One of the most exciting parts of an international experience in Europe is the potential for nearby travel across the diverse continent. In this blog post I want to highlight some of the day and weekend trips that I have enjoyed while studying abroad in Lund, Sweden.
A place that is impossible to miss if you are in Lund is the nearby capital of Denmark: Copenhagen. Just a quick 45 minute train ride across the Öresund Strait brings you into the Danish city, where you can enjoy famous museums, palaces, gardens, and explore some fantastic neighborhoods. Copenhagen is a great city to explore by foot or on a bike, which adds an exciting element to your adventures.
Earlier in the semester I took a trip to Helsinki, Finland which is a quick flight across the Baltic Sea. The opportunity to compare Finnish culture with the norms of Swedish people (neighboring Scandinavian countries) is fascinating, and the Helsinki is a relatively young city with magnificent architecture. While spending the weekend in Helsinki, we took a day trip by ferry to the nearby city of Tallinn which is the capital of Estonia and conveniently off the beaten path of most travellers. Plus, if you enjoy snowy weather you can definitely find more of that around Helsinki than in southern Sweden. Just like Helsinki, there are lots of other cities that are relatively cheap to fly to so long as you don’t wait last minute to purchase tickets. During my semester in Sweden I have been able to travel to the cities of Prague, Krakow, and most recently Amsterdam and Brussels. With the proper planning it is quite possible to make the most of your time in Europe by hopping from city to city.
One part of my semester in Lund that I have probably appreciated the most is the opportunity to travel and explore the country of Sweden. I have both toured around Skåne, the region surrounding Lund, stayed in the capital city of Stockholm, and taken a trip with my friends to Lappland which is the northernmost region of Sweden. It is amazing to see the range and variety of landscapes in this incredibly stretched out country, from the fair weathered southern portion to the frozen ground of Lappland that lies above the Arctic Circle.
