Leituva- the dismal wonderland

Oh what can I say about the amazing Lithuania! It treated us like kings!!
My roommate and I left for Lithuania for 6 days and as much as maybe we didn't need so much time there, it was cheap, very rewarding, and what can I say about the girls!

I think Lithuania has some of the most beautiful girls in the world and I think more than that, it's the fact that they are everywhere, everywhere look. I wish I could show you with a video or pictures, but just go and see for yourself.

Ryanair.com has cheap flights to Kaunas the second biggest city, and from there you can take a train to Vilnuis, the capital city of Lithuania. I would recommend maybe a day in Kaunas, and two days in Vilnuis. One day for visiting the city and another to visit the small medieval town of Trakai, by far my favorite part of the trip. If you have the opportunity to stay longer I would strongly advice you to trek to Riga in Latvia for maybe 2 days.

There's not too much to see in Lithuania, but it's still an important trip as you get to see another side of Europe that doesn't really show in the more westernized countries.

I also stayed in some of the most hospitable hostels I've ever stayed in. Here is my recommendation.
These hostels are cheap, clean, friendly, and just awesome.

In Kaunas:
Monks Bunk Hostel
In Vilnius:
Jimmy Jumps House

I do have to warn you, the entrances to either of these hostels don't look welcoming or safe at all, but once you get inside you'll be amazed. The hostel in Vilnius even makes you waffles for free in the morning and the living rooms are a great place to meet the other backpackers. You can look these up in hostelworld.com as well.

Just a few sightseeing and other useful info:
KAUNAS-
There really isn't much to see, but I would recommend seeing the castle, walking around the old city on Laíses Aléja (the main street called Freedom Avenue in English), there is also a beautiful church on this pedestrian street. I would walk up the hill, which can be walked or a trolley for very cheap can be used. Here, there are nice residential areas where you can just walk and get lost and a nice view from the modern Resurrection Church.

Places to go out at night could be Deja Vu club, Republic Pub (more pricey), Dzem Pub (recommend), Blue Orange (can get a discount if you stay at Monks Bunk)and during the day maybe you can try some home brew at a bar just near Town Hall it's called something like Gayes.

VILNIUS-
There's much more to sightseeing here such as Town Hall (if you go there at the end of winter (mid February) you might catch the Shrovetide Carnival where they escorting the winter with scary masks, strange wardrobes, and the burning of a stick women representing the death of winter)

, Cathedral Square and Gediminas Castle, St. Peter and Paul's Church, St. Anne's Church, Gates of Dawn leading you into the old city, Parliament building, and don't forget to take a day to Trakai.

Also, a good club to go to right nearby Town Hall is called Seacret. If you stay at Jimmy Jumps House they should have a list of places for nightlife updated on a daily basis.

First bon voyage from Sweden

About to make it to my first week in Sweden, why not leave?

The first official week of classes started on the 16^th through the 20^th of January. This is called the kick-off week and has lots of planned activities including parties (Akademia-the university club), fun games, and dinner parties; all planned in the interest of incoming international students to get to know each other. Well, since I did not have classes this week I decided I wanted to go off on a trip and trade the fun and wild escapades that the rest of the students would partake because who knows when would be the next opportunity to travel for one whole week.

First Stop- Gothenburg

A big reason to plan this trip was also the fact that I needed to go at some point to get fingerprints taken at a Swedish Migration office so that I could finish the process of acquiring my Residence Permit (Note: If one will reside in Sweden for more than 3 months or 90 days, you must apply for a Residence Permit which is valid for 1 year(Instructions on how to apply). The closest Swedish Embassy is in Washington D.C.  So the easiest thing to do is to apply for a Residence Permit online with at least 1 month before leaving (you’ll receive a confirmation in less than a week if all documents are submitted and accepted) and enter Sweden without any special permits. Note: Citizens of **these**countries can enter without any visa. Just make sure you have bought a round trip ticket or have the Residence Permit acceptance letter on hand as you may be asked for these when arriving into whatever connecting city you first land in within the European Union (i.e. I flew into Brussels, Belgium from Washington D.C. and since it is the first entry point it was where they checked my passport and had to go through customs—shouldn’t have any problems though).

Anyway, the first stop on my trip was Gothenburg. I'll touch here upon the leisure traveling, sightseeing, experiences, but more information on how to arrange for Residence Permit, getting to the migration office, etc. look into my other blog where this and much more information can be found InfoBlog.  

 Second Stop- Copenhagen

Oh, the poor city of Copenhagen, plagued by fires over and over again. Denmark has quite an amazing, rich, ancient history, but the city of Copenhagen has been rebuilt over again because of these unfortunate disasters. I would recommend taking this same route and spending two days in this quaint city, because it can get quite expensive spending time in Denmark. 

HOSTEL:

I would definitely recommend staying at Danhostel  Copenhagen Downtown which you can book through hostelworld.com

It is located in a prime location to see all the key city sights, near the city center, also for finding good pubs and clubs nearby at night. It has it's own bar and can get decently priced drinks during their happy our. The environment is friendly, the 10 bed dorm is hospitable and relatively economical. 

It's also easy to find from the bus stop for Swebus. Let me know if you need directions.

There is a free tour that you can take actually comes by to pick up at that hostel and you can see all the important landmarks as well as learn much interesting history. I would recommend going as well to the Christiansborg Palace to see the Palace itself, the ruins, and the royal stables for 80 Danish Kronor. 

One sight I missed myself, but would definitely recommend if you get the chance is seeing the Kronborg Castle which lies somewhat on the outskirts of town. 

If you plan on traveling somewhere else and through plane like myself, you'll need to take the train to the Airport. If you need help with this just email me
One small suggestion. If you need to take the train, try to buy it by card and get the child or cheaper ticket to save some money. Cost around 36 DKK regular price and 24 DKK discounted and exchange was 5 DKK/$

Off to Germany - Berlin

I couldn't wait to go back to Germany and finally have myself an amazing Weizen beer. I also had never gone to Berlin and playing such an important role during World War II and the Cold War, it is a special place with a very complex recent history and culture that shadows over all of Germany. 

You'll have more than enough to see and at the hostels they can recommend were to go and what not to miss, but I would definitely ask around for a free tour given by the same company as the one in Denmark. It's one of the best I have ever taken, and it's just based on tips. 
 I will suggest one place. If you are into history and especially as interesting as Berlins was with the influence on the recent 20th century wars, I would tell you to not miss the Story of Berlin. It's a virtual world, taking you back through Berlin's history, highlighting World War II, the Berlin Wall, etc.. (www.story-of-berlin.de). You can get a student ticket for 8 EUR.

I unfortunately never made it here, but I would try and make it into the Museum of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Another important museum of course is the Deutsches Museum. 

However, I will, strongly recommend you stay in the Meininger Hotel which you can book here or through hostelworld.com It has probably the best location, because you can take sophisticated metro anywhere in the city within a few steps from the hostel door. Also, if you maybe want to travel somewhere else, it is right next to the Central Station (all in one where the metro is as well). Meininger is pretty well known and has good reputation so stay there, trust me.

I flew to Berlin to the Tegel Airport (TGX) so let me know if you need advice or help in getting from the airport to the city.  

Berlin, has not only this rich, eerie history, but an amazing night life, and amazing beer and food. Basically, you can see I love Germany haha. 

If you like dancing latin music or want to give it a try (they even give free lessons which you can take part of- I did) ask around for Havanna club (www.havanna-berlin.de)

 

Escaping O-town to the Scandinavian frozen gloom

Getting there- a series of unfortunate events! 

All ready, packed, and ready to hit the road or better yet, hit the sky channels of air travel haha. There I was with hundreds of thoughts, mixed emotions, just having gotten back from a 3 or so week from SE Asia, had the Thai Tummy (Like Bali Beli- Stomach Bug), and was leaving my gf behind for 5 months seemingly something a lot of us encounter when leaving for study abroad. 

Anyway I checked in handed my documents over and as time was clicking on, I realized it was taking forever and anxiety also set in (I was already running late as the typical Mexican I am). Well, so it happened that United was unable to let me board because I did not have a Visa. (More detailed explanation of Sweden migration services). Well, finally the witch of a lady came over saying "here are you boarding passes, you might be deported." Amidst all the other emotions I wanted to...hurt this lady! So off I was running late to my gate and was the last one to board my airplane.

  I was finally airborne, but had two connections one still inside the US in D.C. (IAD Airport) and then in Brussels, Belgium. Getting to Washington was fine, but then the bad luck crept in for what would last till my first night in my new apartment. I tend to write essays so to shorten it here's the essence of the story: 

Our flight was delayed two hours in Washington due to inclement weather (and this was time on the plane), I landed in Brussels with 15 minutes to get to my connecting flight to Gothenburg...obviously having to go through customs and miles of walking (the airport is poorly built for transfers) I never made it and had to go out through security to deal with United and get re-booked. I ended up flying to Copenhagen, Denmark and then finally Gothenburg, Sweden at around 3pm 4 hours later than I should have arrived. Turns out I happily find my first bag, but the second one with all my clothes and important items never showed up. 

Yes! I had finally arrived to Sweden, but with only one bag of two I had brought. I waited and no whereabouts were know so I decided to take a bus to Jönköping only to miss the bus (they are literal on the time of departure and if they don't see you at the stop they will just keep driving and won't stop). So there I was again with all my bad luck, I had to by another ticket for the morning bus and slept the night at the airport.

Fortunately, this bag had my comforter that I used as my pillow and quickly I passed out. I sure am glad I am a sound sleeper, but in a dangerous airport who knows what could’ve happened. I was woken up when two ladies from the airport staff came in and lying their with my comforter (if I didn’t have clothes, at least I’m glad I was left with my comforter haha) like a hobo, I felt embarrassed and I half asleep murmured that I was sorry. I really didn’t feel all that tired and from the embarrassment I presume I just wasn’t going to be able to fall back asleep. I got up, composed myself, made sure I didn’t look despicable and marched on to baggage claim, determined to leave Gothenburg with my second bag. Unfortunately for me, I was once again disappointed of news that there were no known whereabouts of my bag. All I could do was suck it up, leave for Jonkoping and hope they’ll ship it soon.

I proceeded to buy my ticket for 10 Swedish Kronas cheaper (at least one thing went my way) and was forced to buy some type of aliment. Having been at the airport it would of course be expensive but I had to bite the bullet. I bought 2 waters for a deal of 2 for 30 SEK usually sold individually for 23 SEK and two bananas for 12 SEK (2 freakin bananas for $1.84 is ridiculous!!). I then headed with my one bag and two bananas for the day to the obscure bus stop...I was not going to miss this bus (make sure you show up at least 10 mins before). More on buses and transportation 

The bus to Jönköping was about 2 hours direct, but I don't know why all the direct buses have stops in several places anyway. I won't go into specifics on how I arrived to the school and where to go once there (my other blog serves those purposes). However, once I got there, the coordinator for international students, specifically engineering students, and I immediately clicked. It seemed as my luck was finally turning in my favor. She offered to take me to my apartment; she took me to get a bus card (Jönköping Bus Card Info), a new phone (Info on Phones abroad),  and finally to my apartment. Long-story-short we found out that my bag was indeed found and it was going to be arriving around 7pm. I waited, waited, and I finally received my baby with all my clothes, toiletries, not much of anything but still imagine the hassle of buying all those new things. Headed back to my apartment and first thing I do is plug in power cord...of course this was the only thing I hadn't checked to see if it had an internal voltage converter. Turns out it didn't and I burnt the fuse hahaha. Fortunately, my roommate helped me changed the fuse and everything was back to normal. 

I could finally rest at peace that no more unprecedented trouble was coming. I just headed to Willy's (Grocery Shopping in Sweden) for some basic groceries (thank God they had peanut butter :) and met up with some friends I had made earlier that all knew each other from Mexico city. After the 48 hour series of unfortunate events I slept warm and cozy in my new 5 month temporary home.

How to Read This Blog

So I'm just starting out blogging so bear with me and the formatting will change as I go along, but the main purpose of this blog will be a "narrative" if you will, about my journey from a Florida boy into becoming a Scandinavian, specifically in the Swedish Culture. This blog will be more specific to leisure, anecdotes, experiences, but for those looking for more detailed information I will have links to another blog (at least for now) so that you can see a more informative approach that will prepare and explain getting to Sweden and living here as well as other traveling around Europe etc; basically I'll give you all the ins and outs, where to shop, how to move around, and also a lot of specific information about studying abroad at Jönköping University down to the smallest details.

So off we gooo!!!

***I'll really start posting within this next week

Link to other blog