When visiting a new place, try not to take the same route twice unless you have no other option. In a big city like Stockholm, there is almost always an alternative route which gives you a different perspective. Even if you just take the next street over, you can be exposed to new restaurants, cafes, museums, parks, and vantage points. Many times that alternative route will get you to your destination faster because you have a better feel for the area and can choose a more direct route. So many of the students in my class are content to take same route both getting somewhere and coming back. I just don’t get it!

When travelling with a group of 28 students, it is really tough to know if everyone is present and accounted for, especially in bustling city squares and train stations. So my professor Jeff (he prefers Jeff because it is the least formal) assigns everyone a number, 1 through 28. When Jeff needs to figure out if everyone made it, the class counts up from 1 by shouting out their specific number. It worked really well today when we had to take the metro to a sustainable development on the edge of central stockholm. If one person doesn’t make it in time, the whole class will miss the train or subway until they are tracked down. No delays today though!