After already making a home in my short time in Stockholm, this week was full of lasts, but it was my goal to make it full of firsts, too. While three weeks — including a Study Tour — may not seem like enough time to plant roots in a city, something about Stockholm made me feel like I was at home. As if I had been there ages but also no time at all. While I am thrilled to be experiencing Copenhagen for the next three weeks, this made my last week bittersweet saying goodbye to a place that I felt such a connection to.
That’s why, when I came home from my Study Tour, I made a goal that my last week would be filled with equal parts firsts and lasts. I could not dwell on the goodbyes, I had to focus on the time I still had.
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On Wednesday, as I said goodbye to my favorite Espresso House to do work at with my friends — the one connected to the Stockholm Concert Hall — I said hello to a new Greek Restaurant called Milos. Wednesday was my friend Emmy’s last full day with us. As most of us were leaving Friday morning (or staying another three weeks), Emmy left Thursday right after class ended. This meant Wednesday had to be a last hurrah. Before class, we set up shop at the Espresso House we called ours one last time to work on assignments and chat before heading to our afternoon lecture.
As we walked to class, I said goodbye to our bright blue coffee shop, but that night, I said hello to a new favorite restaurant. Somehow, I had never tried a Greek restaurant before, but Emmy chose one with stellar reviews for her last dinner in Stockholm, and it definitely lived up to the praise. We split garlic pita bread between the table, made silly videos to remember our last night, and reminisced on our short time together that somehow brought us best friends for life.
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On Thursday, I said goodbye to my favorite Karaoke spot in Stockholm, but said hello to the ABBA Museum that had been number one on my bucket list for months. Early Thursday morning (July 4th), we sang the Star Spangled Banner at Harry B James before they took the microphones from us, not a fan of our patriotism, and we walked off the stage for the last time.
That afternoon, I sang karaoke once again, this time at the ABBA Museum. I had been meaning to make it there my whole time in Stockholm, so it only seemed fitting for it to be one of my last stops on my last day. We designed our own ABBA characters, sang karaoke until we lost our voices, danced at a silent disco, and put on a show on stage.
On my last day, I also said goodbye to the Stockholm metros. Perhaps an unpopular opinion, but I loved the metro system in Sweden. I found it easy to use and loved the amount of shops and stands underground. It was like the entire city could live underground for months if they needed to with the amount of grocery stores, hairdressers, cafes, clothing shops, and more all located in the metro tunnels.
However, since I loved the metro so much, I didn’t take the public transit boat until my last day in Stockholm. While there was no grocery store on the boat, I loved feeling the wind in my hair and the mist from the water as the quick boat took us across the water from our “homebase” island to the island of Djurgården, where most of the museums and amusement parks are located. It felt wrong to leave the city of islands without a boat ride in the books, and I’m so glad that we took this opportunity.
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Lastly, as I said goodbye to many of the friends I cherished in Stockholm, I said hello to new friends as I took a long bus ride from Stockholm to Copenhagen with all of the other Mix and Match students. At lunch, I sat with familiar and new faces as we prepared for our time in Copenhagen together. We shared stories from Stockholm and bucket lists for Copenhagen. And I realized that no “goodbye” is ever really final.
I texted all day with the friends I made in Stockholm that were not joining me in Copenhagen. They kept me updated on their new adventures and I returned the favor. Even the goodbyes to the places in Stockholm aren’t final. I know that I will be back in the city. As I told all my family and friends back home, I don’t know if I’ve ever fallen in love with a place as quickly as I fell in love with Stockholm. I truly found a piece of myself in the city, and I know it’s only a matter of time before I return to say hello once again.
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