Uppsala!

Uppsala, my new home for the next year and after a week and a half it's looking like it's going to be a damn good year. Following a rather late night with the World Uni celebrations the 5am start last Sunday proved reasonably challenging for Matt and I. We managed to drag ourselves onto the tram, followed by the train, followed by the bus and finally the plane after some well-deserved McDonalds.

This is the first year that I haven't been doing the same trip as above except the plane ride is a casual 35-40 hours as I attempt to get home post races for uni/work. Such a luxury to sit on the plane and nod off for 2 hours before touching down at Alranda (Stockholm airport). My biggest complaint is I ended up with a really sore neck after lolling my head back and forth when I fell asleep. I always find it hugely amusing watching people try to sleep upright, hopefully I provided the guy next to me with some good in-flight entertainment.

Kate was waiting for Rassmus and I at the flat and my new bed was even made for me! Having a good friend here in Uppsala has made all the difference. Kate and Rassmus had already sourced me a bed, a desk and curtains and lights. Some weird Swedish thing means that everyone brings their own curtains and lights to the flats, not just bedside lamp but the lights in the roof otherwise it's just a bare plug with a hook, funny Swedes.

My first week was spent doing not a whole lot. After 3 months of on the go travelling/racing I am fairly knackered. I tend to be a bit of a nana and like my routine so I seem to find it doubly tiring when things are changing every day. My achievements of the first week were I unpacked, did a ton of washing, slept in every day, didn't go for a single run, walked 10k to get my permit ID card cause I was too scared to bike on the right side of the road, found the clubhouse and listened to a great speech from Annika about her WOC gold medal race (I understood nothing, it was all in swedish), baked a cake and found the supermarket. Good week.

Rassmus was away for my first Swedish weekend for more races so Kate and I had the best girly weekend possible. Friday night I met her in town; before she got there I managed to find some live music and a cheerleading performance, busy Uppsala! We wandered the streets exploring, Uppsala has a beautiful old church, some cool viking ruins, a pink castle and fairly impressive botanical gardens. We got burgers and beer followed by fika (Swedish for cake and coffee, very popular pastime, loving this place already) then biked home. Saturday morning dawned early for an exploring/shopping (mostly shopping) day in Stockholm. A 40minute train ride and we were in the centre of town, it certainly didn't disappoint. We perused the shops for a good few hours before heading to Gamla Stan (old town) to look around the beautiful old cobbled streets. It feels like such a luxury not having to try and see and do everything all at once with Stockholm being so close. I already have a list of all the things I want to see and do before winter really sets in. We ended the day with fika before hitting the train station at 9pm and dinner at Max which is a Swedish takeaway burger place, kind of a mix of Burger King and Burger Wisconsin. Damn tasty after a day on our feet!

Sunday was a good day. IKEA.
To summarise we spent almost the whole day there, poor Matt and Jakob were very patient while I dithered over duvet covers and Kate over plants. It really is one of those places where you end up buying all this stuff you never knew you needed!
The food was good too, I had the traditional Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes, peas and lingonberry jam. Probably the one place in Sweden where the food doesn't cost a fortune, so if anyone comes for a visit I'll probably be suggesting Ikea for a meal out.

My room now feels like my own, properly "Gretified" and the apartment is starting to feel more and more like home away from home. I've spent the last few days getting myself a part time job babysitting, doing fun jobs like getting phone and bus cards and being the housemaid while Kate is at work.

Writing this now sitting at Arlanda airport again. After a rather horrifically early morning I managed to navigate myself to the airport for a flight to Oslo. Todays activities are a train ride to Bergen, meant to be absolutely spectacular, followed by an evening/day tomorrow exploring. Then it's off to Stavanger to catch up with Matty and Van. Van's Mum arrives mid week and we head up to Tromso to do some adventuring and fingers crossed for some northern lights!!