I'm on a boat, I'm on a boat.

My first glimpse of Stockholm came just moments before landing in the Arlanda Airport. Having slept for the majority of the flight, I woke up to endless patches of green. Trees. Trees. Trees. I felt like I was flying over an infinite Christmas tree lot, except they were bigger and better than anything I’ve ever seen before. So THIS is what greenspace is. When I fly into Los Angeles or Orange County, I’m greeted by other colors. I see the grey of cement that has paved over all of the land, or black tar of roads. Random splotches of turquoise and blue are easy to detect, as I see the swimming pools of the suburban families living in their single-detached house with their pool, backyard, dog, and 2.5 children. And if I’m lucky, I see some orange as I look around the cabin of my airplane, picking up on the orange fake tans of some of the women on my flight. (just kidding, sort of). So this verdant green- it was a very welcome color to my palate.

Stockholm is still very new to me, so there’s not much to report. I met another girl on the SCONES program, and we enjoyed the transit to downtown Stockholm and then a taxi to our waterfront boat/hostel, the Rygerfjord. So yes, I’m on a boat. I’m spending night 1 in a 12-person dormitory. It’s a learning experience. I arrived around 10 PM, so some of the people were trying to go to sleep. All I could think about was showering, so I probably made too much noise trying to wrestle things out of my backpack. Did I mention that I stupidly showered in the men’s shower? Well, I did. I survived, but boy do I feel foolish.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow. I'm thinking breakfast then exploring the city before orientation is in order. Here's to new friendships, new places, and new adventures!