Last night I arrived in Stockholm, Sweden. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I don't have service in Europe. I have purely been relying on the kindness of others to get me around and free wifi for a month now. You would not believe how many places actual have free wifi, or how many bar tenders will give you the wifi password if you ask nicely. ;)
So I got off the train in this Stockholm with no idea where I was going and no wifi. But you can kind of use apple maps without wifi, because there is a gps in your phone that works without service. Which is kind of creepy, because basically someone who accessed that gps data could find you where ever you are, even if your phone is shut off.. but that's another tangent. So I found my hostel, and checked in.
Now I'm going to be an advertisement for generator real quick. Stay in a hostel, and if you're weird about staying a room with 12 people, stay in a generator. They have them in every major city in Europe and you can pay about 35USD a night to share a room with 4-6 other people. You share a bathroom and get your own bunk and a locker. I got a girls only room which is also a really nice option because you probably get rid of the riff raff by staying in a girls only room. So the girls in my room are either traveling in Europe for an extensive time or just staying in stockholm for the day because they've never been. Everyone was in bed and quite by 11:30pm last night, which was kind of crazy to say. but it was really nice.
I'm not going to lie to you and say that I've spent my whole day with the girls I'm staying with and that now we're bffs, but it's nice to meet new people and hear their stories. The world gets smaller the more people you meet when you travel. Everyone is more a like than they are different and for some reason God brings certain people to the same city at the same time for a reason.
Today I was SET on finding an english speaking church because I like to make things difficult for myself. So I woke up and started walking the 2 miles to this church that spoke english. Good ole Episcopalians in Europe of course have services in English. It was a cute and quaint church and I always enjoy worshiping with people I don't know. It took me basically an hour and a half to get there and I was pretty sweaty by then. The priest spoke about the sins that tug at your heart and how it is so easy for us to continue to make the same sin because God has so much grace and will forgive us, however he only forgives us if we truly repent with our whole heart. I hear this message a lot, and I can see the sins I make over and over knowing that they are wrong and still haven't made the true effort to change from those ways. I feel like I'm keeping myself from growing in my faith because of these sins, and yet i continue to make them. In those moments of silence I could feel them all piling on me.
This trip has been a distraction from my faith almost. I hate to say that, but it is true. It's so easy to see growth through faith in Columbia when I'm in a rhythm and going to church and teaching bible study, but here I feel so lost.
So after I stumbled out of church still feeling empty, I walked a long the river and stopped for another coffee. I was starving and am currently addicted to caffeine. So I stopped at a coffee shop and sat by the river to drink my coffee. As soon as I sat down it started pouring. and I mean pouring. so I stood under shelter for a little while, but then decided it had cleared up, so I began walking. Yeah it hadn't cleared up and in about 47 seconds one side of my body was soaked (due to the ever aggressive wind).
I found another hiding spot and tried to dry off.... so then I was really starving and the rain had passed. I stopped for a meal very unsure of where I was. It was delicious and I dried a little bit. When I walked back outside I realized I knew where I was and found my way back to the hostel to change out of my clothes.
You know what was kind of nice about this afternoon? No complaints. No one saying, this is horrible we are so wet. or lets eat here. Just pure blissful silence and a few Marissa thoughts. However these thoughts are becoming few and far between. Travel by yourself. Enjoy the silence. Go where you want to go. Do what you want to do.
This is not to say that I do not love traveling with friends, but every so often there is some peace and independence that comes with time by yourself.
Also real quick advice: DONT ASK PEOPLE IF THEY SPEAK ENGLISH IN SWEDEN. They do, you sound dumb. Preface: Today these boys from the UK came up and asked me if I spoke English. Happens more often than you'd think, I apparently look super European (i've been trying really hard). Anyways it's super offensive because they might be american (me) or you're like totally dissing their education system because they all spend 6 years of their lives studying english. They speak english. Just speak it. okay rant over.
So I got off the train in this Stockholm with no idea where I was going and no wifi. But you can kind of use apple maps without wifi, because there is a gps in your phone that works without service. Which is kind of creepy, because basically someone who accessed that gps data could find you where ever you are, even if your phone is shut off.. but that's another tangent. So I found my hostel, and checked in.
Now I'm going to be an advertisement for generator real quick. Stay in a hostel, and if you're weird about staying a room with 12 people, stay in a generator. They have them in every major city in Europe and you can pay about 35USD a night to share a room with 4-6 other people. You share a bathroom and get your own bunk and a locker. I got a girls only room which is also a really nice option because you probably get rid of the riff raff by staying in a girls only room. So the girls in my room are either traveling in Europe for an extensive time or just staying in stockholm for the day because they've never been. Everyone was in bed and quite by 11:30pm last night, which was kind of crazy to say. but it was really nice.
I'm not going to lie to you and say that I've spent my whole day with the girls I'm staying with and that now we're bffs, but it's nice to meet new people and hear their stories. The world gets smaller the more people you meet when you travel. Everyone is more a like than they are different and for some reason God brings certain people to the same city at the same time for a reason.
Today I was SET on finding an english speaking church because I like to make things difficult for myself. So I woke up and started walking the 2 miles to this church that spoke english. Good ole Episcopalians in Europe of course have services in English. It was a cute and quaint church and I always enjoy worshiping with people I don't know. It took me basically an hour and a half to get there and I was pretty sweaty by then. The priest spoke about the sins that tug at your heart and how it is so easy for us to continue to make the same sin because God has so much grace and will forgive us, however he only forgives us if we truly repent with our whole heart. I hear this message a lot, and I can see the sins I make over and over knowing that they are wrong and still haven't made the true effort to change from those ways. I feel like I'm keeping myself from growing in my faith because of these sins, and yet i continue to make them. In those moments of silence I could feel them all piling on me.
This trip has been a distraction from my faith almost. I hate to say that, but it is true. It's so easy to see growth through faith in Columbia when I'm in a rhythm and going to church and teaching bible study, but here I feel so lost.
So after I stumbled out of church still feeling empty, I walked a long the river and stopped for another coffee. I was starving and am currently addicted to caffeine. So I stopped at a coffee shop and sat by the river to drink my coffee. As soon as I sat down it started pouring. and I mean pouring. so I stood under shelter for a little while, but then decided it had cleared up, so I began walking. Yeah it hadn't cleared up and in about 47 seconds one side of my body was soaked (due to the ever aggressive wind).
I found another hiding spot and tried to dry off.... so then I was really starving and the rain had passed. I stopped for a meal very unsure of where I was. It was delicious and I dried a little bit. When I walked back outside I realized I knew where I was and found my way back to the hostel to change out of my clothes.
You know what was kind of nice about this afternoon? No complaints. No one saying, this is horrible we are so wet. or lets eat here. Just pure blissful silence and a few Marissa thoughts. However these thoughts are becoming few and far between. Travel by yourself. Enjoy the silence. Go where you want to go. Do what you want to do.
This is not to say that I do not love traveling with friends, but every so often there is some peace and independence that comes with time by yourself.
Also real quick advice: DONT ASK PEOPLE IF THEY SPEAK ENGLISH IN SWEDEN. They do, you sound dumb. Preface: Today these boys from the UK came up and asked me if I spoke English. Happens more often than you'd think, I apparently look super European (i've been trying really hard). Anyways it's super offensive because they might be american (me) or you're like totally dissing their education system because they all spend 6 years of their lives studying english. They speak english. Just speak it. okay rant over.
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