Travels are Over, but the Journey is Just Beginning

Well, I've finally arrived at my residence in Sweden and settled in. It's currently past midnight here, but my body still feels like it’s dinner time, as it would be in Canada. However, now that I'm well rested (thanks to my 16-hour sleep), I'm feeling much less exhausted. The past two days of travelling have been one big sleep-deprived adventure!

I began my journey at 4:00 am on August 25th, heading out to the Waterloo airport. After saying goodbye to my parents, I headed through security into the tiny waiting lounge before taking the regional jet to the Chicago airport. That flight went amazing and was over before I knew it! 

After the short flight, my ten-hour layover at Chicago O'Hare was next. I figured I'd grab a sandwich for an early morning lunch, then as I sat down to eat, I realized it was only 8:15 am! Regardless, it kept me full and satisfied for a few hours. I spent the long day watching movies and sipping on Starbucks, so it wasn't too bad of a day. Luckily, the lighting and rainstorm that came through Chicago passed over after a couple hours, so my flight didn't appear to be delayed initially.

However, the flight from Chicago to London was quite a headache. It was a seven-hour overnight flight that ended up being delayed by a couple hours, due to the weather and a change in direction on the runway. Thankfully, dinner was served relatively soon after we took off, but it was about 9:00 pm EST when I had finally gotten it. After going practically the entire day without eating, I was quite peckish by then. I nearly cleared my tray of food and settled in to watch Divergent.

Immediately, the guy in front of me reclined until he was practically on top of my legs. As a tall person, there's already minimal leg space available on the plane, so I was cramped to the max. I didn't end up sleeping more than an hour, and we finally made it to London Heathrow at about 8:15 am the next day. I rushed to make my flight two terminals over and caught my final flight.

The last flight from London to Copenhagen was with British Airways and it was wonderful! The flight attendants were so nice and they gave us a tasty sandwich and drink for lunch, even though the flight was only an hour and a half long. I was pretty happy with that, and so was my stomach. Thanks to my window seat position, I was able to drift into a light sleep for the remainder of the flight and woke up just as we were descending into beautiful Copenhagen.

Image via Unsplash

I got through the Copenhagen airport with ease and was incredibly pleased to see my luggage had been checked all the way through with no problems, despite the delays. I booked a ticket for the train and arrived at my train transfer in Malmö. This was where I was glad to have studied the Swedish map beforehand, as I got on the train headed for Kalmar, hoping I'd get to Vaxjo through it. Despite having to move forward a few cabins and find a new spot, I managed to make it to the Växjö train station without falling sleeping and missing my stop!

I arrived to find Växjö International Student leaders waiting and they brought us on campus for our apartment keys. After a little bump in the key process, I finally got the key to my new home and now I'm sitting here in my organized little room. The kitchen is a bit tiny for the amount of people on my floor, but we each have our own mini refrigerators, which is handy. I even managed to get groceries at the store without any big hurdles!

Tonight, there was an international student get together on my floor and I'm happy to have met many awesome people. I'm looking forward to spending the semester getting to know all of them. From the students I have met, my building has a lot of American, Korean and Japanese students and a couple of Canadians, aside from myself.

After the long journey by myself, it was nice to relax with other students who had just experienced a variety of journeys as well. This week will be a busy one — preparing for class, going shopping for dorm gear and going to orientation days. When I have a moment, I will post about the beautiful area I'm staying in. I can't wait to put my camera to use and get some gorgeous shots of the lake I live by! 

Well, seeing as it's 1:00 am here and I'm still pretty tired from travelling, I'm off for a good night's sleep!

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

-Eleanor Roosevelt