Stockholm again - be home soon

I am so sick of the clothes in my suitcase! While I have had a great trip, I think I am ready to come home. After over a week of staying with relatives throughout Sweden upon returning from Estonia, we are now back in Stockholm. Having done a large portion of the Stockholm sight-seeing the first time we were in this town at the beginning of the trip, our return to the city has been more relaxed--lunching with family-friends, visiting castles and the crowned jewels, shopping! We even peaked in on a bar made completely out of ice (you would love it, Kim). Strangely enough, my social skills have been a disappointment to my mom on this trip. I still feel like I am recovering from grad school. This combines with constantly trying to understand the Swedish being spoken around or to me. It is a lot to take in. By the end of the day when my mom wants to have a drink at a bar, I am ready for bed. I am pretty sure this is not supposed to be the order of things, but then again, before this trip my mom had never woken me up in the middle of the night because a noise scared her either.

Tomorrow is my last day in Stockholm. I love this town, and am actually already planning a return to Sweden next summer (and Finland - for reasons tba when I finally type my entry from estonia). If one thing is certain it is that I feel more ready to leave academia forever. It is hard to imagine my life without a phd, but the prestige is not worth the sacrifice. My interests are too broad to be forced to specialize. Traveling has reinforced that for me. I want to continue learning swedish and have developed a large interest in the soviet occcupation of the baltic states during my travels. Studying US history would not allow these tangential interests. Plus, thanks to Nicki and Mindy, I have finally started enjoying novels again (and have actually read a lot on this trip because I was craving English). I look forward to seeing everyone soon. Thanks for reading!