A quick trip to Paris!

So, Anna and I decided it was time to take a trip, so we decided to go to Paris! It was such an amazing week filled with crepes, creme brulee, french onion soup, croque madam, baguettes and croissants!

Here are the highlights:

Anna and I could not have been in Paris more than 10 minutes, when we had our first American tourist moment. We climbed on the Metro, and realized we were going the wrong direction. So, we figured it would get to the end and turn around, but nope! The entire train got off and we stayed on. The train continued to go forward and then just stopped in a dark hallway. In a state of panic, we decided it was a good idea to pull the emergency alarm... Hahaha! The entire train was sounding and the driver came running out to get us! It was super embarrassing, and definitely a memory I will never forget!

Our hotel was right next to Sacre Coure, so that was the first place we went! The building was so beautiful, and it overlooks the entire city.

The Lourve! Anna and I found out that because we are students at Uppsala, we can do all of the museums for free! After the Lourve we saw Musee d'Orsay- my personal favorite because of all of Degas ballerinas- and Musee Rodin.

Notre Dame!

Arc de Triumph at night! Anna and I did saw it again while doing some serious shopping on the Champs Elysees on the last day that we were in Paris.

One of the days, we took the train out to Versaille. It was so beautiful! We are standing in the Hall of Mirrors! We could have stayed in that room for hours. It was so beautiful and looked out over all of the gardens.

THE EIFFEL TOWER! This was absolutely my favorite thing we saw. I was just in awe at how huge it was! The very first night, we went to see it in the dark. It was so awesome, we had to go back again in the daylight!

On one of the nights, we met up with our friend Emily from Gustavus and her two friends from Athens. We went to this teeny little fondue restaurant where they served endless wine in baby bottles! It was so much fun, and so great to see a fellow Gustie!

Overall, the trip was everything we could have hoped for! It made me very excited for more traveling!

Lately in Uppsala...

So sorry that I am terrible at keeping everyone informed on my life in Uppsala! Everything here has been fantastic, so I will just give some highlights:

I joined Södermanland-Nerikes (Snerikes for short) Nation. This is their house, more often known as the big pink castle. This is where they host all of their club nights, and I am also going to start working here a little later this week.

This is the Snerikes Choir! In my first week in the choir, we got to sing in the domskyrka-- the famous old church in Uppsala. It was such an amazing place to sing! We ended up singing a traditional Swedish wedding song and All You Need Is Love. It was so much fun. Most often in rehearsal we learn the traditional Swedish drinking songs! They sing at all of the Snerikes events, and some non-Snerikes events. In two weeks, there is a big choir retreat weekend! That should definitely be fun.

I have been working out! Shocking, I know, but it has actually been great so far! We'll see if it continues...

Anna and I decided to take a day trip to Stockholm a couple weeks ago. The city is so awesome! If you can't tell, there are 3 different H&Ms in this picture, and there are at least 3 more throughout the rest of the city! We just spent the day wandering around the city, shopping, and doing a little bit of sight seeing.

We had our first event as members of Snerikes! All of the new members got a "buddy" to hang out with for the afternoon, then we went to the Nation for a very traditional pea soup and pancakes. The dinner was filled with singing, drinking special schnapps, and listening to the choir and band. The books we are  holding are our songbooks. It is traditional to have friends sign the book at the end of the night and then bite it. Some of the older members of Snerikes have entire chunks bitten out of their books! It was such a fun first night in the Nation. Later that night, I won the limbo contest :)

We got a new roommate in our corridor. His name is David, and he is definitely the nicest Swede we have met so far! He, Dawn, Vasco and I often end up just chatting in the kitchen for hours, and we have been having consistent hot chocolate nights.

Fika, fika, and more fika! The little pastry we have in front of us is called semla, and it is the most delicious treat in the world! I've heard there is a semla day sometime in the next month where people eat like 10 in a day! I can't wait! Good thing I am a member of the gym.

We went to a bar in town to watch the Superbowl and celebrate Lauren's birthday! It started at 12:30 in the morning, and we didn't get back to our rooms until almost 5 a.m.

We went to the Finland v. Sweden hockey game last weekend! It was so much fun to be in the arena rooting for Sweden!

Other fun things:

Classes are going really well! My Swedish History class is super easy, but I just started the language class too. I somehow got put into the second level, so there is definitely going to be a lot of studying!

Some friends and I are currently planning trips to the Arctic Circle, England and Copenhagen, more on those later!