Days 9-21: After many requests from my sisters and mother, here is a recap of right before during and right after the study tour.

Wednesday and Thursday I finished my conceptual ideas and presented them to my professor for my critique, I now have the idea of what I am going to be building.

Friday, and for the moment my sister Melissa has been waiting for, the one where she gets to make fun of me for the rest of my life, I know she has been waiting for the "uh-oh" moment. Friday morning 7am, the bus with the furniture students on way to Stockholm departs. Without me. I was still in bed passed out. After many test runs with my phone later to figure out why I missed my alarm go off, I decided that it must be because I turned it off in my sleep. No worries, I was already dressed before I went to bed and my bags were packed, so I grabbed my things, went to the train station, and got a ticket to Stockholm. I arrived after about four hours and walked around for about two hours and still arrived at the hostel 45 min. before my group did! I was early for all of the departures after that day.

Saturday we did some studies of Stockholm's metro system, went to a gallery, then to a library.

Sunday we went to a beautiful cemetery and chapel called Woodland, two art museums, a ship museum, and then boarded an overnight ferry to Helsinki, Finland. Also known as the booze cruise. After our buffet dinner we went to karaoke till they closed down, then went to the dance floor. Not only did we have to be off the ferry by 7:30 or it was taking us back to Sweden, but we also lost an hour!

Monday we went to an Aalto furniture manufactuer, the Aalto designed Pamio Sanitorium, and Hvittrask, the home of the Saarinen's before they moved to the states. After that we arrived in Helsinki and settled in for the night to recover.

Tuesday we went to Alvar Aalto's house and studio, and the museum of modern art. Then we went to the sauna, and this was not to study but to partake! It was located on a regular side street in the city, and to cool down you would go outside and sit around as regular pedestrians would walk by. Fins take their suanas very seriously!

Wednesday we went to Rock Church that was blasted out of a rock, another furniture showroom, design museum, then we walked around downtown for lunch before we headed to the booze cruise again. Another evening on the overnight ferry, but this time we didn't have to be off until 9ish and we gained an hour!

Thursday more showrooms and workshops, this time Bruno Mathsson's home and showroom! We then head on to Varnamo, Sweden to meet up with the other furniture group for a bonfire, but it was raining so we had another buffet. Only one bar in this whole town was open, so naturally we all ran into each other at the same place after dinner. A few of us wanted to go to the hotel sauna, so one of the guys convinced the wonderful man at the desk named Mike to open the sauna for us even though it was after hours.

Friday we headed off to Lund, Sweden, then a last group lunch, and back to Copenhagen.

Saturday was a beautiful day in Denmark, so Luis and I went to the beach to get some sun.

Sunday was not so pretty, so Cole, Torsten and I went to go see Harry Potter!