Day 12: Cue the tears

Our time here in Sweden is coming to an end and that means your time of following my travels is also coming to an end (aww). Today was a day of fun and impromptu adventures before we all head our separate ways tomorrow after the flight.

This morning we didn’t have to be ready until 10am, which meant we got to sleep in for the first time (yay)!! Kendall and I took full advantage of that and walked in for a quick breakfast at 9:48. Throughout the trip students have each had a different company or group attraction to navigate us all to in efforts to learn the city. Today was my lucky day to navigate us to curling! After a short tram ride, a ferry ride, and a 15-minute walk we made it there without any problems!

Curling was by far my favorite part of the trip. The first throw was a little rough, and I may have fallen, but my skills improved greatly after a few tries. I even was one of the first to score from our team! Robby and Jackson definitely took the #1 and #2 spots for best curlers, but mostly everyone got the hang of it before the end of the day. The man teaching us was very nice and taught us all the basics of curling.

After curling, our group broke off to go do some final gift shopping for our family. We first headed over to the fire station again to try and exchange Matt’s shirt for his dad. After a little scare from the receptionist that it wouldn’t be possible, a firefighter came out and not only agreed to exchange shirts, but also took us on a short tour of the station! We learned that there are 4 stations in Gothenburg alone, and the one we were at was the biggest. It was crazy seeing the differences in stations between what we have in the US compared to what they have here in Sweden. First, the station has 3 workout facilities and everyone on shift is required to workout for at least 1.5 hours each shift. In addition, there are on site swimming pools to conduct diving training and water rescues. To finish off the visit, Lauren asked if she could get dressed up in the gear and, of course, they let her. This really showed us just how nice the people all here are, as they let us just walk in and gave us a tour!

After the firehouse we walked over to Haga and finally made it to the chocolate shop while it was open. Let me tell you, it was well worth the wait. They had everything from mini candy bars, to chunks of chocolate, and a lot of gummies. We all bought a lot of chocolate to bring home to our families and friends.

After we came home and got ready, we headed out to our final group dinner at Heaven 23. This was the dinner I have been most worried about for the whole trip. Apparently it’s the best restaurant in Sweden and it’s located in Gothia Towers (a GREAT view of the city). JJ preordered all of our meals because he wanted us all to try the King’s Sandwich. This consists of: a piece of pita bread, cucumbers, lettuce, mayo, egg, and cold shrimp. I tried one piece and that was the extent of my dinner. I’m just not a big fan of shrimp I’ve decided.

We came back to pack after dinner and are currently finishing our blog posts for the night. We leave early in the morning tomorrow for our trip back to Chicago!

Top Takeaways:

1. Uber Eats bikes are very dangerous. The amount of times Lauren has almost been taken out by one is alarming.
2. Female firefighters are relatively common in the Gothenburg area.
3. The King Sandwich is one of the most popular and most expensive dinner choices in Sweden. According to JJ, it is equal to the hype around cheesecurds in WI.