Swedish Nerd Vs. The World

Boom! Me and my girlfriend Felicia stepped out of the plane on the island of Malta and the heat detonated like a bomb at us. I had never felt such heat before and here I was wearing black jeans since I came from what we call Swedish summer. I had thought of Malta as being something that would remind me of Italy but it was more like the northern Arabian parts of Africa, I would have to guess since I haven't been to Africa yet. This was our first real trip as a couple so it was a special one, and we went to celebrate our birthdays but also to try and find a new country for us to move to since we were bored of Sweden. We knew we wanted beaches and sunshine and we also thought of the more practical aspects like that we have to know the language where we would move to be able to get a job. After a lot of searching Malta came up as the best suggestion since it ticked all the boxes since they also speak English. We choose not to stay in the city center of the capital Valletta, instead...

Macedonia was recommended by my friend Lisa who had lived there for a year to work as a volunteer for childrens rights and to help Roma children with education. I didn't believe her that Macedonia could be a nice place so I had much doubt when me and my friend Pär bought a cheap flight ticket to the capital Skopje. Lisa had left Skopje by then so we couldn't meet up with her unfortunately, but she told me about some places I should visit, like the Absinthe Bar. We arrived in Skopje an extremely cold day and all I wanted was to get to the five star luxurious spa hotel to be able to change clothes and dress warmer. It was a fun feeling to be able to stay at a five star hotel for the first time in my life because of the prices in Macedonia being so much cheaper, for once I was rich!  Oddly enough the luxurious hotel was located in the old parts of Skopje which seems as the most poor area. There is a smell of burning wood in the air and I guess that they still keep warm...

Time to get luxurious me and Jeremy thought and took the train from Brussels in Belgium to the city and country of Luxembourg. Since it's one of the smallest countries in Europe we thought we just needed a day trip to see it.  We arrived on a sunday and the first thing we noticed was that the city seemed like a ghost town. Since I expected luxury I felt cheated because instead we were greeted by Jeremy almost stepping into the most gigantic dog shit I've ever seen, the dog must have been bigger than humans. I saved him from stepping in it and we then walked and walked and found nothing. If this was the city center then this would be the most boring town I've ever seen. We arrived at a large bridge and thought we shouldn't walk across it since we should be in the center already since the train stations often are. Instead we walked down the streets of what looked like a residential area and found a building that stood out from the rest where I posed for a picture ...

My birthday was coming up so I thought, why not go to a poor country like Lithuania and then to Ukraine, where there's a war going on, to celebrate it with an old friend that I almost don't see anymore since we live in separate parts of Sweden? I don't think my brain function as others but hey my friend Erik was up for it and so we paid some cents (plus taxes) to fly to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. We left a rainy day in Malmö, Sweden for a damn hot summer's day in Vilnius and the first thing I noticed was the perfect panorama view from the hotel over the city. I was excited to explore the city even though I had little hope for it, and I took Erik for a guided tour since I knew some places I wanted to see. First we went to the statue of the American artist Frank Zappa, and the first thing that comes to mind is why is there a statue of him in Lithuania? The Lithuanians were desperate to mark the end of communism and statues of people like Lenin and Ma...