Spring break has arrived. And if we're being honest with each other, this one is going down in spring break history.

Spring break started for me at 5am on Friday morning. I'd be lying if I said my lack of Monday and Friday classes was by accident. Do I have any regrets, though? Absolutely none.

My precious ma drove my bestie pal Meghan and I to Atlanta, along with our child sized backpacks. Mom and I jammed to some Ed Sheeran on the way over while meg caught some shut-eye. By the time we arrived at the airport, we were so strung out on travel anticipation that we were wide awake.

To say that we overpacked might be an understatement. That being said, our combined outfit game has mega potential. With a solid half day of airport transit and in-air flight, comfort was key.

Getting through ATL to New York went perfectly as planned, the only notable thing being the Delta employee who let me check my bag for free. God bless the lil angels we come in contact with every day.

When Meg and I got to New York, our original plan was to meet up with the other half of our Spring Break crew in the city before self-transfering airports . With our flight having a weather delay out of Atlanta, our already questionable 8 hour layover-in-the-city seemed like a risky move. Meg and I opted to catch a cab from LaGuardia to JFK and relax in our terminal rather than meeting up with our friends. It was definitely the move.

Probably the funniest thing that has happened thus far on our trip occurred in the check-in line at jfk. I had purchased a checked bag for my whale of a backpack while meg had her fingers crossed that she could get hers by as a carry on. The more and more we read on the airline we were taking to Stockholm, the more we realized the low likelihood that Meg was going to get her bag to count as a carry-on. Worse than that, purchasing a carry-on at the airport would set you back far more than buying one online. Being the sleepy and delirious low-budget college kids we are, we had a stroke of genius: we would put both mine and meg's massive backpacks in my backpack duffle. And so we went to work, struggling to stuff my backpack duffle with two massive backpacks. The entire scene was absolutely ridiculous and I'm positive that an onlooker's video of us wrestling with our bag has the potential to go viral. But hey, we eventually fit both bags into one and saved us a load of cash.

Another funny story: our plane-seat neighbors from New York to Stockholm were college boys.

Our chat went like this:

Them: "So what's the time difference from nyc to Stockholm" // Me: "6 hours, but I suck at math so don't quote me on that" // Them: "Us too omg" // Me: "Are you guys on spring break?" // Them: "Yeah! Are you?"// Me: " Yeah! Where do y'all go?" // Them: "Yale"

Yale. And they asked me about time zone math. good grief.

Landing in Sweden was unreal. We hovered right above pine trees and snow before landing. A bus awaited us on the tarmac to take us to customs and our bags. From baggage claim, we purchased a train ticket to the city and sat in awe as our train whisked us through the country-side into stockholm.

For anyone looking into traveling to Europe- the range of hostel options are just as spectacular as many of the hotels out there. Our hostel was no exception. After consulting the receptionists, we hit the city in search for coffee and a bite to eat. We hit up Joe & the Juice for some of the best coffee I've had in my entire life. From here, we explored the streets for an authentic, Swedish meal. Ironically, it was more difficult to find a local joint than an american chain restaurant (ugh). I ordered some some dang good vegetarian grub, which I felt less bad about after traversing the entire length of Stockholm.

After dinner, we hit the ice for a drink. By ice, I mean actual ice. There's this cool place in the heart of Stockholm where they've transformed this entire back of a hotel into an ice bar. Upon arriving, you're given a cloak and gloves and a drink voucher. You take your voucher to the bartender and choose from a menu which drink to order. I ordered the Eurasian Lynx and enjoyed it from a glass carved straight from a Swedish iceberg. I'm not kidding. The atmosphere of the bar was incredible. Colorful lights reflected through the ice and tables and chairs were carved from ice blocks. My crew and I wasted no time taking pictures. And thank goodness we did, because after 20 minutes, I started wanting about 5 additional jackets.

Cold weather cheat: freezing outside temps feel a whole lot less cold when you're drinking from a glacier cup inside a freezer. Mind blowing, I know.

Tomorrow, we're spending our last day in Sweden and then hopping on a plane to Amsterdam. I'm hoping to publish a post about today and tomorrow, so stay on the lookout for that.

xx-syd