Rachel's Adventures...: Sweden!!!

Gothenburg City, Sweden

So I know I missed my weekly update last week, sorry for that...but I had a good reason. I got a new stamp in my passport...I was in SWEDEN!!! We had our long weekend, the only break we get during the whole DTS, this past weekend and I went to Gothenburg City, Sweden, with two friends. It was amazing! I think one of my favorite things about living here in Scotland is that I can just go to Sweden (or wherever) for the weekend! I love the closeness of Europe...it's so easy to just go to another country and experience an entirely different culture.

Our 4:45 AM bus ride to the airport

The journey there was quite an adventure though. We left Thursday night from West Kilbride and missed the train we needed to catch, so an hour later we tried again and succeeded this time, however, because we had missed our first connection we were running late for our bus from Glasgow to Edinburgh. So as we ran through the streets of Glasgow from the train station to the bus station (about 10 blocks or so) we were praying to Jesus..."please delay the bus!!!" And because He's so loving, he did. Thank the Lord. So we got to Edinburgh at about 9:30 and got on yet another bus to a part of the city where we were going to stay that night, but none of us really had any idea where we were going. The friends we were staying with just said it's about a 10 minute ride and that they'd be at the bus stop waiting for us, that we wouldn't be able to miss them (come to find out later the were all dressed up in wild clothes and one of them was on stilts). However, we did miss them, or as my travelling companions and I claim that they weren't out there when the bus passed by, either way, what was supposed to be a 10 minute ride turned into about an hour and a half ride. Anyway, after a very short 4 hours of sleep that night, we once again caught a bus to the airport and were on our way to Sweden!

Me, Hannah and Katie (from YWAM),
and Angelica (our host) at the Statue of Poseidon

Us with our wonderful hosts, Angelica and Rebecka

The city was awesome! We got to stay with a friend of a friend who lived about a 20 minute walk from downtown, so it was great to be able to just hike around the city...and hike we did. I think in all we probably walked around 20 miles during the weekend. But my favorite was definitely just being able to stay with an actual Swede and experience more of their culture. They cooked us Swedish food, took us to the local hot spots and even had us try a Kebab Pizza. It was delicious! Kebab meat on a pizza...who know?! Overall, it was a spectacular weekend and I feel so blessed to have been able to go there.

This past week has been pretty awesome as well, but quite busy. I got back Monday night from Sweden and we started off bright and early Tuesday morning with a full day of classes and then headed off to Glasgow that night for a ministry night with an organization called Light and Life. It was an amazing night of seeing God work in miraculous ways. He is so good!! This last week also happened to be the October DTS' graduation, so we were quite busy preparing for that and getting the base ready for all the guests that were arriving. The day of graduation was a beautiful day with delicious food and lots of fun. In the evening after the ceremony, there was a Scottish band that came and we had ourselves a good ol' Scottish Ceilidh (pronounced Kay-lee)...basically, it's a dance party, Scottish-style. We danced for hours! Needless to say, my feet were a bit sore when I woke up the next morning. It was a great time of celebration and of saying "fare thee well" to the October DTS. The castle seems empty without them...I must admit it's a little sad.

Anyway, that's enough for now. Enjoy some of my Sweden pictures!