S

weden

One summer I decided to change my life, and so I signed up for school in Sweden. The second day there, I tripped and fell on cobblestone. I broke my front two teeth, and had scrapes and bruises all over, but I was the happiest I had ever been. It didn't matter that all I could eat was yogurt and soup for 3 weeks, or that I couldn't communicate with the dentist I was assigned to. All that mattered was that for the first time in my life, I was traveling by myself.

Over the summer, the sun lingered in the sky all through the nights. I made friends, I laughed through swollen gums, and walked more than I ever thought I could.

Some nights we laid down at the graveyard and stared at the magic hour sky, others we were riding the trains and getting lost. I swam in lakes and roamed in castles and played Pokemon Go on a semi-broken phone.

By the end of the trip, I could read but not speak baby level Swedish, and learned that contrary to what I've believed most of my life, I liked having friends.

Cities Visited: Uppsala, Stockholm, Falun, Malmö