Sweden!

Oh, Sweden was beautiful. We were at Klubban field station, a unit of Uppsala University located in Fiskebackskil on the west coast of Sweden. And no, I can't pronounce the name of the town.

We arrived after a 14 hour bus ride that involved several sleepy stops in rest areas as well as a 3am ferry ride from Germany to Denmark. Less than ideal :) But we got in on a beautiful day and had some free time to wander around. We checked out the beach and then for some reason decided to go swimming. And yes, swimming in the North Sea is at least as cold as you'd think it would be.

We then met the rest of our class which was fun! It's cool to finally meet the people after talking for so long on Facebook and wondering what everyone would be like.

Since we were at a field station, we had to cook for ourselves, which involved a trip to a Swedish small-town grocery store. This was my favorite discovery-fish paste! I think...

Most of the week was spent hearing research lectures from the professors from the four universities as well as more information about the programs at each of the universities. I won't bore you with the details, but it was a lot! We started at 8:30 each day and went until around 10 with an hour for dinner. Then after that we were socializing until after midnight each night. Yikes! And then there were the articles to read in our "free" time.

But it was an awesome setting to experience and a great way for us to hang out.

Now I'm back in the Netherlands and will post another update soon. But for your viewing pleasure, I present Sweden.

The view from my dorm room at the station.

The view from the mountain we climbed. One of the French girls called the view "scandalously picturesque" a phrase I am completely in love with.