Hello again,
Did you miss me?
I’m writing to y’all from the backseat of our rental Volvo. She’s been our constant. Shoutout Volv!
Okay, so what has happened over the past few days…. We traveled from our tiny summer camp cottage to a rustic farmhouse on the island of Oland.
Hayden and I passed out for practically the entire car ride. That’s a good birthday. Naps. Welcome to 23, bruh.
After a quick turnaround, we headed to the beach. Stefan and Coni went on an explorative walk to get there. At the same time, H, Mom, and I opted for a food truck run by an elderly Swedish grandma who moved to the island for birdwatching (SO adorable and honestly an idol).
Here is the beach. Beautiful and cold.
There are also TONS of jellyfish, which, according to my research, I believe are moon jellyfish, which only cause a minor sting. Maybe it’s the landlocked mountain girl in me, but I didn’t really want to test my fate.
I walked back from the beach with Mom and Stef later in the whipping wind and procured some fantastic pictures of the Swedish farm landscape.
Below are the vast fields. For those of you who are interested, there is “The Right to Public Access” in Sweden. This basically means everyone has the freedom to roam and explore anywhere. The only fee is respect for nature and the animals living there. Citation below. Gotta follow those credit/copyright rules. There are stepladder bridges over the fences and across the pastures.
The kitchen in our farmhouse was a little beauty. There is a picture of Coni in the kitchen for size comparison.
Our master chef/baker (Coni, if anyone hasn’t figured that out yet) whipped up a white chocolate berry cake, combining two recipes from a Swedish cookbook. Little bday celebration time!!!!!!!
Day in Oland (8/7)
After a chill morning, the team went in a few directions. Coni and Stef went on a hike, and the rest went to a castle called Borgsholm Slot. It was FANTASTIC.
Fun side quest:
The owners of the Airbnb who live right next door have the CUTEST cat named Elsa who came running whenever she heard us outside. Literally want to pack her up and take her home!
Today 8/8:
Bags packed and in the car once again, we drove over to Kalmar, which is on the mainland just off the Oland bridge. The city was hosting its annual Kalmar fest. We didn’t have much of a plan, but quickly found corn hole, which I’m almost certain was in the children’s play area, as you’ll see in my picture. 10ish minutes later, it started downpouring, and the five of us and a solo Swedish man ended up sheltered in a bouncy house, which held off the rain for about 5 minutes before it began to soak us lol.
Below are some pictures of the day.
Other than that, we have gotten super into playing the card game Hearts. I won’t say Stefan won tonight, but I also won’t say he lost (side eye).
Whelp, this is all. Our trip is coming to a close so quickly. Stockholm is tomorrow, and then I have a solo layover in Iceland. I’m thinking about doing the tourist thing and exploring the Blue Lagoon, but we’ll see. Iceland is spendy, and ya girl is still a grad student.
Goodbye for now,
Mahala
Mahala Goes Abroad 
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