Sweden Trip 2015

One night while Amanda was here (November), we went to Institute and found out about a YSA Conference that was taking place just outside of Stockholm the next weekend, called SoulNite. Since Amanda is awesome, we decided to go! That same night, we got back to my apartment, booked flights and rented a car for the following weekend. The ultimate YOLO! 

Early Friday morning, Amanda and I grabbed our bags and went to catch the tube. We arrived at the tube station and found out that the earliest tube didn't leave for another hour...the website lied to me!! I couldn't believe this was happening to us again...

We started walking to find a night bus but realised we had no idea what the bus schedule or where the routes were going so we ended up just hailing a cab at 4:30 in the morning. We made it to the station we needed to catch the train to the airport. From Liverpool Street Station, it is about a 50 minute train ride to the airport. We had a snack, I started out studying but decided to sleep instead, and Amanda played on her phone for the ride. We make it to the airport and fly with no other issues to Stockholm.

Getting ready for take off. The plane ended up
being fairly empty! I got put in the emergency row with nobody else.
I had Amanda move up with me, so she could have the window
and I sat on the aisle. We were both happy and we had
extra leg room! Fabulous!

We made it! Touch down to Stockholm! We were actually South of
Stockholm. We had about an hour long drive ahead of us.

We picked up our small car. 

And we hit the road heading north to Stockholm

We listened to some Abba in the car. There was a lot
of country side and forest area. It was very very green!

We made it to the city of Stockholm. This beautiful bay was there
to greet us! Lots of boats and water! 

At the same bay. It was freezing cold though and pretty windy.

We made it to Stockholm and had a few hours before we needed to get to our conference to check in. We drove around the city a bit and got ourselves ready (there were going to be men at this YSA Convention after all...we couldn't arrive looking like we had just gotten off the plan....although, I pretty much did! haha Amanda was the one who mostly got ready-I just changed my shirt).

The city was beautiful!! I can't wait to go back and spend some more time in the city. There was amazing architecture-both modern and historical. There was also a lot of traffic though too...not the most fun to drive in-especially when you haven't driven stick for a very very long time! But we go used to it pretty quickly.

We had about a 20 minute drive outside the main city to a school where the convention was being held. We found a little grocery store there to get ourselves some food for dinner and ended up coming out with donuts...and that was all! They were quite delicious. The school was just a couple minutes away from the store. We got checked in and found a room to sleep in. That night there was a dance. We met the other girls in our room and then just hung out and danced for the evening.

Donuts for dinner!

The Convention: SoulNite

On Saturday, we had a temple trip. We went to the Stockholm temple. I wasn't able to attend the session but I enjoyed the scenery. I took some pictures and then explored the little town we were in while Amanda completed the session. I found a little church with a cemetery to explore: it was beautiful and quite peaceful. There were lanterns on most of the graves. I was wondering if that was a  seasonal thing or something that was always done. I researched a little and found that they do it to honour All Saints' Day at the beginning of November.

"In the year 731 AD, 1 November was designated a day of remembrance for saints of the church who had no days of their own. From the 11th century, 2 November was dedicated to all the dead, of whatever standing, and was called All Souls’ Day. It was widely observed by the populace, with requiems and bell-ringing, but was abolished with the arrival of the Reformation. In 1772, All Saints’ Day in Sweden was moved to the first Sunday in November and in 1953 to the Saturday between 31 October and 6 November.

In the 1900s, however, people began putting lighted candles on the graves of the departed on All Saints’ Day. This custom originated with wealthy families in towns and cities. But after the World War II, it spread throughout the country. Churches also began holding services of light to mark the day." (https://sweden.se/culture-traditions/all-saints-day/)

That was cool to learn about. I kept driving around but found there wasn't much else to this little town...I drove out a little and found some beautiful country side. Then just waited at the temple for Amanda to finish. It was really nice to have some quite time to myself to ponder and enjoy the peace of the religious places (church/cemetery/temple) where I spent some time.

LDS Stockholm Temple

Church with Cemetery

After the temple trip, we went back to the school and there were three different classes we could attend for the afternoon. I went to two of them: Joy Through Social Media and Balance in Life.

Joy Through Social Media:
This was so interesting to me especially because it crossed over into some of the stuff I'm learning in my grad program right now. Here are some highlights for you:

• Don't judge a media platform by its content (platform = Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)
• If you don't like what you are seeing on your pages, change it=you have become friends with these people or followed these people. If you are only seeing posts about babies and shoes and that bores you, then get new friends or delete old friends
• We are the creators of the content on social media
• Facebook can be a useful platform if we fill it with useful and fulfilling things
• Since we create the content of these platforms:
• Be aware of what we are sharing
• Am I portraying myself one dimensionally? (BAD)
• Am I sharing all of me in moderation? (GOOD)
• Am I sharing worthwhile things?
• Can my message impact the world?
• Ask yourself this question before you post anything:
• Am I ready to back it up if it is reached by more people than normal/expected?
• Dallin H Oaks: Loving Others and Living with Differences (Oct 2014 General Conference)
• "On the subject of public discourse, we should all follow the gospel teachings to love our neighbour and avoid contention. Followers of Christ should be examples of civility. We should love all people, be good listeners, and show concern for their sincere beliefs. Though we may disagree, we should be disagreeable. Our stands and communications on controversial topics should not be contentious. We should be wise in explaining and pursuing our positions and in exercising our influence. In doing so, we ask that others not be offended by our sincere religious beliefs and the free exercise of our religion. We encourage  all of us to practice the Saviour's Golden Rule: "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them" (Matthew 7:12).
• The more we embrace and post on social media-the more important it becomes

Balance in Life:

This is amazing! Here are some of my notes from this class:

• Vision-Goal-Thought-Habit
• This is the overall process
• Do you have a vision/action plan of how to get back to Christ? Or any other goal?
• If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!
• It takes 21 days to create a new habit
• Create a Clear Action Plan/Vision
• Create a mantra/have affirmations/motto to say each day. You should have 5-10 affirmations to say each day
• Say in front of the mirror and be positive and excited about it every time
• Visual Practice:
• Close Your Eyes-totally relax and take 4 deep breaths (in for 4; out for 4)
• Picture yourself holding stones. Each stones represents an obstacle to obtaining your goal.
• What is your first obstacle? Second? Third? Fourth? Fifth?
• How do these stones feel? Can you feel how heavy they are?
• Now drop these stones. Feel how you are gaining control/freedom and you don't feel weighed down anymore. You feel light.
• What did you do to let go of each stone? First? Second? Third? Fourth? Fifth?
• Now imagine yourself 5 years later: you've been able to let go of these obstacles. From this vision, create your action plan
• Practical Application-this is what I actually did during our practice
• My Goal: Lose Weigh
• Obstacles (Stones): 
• Healthy Eating Habits
• Society's View on Weight and image of woman
• My Self-Esteem
• Time to Prep Healthy Food
• Attend Gym
• How to Overcome Obstacles (Dropping the Stones):
• Create a menu and shopping list each week
• Remember God's image of me and that man's opinion doesn't matter
• I just need to feel good; say mantra each day; use meditation
• Follow menu and cook food in advance when I do have time
• Create workout plan, set small goals with rewards for attending gym 3x per week
• Vision: 5 years was too far for me too look-I look ahead 9 months
• My goal is to be at 150 lbs
• I have set all my exercise goals to accomplish that goal
• "I am willing to give my all (100%) to lose weight and reach my goal of 150 lbs. I will follow the guidelines I set in overcoming my obstacles to achieve this goal"

I am actually still using that right now...I am down weight still since I moved to London. I don't know if I will reach my goal of 150 by the end of March but I am still working hard to reach that goal. If you have goals you are working towards...I would encourage you to try this :) 

After our classes, we had dinner and then another dance. Now, I am really not a fan of these dances. I was never a fan of the stake dances we had in youth groups and such...and this was pretty much just a big one....but I tried to be more social than the night before. I had a decent time in the beginning but then just didn't really want to be there. I went for a walk in the cold and then ended up going to bed early, which was fine with me because I was soooooo tired!! 

Ready for the 2nd Dance...I guess!

Sunday morning we got up, had breakfast, and then had a testimony meeting. After the meeting, we all helped to clean up the school. Amanda and I went back to Stockholm for the rest of Sunday. We went to the Vasa Museum which is a must see!!! We loved it! The Vasa is a 17th Century ship that sunk on her maiden voyage in 1628. Since then, she has been salvaged and preserved. The ship is massive and beautiful. The museum was great and shared the history and how they preserve her very well. I would go back to Stockholm just to see that museum again...

The Vasa

Anchors...that smallest one is about my height, maybe 6'

Aft (Back) of the ship..such intricate carvings!

 After the Vasa museum, we just explored the town a bit more. We went to Old Town and walked around the Royal palace, again saw the switching of the guards (because we have great timing like that), and looked at a bunch of shops. I bought some marmalade for my family for Christmas. I also got a sweatshirt, partly because I was freezing, also because I love sweatshirts.

Then we went for dinner. We found a place to have Swedish meatballs!! We were so excited. Then we were looking at the menu and it said they only served them during lunch. Amanda and I really wanted them so we begged the waiter to convince the chef to make them for us for dinner. They graciously obliged. Although when I didn't eat every bite of my salad, the waiter gave me hard time. I told him I was so full I couldn't eat any more: I was totally full on the meatballs. He just gave me a disappointed look; then asked if I wanted dessert...I just laughed at him and told him I wasn't joking about being completely full.

Swedish Meatballs!

We originally planned on sleeping in the car for Sunday night-our flight was early Monday morning. But we realised how cold it was and me could possible freeze to death in the car plus it would be totally uncomfortable. So we drove to the airport Sunday night instead and just hung out in the food court area until security opened. I studied for most of the night, while Amanda slept. Then I slept on the plane. We made it home with little trouble.

Stockholm=success! Definitely on my return to list and would recommend it to anyone.

This chocolate bar was recommended to me by a local as
the best chocolate. It was quite amazing!!
Note: USA has no idea what chocolate is...