Scandinavia (August 2018)
Preparing to apply for the visa to work at the University of Wolverhampton I had to take an IELTS test. However, because the UKVI requires this test to be done in very particular conditions (e.g., you are recorded the whole time, your passport is controlled several times through the test, and your picture is taken twice), I couldn't take it in Madrid before October and I had to take it somewhere else. The closest date for such a test on Europe was Copenhague, and since the organizers of the test can only tell you the exact dates of your oral test two days before the written exam, I spend a week in Scandinavia. Surprisingly, flying to Copenhague was the cheapest option (although on my way there I had to pass by Palma de Mallorca), the hotels there were inaccessible, so I stayed on the closest Swedish city: Malmö.
Malmö
Being the third larger city in Sweden, walking through the streets of Malmö gives you a fairly comprehensive idea of what the country is about. Although most of the people were very friendly (once you have approached them), some of them acted surprised when I smiled at them. However, this could have been due to me walking around with my new telly-lens, which can be a bit intimidating.
Being a port, people have a special relationship with the sea and the canals. Most of the statues around the city are related to either the feelings of leaving (or arriving) home for a sea-journey or to mythology around the sea creatures. It also means that seafood is a specialty, apart, of course, from the well known Swedish meatballs.
Copenhague
Malmö is connected to Copenhague through the Øresund bridge, which is the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe, and through which it takes about 40 minutes and 11€ to get from city center to city center. The main reason to come here was taking the IELTS test, which only left me the afternoon to stroll around the city.
The city was very crowded from tourist, although the intermittent rain helped to disperse them. In fact, I got a déjà vu from the lesson on human nature that I learned at the Louvre, when I saw people cueing to take the picture of the Little Mermaid.
Göteborg
On one of my last days in Sweden, I went to Göteborg, which is the second largest city of the country. However, I think that the city is the most industrial of the three (comparing it as well with Stockholm), and the city center was by far the least appealing of the trip. However, there are a few places from which I could get a nice view of the city, and a couple of streets that looked interesting (in particular on the Haga district).
