When I first came to ACN, I attended a travel seminar that helped me plan trips for a 3-day weekend at a lower cost,  and ACN staff taught me how to use the VY app, which is a public transportation app for Norway and Sweden. As a result of this, I decided to make a weekend trip to Stockholm, Sweden! I stayed in a hostel called  Dockside Hostel, located inside the Old Town for two nights, which granted me easy walking access to most of the places I wanted to see. 

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During my time there I was able to take a tour of the Nobel Prize Museum. Interestingly, the following week in my summer classes we were talking about the Nobel Peace Prize. The weekend after my visit to Stockholm we went to the Nobel Peace Center during our weekly Oslo field trip. This was a coincidence, but going to the Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm helped provide useful information on the history of Nobel Prizes and the Nobel Peace Prize.

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 When Alfred Nobel passed away, he had in his will five different types of Nobel Prizes to be awarded annually. The categories are physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace. Later economics became an additional Nobel Prize category. All Nobel Prizes with the exception of the Nobel Peace Prize are awarded in Stockholm, and the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo. The Nobel Prize Museum focused on the categories awarded in Stockholm, though there were mentions of the Nobel Peace Prize as well. There was even a display of Malala’s shawl.

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Another place I visited was Stockholm’s Royal Palace. It was a surreal experience to see a real place of royalty (something I had never seen before). I had time to explore the Royal Apartments and I saw some of the palace guards. I saw rooms that had existed centuries ago, including some of the artifacts that were important to Swedish royalty at the time. Both the Royal Palace and the Nobel Prize Center offer student discounts.

I spent a lot of time walking around. I got to explore the Old Town, sit by the pier near my hostel, and I walked over to see the City Hall (which has a beautiful park surrounding it) and the Swedish Parliament building. While I was at the Swedish parliament building I stood in the same place where Greta Thumburg famously protests climate change every Friday. 

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Overall I highly recommend taking a weekend trip to Stockholm if the opportunity presents itself. Stockholm is a beautiful city made up of an archipelago of 14 islands, so there are many water views! It is a very walkable city. I also was in Stockholm on the first day of pride month so I got to see lots of pride flags!

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Generally, the amount of time it takes to get from Oslo to Stockholm is 6-8 hours, depending on the time of day and whether you take a train or a bus.

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- Jaylyn, Summer School Student 2024

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Do you want to go on similar adventures next summer, or maybe you want to join us for a full semester/ year? You can apply today at www.americancollege.no/apply

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