Göteborg, Sweden: first leg of my trip to Norway

I have traveled alone many times, flying back and forth between school and home, visiting grandparents, driving to see friends, but I have never undertaken an entire trip by myself. Although I stayed with a friend in Oslo, I really made this trip happen myself. There was no conferring with the group as to where to eat or what sights to see, I was completely independent. The first leg of my journey was from Lund to Göteborg in Sweden, but my final destination was Bergen, on the western coast off Norway. The Swedish countryside flew by as the train sped along the well-used tracks. Long stretches of farmland suddenly became seaside towns with brightly colored Swedish style houses, as the train rout went up the western coast of Sweden toward Göteborg. Even with the cold weather, the fields still appeared to be alive, and the stonewalls had a hearty green tint. The longer grasses were yellow and had clearly been shaped by the harsh winds that fly through the meadows. The ocean looked rough and the whitecaps looked like snow upon the dark and menacing sea. The icon of Göteborg is Neptune the god of the sea, and it seemed to fit quite well.












I spent two nights in Göteborg at a hostel, which was located right next to Liseberg, the biggest amusement park in Sweden. The hostel was nothing exciting, but the city was beautiful. I found the most darling little chocolate shop that had just about every kind of chocolate you could imagine.


I went to the opera and saw My Fair Lady, which was fantastic, even in Swedish! It's a good thing that I know the story and the songs in English, otherwise I would have been lost. The show was beautifully done, and it was the perfect activity to do alone.









The next night I went to Liseberg, the amusement park, when it was all lit up. It was really quite beautiful even though it was still just an amusement park. I drank warm glögg and had a Swedish waffle as I sat and watched a fantastic figure skating show. The crowd at the park was the same as at any amusement park, so I did some thorough people watching, and the fact that it was night with and all lit up for the holidays, gave everyone a warm and friendly façade.


After the figure skating, I was walking around and a man offered me a ticket to see a concert playing in the concert hall in the park. I was a bit skeptical, especially when he told me that it was a hard rock concert, but I decided to go out on a limb and take him up on the offer since he was just giving it to me. It turned out to be quite an experience, but it was definitely a haaarrrdd rock concert, and everything that I would expect a hard rock concert to be, fully done-up with explosions, fire and light of all sorts. The opening band and the feature band were both from Finland, but luckily they sang in English, and mostly spoke in English in between the songs.












During the two days that I was in Göteborg, I mostly just walked around and saw the usual tourist attractions and looked in shops. Even though the sights were beautiful, I got kind of bored just walking by myself and listening to my ipod on occasion.



I am going to write about the other two legs of my weeklong journey soon, but I still have to write my final paper for a class, and my dad just arrived and is visiting me for a week.