Wednesday was my last day on campus for this year. It was filled with good connections. The cafeteria/restaurant has a Christmas buffet called a Julbord, which is a highlight for the Swedes. With Maria’s help, I had my first herring. It was better than expected, but I’ll fill up on the other options.
The room where the staff has morning fika, coffee/tea break, has had a special feature this Advent season…
The flashing disco lights behind the Jesus statue gives a very different effect!
We caught a taxi at 4:15 am on Thursday the 22nd to get to the Arlanda (Stockholm) airport. The lines were long at the airport and each flight was delayed a bit, but not enough to miss our connecting flight or make problems with the pick up.
I managed to catch up with some movies (actually 4) with a little sleep. Anya managed to get 5 movies in the long flight–but no nap. With our Global Entry passes, we zipped through customs without any lines!
We had lunch at Inn and Out burgers, picked up a few things at Walgreen’s, and drove over the Santa Cruz mountains to the Monterrey Bay, to stay at my in-law’s condo at the beach. The first night was dinner at one of the family’s favorite places.
There is way too much food! I asked my father-in-law to order the kid’s menu fish and chips, as senior citizens can order off that menu, but I could only eat about half the food. A take-away box took the last piece of fish home, and this with a kid’s menu portion!
Staying up for food meant that we managed to stay away until about 8 pm. This is amazing for me! And after nine hours of sleep, I was able to stay awake all day today. However, I have been thick-headed all day and not very productive with my Swedish lessons yet.
I did a little Duolingo and listened to my Swedish podcasts while walking, but with a lot of rain most of the day, it meant that I only had one walk about 30 minutes long before the rain started again. (On good weather days, I’m out walking for at least an hour, twice a day.)
I was the first one to then end of the sandy spit (no other people or footprints in sight) after some stormy weather, so there were some sand dollars inviting me to pick them up. I brought them back for my sister-in-law. (I won’t be taking them back to Sweden.)
The sky started to clear up just before dinner, which meant there was some rays of light sneaking through the clouds.
I hope my head won’t be so thick tomorrow. I do need to get some serious Swedish studying done and still write a final exam.
But, I made it again to 8 pm today. I’m ready to get to bed.
With blessings,
Beth