Life Is Good

Hej hej!!!

Well well well... it has been a minute since my last post, but I attribute my negligence to living THE BEST LIFE EVER :). Trust me, I thank the Lord everyday for being so incredibly blessed to be doing all the things I've been able to do in the last couple of months. :)

Let's get to the recap already, shall we? Be warned, this one will be a doozy.

London

When we last parted ways, I was writing from foggy London town and the weather was terrible. To be quite honest, I was feeling a little despondent. However, everything worked out in the end, and I can tell you that the rest of my time in London was quite enjoyable as I was able to meet up with some dear friends and go on some wacky adventures. Allow me to elaborate...

First off, I had the please of having a lovely dinner with Ms. Maria at quite the dim sum house. It was wonderful to be able to catch up with her after at least a year being apart, so, Maria, if you're reading this, THANKS AGAIN!

After that dinner, I met up with Preeti who was mid-orientation for the London School of Economics. Since her program had just begun, she was still feeling out the city and such, so it was kind of like being part of the orientation process all over again. A lot of the LSE kids thought I was part of their program, so I had to let them know that my name wasn't that important to remember. Preeti, her company, and I hit up the Piccadilly Circus area, ending up at the club Metra, where we danced the night away. We had a few run ins with some interesting characters to say the least, and somehow ended up with free drinks in the VIP area... ha.

The following day I met up with Ms. Bernadette to have fish and chips in a pub in Kensington because Bern hadn't had fish and chips her entire stay in London. We were met with the most adorable Australian bartender who introduced me to the wonderful world of mushy peas. Boy, are they tasty. I completely recommend the mushy peas in London. They are delish. After a delightful exchange with said Aussie bartender, Bern and I left (with Aussie bartender's email and promise to meet me in Stockholm) to meet with Matt Miller in Oxford Circus at Cafe Nero (which seem to be EVERYWHERE in London). We had a jolly good time.

That evening, I met Preeti and others for a delicious Indian dinner before going back out to Piccadilly. After perusing the club areas for a bit, we were met with a gorgeous club promoter named, Eddy. He tried very hard to get us to go to the clubs he was promoting, but we struck a compromise, and he ended up going to a (sketchier) club with us himself. In the club, called Storm, informal break dancing/pop locking battles were underway which were pretty siiiiiick. We busted a few moves before I parted ways with Preeti and company. Eddy was nice enough to point out my bus home, which happened to be the same bus he was going to take, and he and I rode together, arguing about the Chicago Bulls. I ended up getting his name and number so he and I could be facebook friends to continue our discussion. I would say, overall, it was a pretty lucky guy day for Kayla. (I am such a loser. Sorry, Eddy, if you're reading this)

Amsterdam

What do I say about my time in Amsterdam without incriminating myself? (I guess I already have in that statement alone) ..... I arrived in Amsterdam and met up with some of my favorite Swedish Program kids. We wasted no time integrating ourselves into the Dutch way of life. :) Amsterdam is beautiful, when the weather is favorable, during the day but a little frightening at night. No worries, though. I undoubtedly made the best decisions possible and played it as safe as I possibly could ...

For the sake of time, I will recap these adventures in list form

What I did in Amsterdam
- Went to sex shop(s) (not for me, of course, to accompany my curious friends :)
- Went on a boat tour (which I fell asleep through... exhaustion started to get the best of me...among other things)
- Sauntered through Dam and Leidseplan
- 'Explored' the green light district and its many coffee shops
- Almost died in the red light district (scariest night of my life)
- Ate Febo, mounds of fries, and frosting covered waffles (ugh.....)
- Visited the Rijks Museum (which was less impressive than I thought)
- Took funny pictures in front of the I Amsterdam sign (required, obviously)

- Visited Anne Frank's house
- Visited the Sex Museum (which was pretty anti-climactic and disappointing...minus the giant plastic penises... those were amusing)
- Apparently saw 'Into The Wild' (but I'm pretty sure I slept through that, too)
- Decided Dutch was an ugly language (and that the Dutch aren't half as attractive as the Swedes)
- Caught every train the hard way (by chasing it down several blocks)
- Received a barrage of messages from hotel reception telling me to call home (I had lost my phone in London.. the parents were worried... just a little)

:D

Basically, I was relieved to return to Stockholm in one piece with all the belongings I set out with and then some.. Ha. EuroTrip 08 was definitely a success of which I enjoyed every moment.

Can't wait to do it again during EuroTrip08 pt. Två. Destinations will include (but are not limited to): Granada, Sevilla, och Dublin. More mischief will be had. I can assure you of that.

As for what I have been doing since my return to Stockholm, I've been pretty busy with school work (yeah, I still have to do that stuff.. haha), exams, and more Swedish mayhem. Mom and Dad came to visit and left just recently, and I'll admit I didn't get to spend as much time with them as I would have liked (due to the aforementioned commitments of school work, exams, and mayhem), but they coped pretty well despite their daughter's busy-body nature. It was lovely to see them and introduce them to my friends, nonetheless. I am pretty sure both parties approved of one another and when I say approved I mean.. my friends call my Mom 'Pegleg' now and were disappointed when she didn't come to Tunnan (our favorite Viking bar) when the SP kids decided to take it over.

Mom and Dad always bring the party with them. That is for sure. Took them to Universitetet, which they said was Deis remniscent. Up until that point, the thought had not even crossed my mind, but they're right. Fall here and fall at the Deis are similar, as is the tacky, modern, box like architecture of the buildings and terrible color choice for those buildings. Moms and Pops met the Cecilia, Kajsa, and Eva, my favorite SP admins and professor. Obviously, I received glowing reports from them...Mom, you were worried. Ha.

We checked out the Choklad Festival at Nordiska Museet, which is a yearly showcase of the leading choclatiers of the world. Lots of people. Lots of chocolate. And lots of FREE SAMPLES. I'm pretty sure Pegleg went into a diabetic coma before we got a third of the way through.

What else did we do? Had many a delicious dinner with friends. We tried reindeer and had a real smörgåsbord (which literally translates to 'sandwich table' in Swedish... if you were wondering). My contact family was nice enough to prepare a traditional Swedish dinner for my parents and I, so we had lots of herring, salmon, meatballs, potatoes, cheese, caviar, etc. 'Twas very sweet of them. The parents got along very well and Mom had a fine time embarrassing me (as is customary) and sharing her parental wisdom with them. Jokes about the embarrassment, Mom.

And, of course, we did some shopping. But not too much. Just some.

I was sad to see them go. No more free dinner/stuff/time at a hotel. Hahahaha. I'm totally joking. I was so happy to have them here and I miss them oodles and oodles already.

Other things I've done besides the previously mentioned activities:
- Attended my frist grafitti party (woke up with marker all over my arms and glow stick bracelets)
- More Alhuset (attendance is dwindling....)
- More Stockholm night life (= more insanity)
- Visited Skansen and saw LIVE REINDEER (mind blowing)
- Finally figured how to vote on the FWAB (hope you all will be voting on Nov. 4!)



Hmm.. so I guess that's it. Dense reading material. Sorry bout that. What's on tap for this weekend? Dinner con los padres de Claire @ Tunnan (we are always there always). It seems to be parents time as everyone's parents have been in and out all over the place. It is also Hot Salsa Weekend. I don't know what that means.. but you know I'll be there.

Hope I didn't overwhelm you with the humdrum of my life. Thanks for tuning in. I'll see you next time!!!


LOVE,
K