The best memories are never on the trip itinerary

Sydney Banks holds the UTC flag in front of the Nyhavn Canal in Copenhagen. Photo by Clara Paulson.

Clara Paulson, a junior from Chattanooga, is a Brock Scholar in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Honors College majoring in communication with a minor in creative writing. From May 21 to May 31, she took part in a study abroad experience in Scandinavia sponsored by the Honors College. She is a 2023 graduate of Signal Mountain Middle/High School.

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I filled January, February, March, April and half of May dreaming about and researching Scandinavia. I had never been there—or even close to that side of the world—but I had an itinerary from professors, online photos and other travelers’ vlogs to lay the basic foundation for my imagination.

I envisioned myself walking down cobblestone streets, casually passing castles older than my own country. I would photograph heart-stopping landscapes: diamond-blue streams, glistening waterfalls and fjords that inspired the great Scandinavian artists. I would visit traditional outdoor food markets lit by string lights. Every second of the trip sounded rich with adventure, culture and flavor.

I must have gone through my professors’ PowerPoint highlighting the planned activities a hundred times, daydreaming up a storm.

A note about my daydreams: they’re perfect, meaning they don’t usually align with reality. As it turned out, traveling in a group of 33 people has its difficulties.

Before the adventure even began, our class learned our flight from Atlanta to Paris had been canceled. When the airline couldn’t find room for all of us on another plane, our plans shifted. Instead of spending the first night together in France, we broke up into groups of four and—with the help of several Uber drivers—gradually piled into an Atlanta hotel 10 minutes down the road.

At 3 a.m., we rolled out of bed and Ubered back to the airport, ready for our 7 a.m. flight. We were less than enthused to find that the flight didn’t actually exist; we were placed on a 3 p.m. flight. The airport’s Starbucks opening time of 5:30 a.m. seemed late.

We small-talked as we waited in line for coffee. We wondered what the itinerary looked like after losing a day in Norway. We hopped on the trams to visit the different terminals just because we could. Each had its food vendors and live musicians. We pretended they were different cities and explored them all.

In 11 hours, 33 strangers became a tight group.

By the time we arrived in Bergen, Norway, I was determined to make every second count.

Steinsdalsfossen waterfall near Bergen, Norway

Even jet-lagged, I was overwhelmed by Norway’s beauty. Each street and landscape was an oil painting come to life.

Internet photos didn’t prepare me for the wonder of wooden sailing ships bumping against the wharf as waves breathed in and out, crowded fish markets, labyrinthine neighborhoods, singing trolley bells, and the little red and yellow cottages stacking up hillsides like castles.

Walking in the chilly summer air and standing beneath the midnight sun never factored into my imaginings, but it was these moments that stuck with me.

I found that my favorite stories of Scandinavia weren’t about tours or famous landmarks. They were about people. Traveling has an odd way of connecting personalities.

During my first two years at UTC, I had seen the students traveling with me at neighboring tables in the Guerry Center and studied silently alongside them. I knew their names and faces. I even shared previous classes with a few of them, but I didn’t know all of them.

During a one-hour train ride through Copenhagen, Denmark, I learned about the passions, hobbies and aspirations of one of these new friends. The longer we talked, the more of his world I could see.

I was surprised to form such strong connections with other students but even more surprised to make lasting connections with the people in Scandinavia.

Artist Marios Orozco painting in front of the Christiania Art Gallery in Copenhagen.

During a train ride from Sweden to Denmark, I came away with an international pen pal.

As I sat in a booth across the aisle from two German college students, I worked up the nerve to put my high school language classes to use and ask, “Seir ihr aus Deutschland?” They were indeed from Germany, and —to my surprise—I was able to keep up a conversation for the first few minutes before they switched to English.

As the two girls were also university students traveling through Scandinavia, we discussed our similarities and laughed about the differences between the German and American school systems, idioms and language. After acknowledging my need to start practicing German again, one of the girls wrote to me on Instagram to continue discussing our travels.

The weather also gave us a few surprises. While everyone hoped for sunshine on the trip, one of my fondest memories happened as we sailed into a storm. Huddled in blankets, hot chocolate in hand, we laughed and sang until the sun peaked through the clouds and a double rainbow stretched over the island of Hovedøya off the coast of Oslo, Norway. We were so excited that we didn’t even mind the confused stares from the locals as we celebrated with a swing dance to “Rocky Top.”

When it came time to return to Chattanooga, I scrolled through the photos on my camera and saw a condensed lineup of all my experiences: the castle, the crystal waterfall, the colorful homes reflected in the Copenhagen canal and the fjords. We may not have gotten to do everything on the itinerary, but I made friends I never would’ve met and collected stories I never saw coming.