September 20th-22nd; Gothenburg

The weekend of September 20th I got the oppourtunity to go to my first Rotary trip! A weekend in Gothenburg, Sweden was arranged, and many of my friends and I chose to attend!

I boarded a train Friday afternoon and was alone for a couple hours before meeting up with two of my friends from Norrkoping on the train. We rode together for the last couple h9ours before arriving in Gothenburg. It was around six at night when we arrived, and were taken to the hostel we were staying at. We got to see those who we hadn't seen since the beginning of August, and had dinner together before going to our rooms. I bunked with four of my close friends, and all of us being tired after our day of travel, went to bed pretty early.

Saturday morning we got up, had breakfast, and got ready for the day! We had plans to go mini-golfing at around 9AM, before heading to Liseberg around 11AM. We all did quite bad at mini-golf, but laughed the whole time which made up for it. We then got on a tram and headed to Liseberg. Liseberg is a very popular amusement park located in the center of Gothenburg, and is a very large tourist attraction. I have a severe fear of heights, so going on all the rides was not something in the plans for me. We started off the day walking around and pointing out all the rides we wanted to go on. We then went on Kaffekoppen, which, you guessed it, is the equivilent of the children's popular Teacup ride. Kaffekoppen translates to 'the coffee cup' in English.

We then decided to go to a few shops before heading to lunch. After lunch, we walked around some more. Eventually, once our lunch was settled, we split into two groups. One went to do some big rollarcoasters, while the others, including me, walked around and did some kid rides!

At 6 that evening, we met back up with all the others and our leaders for the day to head back to our hostel. On the way, we all decided what kind of pizza we wanted to have. Many got into groups and chose, but some got pizza's to themselves. Once everyone was changed, we went to a conference room and had dinner together. Exhausted, one of the friends I was rooming with and I decided to call it a night and headed back to our hostel. We were the first ones in and out of the shower, and it was fantastic! We then spent a couple hours in our room just hanging out and talking. Eventually, our other friend came in, and went straight to bed, and we followed soon after. Our last friend got back into our room around 12:30-1:00, and her and I had a small conversation since I was still awake.

Early the next morning we woke up and drug ourselves to breakfast. We were told we were going on an outing that afternoon, but not what it was! We got on the tram again with all of our things and headed to a seperate hotel to store our struff before taking a walk through a park. We waited for a while, until a large bus showed up. And I mean, it was a huge bus! I have attached a photo! We all got onto bus and got a bus tour through the town of Gothenburg.

But there was a twist! After a half hour of the tour, we were told that the bus we were currently on an amphibious bus! You can read more about the bus and experience on their website, https://oceanbus.se/goteborgsturen/ ! It was so cool, and truly a once-in-a-lifetime opprtunity! I loved every minute of it, and both the captain/bus driver, and our tour guide were amazing! An amphibious bus is a bus that is both drove on land and in water!

Our day ended by having lunch together before many started heading to the train station for their train home. My two friends from Norrköping and I rode back home together, and my host dad picked me up from the train station once I was back in Stockholm.

It was an absolutely amazing weekend, but I was definitely tired once I got home.

New Swedish words & phrases I've learned:

• Rätt - Right

• Senaste - Latest

• Tide - Time

• Då/När - When

• Skriva - Write

• Sjuk - Sick

• Börjar - Begins

• Sina - Theirs

• Dessa - These

• Sa - Said

Talk soon!

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