Hej!
Today was the start of our second weekend in Gothenburg. A few of us, myself, Lauren, Lyndsey, Kendall, Matt, and Matt, woke up relatively early to go eat breakfast at Tin Tins. While I still ate bread, it was a different kind and I finally had some scrambled eggs. It was eggcellent! I also had some orange juice and chai tea that I almost burned my mouth drinking too quickly. Blister update: they’re much happier when I wear my tennis shoes that don’t rub them. Also, I thought I lost my room key card this morning somewhere in my room, so I had to go get a new one from the font desk. When we got to Universeum, I found that I had actually put it in my wallet behind my student ID card…. Whoops.
After breakfast, we got on the tram to head to a different part of the city to go to Universeum, the public science center and museum. First though, we made a pit stop so that Matt could try to do the firehouse shirt exchange but was unsuccessful. On our walk there, we went through an underpass with mosaics that were very colorful. It took us a little bit to realize we were actually standing right in front of the station because it didn’t look very distinct from the surrounding buildings like U.S. stations typically do. After that, we walked passed the women’s soccer stadium and stopped in a candy store while we waited for the tram we had just barely missed. There were so many different options to pick from; I felt like I was in the store from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Once our tram arrived, it was just two stops until we arrived at Universeum.
From the outside, it looks like a fairly small building, but it’s packed with a plethora of exhibits inside. The Universeum has six different sections: Swedish natural habitat, reptiles, aquatic life, rainforest, space, health, and technology. The first showed posters and dioramas of native birds and other wildlife to this northern forested habitat. There was a small corner of the aquatic life section where there were a few different kinds of snakes and lizards on display. The aquatic life section had both fresh and salt water exhibits. It was like the Shedd Aquarium on a budget. I loved seeing the sting rays, starfish, and corals.
In my humble opinion, the best exhibit was the rainforest. It was multileveled but still felt very open. It was incredibly hot and humid in there, but it was nice to see some of the beautiful tropical plants growing. There were also birds and monkeys roaming freely. I tried to make a friend, but the bird wasn’t interested.
Next, we visited the space exhibit with lots of historical information and a continuous loop of space-related short films. We watched a sad one about the self-destruction of a research ship to Saturn after 20 years when it was running out of fuel. We then moved into the health section where we tried different activities like walking a tightrope. Lastly, the technology exhibit had a few different touchscreen stations that used AI to run different activities. There were some robots as well as a VR activity.
After Universeum, we got back on the tram toward the hostel and stopped at John Scott’s for a vegan falafel burger. Then it was time for a nap because this week has been just so draining. For dinner, the whole group went to a Himalayan restaurant and shared meals family style.
Daily Reflections:
- Big freshwater fish can be creepy looking.
- I can’t walk on a tightrope.
- Swedes really know how to do vegan food.
- Vegan oatmeal might not be the move when getting breakfast.
- Always see if you can get a student discount.
Adventures in Sweden 