Hey guys,
I am so sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I got super swamped with research and just trying a lot of different things. For these weeks, I am not going to do a recap of what I did each day (I am so sorry), but I will recap each week. 29-4th: I climbed more and mostly worked on my research outline this week. That research outline killed me, especially since it was before our first big class trip. 5th-7th - Umea (This might be a daily part because I remember this pretty vividly, the rest is going to be a recap since it's mostly routines): For the 5th to the 7th of February, we went to Umea (I cannot do the special a, I am sorry). We took a night train on Sunday and that was awesome! I got some really cool footage and I'm really excited to edit it into a love letter to my Stockholm adventures. Then we arrived at our hotel and everyone was pretty tired (I was too since I got on and off 4 hours of sleep). But we had breakfast and we had a little time to explore before our guided walking tour, so I took my camera and walked across this really cool bridge and got some pretty cool photos and a feel for the city. Then I got back and went to a coffee shop and then went back to the guided tour, which was nice to be on. I was happy to learn more about the city that we were in for 3 days and see some of the cool things that they had (like a guitar museum that I never got to visit but that looked really cool and had dance lessons at night).
After the guided tour, we had lunch and then we had a few hours off so I took a nap. After the nap, we went to an escape room, which was fun and we completed decently fast. After that, we got ramen at this really amazing ramen place and went to a bar with our instructors and talked. Then we headed back to the hotel and played Reverse Hot Seat, which was nice, though I was a little out of it at that point. Then we went to bed.
6th:
I woke up, showered, and had breakfast at the hotel and then it was time to go to our first activity: bouldering! This was actually a lot of fun to do with the class and I tried to do harder problems just to see how far I've come. Let's just say I did not succeed in them, but it was still really fun to try and to do a physical activity for a bit. After climbing, we got lunch and I found some awesome protein shakes and had some pretty good food (I do not remember exactly what though). We then went to learn about the Sami culture and participated in joiking and learning more about how the Sami people use music to express themselves. Then we went back to the hotel and I went for a walk and took some photos and then we had one more event for the night: trying to see the Northern Lights!
We took a bus for an hour to this barn where there were horse-drawn carriages waiting for us. We saw a beautiful cat and got some pets in (the cat was actually so friendly) and then went on a carriage into the woods. When we got far enough in the woods, we stopped and got out to go enjoy a fire and let the horses rest for a bit. We had cookies, coffee, and tea and it was actually really nice. Then we went back to the barn, got some more pets in (listen I love cats and the cat was so friendly, it deserved the pets) and then got back in the bus and headed back to the hotel, where I promptly fell asleep.
7th:
Last day in Umea was today :(. We had breakfast and headed to an improv session. We learned about how actors prepared for a role and got into the mind of the person that they are portraying while also doing some improv sessions. This was so much fun to learn about and do and I really want to take improv classes. After this, we went back to the hotel and got Max (a fast food restaurant that's pretty popular in Sweden and I think most of Europe, though I do not know that yet). I went with a friend and got candy and then we had to head to our train. Our train was pretty delayed, but we eventually started moving and me and my partner for a group project (Social Anxiety Disorder woohoo) started talking about the project and we played a board game (for our board game project) and I got a board concept down for our board game. Most of my classmates got a stomach virus which sucked, but they're all healed and better now.
8th: The main thing for today was that we talked about OCD and the facility was really cool and me and my presentation partner talked about our project more and cemented more ideas.
9th:
Presentation day!!! We also went to the Karolinska institute to talk about how genetics affect affective disorders and their role in them. The Karolinska institute was really cool and afterwards, me and my partner worked on the presentation some more and then we had presentations. It went okay, I need to work on my public speaking skills more and should have practiced some more (though there was little time to practice). All in all, an amazing "Core Course Week" and I would 100% do it again with the same people because they are all great and we have another one where we go to Paris that will be awesome :)
After this, I signed up for another rock climbing membership (3 months, it ends on the exact date that I leave Stockholm), I booked a lot of trips, I did some more research (and finally got in the classroom of the high school I'm working with), I went bowling (that was super fun with some friends we made rock climbing), I signed up for Martial Arts (more on that in the next blog post), I reached out to Toastmasters (hopefully more on that in the next blog post), and I have just been working out, studying, and climbing a whole bunch. I have also taken a bunch of photos and those will be uploaded to this blog soon (once I get around to uploading them completely and find a reliable way to upload them here). I also GOT A GUITAR. It's electric and I love it and I've been practicing quite a bit.
I also went hiking at this nature reserve that was SUPER beautiful and got some awesome photos that you guys will see soon. I also went to this really cool overlook where you can watch the sunset super well and found a place to watch the sunrise (on days where it's NOT cloudy >:()
So all in all, the main things I've been up to are: Climbing
Studying
Research
Working out
Photography
Guitar
Learning Swedish and French (since we're going to Paris)
Booking trips (Going to Monaco and northern Italy so far, want to go to Southern Italy and Greece as well).
And more to come - Martial Arts, Toastmasters, trampoline park, more bowling, and hopefully more.
Excited for the future and of things yet to come.
Signing off, Alex Risdall :)
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