easiest to ride, and we were riding into the wind the entire time. It was not starting out great and I really wasn’t excited about the whole thing. But then we got to the beach.

 Holy Cow I have never seen or felt anything more amazing than that sand. It was white and soft and warm, I took my shoes off the first second I could. I spread the beach blanket out, and all my friends who had worn their normal clothes spread out on it, but I headed to the water. It wasn’t cold by any measure, and it was so shallow! You could walk 100 yards out and only be up to your waist. It was perfect to just stand and relax and enjoy it in the sun. Between relaxing in the water, napping on the beach, and playing bocce ball with the professors, it was a perfect beach day. Made the miserable ride to and from the beach so completely worth it.

When we got back, we changed into clean and dry clothes and then headed off to the professors favorite burger joint for dinner. It was tucked back in some buildings, and it really was pretty cute! It was also pretty pricey which was annoying. But the burgers were good and so it all worked out. I don’t know if I’ll want to do it again or not, but we’ll see.  

DAY TWENTY-NINE: 7.15.18

This morning we woke up, got dressed and ready for church, and then climbed onto our bikes! I had never ridden a bike in a dress before, and it gave me a little bit of perspective on what it would have been like to be a sister missionary (although their skirts are probably a bit longer than mine was). It was an adventure to say the least. 

The ride was quick, and we made it to church, which was in an actual building for once! It was nice to be in a stereotypical Mormon church building again. Church was good, the Copenhagen temple president and his wife were speaking, and ending up teaching a Sunday school lesson in English because of how many of us didn’t speak Swedish. Then we had relief society, which was a mix of Swedish and English. It was great, especially singing the hymns in English. We’ve been singing along in the native language in church, and while you can make your way through a hymn in French or Italian, we were all just butchering the hymns in Swedish. One of the sister missionaries started crying during the hymn because it had been so long since she had last heard it sung in English. It was also really nice to stay for all three hours of church. It can seem so long week after week, but when you go a month without it, you really start to appreciate and miss it.

After church I ran to the store to make myself a salad for lunch, and then just took some time on my own to read the scriptures for a bit. It was a peaceful Sunday afternoon that I needed and really enjoyed! Sunday was also the world cup final, and the local park in Lund set up a projector and screen to view it. We rode our bikes down to the park to watch, and along with a ton of Swedes, enjoyed the soccer game and watching France win! It was a cool experience to be in Europe during the world cup and to be traveling through so many of the countries that were involved in it. We were in France for quite a few of their games, and it was really fun!

Later that night, we biked back down to the big soccer field by the park for a Sunday night devotional. The professors had invited some of the college-age members of the ward, and so they joined us. We had one of them and one of my classmates share experiences they’ve had, and then my professor gave a great devotional about loving your brother and how to be Christlike and welcoming. We talked about the refugee crisis and all that Sweden has done with opening their borders and such. It was a good thing to think about. After that, we all just started playing in the park. We had soccer balls, frisbees, a bocce ball set (all of which my professors packed over for their trip. I have no idea how any of their bags made the weight limit). I haven’t played ultimate frisbee in so long, it was a really fun game.

DAY THIRTY: 7.16.18

This morning I woke up and had breakfast, and then met up with the group. We caught a train this morning to Denmark, to explore Copenhagen! The train was uneventful until it just stopped. Turns out the power was out in the station, so we had to wait until they got the power up to make sure the train could get in safely. It was no big deal, but it did have us running late for our canal tour! We still made it okay though. We got on the boat, and set off! It started off just super hot. We saw some super cool buildings. There was a tower made out of four dragons, the theater and opera houses, a military space. We stopped by the Little Mermaid statue, and got to see it from the water. It was cool, but smaller than we all expected, and a bit anti-climactic. Seeing the Royal Palace might have been my favorite part of the tour, it was so beautiful and unexpected! The best was that a bunch of the girls fell asleep on the tour, and so afterward they looked at the guide and asked why we had skipped the little mermaid statue. Overall, it was really cool to see Copenhagen from the water.

After the tour, we walked over to the Church of Our Lady. It holds the original Christus statue, and it was so amazing to see it in real person. It was a gorgeous church, and I love seeing the amazing artwork. It was so cool to see the Christus in person and to know that’s where it began. We ran into another Mormon family while there and chatted about connections with them. They’re from Utah, and two of their kids go to the high school that I interned at this past semester! Super fun.

Then we wandered to find food. Everything in Copenhagen is expensive, and we struggled to find something we all liked. We ended up splitting up to grab food, and I ended up at 7-11. I would never eat food from there in the US, but 7-11 is different in foreign countries. I had an amazing chicken tandoori wrap and a chicken kebab. It was a little annoying because it was possibly the best chicken kebab I’ve ever had, and it was from a 7-11. But oh well. After that, we walked down to see the famous street of houses in Copenhagen. It was so beautiful! It was honestly one of the best things I’ve ever seen. The houses were all so colorful and gorgeous!

After that, the group split apart because we all wanted to do different things. Two of the girls and I wandered off to go look into some stores and then go to Tivoli gardens. While walking to the church earlier in the day I had seen some shirts outside a store that I liked, so we walked back. They were super cute, and they fit great! I ended up buying one of them.

We headed off to Tivoli Gardens! Tivoli is the worlds oldest amusement park, and its in the middle of Copenhagen! You have to pay to get in and for the rides, so we just bought admission and an unlimited ride pass. It was so fun. The gardens are beautiful, and the whole thing looks like a very vintage Disneyland. We started off with this weird mine/river thing. It was like a combination of the pirates of the Caribbean and the toy story mania rides at Disney. It was so weird and fun! Then we went off to a rollercoaster that was like a Matterhorn version of the big thunder mountain railroad. Then there was this big swing that swung us in the circle. The best part of that was that you can see all of Copenhagen from all of it! It was honestly the best view in the whole city. Then we headed to this other small rollercoaster. While we were waiting in line, the nightly parade went by! It was so small and cute, but just perfect. The whole park was like a little vintage Disneyland! The rollercoaster was awesome too. Then my girlfriends drug me onto The Demon. A Giant roller coaster with three loops and a lot of time spent upside-down. I was not excited, but it was enjoyable! It was intense, but I survived. 

At that point we had to meet up with the group to catch the train home, so we grabbed ice cream cones and headed out of the park. The train ride home was uneventful, and then we got burgers at a place near our hotel. They were seriously so good. It was insane.

The weirdest part of being in Sweden (and today Denmark) is how different their money is. Both British pounds and Euros are worth more than a dollar, but it’s a close comparison. The Krona is worth $0.11 in Sweden and the Krone is worth $0.16 in Denmark. So things cost like 100kr. It’s nuts, and I usually have absolutely no idea how much money I’m actually spending. I don’t love it, and I’m going broke. But the memories are worth it, and I’ll be back working again in another week.

DAY THIRTY-ONE: 7.17.18

Today was fun! I slept in this morning rather than getting up to work out, and it felt great. We met up in the morning after breakfast for a meeting with the Lund city planners. We rode our bikes over to the city hall, and then listened to a great presentation! It was super cool to hear about how they transitioned the city into one that is so bike-focused, and how much biking and sustainable energy sources are so important to them. Walking and biking are the most common routes of public transport, and public transportation comes next. The busses here in Lund run on biogas, which is made in the waste facilities nearby. It was so interesting to hear about! Honestly, this whole trip has had me thinking a lot about my personal environmental impact and things that I want to try and do differently when I get home. The presenter was hilarious, and so the presentation flew by. They then provided sandwiches and juice for us, and the sandwiches were so good. They were open-faced cheese, cucumber, and bell pepper sandwiches, and they were amazing. I want to eat like a European the rest of my life.

After that, the presenter took us on a bike tour of the city of Lund! It’s only a half hour ride from one side to the other, but our tour was about two hours, as we went all over the place and stopped in a few locations to talk. We saw the hospital which is connected to the university (think UW medical center), the design building in the university (paid for and sponsored by the founder of Ikea, it’s a super prestigious program here in Sweden. The building is cool, and was built around a previously existing bike path, so the path runs through a tunnel in the building!), a science center outside of town that is working on quantum physics, a lot of construction areas where they are building a new tramway, and a long ride through urban and rural Lund. It was so beautiful. Some of the gardens out here are massive, and it really just made me want a house with a big yard so that I can grow a huge garden.

About halfway through the bike tour, it started raining pretty hard. However, we were out on bikes and there really wasn’t anything we could do about it, so we just kept going. We all got a bit wet, but I loved it. Something about biking in the rain, through beautiful neighborhoods and gorgeous green areas made me happy.

After our bike ride, we decided to go to a local bakery that everyone has been talking about called Mormor’s. I opted for a pastry/donut thing that looked good, and I made the right choice. It was so flaky and soft, but the chocolate was thick and creamy, and the center was creamy and wonderful. It was amazing and so worth it.

Then the boys and I got together to finish the interviews that we’ve been putting off for so long. We asked one person in the town square who agreed and helped us out, but then we kept striking out. We figured we’d go back to the hotel and ask the front desk person, and go from there. We scored big time. Both the general managers, the receptionist, and two housekeepers were in the lobby and agreed to help us. Not only did they agree, but they gave great interviews as well! It was easy and quick, and now we only have one interview left to go! It was a huge stress off my back to have that done, I’d honestly been worrying that we wouldn’t get it done, and that didn’t make me feel good. But now I feel great!

We wandered some shops in town afterward and I was both grateful and irritated that I just don’t have the suitcase space to keep shopping. I keep reminding myself that I’ll find cute stuff at home too, but it can be really hard when I have the mentality about money that I have right now. It’s a good thing there’s a weight limit on bags or I don’t know if my will alone would be strong enough.

The group split apart for part of the afternoon, and I decided to go for a run since I haven’t in a while. I only went about 2 ½ miles, but it felt good to be out and going, despite how slow it was. I ran to the local park because they have this little outdoor gym and I was curious to see if I can still do a pull up or not. I ran into the professors' kids while there, which ended in a pull-up contest. I’m proud to say that I tied for first (we don’t need to talk about how few it was to get there). Then I kept running, and found a little climbing wall in the park! I bouldered on it for a bit (and mentally cried at how weak my climbing skills have gotten) before continuing my run. It was a good active afternoon, and what I needed to quit feeling quite as sluggish as I have been lately.

Then we all got together for an early dinner at like 5. We went back to the burger place, and it was great. Still not my favorite, but sometimes you go places with people you love for the atmosphere, not the food. And the food is good, I just think it’s overpriced. It was still fun to hang out though.

We left for a bike ride after that! I didn’t really know where we were going, and my bike has been having some issues after it got knocked over yesterday, so it wasn’t really the most fun for me. I was going slower than everyone, so I was a good 200 yards behind them, and my chain kept sounding like it was about to fall off, which really freaked me out. It was insanely beautiful to be riding through the fields, but I just wasn’t enjoying it. We reached the halfway point to the destination that I didn’t realize we had, but I wasn’t comfortable going all the way and the group seemed a little done. I think I annoyed them by wanting to turn around, but I didn’t want to be stranded 5 miles away from town with a broken bike. So we turned around and headed back. I was in my head a lot, and I think that started a downhill mental slide for me. I went and read my scriptures for a bit when I got back, but I wasn’t as into it as I usually am and that was frustrating. I met back up with the group later, but I was just feeling moody and excluded, so I went back and worked on some homework for a bit.

It was still a really great day, I think I’m just winding down from the go-go-go of this trip and getting mentally ready to be back in a normal routine.

DAY THIRTY-TWO: 7.18.18

We woke up to rain, and it was wonderful. The plan for the day was to head to Ale’s Stones, which was about an hour away in Ystad. That meant we got back on a charter bus for the day, and headed off! The rain was fantastic, but it was not letting up. I was grateful I had packed my rain coat, and that once again I’d stuck my camera in a ziplock bag. We got to Ystad, and walked out to the coast near the stones to a fish’n’chips place. Coming from the northwest, I’d say that I’ve had some really good fish’n’chips in my life, but nothing I’ve had even comes close to these. They were fresh, both out of the water and out of the fryer, and the batter had dill in it. With a lemon squeezed on top, they just made your heart sing. They make it on the list of notable foods I’ve eaten on this trip in a heartbeat.

Then we walked up to the stones! They are small, about my height or smaller, and form the formation of a ship. They’re just set up on this hillside, near a cliff overlooking the sea. Anthropologists aren’t sure why they are there, but it is most likely either an astrological reason (similar to Stonehenge) or some sort of burial ritual. They were fun though! We were laughing, in the US they would be behind a fence, you wouldn’t be able to touch them. Here in Sweden, we were climbing and jumping all over them. They were soaking wet in the rain, and super slick, so it was a little frightening to climb up onto them, but we made it happen, and no one got hurt!

We headed back to Lund after about an hour at the stones, and then my friends and I ran off to a local candy store. I wasn’t super impressed (the grocery store had a similar sized selection for the same price), but it was interesting to see the difference in attitude. In the US, candy stores are more of a novelty, something that you don’t go to regularly. In Sweden, that’s where you get candy. There’s no candy aisle in target, you have to go and pick it out yourself. The store was huge, and it was full of normal, every day Swedes just grabbing the sweets they needed. It was an interesting comparison. And I did get some black licorice to bring home.

Then I had class, where we talked about religion and spirituality and how they affect your health, and the health benefits and drawbacks of leading an extremely altruistic lifestyle. MBH was definitely my favorite class while over here, so I enjoyed it.

After class we grabbed dinner from the local kebab place again. It was so good, it’s frustrating that they don’t have more places like that anywhere I’ve been in the US. We’re trying to convince one of the guys in our friend group to drop out of school and just open a kebab place in Provo. He’d make a ton of money doing it, BYU students would love the food. But I don’t think he’ll ever agree to it.

After dinner we decided to go for a bike ride as a group. It started off good, but quickly went downhill. The place we thought we were going was further than expected, and the group didn’t stay together well. A couple shot off way ahead, I was holding up the middle, and a couple were in back. My bike had gotten knocked over the other day and was having some issues, and so I was falling behind. It wouldn’t have bothered me, except I didn’t have my phone, and the chain on my bike was starting to sound like it was going to fall off. Eventually we all met up again, and decided to bail on the bike ride for the day. I think the others were disappointed, but I was grateful.

DAY THIRTY-THREE: 7.19.18

Our last day together as a group! It started off with our last activity challenge, which was a 5k. I knew it was going downhill from the start, when we asked what the course was and the response was “Oh, we’ll just stay together the whole time”. Mind you, this group includes skill level that ranges from ultramarathon runners, to byu cross country athletes, to normal runners, to people who have never run more than a mile in their life. I chose to hang in the back with one of my friends (who qualifies as never having run a mile in her life), and the professor holding up the rear. This proved to be a wise decision. We plugged our way along, stopping at intersections to wait to be told where to go, and eventually popped out about half mile from the finish, where we ran into one of the other professors. He looked relieved to see us, and said “oh good, the group found their way”. I quickly crushed his hopes by informing him that we were only ahead of two other people. Turns out, the group at the front had been going fast enough that they lost the group in the middle, and the group in the middle got very lost. So the 5k was a 5k for some, a 10k for others, and a 15k for a few others. But hey, the things you do for a sticker.

After the 5k we spent some time packing and organizing, and then a group of us decided to ride back out to the beach since it was so sunny. The ride out was so windy that sometimes I could feel myself being pushed sideways on the bike path. My bike held out though, so it was okay. It was a little frustrating, the people who like to talk sped off, and the ones who were going my speed had all put headphones in and were in their own world, so I was kind of on my own the whole ride. But we made it, and the beach was gorgeous! It was super incredibly windy, but I loved it just the same. The water felt so good, and because of the wind, there were kite surfers everywhere! It was a super fun place to be. We only stayed a couple hours because some of us had class in the afternoon, but it was worth it. One of the professors came with us, and on the way home we stopped at McDonalds because they still had money in their budget, so he got us all Mcflurrys. It was wonderful.

Then we rushed back to class! We finished off HBC by talking about how changing the environment (such as improving sidewalks or adding bike planes) is more likely to have an impact than trying to trach individual people, and talked about what we can do and how we can have that affect our future careers. Then in MBH we reviewed everything we’ve talked about so far, and talked about what we can do to apply it in our lives. And that was the end of classes (except for all the classwork and quizzes I still have left to take online. Oof.)

We returned our bikes to the rental shop, and I explored the cathedral in town.

 Then we all headed off for our last book group, dinner, and closing devotional. The book this time was called Live Lagom, and was not my favorite. It was about the concept of balance in Swedish life, and how you have to find a balance and a bit of simplicity in everything in order to keep a happy life. I love the concept, it was just the book that I didn’t enjoy. But the discussions were good, and I’m grateful for the opportunity I had to read it. We had dominos pizza in the park, and then the professors took the chance to share their testimonies with us, both of what they’ve been teaching and of the gospel. It was bittersweet, it really didn’t seem like things were ending. It honestly feels like it just started (but also it feels like a year has gone by rather than just a month).

We got back to the hotel, and hung out as a group for a little while, but then said our goodbyes. It was a lot of “see you later!”s which was good, because these are amazing friends that I’ve made.

Then it was off to bed to be up crazy early (nothing like leaving for a train at 2:45 in the morning!)

And that was the end of my adventure with BYU. I have a couple more days abroad, so I’m not done quite yet, just with BYU.