Sunday, December 8, 2013

Persuasion

Why go to Sweden

          Most everyone wants to travel the world. One of the most popular designations is Europe. Where in Europe, though? A good decision would be Sweden. They're activities, weather, and culture is an  experience that most people have not had. It is a wonderful place to visit for a number of reasons.

       One reason someone should visit Sweden is their unique culture. If someone were to walk down the streets of Sweden, it wouldn't be uncommon for them to hear a variety of native music playing, as well as crowds of people conversing. All the people here are welcoming to have foreigners be so interested in their country. The country is also very known for its arts. Creativity surrounds the cities as paintings and music are everywhere.

       Sweden is also a very popular place to go. Fodor's Travel rated Sweden as the second best place to visit in all of Europe. Sweden's dense forests and pristine lakes make is a very desirable place to see. Sweden also outranks many other European countries in tourist. Finland and Norway have less than 5 million people visit their countries each, per year. Sweden, however, has about 7 million tourists every year.

       This part of Northern Europe also has very nice weather that would attract people who like it to be cold. Summer is usually about 70 degrees at the most. Their winters are brisk. They are cold, yet refreshing and invigorating. Everyone likes curling up with a good book, late at night, in a big and comfy chair by the fireplace. Who wouldn't want to do that?

       The European country of Sweden is a delightful place to visit. The inviting and creative people and crisp weather are not like anywhere else. The enlivening culture gives a fantastic experience to everyone who is willing to come. Seeing Sweden up-close is something most people do not experience. Going to Sweden is an unforgettable decision and no one will regret.

Techniques Used: Storytelling, Statistics, Emotional Appeals, Rhetorical Questions

Overview

PLAN
Date        Day #       Activity
13              1:          Plane Ride to Gothenburg
14              2:          Arrival, Hotel Check-In, Restaurant, Darin Music Performance
15              3:          Universeum, Walk Around
16              4:          Cultural Festival, Soccer Game, Back to Culture Festival
17              5:          Drive to Stockholm Stay in hotel until morning of day 8: 3 nights
18              6:          Swedish Museum of Natural History
19              7:          Bike the city, Kayaking, Day sail, Wildlife safari,  
20              8:          Drottningholm Palace, Rent a boat from day 8 to day 11: 3 nights
21              9:          Day in Boulognerskogen City Park Forsbacka Wardshus
22             10:         Stockholm Old Town, Lunch: Restaurant
23             11:         Train back to Gothenburg, Fly to RDU
24             12:         Arrival at RDU

LOCATIONS
Leave: August 13th EST from RDU

3 days in Gothenburg 
7 days in Stockholm

Train back to Gothenburg August 24th
Fly home on August 25th EST


ACCOMMODATIONS
Gothia Towers from August 14th to August 17th: 3 nights
 

Arlanda Hotel from August 17th to August 20th: 3 nights
 

Houseboat from August 20th to August 23rd: 3 nights
 


WEATHER
August 13th through 16th: Gothenburg
Highs of 70 degrees, lows of 59 degrees. Average: 65 degrees, comfortable and cloudy

August 17th through 23rd: Stockholm 
Highs of 70 degrees, lows of 54 degrees. Average: 62 degrees, chilly and cloudy

BUDGET
$3500 per person 

DayMain CostSourceSecondarySource
1$6,324.00 Flight

2$1,247 Hotel$175Darin Concert
3$129.95 Universeum

4$225.00 Soccer Game

5$492Hotel$94.24Car Rental
6$360Natural History Museum

7$400Sports Day

8$1366Houseboat$38.42Drottningholm Palace
9$225Fancy Dinner

10$185Fancy Lunch

11$669 Train Ride

12$20Drive Home

Others$550Food$1000Shopping

Max: $17,500
Grand Total: $13,500.55
All money transferred from the Swedish krona to the United States Dollar.

Day 12


The plane ride back to RDU was so tiring! The flight was so long and boring at times, but my friends and I made it kind of fun. We didn't like the plane food, but who does? Anyway long story short, we made it back to the Airport around 5:00 PM.


This trip was the best we've all been on and hope to do it again someday!

Day 11

Day 11
Today we woke up early to catch our train back to the airport in Gothenburg. We are very sad to leave Sweden. We loved how interesting the culture of this country is and we all want to come back one day. The train ride was very long and boring, but the worst part was getting on the plane to go home.
 We are about to take off and have a long flight back home to RDU.

Day 10

Day 10
Today we visited Stockholm Old Town. (Also known as Galma Stan) It is a beautiful little town full of cobblestone pathways and nice little shops and cafes. We walked around most of the day and we got to go into some of the locally owned stores that were traditional Swedish shops. We took so many pictures of every place we visited. 
Gamla Stan/Old Town in Stockholm
We stopped for lunch at one of the many cafes and restaurants located in the town.  Lunch was so delicious and it was very nice for all of us to have a relaxing day. 

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Day 9


Day 9
Today we woke up at 10 and ate a lite breakfast, from across the street. We then rented a car and drove into Gavle, where we got lunch at a great local restaurant called Forsbacka Wardshus. Here they serve foods from the Swedish culture and fresh food and bread everyday.


After that we headed to Boulognerskogen city park at 1:00 PM and walked around. At 4:30
PM we decided to go back to the boat to rest for a bit.




We got back to the boat around 6:15 PM and ordered pizza. We finally went to bed at 10:00 PM. Everyone had a really nice time just relaxing today, can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store.


Day 8

Day 8
Today we woke up around 9:00 AM! Today we will be going to go to Drottningholm Palace we're so excited to see the whole palace! But first we have to eat breakfast and get ready. We ordered room service for our breakfast because we had a lot of packing to do before we went to the palace and checked out of our hotel. After an hour and a half we finally got all packed and checked out of our hotel and we were off to the palace! We were already hungry by the time we got there so Phoebe went to go get food from a near by sandwich shop, something that we could eat quick. We were all done around 11:00 AM and the tour did not start until 11:15 AM so we went to take some pictures of the outside of the palace.




After we took a few pictures we went into the palace. We weren't allowed to take many pictures but we did get a few. The palace was fun to walk around in we all loved the big paintings and all the rooms we went into. We also went outside which was fun because we got to see all the gardens. 



  
After the tour that was around six and a half hours, we went to the boat dock where we would board the boat we were going to be renting for a few days! We were so excited to be boating on the house boat. The boat was really nice and pretty big for five people. We were so tired after our long day it was nearly 9:00 PM when we finally got settled on the boat. We ate a quick dinner and fell asleep around 10:00 PM. It was such a great day and tomorrow should be really fun as well! 

Day 7

Day 7

Today we woke up at 8:30 AM so we could get ready for our busy day. At 11 AM we went on a bike ride all around the city of Stockholm! It was so beautiful and sunny! We got to see all of the great things about this city. We got to follow the shores of the beaches and we also went to some lakes! One of the best things we did was pedal over different bridges and we passed by different major sights such as the Royal Palace and the Royal theater.   





After the bike rides we went Kayaking! It was so much fun (even though Kendall fell out a couple of times!). We were surprised that it was so entertaining and amusing! We're so happy we all chose to go. It was a great experience!



Our day was so busy so far, but it wasn't even over after the biking and kayaking! After all of that we went on a day sail at 4:00 PM. At first Kendall didn't think she would enjoy it that much, but she really did! It was way different than we thought it would be!

 To sum up our fun and exciting day we went on a Safari! It sounds crazy to go on a Safari in Sweden, but we learned and saw so many new things! It was great!  We didn't know there were so many wild animals in Sweden such as the Grey Wolf, Arctic Fox, and the Wolverine! We cant believe we got to go on a Safari in Sweden with some of my close friends! It was great! We hope we get to do it again sometime!




 We wonder what other things were doing tomorrow!

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Day 6

We woke up at about 10AM because we were all so tired from yesterday's trip! (I shouldn't be complaining, it was Nicole who drove.)
 So far, Stockholm seems like a pretty cool place! We're about to go to the Swedish Museum of Natural History! Sounds fun!

 So we just got back from the museum, and I have time to write before we go out to eat. Its already mid afternoon! The museum was absolutely incredible, let me tell you little bit of what we learned:



 









The Swedish Museum of Natural History, or Naturhistoriska riksmuseet, is one of two major museums of natural history in Sweden, the other  in Gothenburg. (AKA: The Universeum, which we went to!)


It was founded in 1819 but the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, but has records of collections from 1739 from earlier donations. The original collections were made available to the public in 1786, but the museum separated from the Academy in 1965. So, its super old!





The museum also had an IMAX cinema called Cosmonova. The cinema is also the largest planetarium in Sweden, and it was AWESOME!


Did I mention how big and beautiful this place is? It was designed by architect Axel Anderberg and completed in 1916, topped with a dome; the main campus of Stockholm University was later built next to the museum. None of us could get over the ancient beauty this place held!


This was our first official day in Stockholm, and the city turned out to be magnificent. We then left the museum at 5PM, after staying there since noon, so 5 hours overall! We went back to the hotel and stayed there for about an hour, then went out to dinner. We're going to a fancy Swedish later, so we'll tell you all about that when the time comes, but for now, we are all super tired and REALLY need to sleep. We have a HUGE day ahead of us tomorrow!

Day 5

Day 5

We woke up today at 9:30AM very excited! Today we were going to Stockholm! We were going to Stockholm to spend a few days there and experience the culture on the other side of Sweden.
We all rented a car and left at 11AM. It was over 4 and a half hours, plus stops. But, it was so pretty. It was the most beautiful trip any of us had ever been on!



We decided to take the scenic route, rather than the busy, loud highway. It was a little longer, but it was totally worth it. It was completely different from anything we've experienced in America.













We arrived in Stockholm at about 4PM and booked our hotel, the 2kronor Hotel City, right in the heart of Stockholm. It's such a cute and cozy hotel! We'll be here for 3 nights!


Now we all need to go to bed, because tomorrow we're going to some museum! We can't wait!

Day 4

 DAY 4

We woke up today around 8:30 and we got breakfast at the hotel. After we ate we got ready for the cultural festival, and soccer game. The cultural festival was close and we were able to walk. There were so many different things we could see and do. First we chose to go watch people perform tricks.
It was so amazing to see how the dancers were able to balance on top of really high poles doing tricks. We also went to get some food. We sent Nicole to get the food because it was crowded and we thought she would be able to talk to the sellers.
 Then we headed off to the soccer game around 2PM. We watched IFK play, and guess what they won!
The fans were going wild and it was an unforgettable experience to be so involved in the atmosphere produced when a country shares together a victory.

Did you know that IFK is arguably the most successful club in Sweden? IFK currently rank in the highest Swedish league, Allsvenskan, where they have played for the majority of their history. It was also founded October 4th, 1904! So its 109 years old! Best soccer game we've ever been to!
After the soccer game, which started at 3PM and ended at about 5PM. We headed back to the Swedish Cultural Festival to experience it during the night again. We had more performances at we loved it! We have to go to bed now because we're driving to Stockholm tomorrow! Can't wait!