March

It's been an overwhelming week, with end of term, B going back, spring week, opera, and LKY's passing at the beginning of the week. I've officially completed my classes for my second year at UCL, completed the spring week that I'd been looking forward to, had the last concert with string orchestra 2 weeks ago, and tonight is the last show for the opera and also my last performance with the symphony orchestra. Now that everything has / is coming to an end I actually feel a bit empty inside, but I guess it must be good if time passed so quickly it must meant that I thoroughly enjoyed everything while they lasted.

Meeting Sabrina and Hue for a quick dinner before the show later, gonna squeeze in some time to practise as well. Next week will be relatively easier and I really need to catch up on my sleep and also sort out my stuff. Will probably update more in detail then. x

Sweden: Stockholm Trip

(I really need to start recording my travel experiences, so I'll just start with Stockholm first since it's my most recent trip and while my memories are still fresh. Will include itinerary and tips!!!)

Carissa and I decided to take a weekend trip last weekend (6-8 March) since it was the last free weekend for the both of us for this term. We both had Fridays off, but I was so busy for the entire year I never had the chance to travel on weekends previously. I initially wanted to go to an EU country since the Euro exchange rates are pretty good now, but Carissa's been to most of them and we couldn't find any good deals for the rest as it was quite a last minute decision. So we decided to go to Stockholm, because return tickets were only 60 quid and it's in Scandinavia!!! I love Scandinavian countries.

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Day 1: 6 March, Friday

We took the morning flight to Stockholm from Stansted and arrived at Skavsta Airport at about noon. Upon arrival we discovered there was only one bus that runs from the airport to the city centre, as with all the other airports in Stockholm. A single ticket costed 159 SEK and it would've been only 139 SEK had we bought it online earlier, but we didn't know. So the bus ticket already took 15% of our money as we only brought 1000 SEK each. Never mind. The airport itself was really small, so we got through the borders really quickly and boarded the bus. The bus journey was rather smooth as well, and it took us about 1.5 hours to reach the city centre. We were really hungry by then, but I've always had the habit of bringing food when I travel so I had tons of supplies. Carissa went to the one of the convenient stores at the central station and bought a cream-filled donut which costed 16 SEK. It was called a "vaniljmunk" (pronounced va-ni-li-moon) and it was the only Swedish word I learnt how to pronounce (I asked our Airbnb host).

Here's how a vaniljmunk looks like:

We then got single tickets to travel to Alvik, where we were going to be staying. There was a 24 hour metro pass available, but we didn't know if we were going to be using it a lot so we got single tickets first. Our Airbnb hosts met us at the station to bring us back to the flat. They were really friendly and nice and gave us lots of tips and advice as to how to get around and where to eat and stuff. And it was also how I asked for the name of the cream donut haha. Anyway, the easiest way to get around Stockholm was by metro, or the tunnelbana because the buses apparently have very little routes. So we quickly dropped off our stuff, left the house at about 3pm and went to buy the 24 hour passes. They were quite worth it since we took the metro rather often and it was cheaper than having to buy single tickets for each time we took.

The first stop was obviously Kungsgatan (King's Street), a.k.a. the shopping street. I'd been sure to ask the hosts how to get there and the nearest station is Hötorget. If anything I was determined to visit the SWEDISH Brandy Melville. It didn't take us very long to find. And the store was so nice!!! I was initially a bit regretful of buying so many things at the Oslo store just 2 weeks ago as I didn't know I would be visiting Stockholm then, and it's slightly cheaper due to the NOK/SEK (=1.10) exchange rate, but I was glad afterwards cause none of the stuff that I bought in Oslo were in stock at the store!! Except for the Nana dress, but never mind. I managed to pick up a pair of All Eyes On You Remi shorts that were the last piece on the last chance rack, as well as a burgundy Bobbie Top (also on the last chance rack), a red Sachi Halter, a Kaitlee Skirt (that I'd been eyeing online since forever and finally bought), a black ribbed Genevie Top as well as a black ribbed Donilyn Tank. And they were all cheaper than if I were to buy in the US and pay US taxes. Especially since the USD/SGD is so high now. I did my math and the magic number was 9.2. But yeah, spent an hour at the store. They didn't have much else though, but there was a gorgeous array of scrunchies by the counter. Also they had Stockholm stickers!!! And the Luna ones. I don't know why they don't have them in the London stores.

After we left Brandy, we went to Fjallkanken that was right opposite. C and I were both carrying our Kanken bags in UN Blue on the trip LOL. I really like the baby pink and white ones. Then we started walking in the other direction and couldn't resist not stopping in American Apparel. They were actually having like 70% sale, and I found the Sunflower denim shorts and the floral corduroy skirt in my size!! Also tried on the watermelon shorts but didn't like the colour as much however I am still hesitating. And C also succumbed to the temptations and bought a pair of floral denims hahahaha. But I am really happy with my buys even though AA is still much cheaper in the US.

We took the metro to T-Centralen to get the free shuttle bus to IKEA. The bus stop is along Vasagatan and it comes every half an hour. We caught the 6pm bus so by the time we reached IKEA it was already 6.30pm. Went straight to the restaurant first to eat Swedish meatballs lol (what a thing to do) but the whole meal was probably the cheapest you can get in Stockholm i.e. 50 SEK per person. They were decent, though I honestly can't really tell the difference between the ones in SG and the ones there. Walked around IKEA after that but we only had until 7.30pm to catch the last bus back to city centre. It was really classy though and C bought a cushion and a panda soft toy. It took us forever to navigate to the cashier because the building was so big, and we almost missed the bus cause we were waiting to check out the cushion and the panda. Managed to just catch it and it took us back to T-centralen. Most of the shops were closed by then (8pm) so we went into Ahlens which was this big departmental store that was open until 9pm and just walked around before taking the metro back. So that pretty much concluded the first day, returning back satisfied with all our buys HAHAHA.

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Okay I'm really tired now so I think I'll continue this another day and hopefully post photos!!