Class trip to Stockholm

As I have mentioned before, I had a school trip with my Latvian class. Since fate has never been particularly kind to me, of course, I suffered a torn meniscus the week before, which threw me off track as an everyday athlete and sometimes I deliberately destroyed things with my crutches out of anger. However, in the days leading up to the trip, my classmates showed great helpfulness, which I did not particularly like to take advantage of, but convinced my host mother to let me sail to Stockholm without worry. Well, the time on the 'Isabelle' was actually less problematic, as I managed the floors well with the help of elevators, but the stress really started when we left the ferry. Due to my chronic problem with crowds, I got quite dizzy in the crush shortly before disembarking, had the feeling that I couldn't breathe anymore, was pushed back and forth, and felt that I was just annoying and too slow to my fellow human beings. The tunnel from the board was gruesome, I couldn't keep up at all, was constantly overrun by annoyed people, and finally lost the group of students, or rather all the passengers on the ferry. And as if that wasn't enough, that stupid tunnel had a fork, and well, how could it be any different, I took the wrong turn. I went to some hotel instead of the metro station, there was no soul there either, climbed the entire way back, collapsed in between from exhaustion, crawled to the exit. Since I was about 20 minutes late, I had mentally already made peace with the thought of spending the day without my classmates. Of course, they had already left the subway station, but my class teacher and another older escort person were waiting for me. Contrary to my expectation of being received with all sorts of accusations, I was treated very gently and patiently, and for the first time in a very long time, I no longer felt unwanted in the presence of said person. We took a later train, took a relaxed walk along Stockholm's harbor, ate ice cream, and I swear I had a much more pleasant day than the others. I spent some time waiting on a bench while the others were shopping and started conversations with nice Swedes who came and went. Very nice people, exactly the mentality that I like. Finally, we also leisurely and with breaks went to a ship museum, which I visited while the two teachers ran errands and picked me up after my round of limping. So it happened that on this day I walked almost 10 km with crutches, but Stockholm was really motivating. It smelled like spring and nice people, and I felt comfortable in the alleyways of the old town. I was almost a little sad when we met the other teachers and students at the bus stop. By the way, they all took great care of me now, took me in their midst, and made sure that I got off at the right station. Since I mostly rejected help before, they probably assumed that I could manage everything very well on my own. My fault, but I somehow learn too. It's just very difficult for me, because Xenia just has an iron will, can do and accomplish anything, as we all know ;). In case it wasn't clear: Yes, most of the time during our excursion we were on the ferry and only spent 4 or 5 hours in Stockholm. Very unfortunate, but now I am even more hyped for Scandinavia than before. So Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, and Finland (I hope I didn't forget anything): Be prepared for Xenia!

In the evening on the ferry, I wrote postcards and talked to Swedish old sea dogs. Finally, a straightforward openness, which I often miss in Latvia. Nevertheless, I enjoy the time here, with or without crutches, I have already survived much worse things.

When I was thrown out of the bus from Riga to Liepaja at a different bus stop, a completely different problem revealed itself to me: My host family knew where I was getting off, as this station was closer to our house, but not when. As I said, I don't have much luck, so I didn't have any money left on my SIM card, so I could forget about making a call or sending a text message, and there was no internet in the middle of nowhere. Yeah. With crutches and a 12kg backpack, I somehow managed to get to a small café in the village and asked there, quite old-school, if I could make a phone call. I could, ordered my pick-up, and legends say that I treated myself to a piece of honey cake in shock.