Sverige!

Well, I can officially say that I’ve been to 4 countries now.  After talking with international students, they stated that landing in a country, and not leaving an airport does not count.  So there goes my amazing visit to the German Airport, and sunk my country total from four to three.  To say the least, I have been dying to increase this number. When the opportunity to go to Sweden arose, I was very excited to check out Sweden, and increase my countries visited number.

 Although this trip was more for economic reasons, it was a great adventure.  My friend from Norway who has a car, invited me to come a long, and get cheap grocery items. This really reminded me of the days when I would make weekend trips to the States in order to save money on things.  The great thing about going from Norway to Sweden is that you do not need to stay for 48 hours; you can leave whenever.

Saturday rolled around, and we departed for Sweden.  The trip to Sweden is rather pleasant; there are mountains and beautiful scenery to look at.  It sure beats the plains going to Minot.  Once we got to the border, I realized that this trip would be very different from going to the States.  There is a stop light at the Toll/Tull(Board Crossing), and unless it turns red, you are good to go through without any interruption.  Norway and Sweden even share the same boarder building.  So just like that, we were in Sweden and off to Abisko.

The Swedish/Norwegian Boarder Building

After arriving in Abisko, we went straight to the grocery store.  It was very clear that this grocery store was set up for Norwegian shoppers, and the parking lot showed that.  There was only one Swedish car, and the rest has Norwegian license plates.  We went inside, and did our grocery shopping.  The main things that are cheaper in Sweden are alcohol, meat, and certain grocery items.  To me it appeared that everything was cheaper, but some things were a better bargain than others.  I got some meat, and beer as well as other random grocery items.  The three others (2 Russians, and a Norwegian), got essentially the same, except the Russians loaded up on Candy.  The store even had an American section! And the best part was they had cherry coke! Even Canada doesn’t have that.

The American Section!

Cherry Coke!

The Lone Swedish Liscence Plate

After getting all of our stuff, it was back to Norway for us.  Once again going to the boarder, you just had to slow down, and as long as that light doesn’t turn red, you are good to go!  We didn’t even stop long enough for me to get a good picture of the building.  Overall, Sweden was a great trip, and I cannot wait to go back there Skiing/Snowboarding!

Russian-Canada-Russian Passports! Even though we didn't need them haha