Image by Heidi Peng | Intersection in Stockholm

Image by Heidi Peng | Bus stop in Helsinki

With the Summer DIS program also came the opportunity to go on a week-long study tour throughout Scandinavia, specifically Helsinki and Stockholm. Naturally, the trip was included in our program’s tuition, but the free meals, museum visits and posh hotels really helped you feel like you were getting your money’s worth. For the first three days of our trip, we stayed in Helsinki, Finland at the Sokos Hotel Presidentti, a lux 4-star hotel. We were also treated to two 3-course meals for lunch and dinner. But more important than the meals were the site visits, and on our first day, we went to Marimekko and Artek. It was an incredible experience getting to tour and shop at these famous flagship stores.

In addition, the best part about traveling for school is that your itinerary is all planned for you, and as university students, you’re also given some freedom to explore the city on your own. Every day we had a free time in the afternoon to look around as well as all evening to experience Scandinavian nightlife. I also loved the challenge of figuring out the unique subway and bus systems in both Helsinki and Stockholm; however, the real highlights of the trip were when we were able to get out of the city.

On our second day in Finland, we traveled to Green Window Oy in Espoo, a Finnish sauna and nature reserve. There we were treated to a traditional Finnish dinner that included reindeer, and we got to experience the joy of hugging trees. While I did not partake in the saunas there, I did manage to take a dip in the water and go kayaking with my classmates.

This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, as I’m not sure when, or even if, I’ll ever be able to go back there again, especially with my classmates. And these are the kinds of adventures that really matter and come together to inform your study abroad/college experience. We weren’t asked to bring our sketchbooks or consider how you could capture the essence of the lake in a design; instead, we were only asked to sit back and relax. I think we often forget the importance of slowing down and just enjoying our surroundings, but this site visit helped to remind me of the meaning of observation, as well as the joy of a simple conversation.

These types of experiences also continued when we traveled to Sweden. On our third night in Helsinki, we boarded the Viking Line M/S Gabrielle, a beautiful “ferry” that would take us into Stockholm. Although my motion sickness impeded on my enjoyment of the boat ride, I still got the chance to look out into the sea as we passed the famous Swedish archipelago (a sight I hadn’t seen in over five years). Once we docked in Sweden, we checked into the Clarion Hotel Sign and were treated to yet another 3-course lunch, and after filling our bellies with delicious food, we were off to yet another site visit.

But I think the best part of our stay in Sweden occurred on our last full day in the country when we got to explore nature yet again. Just before dinner time, we took another ferry to Fjäderholmen, one of the smaller islands of Sweden, and it was absolutely beautiful. The island is so small you can walk around its entire circumference in under an hour, and you can hike up the rocky cliffs to look out at the adjacent islands and sea. While we did have an assignment to finish our study tour “infographics”, I took this opportunity to explore the island and let myself…breathe. Once we finished having dinner, which featured three traditional Swedish dishes, we were on our way back to the hotel to pack up and get ready to leave the next morning.

It was definitely a bittersweet feeling as we boarded our bus to drive back to Copenhagen, but despite all the built-up exhaustion and looming stress of our final project, I’d never felt more content. I was, in a strange way, finally getting the chance to explore the world on my own, and it was within the parameters of a college field trip. I think I’m incredibly lucky to have gone on this trip, and I will never be able to forget the memories I made during those fleeting five days.