TALLINN

Hi again!

In this post I am going to talk about my trip to Tallinn. My friends and I decided that this was going to be our first trip together for two reasons: it is a cheap and beautiful city and you can also buy alcohol at the ferry without paying taxes. We spent the first night at the ferry, then two nights at a hostel and the last night at the ferry again.

We took the ferry at Stockholm’s port: once you are at the Central Station, take the red line to Ropsten, the stop is Gärdet, and then walk to the port.  We travelled with the ferry’s company called “Tallink”. You can buy the tickets at www.aferry.com (the price is 75€ for the round trip, and it includes a 4 people cabin).

It was my first time on a ferry and despite the 15 hours of travel we had a great time because the ferry offers a lot of things to avoid boredom: shows, Djs, a games room, some bars, a nightclub, etc.

RECOMMENDATION: Bring your own food, because it is really expensive to eat at the ferry, even fast food.

We arrived on Saturday at 10am and took bus number 5 to get to the hostel (buses in Tallinn are almost free, I am saying “almost” because a local guy told as that the bus reviser hardly ever comes, and the driver just drives hahaha).

We stayed at the Monk’s Bunk hostel, a hostel mainly for young people. They have rooms with bunk beds, some shared bathrooms (they were really clean), and a kitchen. I have to say that they are all the time partying, in fact, they gave us free shots when we arrived (11am) and then spent all the day playing beer pong.

Afterwards, we decided to do a 2 hour free tour (www.freetour.com). The tour is carried out by young people who take you through the old part of Tallinn and tell you the story of the city in a really pleasant way. What are they going to show you?

‐          St. Nicholas Church
‐          Town Hall Square
‐          Freedom Square
‐          Danish King's Garden
‐          Parliament Building
‐          St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
‐          Dome Church
‐          Viewpoints
‐          City Wall
‐          Tallinn's Red Rooftops
‐          The romantic Masters’ Courtyards

      

      That day we ate pizza at Pizza Koju, it was so good and cheap.

On Sunday we decided to do some food shopping and then go to the Tourism Information to ask for a map to continue walking through Tallinn’s streets.

We had lunch at the famous pancake bar Kompressor. We had to wait a lot in the queue, but the wait was worth the pleasure of eating the pancakes.

Later, we visited St. Catharine’s Passage, St. Olav’s Church (I recommend you to climb up the tower, it only costs 2€ and the views from here are spectacular), we also visited the Great Coastal gate and Fat Margaret’s Tower, the Town Hall Pharmacy and the Maiden’s tower.

Finally, we had dinner at IIIDraakon, a medieval tavern situated in Tallinn's Town Hall. Here you can only eat reindeer: reindeer soup, reindeer sausages, reindeer pie, reindeer rib…  Something weird of that bar is that the waitresses don’t give you cutlery or an extra glass if you want to share your drink, what is more, they get angry if you ask for them hahaha.

Definitely I really liked Tallinn, but I would have liked to visit Riga as it is only four hours away, but when you travel with a large group, you have to do what the majority decides!

UPPSALA AND OKTOBERFEST

Hi! These days I haven’t visited many places because I am attending two subjects and also preparing a trip to Tallinn and Riga, but I went to Uppsala and to the Stockholm’s Oktober Fest a few days ago.

The easiest way to go to Uppsala is taking the green train line (nº 38 to Uppsala) in the Stockholm Central Station, but there is one thing to take into account: using the SL travel card you can only go to Rotebro and then you should buy a ticket to go to Uppsala (because the train reviser comes sometimes), which is two stops after, in Zone C (with the SL card you can only go to Zones A and B). The trip will take you 50 minutes approximately.

Uppsala is one the most visited places here in Sweden, but in my honest opinion it is not as awesome as in the pictures I had seen on the Internet. Here you can visit the Storatorget, where is the town hall, the Domkyran (cathedral),  the Carolina Rediviva (library), the University or the Slottet, which is a castle where you can see ordnance and the Gunilla Bielke (an historical bell).

The day I went to Uppsala was the Cultural Day, and therefore there were some concerts, food stalls, and many people, so the city had a great atmosphere. 

Carolina Rediviva (The University Library) I had never seen so many bikes together... 

A picture taken by my friend Ainhoa Rossi

The Stockholm Oktober Fest took place the following days: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 8th, 9th and 10th of September.

How to get there? You should take the red line (nº 13 to Ropsten), and stop in Gärdet (5 minutes) and then walk 10 minutes to the fest.

Upon arrival there was a band playing festive Swedish songs, and a long line of people dancing so the atmosphere was very funny. We went to get some beers and then a young rock band started playing, so we approached the stage and spent all night dancing and singing. The worst thing was that it closed at 23h (too early for Spanish people haha).

You can see here the prices of the drinks and food:

See you in the next post!

STROLLING GAMLA STAN AND VIEWS OF STOCKHOLM

Gamla Stan is the Old Town of Stockholm, which is also known as the "city between the bridges". You can take the green subway line to get there, it is only one stop from the Stockholm Central Station. I went to Gamla Stan walking by the Riksbron bridge, which is in front of the Parliament (Riksdagshuset). From this bridge you can also see a beautiful sunset.

Gamla Stan consists of three islands: Riddarholmen, Helgeandsholdmen and Stadenholmen, which is the biggest one. This part of Stockholm is famous because of its narrow streets, old and colorful houses, and because here we can find many important buildings, such as the Royal Palace (Kungliga Slottet) where you can see the guard change, the House of Nobility (Riddarhuset),  or the Stockholm  Cathedral (Storkyrkan). But maybe the best known place here is the Stortorget (the main square), where in 1520 took place the Stockholm Bloodbath.

Stortorget

House of Nobility (I know this picture is not so good...)

That is a really cool Viking Pub 

Riksbron bridge

In that part of Stockholm you can also find the narrowest alley of Stockholm (90 cm), are you able to find it?

A fiew days ago I went to the Katarinahissen elevator, which is close to the Slussen square, situated in Södermalm (turquoise subway line). There is a spectacular view of Gamla Stan and the bay.

The Parliament

SOME INFORMATION ABOUT THE FIRST DAYS

Hi everybody!

This is going to be a blog where I am going to talk about my Erasmus experience in Sweden, studying during the Autumn semester at Södertörns Högskola University, but I will also show you my trips. I have to say that I have zero experience in writing blogs, so I will try to do my best.

First of all, I am going to introduce myself: I am Laura, I am 20 years old, and I am studying my fourth and last course of Business at the University of Cantabria (North of Spain). I have chosen Sweden because I think that the Scandinavian countries are really different from the rest of European countries, therefore I thought that it could be a unique opportunity to see how is life here.

LET'S TALK ABOUT ALL THE PAPER WORK!

I am not sure if all European Universities ask for the same papers and the same things to do before doing the Erasmus, but I know that in Spain they all ask for the following ones:

-Learning Agreement

-Mobility agreement

-Letter of acceptance

-European Sanitary Card

-A bank account

-Online Linguistic Support (OLS)

All documents have to be signed by both your home University and your new University, so I recommend you to do all this stuff by email (Södertörns answers the emails really fast) before starting the Erasmus, so you have nothing to worry about when you get here.

HOW TO GET FROM THE AIRPORTS TO STOCKHOLM CENTRAL STATION, SÖDERTÖRNS AND BJÖRNKULLA?

The University will send you the “Arrival information” pdf, where you can find all the information, but I will sum up what they say:

-During the official arrival days (when they give you your room keys) you will find a help desk for Erasmus students at the Arlanda a Skavsta airports. They offer a FREE bus that takes you (and your family) to the Stockholm Central Station. If you arrive later you can get a local bus, the Commuter train, or the Arlanda Express Train.  You can buy the ticket or the SL travel card at the airport . The cheapest is to buy the SL card (public transport) for one week. This way you’ll be able to use any public transport (bus, underground, train and even some ferries!) as much as you want for one week. Public transport is expensive in Sweden; however there are discounts for students. A few days after your arrival you’ll get your student card at the university, which will allow you to get discounts.

ONE IMPORTANT ISSUE: In Stockholm you CAN’T pay by cash at the BUS. You ALWAYS NEED to have the SL travel card to go by bus, but you don’t need it to go by train as you can buy an individual ticket (they are more expensive than if you get a card).  You can make the SL card rechargeable, or you can get a 1 week card, a 1 month card or a 3 months card (take the last one better). Each card is individual, so if you come here with your family you must get one per person.

-In order to collect your room keys (if you are going to stay at Björnkulla) you should make your way to the “Study and career centre” at the University (they will tell you at what time you can go).

-To get to Södertörns from the Central Station you have to get the “Pendeltåg” (local commuter train) towards Södertälje, you have to go to platforms 13 or 14. The Universty stop is “Flemingsberg station” (it will take you about 20 minutes).

-To get to Björnkulla you can take the 407 bus (there are many bus stops next to the University), or you can walk (the University will tell you the address, it takes 15 minutes).

ORIENTATION DAYS AND STUDENT CARDS

The University offers you some activities during the first week, such as a trip to Ikea, lectures, visits to the library, etc. I will recommend you to attend all of them, especially the parties and the “fikas” because is where you are going to meet your new friends. They also offer free food and coffee as well. By the way, “Fika” is a Swedish word than means having tea or coffee with delicious biscuits.

During those days the University will ask you to get some student cards (pay attention because some of them can only by paid by cash).

-Student Union Card: Used to print, photocopy and get books at the library. This card is free.

-ESN Card: The ESN is a European student network that supports Erasmus students. This card offers many discounts at shops but also allows you to go to parties without paying the entrance. It costs 5€ and you need to take a picture of yourself (if you don’t have the picture and you want to enter into a pub they can make you pay 5€…).

I have to say that we are so happy with the University's and the ESN's job, they are always there to help us with everything.

The last thing to talk in today’s post is about a guy called Vit. He will send you an email offering trips on weekends. The first week he took us to the coast of Baltic Sea and it was a great experience: 12km walking through a forest next to the coast with awesome views to take pictures. The brave ones also swam in the Baltic Ocean (come on, is not so cold!)

This is the link to his blog, where you can see the trips and how to get to the different places: weekendinstockholm.x10host.com

I hope this post helps you during the first few days!